Majors at Yale (bio, math and philosophy, german, women's)

JHS
Sat, 02 Jul 2016 16:57:56 +0000

@gibby 's information is maybe more correct for biology than for anthropology. This is what the Blue Book says:

Students seeking the B.S. or the B.A. degree with a major in science are expected to declare their majors at the beginning of sophomore year, although a student who has completed the prerequisites may elect a science major later. Sophomores interested in majoring in science should have their schedules approved by the director of undergraduate studies or the adviser designated by the department. Students seeking the B.A. degree with a major in a field other than a science typically declare their major at the beginning of the junior year. In the sophomore year, these students’ schedules are signed by a sophomore adviser, chosen by the student, with whom the program has been discussed.

In the sciences and math, there is a pretty strict progression of courses that build on one another, and it would be very difficult to start in your fourth semester and finish by the eighth. That’s not necessarily the case with most humanities fields, where in a pinch you could probably complete an entire major in four semesters, especially if you had already satisfied your distributional requirements.

That said, no one in her right mind would decide on a major blind at the end of her sophomore year. If you haven’t taken at least one substantial introductory course in a field by the end of your sophomore year, you have decided not to major in that field. And most people try to take the first course in majors in which they might be interested during their freshman years or first semester sophomore year at the latest. People do switch majors after their sophomore years, but they switch into a field where they have already taken a few courses, not one where they have to start over.