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<p>Some majors have long enough prerequisite sequences that a student who is interested in the major must start on the major early to avoid delaying graduation, even if there is no requirement to declare a major early. An undecided student who does not plan his/her first two years to make progress in each of his/her possible majors could unwittingly close off the possibility of on-time graduation in some majors.</p>
<p>Also, universities which are not wealthy enough to maintain spare capacity to handle undecideds and students changing majors at will may enroll each major to its maximum capacity and admit freshmen directly into majors, with changing major often requiring a competitive admissions process. This is obviously not the ideal situation for an undecided student, but it is what budget-pinched state universities (that enroll a majority of four year college students) often have to implement.</p>
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<p>Really? A large percentage of colleges do not have free choice of major declaration (assuming that the student has planned his/her schedule carefully to have the prerequisites done). Even those that do not have entering freshmen in majors may have divisional restrictions (e.g. changing between arts and sciences, engineering, business, etc. may be limited or require an admission process).</p>