Mississippi State students must declare a major once they have completed 60 hours, according to a new policy regarding academic advising. Wes Ammon, an adviser for the University Academic Advising Center, said that this new policy will “require students to give more serious thought to choosing a major earlier in their academic careers.”
MSU officials adopted the policy June 4. It says that current undeclared students who have 60 hours or more “have until May 2003 to be accepted into a degree program.”
It also says that, as of May 2003, transfer students who come to MSU as undeclared will have one semester before they must declare a major.
Ammon said that students who fail to declare a major after the set time will be placed on hold and will be unable to register for classes.
According to the policy, the university will warn students of the impending hold when they accumulate 45 hours.
While the 60-hour policy is new and somewhat unfamiliar on MSU’s campus, it is already in place at the University of Alabama and the University of Southern Mississippi.
Not only will this rule encourage students to begin thinking of their academic careers earlier, but it will also enable junior- and senior-level students to register for classes that have restrictions on them.
“Some majors, like business and education, restrict courses to the students in those majors only,” Ammon said.
He said that sometimes students get comfortable in the undeclared major instead of moving on and declaring what they know they want to do.
“If they have a good GPA and have made up their minds as to what they want, there is really no point in them staying undeclared,” Ammon said.
He suggested visiting the Career Center, located in the Colvard Student Union, for help choosing a major.
“The truly undecided can always visit the university’s Career Center to see what majors and job opportunities are out there and which majors would get them into those opportunities,” Ammon said.
“We at the UACC feel that it is important for students to establish relationships within their departments as soon as they can,” Ammon said.
Visit http://www.msstate.edu/dept/audit/1238.html for more information regarding the new policy.