Petition to Declare
- Qualifying for the Major: Petition to Declare
- Deadlines for Major Declaration
- Changing Your Proposed Major
- Changing Your Declared Major
- Petition of Major/Minor Declaration
Qualifying for the Major: Petition to Declare
Students are encouraged to petition to declare one of the MCD Biology sponsored majors once they have met all the qualification requirements.
Deadlines for Major Declaration
Students who entered UC Santa Cruz as first-year students are required to formally declare a major before enrolling in their 7th quarter/third year at UCSC
- Remember - MCD Biology Qualification Policy requires students to declare an MCD Biology sponsored major by the end of their FIFTH quarter on campus.
Students who transfer to UC Santa Cruz as a Junior Transfer are required to declare a major by the Declatration of Major deadline in their second quarter on campus.
- The major declaration deadlines for each quarter can be found in the academic calendar.
Changing your Proposed Major:
Students who are looking to change their Proposed Major to an MCD Biology Sponsored major should look to discuss their Proposed Major change with an MCD Biology Department Undergraduate Advisor - please look to Email us or meet with an advisor during an Appointment or Drop-in time for more information on your next steps.
Note for Transfer Students: Transfer students who were admitted to a major outside the MCD Biology department sponsored majors, who have completed the qualification requirements, must submit an Appeal to declare an MCD Biology sponsored major.
Changing your Declared Major:
Students who are currently declared a major outside of the MCD Biology department must submit an appeal after they have completed all the qualification courses.
Students who are currently declared an MCD Biology department sponsored major and are looking to change their major to a different MCD Biology department sponsored major please see the process below:
Students looking to change their Biology, BS; MCD Biology, BS; or Global and Community Health, BS: Public and Community Health Concentration major to Neuroscience, BS or Global and Community Health, BS: Biomedical Concentration (or the discontinued Human Biology, BS - if matriculated at UCSC Fall 2022 or prior) will need to submit an Appeal.
Students looking to change their Neuroscience, BS or Global and Community Health, BS: Biomedical Concentration major to Biology, BS; MCD Biology, BS; or Global and Community Health, BS: Public and Community Health Concentration should look to submit a petition to change their major via the Petition of Major/Minor Declaration on their MyUCSC Student Portal (instructions below).
Petition of Major/Minor Declaration:
To submit a Petition of Major/Minor Declaration, students can log into MyUCSC and submit the Petition for Major/Minor via MyUCSC (be sure you are logged into your MyUCSC account before clicking the link).
Another way to access the Petition for Major/Minor via MyUCSC is by logging into your MyUCSC, navigating to the Student Homepage and selecting the Undergraduate Student eForms tile, then Petition of Major/Minor (see screenshots below).
For assistance, please contact the MCD Biology advising team at mcdadvising@ucsc.edu .
Once submitted, petitions are generally reviewed within 10 business days (business days are considered regular working days Monday through Friday).
Human Biology, BS Major Declaration Form
Students who were matriculated at UCSC Fall 2022 or prior who are looking to declare Human Biology, BS; please complete the Human Biology Major Declaration form below.
Students who are admitted/matriculated to UCSC after Fall 2022 (Winter 2023 and beyond) are strongly encouraged to look into declaring the Global and Community Health, BS - Biomedical Concentration as this major is extremely similar to the Discontinued Human Biology, BS major.
