UW students are expected to be admitted to a major before they reach 105 credits. If you transfer in with 90 credits, we give you only one quarter to decide on a major. We will allow you more time if necessary to complete the admission requirements of your chosen major, but we expect you to have given the matter some thought before your junior year. And, if we think your choice of major is unrealistic given your previous grades, we will require you to plan for an alternate major. This is a lot to think about during your first quarter at the UW, when you will be making many other adjustments in your life as well.
Most students run through several potential majors before they find the subject they enjoy most.
Give yourself time to do this by starting to investigate potential majors in your freshman year. Each quarter, one or two of your courses should be a subject you are considering as a major, or a requirement of your intended major. Many subjects at the UW have required prerequisites. This is particularly true for science programs. For example, before you can take the UW introductory biology sequence for biology majors you must take a college year of general chemistry, and before you can take the year of general chemistry you should be ready to start calculus.