Change of Major

Current UC Irvine Students

Changing or adding an ICS major

1. Effective Fall 2026, anyone with a catalogue year of 2026-2027 or later must follow the new requirements.

2. Visit the UCI Change of Major Criteria website. (Please note that there are no exceptions to GPA requirements.)

The unit caps for ICS majors are:

Data Science, Software Engineering: 60 units
Informatics, CSE, Computer Science, GDIM: 90 units
Business Information Management: 120 units

3. Apply:

If you have fewer than the number of units for the major you are applying for (with no exceptions):

Submit your application via Student Access > Applications > Change of Major. Change of Major Criteria must be completed and grades posted on your transcript, and only units earned after high school are counted. Allow 3-4 weeks for the application to be processed.

If you have greater than the number of required units for the major you are applying for:

Apply using the ICS Change of Major Appeal. Applications are evaluated as a group on a quarterly basis.
For Spring 2026, applications are open until Friday, April 10, 2026, at 5:00 p.m.
All appeals are discussed and reviewed by the Student Affairs Office staff and the Associate Dean of Student Affairs.
Decisions will be based on capacity of the major as well as your academic performance. Factors such as multiple repeats of courses and grades in all courses required for the major will also be taken into consideration.
Due to the impacted nature of ICS majors, submitting an application does not guarantee that you will be admitted.
If your appeal is denied, we recommend exploring one of the minors offered within the School of ICS as an alternative.
The appeals process will follow a similar timeline to the above for each quarter – the form will open from the Monday of finals week until week 2 of the following quarter, with decisions made 3-4 weeks subsequently.

Switching from ICS to another school

Visit the UCI Change of Major Criteria website for a listing of specific change of major guidelines for your intended major.
Meet with an academic counselor or peer advisor in the school of your intended major.

Prospective UC Irvine Students

ICS does not accept pre-admission change of majors. Admitted students must enroll in their current major and meet the change of major criteria once enrolled, to request a change of major.

If you have been admitted to an ICS major and wish to change your major from ICS to a different school within UC Irvine, please contact your admissions counselor via the Message Center on your UCI Applicant Portal page to find out if you can change majors prior to the May SIR deadline.

FAQs

Transfer students are encouraged to accept admission to a computing major they are directly admitted into (instead of pursuing a change of major) and make efficient progress to degree.
If a transfer student wishes to pursue the change of major, they may view our change of major criteria.
Transfer students must complete one full time quarter (not including summer) to be considered for change of major.
We do not make exceptions to the unit caps listed on the Change of Major website.

Due to the large number of admitted students, we cannot provide this service at this time.
All admitted students must go to mandatory summer orientation. Your transcripts will be reviewed and evaluated for course credit at this time.
Change of majors must go to the summer orientation of their school. We are unable to review your coursework and provide advising. Your academic counselors will review your transcript and provide an evaluation.

If you took courses outside of UCI to satisfy major requirements, please fill out a DegreeWorks update form to get those requirements updated. It will not update automatically.
If you took a course(s) outside of UCI and that is a prerequisite for a School of ICS course you want to enroll in, you must fill out a prerequiste clearing request for the course you want to enroll in. We recommend you fill it out at least a week before your enrollment window opens so that we have enough time to process your request.
If you have any questions about advising, please reach out to us! Contact info can be found here. Students do not have assigned counselors and can speak with any advisor or PAA.

Yes, ICS undeclared students will receive priority registration into ICS courses and have access to the same resources as an ICS declared major.

Placement in the ICS Undeclared major provides students with the opportunity to take programming courses and make a more informed decision when deciding on a major, which is expected to be at the end of their first year in the program. ICS advisors are available to help during this process.

Contact

Undergraduate Student Affairs Office
ICS 1 Building, Suite 352 (3rd floor)
(949) 824-5156
ucounsel@uci.edu