Pre-Major Information

All pre-majors must complete specific courses and meet specific GPAs to declare their major. These are called Major Specific Requirements (MSR). These courses will be priority for your first and second year at CSULB.

  • All first time, first year students in the College of Health & Human Services are pre-majors. Pre-major status simply means you are not fully declared into your major yet. To become fully declared, you are required to complete Major Specific Requirements (MSRs). All majors have MSRs and it’s important to remember that you MUST complete ALL MSRs by the time you have earned 60 units. If you are a pre-major, your goal should be to complete your MSRs by the Fall or Spring of your second year. Additionally, to change your major or pre-major, students must be on track to complete all MSRs by the time they earn 60 units.
  • Please note that some majors, Social Work and Nursing, require Supplemental Applications to get into the designated major, in addition to the MSRs. 
    • Advisors will discuss the Supplemental Application if your major requires it during the Spring semester First-Year (Freshman) Advising workshop. 
  • Once you meet the MSR (including GPA(s)), Enrollment Services will declare you into the major. This process typically takes about two to three weeks after the semester ends, so please be patient.

  • All students must be fully declared in a major by the time they earn 60 units. If you reach 60 units and you have not declared a major, the university will place a no major hold on your account until you are able to declare a major. If you do not meet the MSRs for your current pre-major, you would need to explore other majors. 
  • We encourage you to declare as soon as possible. Some students can declare into their major after their first year. When you declare, will be based on when you finish your MSRs. 
  • You can review the university policies associated with declaring your major here:
    Declare a Major (Pre-Majors/Undeclared) | California State University, Long Beach (csulb.edu).

  • As a pre-major, you will be limited in the number of major courses you can enroll in. Most majors require you to be fully declared (no longer a pre-major) before you can access certain courses.
  • Your priority courses should be the MSRs for the major you are pursuing. If you run out of MSR courses, you can fill in your schedule with General Education (GE) categories, including the upper-division GE requirements.
  • If you are in progress with your final MSRs, you are still in pre-major status when you register for the next semester. We encourage you to enroll in major courses open to pre-majors, remaining GE requirements, and electives if you need them. Once you are fully declared after the end of the semester, you can swap into courses that are only open to declared students.