Declaring Political Science
Eligibility to Declare
How to Declare
Transfer Students
Double Majors
Schedule of Declaration Sessions
Minimum eligibility to declare
- PS 1, Intro to American Politics,* and PS 2, Intro to Comparative Politics must be completed to declare.
- A 2.0 gpa overall and in courses counting for the major.
*Students who received a 4 or 5 on the American Government AP exam may substitute an upper division American Politics course for PS 1, before or after declaring the major. The upper-division American politics substitute course taken to satisfy the PS 1 requirement may not also fulfill an upper-division requirement in the major.
You must attend a Major Declaration Session to get declared in the major. Here's how:
- Pick a date from the calendar below
- Gather your transcripts and make copies of them to submit. See more on transcripts below.
- Arrive early! We will accept the first 20 students who arrive at each session. Sessions held early in the semester and during Telebears time are usually full. Come early to ensure a place.
Declaration Sessions are held in Room 202 Barrows (unless otherwise noted on the calendar).
Do not come to a Declaration Session without all needed transcripts.
You cannot declare without a complete set of relevant transcripts. This
includes transcripts for courses you have taken at community colleges,
other universities, and UCB (an unofficial Bearfacts transcript is okay).
DARS reports are not acceptable. We keep the transcripts, so bring
copies you can spare. (You need not bring transcripts for courses that
do not count for our major.)
A Declaration Session generally takes about an hour and includes a brief
orientation to the major and Q&A, after which declaration forms are
completed (we supply the forms - you supply the transcripts).
Transfer Students
Transfer students who came to CalSO and attended the Political Science
orientation session in 202 Barrows need not attend a Declaration Session
in order to declare. Bring your transcripts, including a Bearfacts transcript
if you have completed a semester or more at UCB, and come to the Undergrad
Office during regular drop-in hours: 9-12 and 1:30-4 Monday - Friday.
Transfer students who did not attend the Political Science orientation
at CalSO must attend a Declaration Session. Be sure to bring transcripts
from your previous school as well as UCB. Although you may have sent transfer
transcripts to Berkeley, we do not have access to them. You can obtain
one free set of your transfer transcripts at 110 Sproul Hall (allow 7-10
working days).
Double Majors
To declare a double major, you must complete the Double Major Petition forms. These forms must be signed by an advisor in each department and then submitted to 113 Campbell Hall. Double Major Petitions can be downloaded from the L&S Web Site. Hardcopies are available at 113 Campbell Hall and at the Political Science Undergraduate Advising Office in 296 Barrows. You may declare both majors at one time or declare one major first and add the second major later.
If you have not yet declared Political Science, you must attend a Major
Declaration Session (see above) before the Double Major Petition forms
are signed. If you are already a declared Political Science major and
are adding a second major, bring the forms to the Undergrad Office during
office hours for review and signatures. The double major petition can
take several weeks for L&S to process (single major petitions take a few
days), so be sure to submit it at least one full semester before your
intended graduation date.
Schedule
of Declaration Sessions
This is updated every three months during the academic year. If none of
the sessions fit your schedule, let us know. We can try to accommodate
you in the upcoming months.
April
|
Sunday
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Monday
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Tuesday
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Wednesday
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Thursday
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Friday
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Saturday
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3/30 |
Declaration
Session 4/1 10:00 am |
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4/6 |
Declaration
Session 4/10 2:00 pm |
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| 4/13 |
Phase 1 Registration begins for Fall 2008 Declaration |
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|
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Declaration
Session 4/23 10:30 am |
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| 4/27 |
|
Declaration
Session 4/29 1:30 pm |
May
|
Sunday
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Monday
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Tuesday
|
Wednesday
|
Thursday
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Friday
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Saturday
|
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5/4 |
Declaration
Session 5/8 10:00 am |
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| 5/11 |
Declaration
Session 5/16 1:30 pm in 706 Barrows |
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5/18 |
Declaration
Session 5/21 10:30 am |
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| 5/25 |
Memorial
Day
University closed |
Declaration (last session until mid-July) |
Sessions are held weekly during the academic year and less frequently
during the summer and winter breaks.
They
are announced by email on the PSAdvise@berkeley.edu listserv and posted
here.