Describe your institution's programs, decision points, and approval route. Makeform turns the brief into a change of major form that captures the student's current record, requested program, effective term, advising context, and the people who need to review the request.
Route requests to email, Slack, Google Sheets, and connected workflows.
Sample prompts for the builder
Choose the workflow closest to yours, revise the details, and send the prompt into the Makeform builder. Each structure is an example you can adapt.
Audience
Undergraduates replacing their current primary major
Format
Student request with advising and department review
Prompt size
481 chars
Example form structure
Student request with advising and department review
Student identity and institutional email
Current and requested major
Effective and expected graduation terms
Why are you requesting this change?
Have you met with an advisor?
Suggested routing tags
Advisor review
Department review
Registrar processing
Ask for both the requested effective term and the student's expected graduation term; that pair helps reviewers spot changes that may affect course sequencing.
Step 1
Request
student, current record, and requested program
Step 2
Advise
goals, course plan, and timing reviewed
Step 3
Route
the right college and department receive it
Step 4
Process
registrar records the decision and effective term
Why structure matters
An email may say where a student wants to go, but not which record should change, when it should take effect, or which unit owns the next review. A structured form makes those decisions visible before the request reaches the registrar.
Use controlled lists for current major, requested major, college, concentration, and request type. Students distinguish replace, add, declare, and remove actions instead of explaining the record change in a vague email.
Conditional paths can show a second-college review only when needed, request a concentration after a relevant major is chosen, and ask double-major students for a combined academic plan.
Carry the student ID, requested effective term, advising notes, and department decision together. The registrar receives a complete packet instead of reconstructing context across messages and attachments.
Common request paths
Begin with the action the student wants, then reveal only the program, planning, and review questions that apply to that path.
Capture the current and receiving programs, effective term, graduation timing, and advising status for a straightforward switch.
Ask which major is primary, whether two colleges are involved, and whether the student has mapped shared and remaining requirements.
Gather completed prerequisites, courses in progress, concentration choice, and the advising conversation behind a first declaration.
Identify exactly which major, minor, or concentration leaves the record while preserving the student's other declared programs.
Build the workflow
Translate your catalog structure and local review sequence into a form students can complete without guessing which details each office needs.
Tell Makeform whether students may replace, add, declare, or remove programs. Include your colleges, majors, concentrations, terms, and any selection-dependent prerequisites.
Replace example program lists with the current catalog, mark student ID and effective term required, and explain what students should discuss with advising before submitting.
Show receiving-college questions when a request crosses colleges, display concentration choices for applicable majors, and collect a degree plan only for routes where reviewers need one.
Send submissions to the advising or department queue that matches the selected program, keep a structured response list, and give the registrar the details needed to record the final decision.
Choose the intake method
The best intake method does not decide whether a student may enter a program. It consistently gathers the information advisors, departments, and the registrar need to make and record that decision.
Field guide
Use these six sections as a practical starting point, then adjust labels, program lists, review language, and data handling to your institution's own academic policies and systems.
Student record
Start with identifiers staff can use to locate the academic record. Avoid relying on name alone, especially when students share similar names or use a preferred name in daily communication.
Requested change
Separate the action from the destination. A student adding a second major creates a different record change and review path than a student replacing a primary major or removing a concentration.
Academic planning
A program name is only the destination. Advisors may also need to understand prerequisite progress, graduation expectations, and whether the student has considered how remaining requirements fit together.
Advising context
The form should help the next reviewer understand what has already happened without asking students to reproduce private advising notes. Collect the meeting status and operational details your offices actually use.
Review and routing
Cross-college changes, selective programs, and second majors may not share one route. Base routing on structured answers so staff do not have to interpret the request before it reaches the first reviewer.
Confirmation and handling
Use plain language to explain that submission starts a review and does not itself change the academic record. Tell students what happens next and configure access around the student information your institution chooses to collect.
Related tools
Connect major changes with advising, planning, registration, graduation, and record requests using focused forms for each step.
Collect student goals, meeting topics, and preparation details before an advising appointment.
Open toolStructure course plans, milestones, and graduation targets that inform a program decision.
Open toolGather course selections and term details after students settle on an academic path.
Open toolCollect delivery, recipient, and record details for a separate transcript request process.
Open toolConfirm program, name, term, and ceremony details as students approach completion.
Open toolCreate a structured intake for new or returning students entering the institution.
Open toolFAQ
Practical answers for registrar teams, academic advisors, and departments designing a clearer student request process.
A change of major form is an intake students use to request an academic program record change. Depending on institutional policy, that may mean replacing a primary major, declaring from an exploratory status, adding a second major, removing a program, or revising a concentration. The form gathers the student's identity, current record, requested destination, effective term, academic-planning context, and review information. Submitting it should be described as the start of your institution's review process, not as an automatic record update.
Begin with student name, student ID, institutional email, class level, current college and program, requested action, requested college and program, concentration if applicable, effective term, catalog year if relevant, and anticipated graduation term. Add advising status, prerequisite progress, a short reason or goals statement, and an optional degree-plan upload only when reviewers use them. End with a clear summary of the requested change and explain which office communicates the decision.
Yes. Ask for the request type first and use conditional logic to reveal the matching fields. A replacement path can ask for the old and new primary major. A second-major path can ask which program remains primary and whether another college is involved. A declaration path can ask about prerequisites, while a removal path can confirm the program that should leave the record. Separate paths reduce irrelevant questions without splitting submissions across several forms.
Use structured choices such as requested college, major, degree, and request type as routing inputs. Each selection can notify or feed the relevant advising or department queue, with additional review for cross-college or selective-program requests. Keep the student ID, effective term, uploaded plan, review status, and reviewer notes attached to the same submission. Before publishing, test several representative paths, including an undeclared student, a cross-college switch, and a second-major request.
Only if the receiving program or advisor actually uses them. A proposed degree plan can help with a second major, a late program change, or a sequence-heavy curriculum, but requiring it for every student adds friction. Use conditional file upload fields for the paths that need documentation, state which file formats or contents are useful, and avoid collecting unrelated records. Your institution should decide who can access uploads and how long they are retained.
Place a short notice near the submit action saying the request remains pending until the designated office reviews it and communicates a decision. Show a final summary of the student's current program, requested action, destination, and effective term so errors can be corrected before submission. Confirmation messages can explain the next review step and provide a contact for corrections, but they should not say the academic record has changed unless your record system has completed that action.
Yes. Makeform provides unlimited free forms and responses, so a registrar or advising office can generate, edit, publish, and use the form without a submission cap. The paid tier removes the Makeform badge. You can still revise program lists, student guidance, conditional questions, and confirmation copy on the free offering as your academic catalog or internal workflow changes.
Review them whenever the academic catalog, college structure, program availability, prerequisite rules, or office ownership changes. A practical checkpoint is before each major advising or registration cycle. Confirm that every visible major and concentration is current, effective-term choices are valid, old programs are handled intentionally, and routing addresses reach active queues. Submit test requests for common and exception paths, then verify the handoff instructions students receive.
Turn program-change emails into complete requests.
