Addenda for school switch and lighter course load?

Katana_S

Hey everyone! I had 2 questions about the admissions process that I was hoping to get some advice on:

1) Coming into college, I was a student in my college's education school. My major was along the lines of child developmental psychology. But during my first year, I also took some philosophy classes and sat in on a sociology class that I just found far more compelling than my child developmental psychology classes. And so, in my second year, I switched to the Arts & Sciences school and switched my major to philosophy and sociology-- these were also the majors I graduated with. I just thought this school switch on my transcript might be a question mark for the admissions committee. Should I write a brief addendum explaining why I switched schools, citing the exact reasons I mentioned above?

2) During the fall semester of my junior year, I took 4 classes instead of the typical 5 classes/semester. I was studying for the LSAT during that time and just wanted a lighter school workload. However, the 4 classes I took were all upper-level and graduate-level classes related to my majors. Overall, I still got the credits needed to graduate because I had taken some seminars and classes with labs that offered additional credits during freshman and sophomore year. And so, should I write an addendum for this case? Is taking 4 classes instead of the norm 5 classes even considered an abnormally "lighter" class load?

If anyone had advice at all, I would appreciate it so, so much! Taking a long shot here but tagging @"David.Busis" to see if you had any advice! Thanks so much guys!!

kimpg_66

No. They probably don't care that you changed your major tbh. Also plenty of students switch off between 4 and 5 classes a semester. If you went from 18 credits each semester down to 6, that might be worth an addendum. But going from being a full time student to.... being a full time student isn't worth anything (in my opinion).

_oshun1_

I wouldn’t mention it for either. A lot of people switch majors. Even taking 4 classes is still a full time course load so there’s no need to mention it. My course load varied bc I took summer and winter intesession classes so I had room to take a lighter load when I felt like it. & also bc some classes which I needed for my degree were only available once a year. Unless you weren’t in school for a semester or you dropped from full to part time there’s no need to mention it.

Leah M B

Ditto to the 2 commenters above, I really don't think either of these need any explanation. I switched majors and transferred schools and don't plan on noting anything. They can see my transcripts and piece it together - it's not that strange for someone to change majors and/or universities. If you switched majors like 2 or 3 times or more, then yeah I might write an addendum because that starts to be unusual. But a one time change after a year of college is probably verrrry common. And yeah unless you went to down to part time school then no, no addendum. Taking a lighter load one term and heavier load another is really common also.

And completely unrelated, but I can't wrap my head around only taking 4 or 5 classes. I was a music major where majority of classes are between 0 and 2 credits, so I usually took around 8-10 I think haha. I know what you describe is a normal course load, but music major is a whole different beast.

Anyway, you're fine.

Katana_S

@kimmy_m66 @"surfy surf" @"Leah M B" thanks so much for your advice guys!! But another concern of mine in the same vein was that I kind of took a number of random classes (like a classics class, and French lol) because I was curious and wanted to learn something new. No addenda needed right?

_oshun1_

Doubt that needs to be mentioned. If anything itll look good that you took a variety of classes

Leah M B

@Katana_S said:
@kimmy_m66 @"surfy surf" @"Leah M B" thanks so much for your advice guys!! But another concern of mine in the same vein was that I kind of took a number of random classes (like a classics class, and French lol) because I was curious and wanted to learn something new. No addenda needed right?

No! Haha. Everyone has to take random electives at some point. Also that is literally what college is for - learning something new.

TheMikey

nah don't write one. you'll be fine

TheMikey

also, no addenda for the random selection of courses. I'm sure they can easily just guess "ok this person was curious and wanted to take different subjects" or "they needed to take a bunch of electives for credits". in the bigger picture it won't really matter though.

studyingandrestudying

Lots of people are PT students or not taking a full load--if they see this, it's not a problem, so you probably don't need one for this or for having switched majors.

Katana_S

Ah thank you guys so much! This is all a huge relief Good luck with apps!!