International Center

Changing a program

As an F-1 student, you were admitted to the U.S. to work toward a specific educational or professional objective. If you change your objective, you must comply with the standard procedures in order to remain in status.

You need a new I-20 form, and it must reflect any of the following changes:

• Degree program (school/department).
• Degree level (bachelor’s, master’s, PhD, other).
• Funding source and amount.

Note: If, by changing majors you will need more time to complete the program, you must follow the requirements for program extension.

How to change your degree program:

1. Follow MU departmental requirements for changing your field of study.

• To do this you must visit with the departmental adviser of the new major to fill out necessary forms and go over a new graduation plan.
• The documents will be sent to the dean of the specific school, and he or she will approve the change.
• If you are sponsored by an organization, please review the sponsor's guidelines for changing to a different major.

2. Have your academic adviser send the appropriate documentation to the international undergraduate or graduate school admissions evaluators. The admission evaluators may ask for additional documentation of funding source and amount if your current financial information is more than a year old.

3. Once the admission evaluators have reviewed and processed the change, they will send all the documents to the International Center. You will receive an email once your new I-20 has been completed.