Change of Degree Objective (CODO)

You will need to meet the major change criteria to be eligible to change to a new major. Your catalog term, typically the semester you started at Purdue, will be used to determine the Major Change criteria that applies to you (find your catalog term at the top of your MyPurduePlan below the degree progress bar).

The Requirements for the catalog term 2023-2024 are here . See the University Undergraduate Academic Advising Major Change (CODO) website for prior catalog term criteria, more about the major change process and FAQs. Once the student’s Major Change (CODO) has been processed, students will receive an email with instructions to authorize the change.

Some majors have limited space, so they hold all change requests until the end of the semester (or sometimes the end of the year). Even if you meet the minimum requirements, you might not be accepted if there is not enough space. If the major is not space-restricted and you already meet any requirements (GPA, grades in specific courses, or credits earned) then the major change will be processed typically within 5 business days and you will start working with a new academic advisor. If you meet the required GPA, other requirements and are currently enrolled in any required courses, you might be eligible for a “Conditional CODO.” You will work with a new advisor and have access to courses in the new major, but if you do not earn the required grades then your major change will be reversed at the end of the semester. If you don’t currently meet GPA or academic standing requirements, your request will be held until the end of the semester.

if you want to get a good estimate of whether the classes you have already taken will count towards your new major, use the “What-If Worksheet” in myPurduePlan. There is an instructional video available.

From 2024-25, Purdue launched a new tool, The Ellucian Smart Plan, which is touted as an innovative degree audit and planning tool that automatically solves for plan-altering events, like a change in major or a shift in program requirements. By handling these tasks, the software frees up advisors’ and students’ time to focus on more personalized support for students. Students and academic advisors will be able to use the Ellucian Smart Plan to develop personalized semester-by-semester plans, and track successful progress toward degree completion, preparing them for their careers of choice.

When I say Computer Science, I’m referring to all of the majors within the Department of Computer Science, which includes all CS majors, Artificial Intelligence, B.S., and Data Science. Often times, students want me to “chance them” on their odds of getting into one of these majors. This is impossible because getting into these majors depends on how much space they have available in their program at a given time. This can vary significantly from year to year. I’ve had a year with two students were initially deferred, then accepted, and they both had a 3.93 GPA. I’ve had another year where one student got in with closer to a 3.5 GPA. As such, it’s impossible to “chance” a student because the primary factor that determines competitiveness is space, which varies so much.

I can say that my students who have been successful at CODOing to CS generally had at least an A-/B+ in both CS 180 and an engineering-level calculus course (e.g. MA 161/165/162/166/261). Above all, I believe the CS department gives considerable weight to a student’s ability to do well in calculus, since math is such an integral part of CS. Note that engineering-level calculus at Purdue is challenging – likely much tougher than any high school, AP, or dual credit calculus course you’ve ever taken in the U.S.. On top of that, you’re essentially competing against other students for a limited number of higher grades, many of whom have strong math skills.

That said, I want to stress that you do NOT need a bachelor’s degree in CS to become a software engineer/developer. Computer Engineering, for instance, offers a very viable pathway to most of the same types of jobs you can get with CS.

UPDATE 2/22/24: After speaking with a CS representative, I’ve learned that while CS is indeed a highly competitive major, it may not be as competitive as many believe. Generally, as long as you meet the all the CODO requirements (at least a B in both CS 180 and MA 161/165, along with at least a 2.75 GPA), you have a realistic chance of successfully CODOing to CS. However, there are still no guarantees, and the major is only expected to get more competitive in the future.

This major is arguably more competitive than CS, but for different reasons. Like CS, the primary reason why it’s such a competitive major is due to a limited amount of space in the program, which is constrained by the number of aircraft available and thus flight hours available.

However, from my experience, the Pro-Flight department places less emphasis on specific grades and cumulative GPA, and much more emphasis on how serious a student is about becoming a pilot. My students who have successfully CODOed to Pro-Flight had all taken several significant steps toward becoming a pilot on their own outside of Purdue, and many were involved in several other aviation-related activities.

Those who successfully CODO to Pro-Flight must be willing to spend summers on campus to get flight hours in, and it’s important to note that Pro-Flight is significantly more expensive than any other major on campus. See the Aviation Technology Flight Training fees here.

TL;DR: If you want to get into this major, demonstrating how committed you are to flying by starting this process on your own outside of Purdue may be beneficial. However, I do not know how they assess CODO applications.

Like the other majors I mentioned, Nursing is also competitive due to space limitations – I believe due to limits on clinical hours. Nursing also has an extremely rigid curriculum. If you don’t take a very specific set of classes (i.e. BIOL 203/204 and CHM 111/112) in your first year, you’ll be one year behind even after you CODO.

Many of my students who initially say they want to CODO to Nursing tend to change their mind after the first semester – primarily due to the level of science involved. However, I’ve had several students successfully CODO into nursing over the years.

The things these students had in common were that most of them had above a 3.5 GPA with at least a B in BIOL 203+204, and typically an A in CHM 111+112. The BIOL 203 and 204 sequence is especially challenging, and causes many students to reconsider nursing after their first semester. That said, I have had students successfully CODO into Nursing with grades between the 3.0 and 3.5 range.

Nursing does set aside space each year specifically for CODO students, but there are no guarantees that you’ll get in because admission is competitive. As such, I tell my students who are 100% dead set on being a nurse that they might want to be willing to transfer to another program if their CODO is denied. If you want to be a nurse, you don’t need to go to Purdue. There are so many other great programs in Indiana alone. Nursing, like many other practioner-based fields, tend to give less weight things like school rankings and instead of focus on other factors, like clinical experience, how well you interview, and simply whether they feel you’d fit in well with their team.

Finally, if nursing appeals to you, then I imagine that there might be other majors that lead to patient-centered care, such as Kinesiology (as a pathway to physical/occupational therapy), Speech, Language, & Hearing Science (as a pathway to speech pathology and audiology), psychology (pathway to counseling/therapy), Nutrition & Dietetics, and Biomedical Health Science (pathway to Physician Assistant and many other things).

TL;DR: If you can pass BIOL 203/204 reasonably well and do well in your other courses, you have a reasonable chance of being able to CODO into Nursing.

I’d classify engineering as “less competitive” than these other majors, but it’s important to note that there are many engineering majors, and some are nearly as competitive as the ones above. There’s also more than one way to get into most engineering majors. Note that you need to be currently in a program that FYE will allow CODO from- otherwise you will need to first CODO into Exploratory studies and then from there to FYE.

To start, all freshman at Purdue start off in First-year Engineering (FYE). No one gets accepted to Purdue as a freshman into say….Mechanical Engineering. Students typically spend two semesters in FYE to complete their FYE curriculum, which includes the following: Engineering-level calculus 1 and 2, PHYS 172, CHM 115, a science selective (typically CS 159 or CHM 116), a writing class, a speech class, and the ENGR 131/132 sequence. As students wrap up with those requirements, they go through a process called Transition to Major (T2M). From there, students rank their top 3 choices, and they get placed into one of them. Students are more likely to get their top choice if they have a more competitive GPA. I also believe that students cannot list both AAE and MECH together in their top three.

If you came to Purdue but were not accepted into FYE, and you hope to get into an engineering major, there’s typically two ways to do so:

• Try to CODO into FYE
• Try to CODO directly into an engineering major after your second semester and bypass FYE altogether

To CODO into FYE, see this link. There’s a lot to digest, but it basically comes down to taking at least one course from each FYE category.

• Category 1 is engineering-level calculus.
• Category 2 is science (usually CHM 115 or PHYS 172).
• Category 3 is more flexible, and consists of either ENGR 131, a writing course, a speech course, or a humanities or behavioral/social science course. If you have more than one of these (say…ENGR 131 and a writing class), note that they only use your grade in ONE of these classes, and the prioritize it in the order I listed (ENGR 131 > writing > speech > humanities/social science.
• However, they will use ALL courses you take in categories 1 and 2. NOTE: These category 1, 2, and 3 courses MUST be taken at the Purdue West Lafayette campus. While you can use transfer/AP credit, you must still take at least one course from each category on this campus.

Your GPA in these three categories will largely determine your eligibility into FYE. The minimum CODO requirements state that it’s a 2.7 GPA. However, my experience has shown that most students who successfully CODO tend to have at least a 3.2 GPA in the courses in the categories above.

If a student does not successfully CODO into FYE, they can either try to CODO into FYE again after their second semester, OR they can try to CODO directly into an engineering major. Some engineering majors actually have more forgiving entry requirements than FYE. For instance, Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering, and Materials Engineering require a 2.5 GPA. However, there are a handful of engineering majors that basically require that a student goes through FYE. These are Mechanical, Biomedical, and Multidisciplinary. While you can do a direct CODO into Aero/Astro, the entry requirements are high.

Exploratory Studies was created by the University to serve exploring students who are unsure about their major. Students in Exploratory Studies will each receive a different schedule based on their goals and interests. But they all require a 3-credit hours exploration course in the first semester. If you’re looking to CODO to FYE, then you’d be in almost the same classes as a student who was directly admitted to FYE. The only main differences are that all EXPL students are required to take EDPS 105. That EXPL course does count in your GPA and students tend to do well, but only if they are willing to explore.

Assuming a student isn’t bringing in any AP/dual credit, a fall schedule for a student hoping to CODO to FYE will typically look something like this:
• an Engineering/science-level Math (MA 161 or MA 165)
• a Calc-based science (PHYS 172 or CHM 115)
• a General Education course (ENGL 108, SCLA 101, COM 114, SCLA 102, EDPS 315, or any humanities or social science class)
• ENGR 131
• EDPS 105

Although EXPL does receive a significant number of spots in ENGR 131, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to get a spot. Spots are essentially given out via an internal lottery system for students who intend who are calculus-ready (via AP/dual credit or a certain ACT, SAT, or ALEKS score) and intend to CODO to FYE. Regardless, it’s important to remember that even if you do NOT get ENGR 131, you can still graduate on time. The main difference is that the sequence of your courses will be a different different at first, as you’ll likely front load a couple more Gen Eds.

Remember that First-year Engineering isn’t the only way to get into most engineering majors. Other than Mechanical, Biomedical, and Multidisciplinary Engineering, you can do a direct CODO into other engineering majors after your second semester as long as you complete Calc 1 and 2, PHYS 172, CHM 115, a science selective (typically CS 159 or CHM 116), writing, and speech. Requirements may vary a bit between Engineering majors, but that’s what the vast majority require. Some majors, such as Aero/Astro are going to exceptionally difficult to get into though, as they’ll require a very high cumulative GPA and will still only accept students after holistic review. But if you’re flexible about Engineering majors, you’l find that many Engineering majors have more forgiving CODO requirements than FYE. In fact, many engineering majors only require a 2.5 cumulative GPA after you complete all the required courses listed above. Please reach out to exploratory@purdue.edu if you have more questions about applying.