***Major declarations have ended for the spring 2013 semester and will resume at the beginning of the fall 2013 semester. Any students currently in the process of declaring must complete it by Friday, May 10, 2013. Any students who do not complete the process will need to restart the process in fall 2013.

MCB is not an impacted major. In order to declare the MCB major, you must have completed Biology 1A/1AL and Chemistry 3B (or be concurrently enrolled in them and past the early drop deadline for Chem3B; for Bio1A, you will need to have at least taken the first midterm and received a C or better), have at least a 2.0 overall gpa, a 2.0 gpa in the lower-division prerequisites for the major, and know which emphasis you will declare. (Note: As a transfer student, you must have completed at least one semester at UC Berkeley and have received a 2.0 GPA in the courses that you've taken for the major.)

 Check list before you declare the major. You must have

• a 2.0 overall GPA
• completed or are currently enrolled in Biology 1A/1AL and have a C or better on the first midterm exam (typically the 7th week), and
• completed or are currently enrolled in Chemistry 3B after the 2nd week early add/drop deadline, and
• earned a minimum average GPA of 2.0 in all courses taken for the major, and
• decided on an emphasis (if you haven't come and talk to a peer advisor for advice/planning suggestions). 
• (Transfer students: see note above.)

To start the major declaration process, you must

• fill out the MCB major declaration form online, and 
• download and fill out the Petition to Declare a Major.

Bring your Petition to Declare a Major to the UAO, 3060 VLSB, no earlier than the next business day to discuss your academic plan. When you sign in, please inform the Intake Advisor that you declared online. S/he will hand you the printed course planning form to take to an academic advisor for planning your courses in the major.

Only after you have developed and reviewed your plan with a staff advisor, do you take your packet to a faculty advisor for signature, after which you must bring it back to the UAO for processing. First step though - UAO, not the faculty advisor.

Once declared, you will be required to meet with an MCB UAO advisor each semester to review your progress toward the major before you receive an advisor code (unique to each semester) in order to be able to use TeleBears. (Note: You need to enter the advisor code only once per semester - the first time you use TeleBears.) We will inform you, via email, when the advisor codes are available, but generally this is two weeks before TeleBears begins.

Major Probation Policy
An MCB major must maintain a 2.0 grade point average (GPA) in a) the complete set of all upper- and lower-division courses taken for the major at UC Berkeley and b) all upper-division courses taken for the major at UC Berkeley. Upper-division or graduate level MCB courses that are not used to satisfy major requirements are excluded from this calculation. Students for whom either GPA calculation falls below 2.0 will either (a) be placed on departmental probation for the following semester, or (b) dismissed from the major. The decision to dismiss or place on probation will be made by the Undergraduate Affairs Committee and communicated to the student before the following semester begins. If placed on probation, the student has one semester to raise both GPAs to the required 2.0 and will be subject to dismissal if this is not achieved. If dismissed from the major, students must work with an L & S advisor in order to pursue another major.

Questions concerning the MCB probation and dismissal policy may be directed to the staff advisors in the MCB Undergraduate Affairs Office. Once dismissed from the major, students are expected to work with an L & S advisor to pursue an alternative major.