There are several ways to get into a photography major in college - but they seem to center around two areas - photojournalism, and photography as a discipline of art. The former is offered in colleges that have a journalism major. The latter is offered in colleges that have art majors, or in the case of my own daughter, in a college level art institute.

My daughter is at the Cleveland Institue of Art, studying for a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Her first two (of five) years were spent in a general art program (painting, drawing, design and art history), then she had to choose a field in which to "major". During her second year, she took a beginning photography course as an elective, liked it, and the rest is history - she is now a photography major. So she had basically *no* photography experience before entering art school

If you are not as art-inclined, then you should probably look for a school which offers a less "art" approach to photography - for example, a college which offers a major in photojournalism.

There are porbably other possibilities, but I am sure there are other responses to your question - this answer is based only on what information I have come across, and I am no expert. Perhaps a professional photographer can give a better response.