>>1
Wouldn't it be too drastic a change?
If you think you can make it, go for it. Good programmers are always in demand. I don't know how you deal with tuition, but if it's not a problem, why not? If it is... well, you be the judge.
You could try your hand at programming before entering first, too, as there is
plenty of literature, you just have to sort the bad from the good.
That ``SICP'' book that gets namedropped here is actually good to learn the fundamentals, but you require a bit more math than you probably know right now at the beginning (it's aimed at first or second year students at engineering schools, who have already covered or are covering the material along the course), and it can be a bit daunting in general, so better stave it off for later.
Pick Learn Python the Hard Way and go through it, or head off to a forum with fewer jackasses than here and ask. Get a taste for it and decide if you want to keep with this ``programming'' thing, then see what to do next.
Stay away from PHP and Javascript, though. The former was made by retards, and the latter in a 10-days marathon, so they're crap, and they're popular with clueless idiots, who write shit tutorials. Go for them later (but I'd skip PHP altogether; it's in demand but the language is terrible and the pay is shit).
Good luck.