Overview

Has your educational path made you think about a more personal, autobiographical degree, one that is built on your individual and academic interests investigated from a variety of disciplinary perspectives?

Interdepartmental majors are an avenue for ÂÒÂ×Ç¿¼é undergraduate students to forge their own academic experience by combining courses already offered at the University to create a customized program of study.

Interdepartmental Major Requirements

An interdepartmental major mus consist of ten core courses (40 credits) from at least two departments, and up to four supplementary courses. The major is supervised by two faculty advisors, and is approved by the Committee on Individualized Interdepartmental Programs (CIIP).

Interdepartmental clusters available through the cluster search engine (clusters that include 'INT' in the cluster ID) are still available.

Notices:

  • Beginning in fall 2024, proposals for interdepartmental minors will not be accepted.
  • Beginning in fall 2021, seniors will not be eligible to apply for an interdepartmental major.

How to Get Started

If you have a preliminary idea for a major, you should ask yourself: “Is it possible for me to follow a similar course of study through some combination of existing majors, minors, or certificates?” If your answer is “no,” then you may want to consider applying for an interdepartmental program.

If you have determined that your interests cannot be met within the framework of existing programs at the University, meet with an advisor in the Multidisciplinary Studies Center in order to further explore your options. Be particularly careful when your area of interest has a professional as well as a liberal arts orientation. Degrees or minors of a pre-professional nature (e.g., pre-med or physical therapy) cannot be approved.

How to Apply

First Step

Students should submit the Interdepartmental Faculty Recommender Agreement Form(s). There should be one form per faculty advisor.

  • Interdepartmental majors require two faculty advisors

Interdepartmental Faculty Recommender Agreement Forms are due either October 1 (fall semester) or March 1 (spring semester).

**Failure to meet this deadline may result in the student being ineligible to apply during that semester.

Second Step

The deadline to submit application materials is either November 1  (fall semester) or March 30  (spring semester). Interested students should meet with an advisor in the Multidisciplinary Studies Center well before this deadline to help ensure their proposal meets interdepartmental guidelines.

All applications must include: 

  • Completed interdepartmental proposal form (pages one and two)
  • Proposal essays
  • Completed recommendation forms from faculty advisor(s)

***Please be advised that incomplete proposals will not be reviewed.

Application Materials

Interdepartmental major:

Faculty advisor forms:

Other materials: