91¿´Æ¬Íø

Some of our strongest students find that no one traditional major fully meets what they want to study.

The Self-Designed Major emphasizes self-determination for its students, while offering guidance and assistance in developing their individualized plans.

The mission of the Self-Designed Major is to provide an avenue by which 91¿´Æ¬Íø students can achieve a level of competence similar to that of students in any of our regularly-offered undergraduate majors, in an academic area of their own design. Working with a faculty advisor, a student accepted into the Self-Designed Major can pursue his or her own course of study deeply, culminating in a senior thesis, creative project, or research project.

The Self-Designed Major emphasizes self-determination for its students, while offering guidance and assistance in developing their individualized plans.

The responsibility for design and execution of the major lies with students, beginning with presentation of their cases for admission to the program. Students contemplating designing their own majors are encouraged to schedule an appointment with any member of the Self-Designed Major Committee to discuss application procedures, to brainstorm appropriate focus for their studies, or to solicit recommendations for faculty advisors. This major is compatible with the pursuit of a second major as well.

The self-designed major can be tailored to create a major in Entrepreneurship or Social Innovation. Several students have done so already. In order to use the self-designed major to do so, however, you must have a specific problem you are trying to solve that will lead to the creation of a new social or business venture, and work with your advisor to design a set of courses that include the core entrepreneurship and innovation curriculum, digital media design and marketing, and a subset of courses with a specific area of focus. The area of focus supports the problem you are solving related to a specific topic like clean technology, food, poverty, social justice or consumer products. Students who want to develop a major in a specific entrepreneurial venture must consult with Trish Thomas, Director of the Entrepreneurship & Innovation Program at 91¿´Æ¬Íø. See the “Requirements” page for further information.

Interested in applying?

Second-semester sophomores or first-semester juniors may apply: the application consists of a detailed proposal, described on the “Requirements” page. In special cases, students may be admitted in their first year. Admission to the program is determined by the Self-Designed Major Program Committee, on the basis of the quality of students’ proposals, as described in the requirements section.

To your right, you’ll see the broad variety of majors that our Independent Scholars have completed in recent years. These majors have led to some fascinating senior theses, such as “European Federalism and the Social Welfare States: How Free Movement, Subsidiarity, and the ECB Affect Safety New Spending in the E.U.,” “Do Androids Joke of Electric Sheep? An Examination of the Theoretical and Technical Future of Figurative Language Computation,” “The Success of Mama Grizzlies: An Examination of the Intersection of Gender and Partisan Stereotyping at the Gubernatorial Level,” “Communal Pedagogy in Documenta 12,” “Chicago’s Natural Aesthetic: A Study of Identity Through Columbus Park,” and “‘Amped About Hell’: Representations of the Suburban Gothic in Serial Television.”

Application Requirements

Applicants to the Self-Designed Major Program should consult with the Chair of the Self-Designed Major Program Committee or any Committee member before making their official applications to the program.

Those seeking a major in some specific entrepreneurial enterprise must consult with Trish Thomas, Lecturer in Entrepreneurship, before preparing their proposals.

Once a student, in consultation with a member of the Program Committee, decides to pursue a Self-Designed Major, he or she must submit a proposal to the Chair of the Self-Designed Major Committee.

The proposal consists of three parts:

1) A 1-2-page prose application

This section should be well and carefully written, and must include the following:

• A title, description, and brief discussion of the proposed major and its value
•  A sound argument that the goals of the proposed major cannot be achieved through any of the regularly-offered majors at the College
• An indication and brief discussion of the senior thesis, creative project, or research project in which the proposed major will culminate
• Identification of an Academic Advisor in the proposed major: Like any other student at the College, a Self-Designed Major must have an academic advisor in the major. The academic advisor need not be a faculty member on the Program Committee, in fact, it usually will not be, but rather, a faculty member with specific expertise in the area of the proposed major, and interest in working with the student intensively on it (all students seeking to major in a specific entrepreneurial venture must have the approval of Trish Thomas, Director of the Entrepreneurship & Innovation Program at 91¿´Æ¬Íø).

An email from the advisor, accepting this assignment, must accompany the final proposal.

CAREER PATHWAYS

Some recent Self-Designed Majors:

• Marketing and Entrepreneurship (2017)
• Film and Television Studies (2017)
• Italian (2017)
• Digital Marketing (2017)
• International Advertising and Design (2017)
• Performance Studies (2016)
• Fashion History (2016)
• Sustainable Urban Development (2015, 2016)
• Anthropological Linguistics (2014)
• Aesthetics in Television (2014)
• Linguistics (2013)
• Sustainable Enterprise Management (2013)
• Arts Administration (2012)
• Women and Gender Studies (2012)
• Intercultural Aesthetics (2012)
• European Union Studies (2012)

independent-study-application pdf.