Program Overview
Overview of the Individualized Major (BA) Program
The Individualized Major (BA) program at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study offers students the opportunity to create a personalized course of study that aligns with their academic and professional goals. This program allows students to work closely with faculty advisers to design a concentration that integrates coursework from various disciplines and departments across New York University.
Program Requirements
To complete the Individualized Major (BA) program, students must fulfill the following requirements:
- Complete 128 credits, with a minimum of 64 credits taken after matriculation at Gallatin.
- Satisfy the Gallatin Core Requirements, which include:
- First-Year Interdisciplinary Seminar (4 credits)
- First-Year Writing Seminar (4 credits)
- First-Year Research Seminar (4 credits)
- Interdisciplinary Seminars (16 credits)
- Intellectual Autobiography and Plan for Concentration (0 credits)
- Colloquium (Rationale and List of Works) (0 credits)
- Complete the Liberal Arts Requirement, which includes:
- Humanities (8 credits)
- Social Science (8 credits)
- Mathematics or Science (4 credits)
- Fulfill the Historical and Cultural Requirement, which includes:
- Premodern (4 credits)
- Early Modern (4 credits)
- Global Cultures (4 credits)
- Critical Race Studies (4 credits)
- Complete additional courses to reach a total of 128 credits.
Program Structure
The Individualized Major (BA) program is designed to provide students with a flexible and personalized course of study. The program structure includes:
- A first-year program that introduces students to interdisciplinary study and helps them develop their concentration.
- A series of interdisciplinary seminars that allow students to explore different topics and disciplines.
- Opportunities for independent study, internships, and other forms of experiential learning.
- A colloquium, which is a final oral examination that allows students to synthesize their learning and reflect on their concentration.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of the Individualized Major (BA) program, graduates will be able to:
- Forge their various and sometimes disparate intellectual and/or artistic interests into an individualized program of inquiry and learning that comprises their concentration.
- Gain proficiency in oral and written communication.
- Learn the critical analysis of ideas, themes, and texts from major historical, cultural, scientific, and philosophical traditions.
- Learn to become active learners in the classroom and to probe the relationship between the material they study in the classroom and the worlds outside of it.
- Learn to approach their own lines of inquiry with creativity and rigor, which transcend traditional disciplinary and professional categories and via the conception and execution of individualized and innovative projects.
Policies
The Individualized Major (BA) program has several policies that govern student progress and completion of the degree. These policies include:
- A classroom credit requirement, which states that students must complete at least 64 credits in classroom courses.
- A maximum credit limitation, which states that students may not attempt or earn more than 168 credits.
- A policy on repeating courses, which states that students may retake a course to improve their grade point average, but only the later grade will be computed in the grade point average.
- A policy on petitions and appeals, which allows students to petition to waive a rule or policy and to appeal a petition decision.
Additional Study Options
The Individualized Major (BA) program offers several additional study options, including:
- Independent study, which allows students to work one-on-one with a faculty member on a particular topic or creative project.
- Tutorials, which are small groups of students working closely with a faculty member on a common topic or project.
- Senior project, which is a semester-long, four-unit, intensive independent research and/or creative project that students work on under the guidance of a faculty mentor.
- Internships, which provide students with hands-on work experience and the opportunity to develop skills and knowledge in a particular field.
- Private lessons, which allow students to earn academic credit for their studies at performing or visual arts studios in the metropolitan area.