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2006-07 PLU Catalog

Individualized Major

Admission Study Proposal Academic Advising Office


253.535.7619

Supervised by the Faculty Council for Individualized Majors, this program offers junior and senior students the opportunity to develop and complete a personally designed, interdisciplinary, liberal arts major. The course of study culminates in a senior thesis, to be agreed on by the council, the student, and his or her advisor.

Successful applicants to this program will normally have a cumulative grade point average of 3.30 or higher, although in exceptional cases, they may demonstrate their potential in other ways to the Faculty Council for Individualized Majors.

Admission to the Individualized Program


Admission to the program is granted by the council on the basis of a detailed plan of study, proposed and written by the student, and submitted to the council any time after the beginning of the second semester of the student's sophomore year. The proposal must outline a complete plan of study for the time remaining until the granting of a degree. Study plans may include any of the traditional elements from a standard BA or BS degree program.

Once approved by both the faculty sponsor and the Faculty Council for Individualized Majors, the study plan supplants usual degree requirements, and, when completed, leads to conferral of the BA degree with Special Honors.

Study Proposals


Study proposals must include the following:

  1. A Statement of Objectives, in which the student describes what the degree is expected to represent and why the individualized course of study is more appropriate than a traditional degree program.
  2. A Program of Study, in which the student describes how the objectives will be attained through sequences of courses, reading programs, regular course work, independent study, travel, off-campus involvement, personal consultation with faculty members, or other means.
  3. A Program of Evaluation, in which the student describes the criteria to be used to measure achievement of the objectives and specifies the topic of the senior thesis.
  4. A Statement of Review, in which the student describes how previous course work and life experiences have prepared him or her for the individualized study program.
  5. Letters of Recommendation. The study proposal must be written in close consultation with the chair of the Faculty Council for Individualized Majors and with a faculty member who agrees to act as primary sponsor and advisor to the student throughout the course of study. The faculty sponsor must comment on the feasibility of the proposal and on the student's ability to carry it out. It is strongly recommended that a secondary faculty sponsor be asked to co-sponsor and endorse the proposal
    6. .

All subsequent changes in the study plan or the senior thesis must be submitted in writing to the Faculty Council for Individualized Majors for approval.

Further information is available from the Academic Advising Office.