Interdisciplinary Studies (BS)

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Program Website

Program Description

The primary purpose of the Interdisciplinary Studies (IDS) major is to provide students with an opportunity to develop an individualized set of courses focused on diverse subject areas around interests that are not well addressed by other majors in the college. A student may not be admitted into the major when entering the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences or through the internal transfer process. The change to the major evolves after a student finds their interests diverging from their current major and when a clear idea of new educational objective emerges.

As is the case for other majors, there need to be educational learning outcomes and a set of courses that will meet these academic goals. Unlike other majors where these goals and courses are established by faculty, students are responsible for developing their goals and courses with the guidance of an academic advisor. Generally, students should be drawing courses from across multiple disciplines. It is also expected that the courses taken will move from general introductory courses to advanced courses with greater focus and depth.

There must be an academic advisor identified by the student willing to help with the proposed program. All CALS faculty can serve as advisors for this major. Additional information, including the Learning Outcomes and FAQ's for the IDS major, can be found on the CALS website.

Academic Standards

  • No prerequisite courses are necessary before declaring the IDS major.
  • Letter or S/U grade options will meet major requirements.
  • Courses can be below 3 credits hours if approved by the advisor.
  • Unstructured coursework can fulfill course requirements. Students should work with their advisor on any limitations to the number of unstructured classes that will be attributed to major coursework.
  • Students declaring IDS may not double major; however, they may declare more than one minor.
  • The total number of credits and time to complete the major will vary depending on the courses that students select with their advisor to fulfill the major requirements.  For most students, the total number of credits for the major will be 30 credits but this may vary depending on course choice. All students are required to take a minimum of 10 courses described in the major requirements to complete the major

Declaring the Major

Students interested in declaring IDS, will need to submit the Major Application form found in DUST. Students will need to provide a brief description of their academic area(s) of focus, learning objectives they want to gain from the IDS major based on their academic goals which are in addition to the overall learning outcomes of the major, and their academic plan which would include courses already taken, courses in progress, or future courses that are applicable to major requirements.