Here’s what you need to know as you develop your self-designed major:
A self-designed major must be compatible with the degree requirements for Arts & Sciences and William & Mary.
Self-designed proposals may include up to two advisors; at least one of those advisors must be a full-time continuing faculty member in Arts & Sciences.
Self-designed proposals should mainly consist of courses taught by Arts & Sciences faculty. Courses in other schools may not be accessible to students who are not enrolled in a degree program offered by that school.
Applicants who include courses in their major from outside of Arts & Sciences are responsible for assuring that they will be able to enroll in them.
It is the student’s responsibility to fulfill all necessary prerequisites for courses included in the major even if the prerequisites do not count towards the major.
A self-designed major must be substantially different from any established major at William & Mary.
Be aware that interdisciplinary programs such as American Studies, Film & Media Studies, Environment and Sustainability, Integrative Conservation and Gender, Sexuality and Women Studies approve relevant courses in a wide range of subject areas for their majors. It may be that one of these programs covers the field of study in which you are interested.
Total credits in the major typically range from 33 to 38 credit hours but must have a minimum of 30 credit hours. No more than half of the credit hours in your major may come from a single department or program (identified by subject prefixes such as HIST or ANTH). Your major must include courses from at least three departments or programs.
Proposals with "elective" as a course description will not be accepted.
It is rare that more than two introductory-level courses count toward a self-designed major. COLL 100 or COLL 150 courses do not count toward the major.
The self-designed major can lead to either a B.A. or B.S. degree, depending on how it’s designed to fulfill the requirements. At the minimum a B.S. degree must include 15 credits of coursework that carries the NQR domain attribute and relates directly to the area of study. None of these science courses may be taken on a Pass/Fail basis.
It is possible to combine the self-designed major with another major; but note that the catalog rules for dual majors will apply.
Courses included in the proposal must be on the current rotation of courses offered by the respective academic units. You should note the last time a particular course was offered on your proposal. If a course has not been offered in the past three semesters, documentation from the respective department chair or program director committing to the course being on the schedule in the future must be included in the application.
Topics Courses: Every semester departments and programs offer classes on specific topics that are listed under the same course number; often several topics classes will be offered at the same time as sections of a single course—for instance, BIOL 404 or FMST 330. These topics classes, each of which has its own class title, are taught for a short period (every fall for three years, for instance) or sporadically. It is up to self-designed applicant to verify that these classes will be available to fulfill their major.
