The Individual Major (IM) is an opportunity designed for students who are serious about pursuing an area of scholarly inquiry that falls outside the scope of the standing majors of the university. The IM should be an interdisciplinary, intellectually coherent program of study developed by a student in consultation with selected faculty members and submitted for approval to the Faculty Assembly.

As the first step in initiating a proposal for an Individual Major, the student should meet with the registrar, secure an academic advisor, and form a committee constituted of at least one tenure-track faculty member from each discipline emphasized in the proposed major. This committee’s first task is to assist the student in designing the major and securing its approval from the university Curriculum Committee, which in turn will recommend it to the Faculty Assembly. To be approved, proposals must possess scholarly merit, involve interdisciplinary study, and demonstrate that they can be completed with resources available at Linfield.

GUIDELINES FOR APPLICANTS

• The student proposing an Individual Major should have completed at least one year of university work and earned a cumulative GPA of at least 3.000 at the time of application.
• Applications must be submitted by the end of the sophomore year, with approval of the Curriculum Committee coming early in the junior year.
• The Individual Major must comprise at least 50 credits but no more than 60 credits, including all cognates and prerequisites.
• The major must include work from at least two core fields, but not normally more than three, with a minimum of 15 and a maximum of 30 credits in any one core field included within the 60-credit maximum.
• At least 25 credits in the major must be earned at Linfield, including at least 8 upper-division credits in each core field.
• At least one third of all course work must be in the upper division (above the 200-level), with no less than half at the upper division level in all core fields represented in the major.
• Each major must include a culminating integrative experience such as an independent study course, an internship, a senior project or seminar.
• Any individual major that bears the title of a generally recognized course of study should include descriptions of this program as offered at other institutions.

These guidelines abridge a lengthier document available from the Office of the Registrar explaining the process of proposing an Individual Major. Prospective applicants should consult that document early in their planning.