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Bulletin Archive

This archived information is dated to the 2008-09 academic year only and may no longer be current.

For currently applicable policies and information, see the current Stanford Bulletin.

Individually Designed Majors

The Individually Designed Major program (IDM) is overseen by the Office of Graduate and Undergraduate Studies in the School of Humanities and Sciences. See the "School of Engineering" section of this bulletin for information about the IDM in Engineering.

The program is intended for currently registered undergraduates in good academic standing interested in pursuing an area of scholarly inquiry that falls outside the purview of an established academic department or program of the University. Proposals for the IDM should be intellectually coherent majors designed by the students themselves with the assistance of faculty members of their choice. The primary adviser must be an Academic Council member. The IDM major requires a minimum of 75 units, all in courses at or above the 100 level, and a minimum GPA of 3.5. The proposed major must not duplicate or be achievable through a major already offered by another degree-granting department or program. IDM students are required to complete a capstone requirement in the form of an honors project. The application deadline for IDM proposals is the fifth week of Spring Quarter of the sophomore year. Applications are reviewed only once a year. Detailed information about proposal procedures and the procedure for an honors project is available at the Office of Graduate and Undergraduate Studies in the School of Humanities and Sciences, Building 1. An IDM cannot be a student's secondary major.

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