Academics
As a UWW Interdisciplinary Studies student, you can finish your customizable bachelor’s degree online and at your own pace. Explore our areas of study, find out how to maximize your credits, and learn the nuts and bolts of reaching the finish line.
What You Can Study
A hallmark of the UWW Interdisciplinary Studies program is that you can design a degree that is tailored to your skills, talents, and dreams. Learn more about our areas of study and building a degree program that is entirely your own.
Maximize Your Credits
At the UWW Interdisciplinary Studies program, we want to make sure you get credit where credit is due. In addition to our generous transfer credit policy and community-college friendly policies, we'll work with you to make sure you are awarded the most credit possible for all eligible prior learning and experience.
Then we'll work with you to put those credits together in a way that most benefits you. The more prior learning you draw from to build your degree concentration, the less new coursework you will have to take and pay for.
Accelerated Course Options
In addition to our standard 14-week fall and spring semester course offerings, UMass Amherst offers two 6-week accelerated summer sessions and one 6-week ultra-accelerated winter session, allowing you to pack in the courses you need to help you finish on your schedule.
About Your Degree
As a UWW Interdisciplinary Studies student, you will earn a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
All UMass Amherst diplomas are the same regardless of course delivery mode, and indicate the graduate's academic major. Your diploma will indicate your major—Interdisciplinary Studies.
You will also be awarded a certificate recognizing your individualized degree concentration. For graduate school and employment, both your major and degree concentration will be listed on your official university transcript.
Degree Requirements
As a UWW Degree Completion Program student, here's what you will need to do to graduate with your bachelor's degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from UMass Amherst:
Up to 75 can be transfer credits and at least 45 need to be credits earned through UMass Amherst. These 120 credits can be a combination of coursework and credits from experience.
Complete UMass Amherst’s general education requirements. You may have already completed some of these requirements at other schools.
Core Courses
Our core Interdisciplinary Studies curriculum supports you in creating your customized degree, earning credit for experience, and enhancing skills and knowledge relevant to your life and work. These four core courses also fulfill key Gen Ed requirements.
- Concepts in Learning Integration: You'll work with your faculty advisor to build your degree plan, which is a map of what you need to do to get past the finish line.
- Experiential Reflections (you take two): You'll discuss contemporary issues relevant to your life and work on topics such as leadership, organizations, technology, health, education, and public policy. These courses will help you synthesize your academic learning and life experience, and to hone the skills needed to write a powerful prior learning portfolio.
- Writing about Experience: You'll write your prior learning portfolio—which will be evaluated for up to 30 UMass Amherst, residence credits.
Degree Concentration Requirements
You'll need 45 credits in your individualized degree concentration (15 of these credits have to be "upper level"). These degree concentration credits can be a combination of transfer or residence credits, and may come from coursework or your experience.
A 2.0 GPA is required for graduation. Latin Honors and UWW Academic Achievement are available to students who maintain high GPAs.