Design Your Own Major
Create your own interdisciplinary, out-of-the-box course of study
Learn more about Pitzer's self-designed major, one of the many unique academic opportunities we offer.
Our self-designed major is an option for students who wish to forge a customized academic path.
Self-Designed Majors at Pitzer
Our interdisciplinary academic approach allows students to make connections among a broad range disciplines. If you're interested in studying a blend of subjects and have a unique viewpoint on how they interact, and it's not an already-offered program, self-designing a major is a great option to explore.
You'll work with two faculty members who will help create and approve your proposed course of study.
Recent self-designed majors:
- Global/Local Community Engagement through Soccer
- Climate Toxicology
- Documentary Activism
- Queer Health Justice
- Urban Justice Studies
Your Road Map to a Self-Designed Major
Our review committee will ensure your proposed course of study meets state, academic, and graduation requirements.
You'll go through the following steps:
- Identify your self-designed major subject interests.
- Attend a required self-designed major informational meeting.
- Develop a proposal at the start of your junior year. Your proposal should be developed with and approved by two advisors from the appropriate fields.
- Submit your proposal to the Registrar's Office for a Curriculum Committee review.
Your proposal will go through a rigorous approval process. If the Curriculum Committee rejects your proposal, you will have the opportunity to appeal.
Pitzer Voices
“By designing this major I was able to have more space to think in a way that is more creative, social-oriented, and emotional.”
Pratya Poosala ’24
she/her
Neuroscience and Narrative Medicine self-designed major
Student Achievements
Awards
Malaya Caligtan-Tran ’22, a self-designed Indigenous Public Health major and Environmental Analysis minor, received a Fulbright award to research the impact of privatization and resource extraction on communities in the Philippines.
Read Malaya's Story
Research
Kaila Teague ’22, Foreign Language self-designed major, served as a research assistant on virtual language acquisition in the summer of 2020.
Self-Designed Major Guidelines
- A self-designed major proposal should be developed with and must be approved by a minimum of two faculty advisors in appropriate fields.
- When particular fields are highly represented in the self-designed major, the advisor(s) must come from those fields.
- Students must have at least one Pitzer advisor, so if both self-designed major advisors are from off-campus, the student must have a third Pitzer advisor.
- Students must attend the information meeting on self-designed majors before they submit a proposal.
- Proposals should be submitted to the Registrar’s Office to be forwarded to the Curriculum Committee for review, comment, and approval.
- The Curriculum Committee will not accept self-designed major proposals during the senior year, unless the self-designed major proposal could be accepted without revision.
Proposals must include:
1. An explanation for the self-designed major, including:
- Title: The title must correspond with the course list and rationale for the major.
- Purpose: Proposals must state the goals to be achieved through the implementation of the desired major and explain why these goals cannot be met with existing majors.
- Student Learning Outcomes: Proposals must clearly state the expected knowledge, skills, attitudes, competencies, and habits of mind the student will acquire through completion of the self-designed major. These should be demonstrated by the capstone experience.
- Coherence: The proposed courses must demonstrate a cohesive, feasible, and organized program of study and explain how the courses work together to achieve the desired goals. There will be no more than four introductory courses, and at least six upper level courses in a self-designed major.
- Mastery: The proposed major must exhibit sufficient depth and rigor, including a substantial number of advanced courses. There must be some theory and/or research methods courses in the self-designed major.
- Capstone: The proposal must discuss plans for a synthesizing paper, project, seminar, or thesis. The course list should include a full-credit independent study devoted to completion of this thesis or project, or explain how an existing advanced seminar would serve this purpose. The capstone experience should integrate the knowledge gained through the self-designed major.
2. Course List:
- A completed major declaration form must be included, listing both educational objectives and a course list, including a minimum of ten courses for the proposed self-designed major.
- The course list should match the explanation for the self-designed major and should be consistent with curricular capabilities of The Claremont Colleges.
- Approval of student’s statement by the advisors, accompanied by a supporting letter for the proposal and agreement to maintain advising of the self-designed major for the duration of the student's work.
- Self-designed majors are not allowed to be used as one or both of the majors making up a combined major.
Contact
- Professor of Secular Studies and Sociology
- Associate Dean of Faculty
- Secular Studies and Sociology Field Groups