Individualized majors help students shape their undergraduate careers

When Brandon Cardwell was a UConn freshman, he didn’t know what he wanted to study.

“I had thought about studying business, but it wasn’t my best fit as a major,” says Cardwell, who was also interested in communication, music, and entertainment.

Thanks to some good advice, it wasn’t long before he found himself meeting with Margaret Lamb, director of UConn’s Individualized Major Program. The program allows students to create their own plans of study.

“When I told them I was one of the founding members of Husky Entertainment, [a student-run record label], and we talked about my other interests, we came up with the major “Mass media, popular culture, and entrepreneurship,” says Cardwell, who spent his first two years at UConn at the Stamford Campus. He also has two minors: communication sciences and business.

“It has been perfect for me,” says Cardwell, who plans a career in television and music production.

The individualized major program is available to undergraduates based in the Colleges of Liberal Arts & Sciences and Agriculture & Natural Resources.

Acceptance into the program is based on submission of a formal proposal, and approval by faculty advisors and an admissions committee.

Cardwell says the program has made his academic career relevant to his future goals. “It’s relevant and tailored to what I want to do,” he says.

“Rather than go to a class, and wonder why I’m there, I’m going to class saying, ‘I need to know this; this is going to help me later on.’”

His hands-on experience has included working as assistant production manager at WHUS, the student radio station, and working as advertising director for UCTV, the student-run television station.

Currently, some 120 students are taking individualized majors, and each year, about 70 students graduate with an individualized major degree.

Up to 200 faculty members are working as advisors with individual majors.

“The program motivates students to take charge and shape their undergraduate careers,” says Lamb.

“I’m very happy to see them doing it, whether it’s a stand-alone major or part of a double major program.”

She says the program attracts highly motivated students.

“Each of these students has an idea, is motivated to pull together a plan, and can convince others it’s a good one,” she says.

“And they follow through. Individualized majors like creative challenges. The fact that their major doesn’t exist in traditional form is not a barrier; it’s an opportunity.”

Lamb says students are asked to prepare statements of purpose that include writing about the importance of studying a particular subject.

“For example, if a student wants to focus on international trade, it’s important to combine economics, some business administration, and political science courses,” she says.

“They then need to think about how they are going to put theory into practice. Are they going to study abroad or do internships, and if so, where does that lead? If they’re planning on going to graduate school, what type of plan would fit?

“We don’t tie them down to particular plans,” she adds, “but we help shape the way they frame the problems and challenges of their undergraduate education.”