Individual Studies

Why Choose an Individualized Studies Program?

Columbia-Greene’s Individual Studies program caters to students who are explorers—or those who have multiple interests that do not fit into a neat box. Working closely with an academic advisor to craft a pathway, students will design a major that fits their academic goals.

Undecided students will enroll in a broad range of classes to find an appealing discipline that best fits their passions, thereby alleviating stress and saving money during the search for the right academic path. Remember: A third or more of students change their major at least once during college. Sometimes, students know exactly what they want to study, but cannot find a major that fits. Columbia-Greene’s skilled advisors help students select classes that prepare them for their next step—either transferring to a four-year college or university or immediately entering the workforce.

Individual Studies is a multi-purpose program with four different degree options that enables students to plan a sequence of courses according to their individual needs and interests. It is appropriate for students who want to change majors or are uncertain about their academic or career goals; who want to concentrate in a particular area of liberal arts; who want to design a customized transfer path, or who need to complete transitional requirements before entering the major of their choice.

Program Options

Careers & Outcomes

There are dozens of opportunities that Individual Studies provides to help students explore their educational, career, and transfer options. For example, students can use Individual Studies to meet pre-requisites to enter a competitive Allied Health degree, explore how realistic it is to enter an engineering program or see if accounting is a viable option.

Case Studies

• Individual Studies can be the academic vehicle which provides the path for a student who wants to major in Psychology while preparing for a career in Physical Therapy. The design would include courses in biology, chemistry, physics, anatomy and physiology, general education requirements and core psychology courses. This blend of classes provides a strong transfer base for a B.A. in Psychology while meeting the required pre-requisites to enter graduate school for Physical Therapy.
• It has been reported that approximately 70% of college students will change their major at least once in their college career. For instance, some business majors, once they encounter the rigorous nature of accounting, finance and extensive math requirements, retreat to find alternative avenues into business careers. Studying communication and or psychology can allow entrance into a variety of sales, marketing, and human resources careers. Individual Studies allows the opportunity to design a degree path combining several disciplines to successfully achieve goals. The Organizational Communications Degree at the University at Albany is one possibility which blends the study of communication, business, and social science.
• If an early childhood education major changes their direction, rather than lose transfer credits, changing over to Individual Studies helps remove the roadblocks for degree completion and transfer credit loss.
• In contrast to students with well-designed transfer paths, is the undecided student, who hasn’t yet crystalized an academic plan. Individual Studies provides the freedom of course selection to explore and experiment with program and career ideas. This freedom, though important, without extensive guidance, career counseling and support services, can lead to a confusing cluster of courses with little or no connection. Choosing one career path is one of the most important, exciting, and confusing challenges in life. This path can be filled with missteps and wrong turns. Columbia-Greene offers the strong support services required to ensure student success.