Preparing Your Application

What is the Curriculum Planning Form?

The Curriculum Planning Form details your proposed course of study. On it you will list all the courses you propose to include in your individualized major along with a brief rationale for each one. You will also list all the courses you've taken or plan to take in fulfillment of general requirements.

On the form you will find detailed instructions concerning the required numbers of credit hours, upper-level courses, etc. Please contact the IMP office if you have any questions.

What are helpful resources for selecting courses?

• Advice from your sponsor(s) and other faculty members
• College of Arts & Sciences Undergraduate Academic Bulletin
• Bulletins of other IU Bloomington schools
• The websites of various academic departments and schools

How do I know which general requirements I've fulfilled?

Your personalized Academic Advisement Report (AAR), which is available through the Student Center in One.IU, will help you identify which general requirements you have already fulfilled and which ones are outstanding. For best results, run a "What-if Advisement Report" with the following settings:

• Academic Program: Arts & Sciences Undergraduate
• Academic Plan Type: Major
• Area of Study: Individualized Major BA

If you need help with your AAR, please contact the IMP office.

Can I make adjustments to the Curriculum Planning Form?

It is understood that course offerings sometimes change or that you may later learn of a course that is a better fit for your major than one you originally proposed. For those reasons, the curriculum plan is not set in stone: it's possible to make adjustments after admission with your sponsor's approval. Still, you should make sure that the Curriculum Planning Form is filled out completely and that the course of study it describes is one you'd be glad to undertake as is.

Does the Curriculum Planning Form need to be signed by my sponsor(s)?

The final version of your Curriculum Planning Form must be signed by your sponsor(s). This signature indicates that your sponsor(s) have read and approved both the Curriculum Planning Form and the Admission Statement. The rough draft version does not require a signature.

What is the Admission Statement?

A two-to-three-page essay discussing the overall concept of your proposed major and the reasons it should be approved by the admission committee. This is an opportunity for you to expand on the logic behind your curriculum plan and explain how the various pieces of your proposed major fit together to form a coherent and meaningful whole.

What should the Admission Statement address?

• Whether the major resembles others that are regularly offered at IU Bloomington and, if so, how the proposed IMP major differs from others it may resemble.
• The scope of the major and how it achieves both comprehensiveness and coherence (in other words, how it avoids being either too broad or too narrowly focused). Many established majors such as History, Political Science, etc., are designed to balance qualities of breadth and depth. Depth is generally achieved by focusing three of the required 300-400 level courses on a single subtopic.
• What you hope to learn from completing the proposed major. This might seem self-explanatory; however, the admission committee will want assurance that you’ve thought it through carefully. Your statement of objectives can include the goal of acquiring skills that will assist you in some future career, but it shouldn’t be limited to that. Every major in the IMP should be designed to expand your awareness of the cultural and social significance of the subject, its history, its relationship with various intellectual disciplines, and/or other broad contexts that are consistent with the goals of other areas of instruction in the liberal arts.
• How your proposed final project will integrate the various elements of your major (courses, internships, etc.).
• Why the major is a good fit for you, whether you’ll be successful pursuing it, and how your academic record reflects your qualifications (or, if you feel your record doesn’t accurately reflect your potential for success, what assures you your performance will be stronger in the future).

How can I prepare a strong statement?

Keep in mind that the Admission Statement will provide the committee with their first impressions of you and of the major you're proposing. Please take care to prepare a polished essay that includes page numbers and is free of grammatical and spelling errors.

How is the Admision interview sheduled?

Admission interviews are arranged by the IMP office based on the availability provided by you, your sponsor(s), and your committee members. Please make sure that you and your sponsor(s) respond promptly and with as much flexibility as possible.