Overview of Degree

The Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Interdisciplinary Studies (IDS BA) degree in the College of Arts and Science (A&S) is available to students who have explored various departments at MU and discovered that their academic interests and goals are not easily accommodated in any one major. IDS BA degree requirements allow students to build an individualized major with two or three curricular components of their choosing that is integrative, multidisciplinary, and reflects their personal academic interests and career goals. 

Note: The IDS BA degree is also available with distinct and structured emphasis areas:  Black Studies, Environmental Studies, Peace Studies and Women's and Gender Studies. Students interested in any of these structured variations of the IDS BA degree should contact Senior Academic Advisor Kibby Smith at smithkib@missouri.edu.

Students are attracted to the traditional or online IDS BA degree for various reasons: a desire to create a unique degree, broad interests, a need for flexibility, timely degree completion, or preparation for further study at the graduate level. Students who are unable to gain entrance into competitive programs at MU or have switched majors several times are also drawn to IDS BA because it allows them to utilize past credits while pursuing courses that correspond to changed interests or goals.

A minimum of 120 credit hours--comprised of MU general education requirements, A&S foundation requirements, and IDS major requirements--are needed to complete the IDS BA degree. Completion of a foreign language sequence is required.

The IDS BA major requirements consist of 39 credit hours, 3 of which are the senior capstone. The remaining 36 hours are distributed between academic areas called components. A component consists of courses from a single department or from multiple departments that relate thematically. One of the components must be an A&S department, while the remaining component or components may be departments from other MU divisions.

In accordance with A&S policy that students may not earn a major and a minor in the same field, IDS BA students may not earn a minor in the same field or department as one of their component areas. Nor may any courses in a minor that a student is claiming be used in any component area in the IDS BA major.

A full description of degree requirements can be found in the MU Course Catalog. Click on the Advising tab if you would like information about academic advising practices and policies.