Independent Study

After the first semester of study, a student may engage in independent study during the school year in place of a regular course. The student's independent study proposal must receive the approval of the faculty supervisor, the appropriate department chair, the student's faculty advisor and the Committee on Academic Standing. Normally, arrangements are completed in the semester preceding that of the independent study; late petitions may be denied. Independent study requires discipline and responsibility, and therefore the faculty takes into account the maturity of the student and the level of his or her knowledge and academic background when it considers proposals for independent study. A student normally will not engage in more than one independent study in any one semester, and may not engage in more than two independent studies in any one academic year.

Independent study may take many forms, but normally it consists of the study of material unavailable in the formal College curriculum, of laboratory or field research, or of the creation of some body of work in the creative arts, such as poetry, fiction, musical composition or visual art.