Degree Requirements
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Basic Requirements
As each Special Concentrator's program is unique, there are very few basic requirements which apply to all students in the concentration. Each concentrator's individual Plan of Study is approved as part of the process of admission to the concentration. If there is a substitution of courses for more than 25 percent of the original courses proposed and a clear change in focus (e.g. from Caribbean Studies to Mediterranean Studies), the program must be reviewed by the Standing Committee on Special Concentrations. All individual substitutions or changes in courses to be counted for the concentration must be approved by the individual's Faculty Adviser and by the Director of Studies. Any special requirement for a Special Concentration is established at the time the original Plan of Study is approved.
Non-honors concentrators must take a minimum of fourteen half-courses in the concentration. The only required course is Special Concentrations 96r, a senior project ordinarily taken during the term before graduation.
Honors concentrators must present a minimum of sixteen half-courses in the concentration. A year-long junior tutorial, Special Concentrations 98r, is ordinarily required of all honors candidates. During the senior year, honors candidates must enroll in two terms of Special Concentrations 99 and produce a thesis or its equivalent.
All courses counted for concentration must be taken for a letter grade, with the exception of SC99 (thesis tutorial) or an appropriate Freshman Seminar, which may be counted toward concentration with the permission of the Committee. Each letter-graded course for concentration must be passed with a grade of C or higher.
All Special Concentrators, both honors and non-honors candidates, must take a three-hour written, or one-hour oral general examination (please see section on "General Examination.")
Tutorials
Perhaps one of the most attractive and at the same time daunting aspects of Special Concentrations is the opportunity to take control of one's education.
The choice of courses is one's own and there are few, if any, guidelines as to what constitutes a "regular" Special Concentration. For those students who enjoy this notion, the idea of tutorials within Special Concentrations is the ultimate in controlling one's education. Tutorials allow concentrators to find a qualified tutor, who has expertise in their chosen field, devise a syllabus and reading list, which will meet the concentrator's interests, and benefit from weekly one-on-one meetings with the tutor.
While sophomore tutorial is not mandatory in Special Concentrations, concentrators often choose to set up a tutorial in their sophomore year to ease their transition into the concentration. Honors candidates, who must take a junior tutorial, often do the same although the concentration will also accept relevant tutorials from other departments. For example, a student studying political psychology and government discovers that the Government department is offering a one-time-only junior tutorial on exactly this subject with a visiting professor. If the Government Department is willing to allow this Special Concentrator to enter the tutorial, Special Concentrations would be happy to accept it as a substitute for Special Concentrations 98.
Unlike advisers, tutors do not have to be faculty members. In fact, the majority of them tend to be graduate students. The hardest part of the tutorial process is finding a tutor. Once found, tutors are usually delighted to be paid to work on a one-on-one basis with highly motivated, focused students whose interests coincide with their own.
Plan of Concentration
As part of the admissions process students present a proposed Plan of Concentration listing the courses that they intend to take for their Special Concentration. Given the regularity with which courses appear and disappear from the catalogue, it is inevitable that there will be changes in this selection over a three-year period. Therefore, we ask concentrators to update their course selection each semester so that we are kept abreast of any changes in plans. We do this by sending a copy of the latest Plan of Concentration to the student at the beginning of each semester and asking them to have any changes in course selection approved by their advisers. The last chance for concentrators to make changes in their plan is at the beginning of their final semester here.