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Bachelor in General Studies (BGS)

 

The Bachelor of General Studies, established in 1968, is a degree option for students with interdisciplinary or alternative academic interests. It allows them to pursue their interests in an individually designed degree program independent of departmental requirements. The BGS is not designed for students who lack a specific educational purpose or direction. Such students ultimately flounder in the freedom of the BGS program for lack of clarity of purpose.

The BGS is ideally suited for students who have specific areas of interest, who see in the flexibility of its degree structure a chance to explore new areas of learning, and who welcome the responsibility of planning their own undergraduate programs. Students may, with the BGS, combine skills, knowledge and experience across departments and academic disciplines. It is also possible to fold into the BGS course work the classes needed to earn a Teaching Certificate, to prepare for entry level business positions or an MBA program, or to prepare for law, medical, or other professional/graduate schools.

The Bachelor of General Studies has the following requirements:

  • Completion of at least 120 credits of which at least 60 credits are for course work elected at the 300 level and above.
    No more than 20 credits of upper division courses of the minimum 60 required credits may be counted from a single division.
  • Completion of the total academic program in good standing (overall minimum 2.0 grade point average (GPA) for all courses and at least a 2.0 GPA in all successfully completed upper-level course work).
  • Completion of the LS&A composition requirement, both introductory composition and a junior/senior writing course. Students may use a junior/senior writing course that is also part of their 60 credit upper-level requirement.
  • Completion of the LS&A Race & Ethnicity requirement. Students may use an upper-level course approved for this requirement as part of their minimum 60 credits of upper-level work.
  • Completion of the LS&A Quantitative Reasoning requirement. Students may count an upper level course approved for this requirement as part of their minimum 60 upper-level credits.
  • A maximum of 20 credits of acceptable non-LS&A course work can be applied toward this 120 credit program. Any such course work that is upper-level may be applied toward the minimum 60 credits of upper-division work. Students should check the LS&A Bulletin or with an advisor to make sure that any non-LS&A course work they plan to take will be accepted by the College.
  • Students earning a BGS do not have to fulfill the LS&A Distribution, Concentration and Foreign Language requirements.

Students should check the LS&A Bulletin for full details on each of the above requirements.

Students who are considering a BGS degree or who are actively pursuing one, should consult on a regular basis with their general advisor or one of the advisors who specialize in the BGS degree. Such regular contact will assist in shaping this degree to reflect the desired skills, knowledge and experience which the student intends to combine in this non-traditional degree.

Transfer students who elect the BGS program must be particularly careful in program planning. Very often students will transfer primarily lower-level credit and therefore are compelled to elect only upper-level (courses numbered 300 and above) course work at Michigan. In some cases, the upper-level work requires prerequisites of lower-level course work not already completed, thus requiring further lower-level work. A transfer student may not feel that he/she has enough "room" in the remaining terms to take much additional lower-level work and still graduate "on time." Therefore, transfer students who consider this option should work very closely with an academic advisor.