Undeclared and Individualized Study
Design Your Path.
Reach Your Goals.
We all approach education differently, with varying experiences and perspectives. You may be...
- Self-motivated, independent, and seeking your own path.
- Innovative, ambitious, and ready to explore dynamic career options.
- Mature, high achiever interested in enriching your life.
- Passionate and altruistic, and focused on positive impact and powerful change.
- Or a combination of these.
You may know what you want to do, but you may find yourself drawn to a collection of interests that doesn’t fit neatly into a traditional academic program.
Are you looking for something more?
In RIT’s School of Individualized Study, your education is designed by you. A customized academic program crafted around your interests, your goals, your career aspirations. All in a place dedicated to bringing your unique vision to life.
Your ideas aren’t traditional.
Why settle for an education that is?
100+
Concentration Options
5K+
Courses to Choose From
100%
Cooperative Education Participation
Degree Programs
In the School of Individualized Study, you’ll customize your academic degree around your interests and career goals. With a rich and diverse academic portfolio that includes more than 80 undergraduate programs, more than 100 graduate programs, and numerous options and concentrations, you can blend a range of RIT course work to create a degree that helps you accomplish your professional aspirations. And you’ll do all of this with a team of advisors who continuously provide personalized guidance and support.
Where Your Endeavors Take Shape
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![Remy DeCausemaker working with another student in front of a computer.]()
Creating a Balanced, Equal World
Remy DeCausemakerCommunications and Media TechnologyPublic PolicyOpen source software is integral to building a movement toward equality. For DeCausemaker, that meant creating a degree program in the School of Individualized Studies that targeted the specific areas of expertise he needed to craft the career path he wanted.
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![Berta Rivera walking down a street.]()
More Than One Path
Berta RiveraApplied Arts and SciencesWith the flexibility to shape her education around her professional and personal lives, Rivera has found the School of Individualized Study to be the pathway toward a fulfilling degree and a rewarding career that pays it forward.
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![Zayneb Jaff using a syringe to transfer chemicals.]()
Where Science Meets Art
Zayneb JaffPre-health StudiesMetals and Jewelry DesignStudying health studies has helped Jaff develop her logic and analytical skills. Adding a dual major in metals and jewelry design will prepare her well for medical school, where today's doctors must be both knowledgeable and innovative in their approaches to patient care.
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![Harrison Canning working with a prosthetic hand.]()
Advancing Neurotechnology
Harrison CanningInnovation Science in NeurotechnologyThe School of Individualized Studies enabled Canning to create a degree that combines studies in computer science, business, and neuroscience so he can build a business that can mass produce brain-computer interfaces to help people with disabilities.
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![Katherine Duffy sitting with kids from a children's home in Haiti.]()
Making a Positive Impact
Katherine DuffySociology and International RelationsShe’s a professional ballet dancer and a humanitarian who spends her free time volunteering at a children’s home in Haiti. Duffy created a degree program in the School of Individualized Study so she can one day establish a non-profit of her own.
High-Touch, Hands-On Advising
An unconventional degree program needs more than traditional advising.
Our academic advising process that’s all about you. We want to get to know you and your interests. What are your career goals? What do you want out of your education? By getting to know who you are and what you want to do, we can help you craft an educational journey that’s personalized to your aspirations.
Our advising process is continual, high-touch, and customized to your individual career goals. We’ll help you:
- Arrange introductions with RIT’s faculty and staff, Rochester community partners, and beyond
- Mentor you on your academic path
- Connect you to university resources
- Support you through program completion
In talking to students about their career and educational goals, we seek classes throughout the university that will benefit them. We also connect them with faculty and community partners that have expertise in their areas of interest. This continuous one-on-one interaction fosters strong working relationships. Students interested in designing their own major and taking control of their educational path will find the School of Individualized Study is the right place to be.
Michelle Firnstein
Senior Academic Advisor
School of Individualized Study
The Napier Experience
The Napier Experience invites undergraduate students—recommended by their peers, advisors, and/or faculty—for a day-long retreat focused on leadership, structured coaching, and mentoring opportunities.
The Gap Year Entrepreneurial Fellowship
The Gap Year Entrepreneurial Fellowship allows students in the School of Individualized Study to take time off of school to focus on personal business ventures while still working toward their degrees.
Roar to the Finish
An initiative designed to help students who have been away from higher education for more than three years. Gain new skills, advance your career, and ultimately fulfill your personal goal of completing your degree.
Engaged, Dedicated Faculty
The faculty in the School of Individualized Study understand the value of relationships, and work with you to help you define what you want to do and how you can reach those goals. You’ll also partner with faculty throughout RIT as you choose concentrations and customized course work.
Students in the School of Individualized Study are visionary thinkers. They look for the gaps in the traditional academic curriculum, and create degree programs that are creative and innovative. I am often in awe of some of the imaginative ways in which students have tailored their academic learning to suit their individualized needs and current job market trends.
Makini Beck
Assistant Professor, School of Individualized Study