We’re here to guide you through the process of joining our academic community. Discover application details, deadlines, and other important information.
Important
Requirements
The Interdisciplinary Studies (IDST) program is for students who wish to specialize their studies in an area unavailable through an existing major or minor. IDST constitutes a complete and unique program for Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) students and cannot be combined with an Honours, Major, or Minor specialization in any other field of Faculty.
To be considered for admission to the IDST program, prospective students must:
- be In Good Standing in the B.A. program;
- have attained third-year standing*; and
- have satisfied the Writing Component of the Faculty of Arts Writing and Research Requirement (students who have not completed their writing component are required to take WRDS 350 001 which is reserved for prospective and current IDST students).
*Students can apply if they will have completed a minimum of 54 credits towards a B.A. degree before the start of winter term 1.
Meeting minimum academic requirements does not guarantee admission. Course selection and responses to application questions are important considerations before approval is granted. Admission to the program is ultimately at the discretion of the IDST Program Chair.
Procedure
Applications are submitted online and will be evaluated as received by the Program Chair. You may be asked to revise your application based on the feedback we provide before we could accept your application.
In your application, you will:
- Articulate the central focus of your IDST program
- Specify your intended categories and focus area, as well as what courses you will take in each area
- Relate the courses you select for your program to a coherent focus, and consider the interdisciplinarity of your selection
You would also need to include all completed, registered, transferred, or currently in-progress upper-level courses of the course code you choose in your primary focus area. Any additional upper-level courses taken outside of the listed coursework in your primary focus area cannot be earned towards your B.A. degree. So, if you have already completed more than 18 upper-level credits in one course code, you should consider choosing a different one for your primary focus area so that all of those credits can apply to your degree.
Transfer credits
Students may apply upper-level transfer credit to their IDST program, whether earned while attending another institution or on exchange (both subject to Faculty and Degree regulations).
- Review your transfer credits carefully. If you have a “PR” (preclusion) for a specific course at UBC, you are not permitted to include this precluded course into your IDST program.
- If you wish to use unassigned transfer credit (e.g. ECON3RD) towards your IDST Program, please email idst.advising@ubc.ca for review with reference to your specific program or program application. You may be asked to send a copy of the syllabus.
IDST students with transfer credit should keep in mind the "Science credit exclusion list", which stipulates that students may earn no more than 3 credits from any introductory statistics course, including but not limited to: COMM 291, STAT 200, PSYC 218, and ECON 325.
Applicants with COMM/COMR transfer credit should pay special attention to the COMM/COMR transfer equivalencies. Lower-level COMM transfer credit often precludes upper-level COMR courses. Lower-level COMM transfer credits cannot be used in an IDST program, regardless of their upper-level equivalencies.
IDST Advising cannot offer preliminary evaluation of transfer credit courses for applicability to the IDST program.