Application Guidelines

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Academic Departments

All Center for Interdisciplinary Studies (CIS) majors require an application, and not all applicants are accepted. 

Application Steps

Students apply to the CIS during their second year at Davidson. Most CIS majors begin the process by meeting with potential advisers in the fall and then applying in early spring. 

Meet With Potential Adviser(s)

The first step is to meet with faculty members and discuss your idea for a major.  At this point, you should have a strong sense of your academic plans, and which adviser(s) you would like to work with closely.

If you are applying for a center-established major, you should download a copy of the posted curriculum and be prepared to talk about how you plan to fit the necessary courses into your schedule. This includes fulfillment of Ways of Knowing requirements, other courses needed for your plans (i.e., pre-medicine courses), and education abroad possibilities (if applicable). You would need either one or two advisers (depending upon the curriculum).

The relationship between CIS majors and their advisers is crucial to their success. In most cases, you will have already taken a course with potential adviser(s). You must also get support from your potential adviser(s) to serve as an adviser(s), and review the curriculum and your academic plans with your adviser(s), even if you select a center-established major. You should also discuss whether or not the capstone experience in your senior year will be a thesis or a project.

Submit Application

The application forms for center-established majors and student-designed majors differ slightly; please select the correct application.  The application includes courses in the curriculum, a brief explanation for the necessity of a CIS major, and key signatures from the director, the advisers, and the Registrar. Capstone experiences (thesis or project) almost always change over the course of study, and are only meant to help guide you in selecting required classes, planning for education abroad, finding resources for the capstone, and other tasks.

We strongly discourage double majoring with CIS. If you were to double major, then you would need to obtain permission from your advisor(s) and the CIS Director in advance. CIS is meant to be for students whose curricular interests are not covered by an existing major.

Application Deadlines

Saving Applications 

When returning to a saved application do not use the links for the applications provided on this page, doing so will open a new application form. 

To save an application form and return at any time to continue filling it out, click the "Save" button on your application form.

To find your saved application form, log into Kuali using your Davidson credentials and click on the "Action List" icon in your toolbar. You will be able to see forms you need to complete and any other actions you need to take in the system.

CIS Advisory Board Evaluation

The CIS advisory board (consisting of one faculty representative from the humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences, as well as the CIS director who chairs the board) will evaluate your application. You will then be contacted by the CIS director about admission to a CIS major.