Bachelor of General Studies (BGS)

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General Studies is a multidisciplinary degree that bridges academic disciplines to facilitate degree completion. This degree is designed for students with significant college credit and/or complex curricular interests.

Learning Outcomes

Students completing the Bachelor of General Studies will:

Demonstrate knowledge in focus areas
Demonstrate the capacity to integrate knowledge and modes of thinking from two or more disciplines
Demonstrate an ability to think creatively about complex problems in order to construct, evaluate, and implement innovative possible solutions
Demonstrate an ability to communicate to academic or professional audiences in written, oral, and digital form as appropriate to specific disciplines and interdisciplinary fields
Demonstrate higher-order thinking skills such as interpretation, analysis, evaluation, synthesis, creative generation, and innovation

The Four Year Degree Plan below demonstrates the flexibility of the Bachelor of General Studies; which is particularly valuable for transfer students with high student credit hours. However, this degree is not designed for first year students. The degree requires 60 credit hours and intensive advising before it can be declared as a major. Addendum I includes a degree check-list which may be more useful for degree planning

University Studies Program Requirements

First Year Seminar (3)
Communication Skills 1 (USP, C1) (3)
Quantitative Reasoning (USP) (3)
Physical and Natural World (3)
Communication Skills 2 (USP C2) (3)
Physical and Natural World (USP) (3)
Human Culture (USP) (3)
US and Wyo goverment (USP) (3)
Human Culture (USP) (3)
Upper Division Capstone (USP, C3) (3)

Focus Areas (Each requires 18 hours)

A minimum of 6 hours in each Focus Area must be Upper Division

Focus Areas Listed by College

College of Agriculture and Natural Resources

Biomedical Sciences: Microbiology (MICR), Molecular Biology (MOLB), Pathobiology (PATB), Family and Consumer Science (FCSC), Animal Science (ANSC), Food Science (FDSC)
Agricultural and Natural Resources Sciences: Animal Science (ANSC), Ecosystem Science and Management (ESM), Renewable Resources (RNEW), Entomology (ENTO), Soil Science (SOIL), Agroecology (AECL), Plant Sciences (PLNT), Agricultural Economics (AGEC)
Human Sciences and Public Policy: Family and Consumer Sciences (FCSC), Agriculture (AGRI), Agricultural Economics (AGEC), Food Science (FDSC)

College of Arts and Sciences:

Humanities: Art & Art History (ART), English (ENGL), Modern and Classical Languages (LANG), Philosophy (PHIL), Religious Studies (RELI), American Studies (AMST), History (HIST), Anthropology (ANTH), African American Diaspora Studies (AAST), Native American & Indigenous Studies (NAIS), Latina/o Studies (LTST), Gender and Women’s Studies (GWST), International Studies (INST), Theatre and Dance (THEA)
Fine Arts: Theatre and Dance (THEA), Music (MUSC), Art and Art History (ART), African American Diaspora Studies (AAST), Native American & Indigenous Studies (NAIS), Latina/o Studies (LTST), Gender and Women’s Studies (GWST), Creative Writing (CW), English (ENGL)
Social Sciences: Communications and Journalism (COMM/COJO), History (HIST), Anthropology (ANTH), Criminal Justice (CRMJ), Geography (GEOG), Religious Studies, (RELI), Sociology (SOC), Political Science (POLS), International Studies (INST), Native American & Indigenous Studies (NAIS), Psychology (PSYC), Statistics (STAT), African American Diaspora Studies (AAST), Latina/o Studies (LTST), Gender and Women’s Studies (GWST)
Math & Sciences: Math (MATH), Statistics (STAT), Botany (BOT), LIFE Program (LIFE), Psychology (PSYC), Zoo/Physiology (ZOO), Chemistry (CHEM), Geology and Geophysics (GEOL), Physics and Astronomy (PHYS), Anthropology (ANTH), Geography (GEOG)

College of Business

*Management, Marketing, and Decision Science: Management (MGT), Marketing (MKT), Decision Science (DSCI)
*Accounting and Finance: Accounting (ACCT), Finance (FIN)
Economics: Economics (ECON)

*Due to accreditation requirements, a student may not choose both the “Management, Marketing, and Decision Science” and the “Accounting and Finance” focus areas to comprise their Bachelor of General Studies major.

College of Education:

+Elementary Education: Early Childhood (EDEC), Elementary Education (ELED), Curriculum and Instruction (EDCI)
+Education and Society: Educational Studies (EDST), Exceptional Children (EDEX), Instructional Technology (ITEC), Curriculum and Instruction (EDCI)

+The Bachelor of General Studies does not satisfy the requirements for teacher licensure through the Wyoming Professional Teaching Standards Board.

College of Engineering:

*Engineering Studies: Engineering Science (ES), Architectural Engineering (ARE), Civil Engineering (CE), Chemical Engineering (CHE), Electrical Engineering (EE), Energy Systems Engineering (ESE), Mechanical Engineering (ME), Petroleum Engineering (PETE)
*Applied Science Studies: Atmospheric Science (ATSC), Computer Science (COSC)

*The Bachelor of General Studies does not satisfy the requirements for an ABET/EAC accredited engineering degree or an ABET/CAC accredited computer science degree.

College of Health Sciences:

Community and Public Health: Health Education (HLED), Wyoming Institute for Disabilities (WIND)

Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources:

Environment and Natural Resources: Environment and Natural Resources (ENR), Environmental Systems Science (ESS)

Upper Division

21 in major/42 total

Additional Information

Degree Structure: The Bachelor of General Studies is comprised of two curricular focus areas and one 3 credit capstone that fulfills the University Studies Program (USP) “Communications Skills 3” (C3) requirement. Each focus area is defined by subject area, fielded by a specific college, and comprised of at least 18 credit hours. Students can choose from a menu of 16 focus areas across the university. Of the 39 credits required for the major, 21 credits must be upper division with a minimum of 6 upper division credits in each focus area. As a university-wide degree, all USP and university-wide requirements must be met.

No course can count toward more than one area of focus. Students must earn a C or better for all credits counting toward the major. One USP “Human Culture” (H) course and one “Physical & Natural World” (PN) course may also count toward the major. No college core applies to the degree. To declare this major, students must have earned 60 credit hours and received intensive advising from the college fielding their primary focus area.

Focus Areas: Each of the focus areas identifies a knowledge domain that includes courses from a range of disciplines within a particular college. Focus areas include all courses from each of the disciplinary prefixes/subject areas or programs specified as belonging to the focus area (no course exceptions or course lists will be maintained). This will make advising for the degree manageable and will ensure access to needed coursework. Students should choose courses from within the focus area thematically to gain a breadth and depth of knowledge appropriate to the curricular or professional interest that ties together the two focus areas of the student’s major. Students should work with their advisor to ensure that their coursework includes the skills and methods necessary for expertise in the substantive area of interest. Proposed focus areas are listed below by college.