Self-Directed Concentration

Students with a specific interest that does not match a pre-existing concentration may elect to create their own customized concentration that meets their personal interests and goals. It may be external to or within engineering.

General Requirements for a Self-Directed Concentration

  • Have a focused theme that is significantly different from the concentrations that have already been approved.
  • Create a course list with increasing specificity or depth within a field, typically culminating in one or more senior level (4000 level) courses.
  • A concentration will normally consist of four or more three-credit courses (minimum of 12 credits).
  • If you are a Military Veteran, some of your training may qualify. Contact the IDE advisor to discuss.
  • If you have an Associate’s Degree from a community college, some of that coursework may apply. Contact the IDE advisor to discuss.
  • It is expected that the proposal will precede the student taking the courses included in the concentration.
    There may be an exception for 1 course if that course sparked the interest in this area. Contact the IDE advisor to discuss.
  • It may be external to or within engineering.

How to Propose a Self-Directed Concentration

Fill out the with:

  • Rationale for the concentration proposal
    • It should have a focused theme that is significantly different from the concentrations that have already been approved. You cannot propose an individualized concentration to avoid one or two of the courses in an existing concentration.
  • A course list with increasing specificity or depth within a field, typically culminating in one or more senior level courses, including:
    • course names
    • course numbers
    • catalog descriptions
    • prerequisite courses and/or major restrictions as apply to each course.
  • You may include multiple "tracks" for some course choices similar to the Business Minor Concentration and CU Teach (Physics) Concentration.

Share your draft proposal with the IDE advisor for feedback and potential revision. After you both deem the proposal to be complete, it will be provided to the IDE faculty for review.

The review will be returned with one of these results:

  • Approved
  • Returned with comments for revision
    • If the proposal is returned with comments for revision the student may revise with the suggested changes or not pursue the individualized concentration further.Â