Integrated Studies, BS
The Integrated Studies Major (ISTU) provides a guided pathway and allows for flexible curriculum development by encouraging and allowing course choices within a Career Focus Area. Integrated Studies is for undergraduate students who want to complete a Bachelor (BA/BS) degree that will empower them to achieve their career goals. Students pursue a curriculum aligned with their goals, values, interests, personality, and strengths through one of six Career Focus Areas (CFA).
Values risk-taking, status, competition. Enjoys selling, managing, persuading. Apt to be ambitious, competitive, persuasive, self-confident, goal-directed, and fast-paced.
Values helping, nuturing, caring for others. Uses human relations competencies. Prefers social context, seeks personal meaning. Apt to be agreeable, cooperative, friendly, warm, patient, tactful, responsible.
Values independence, self-expression, unstructured methods, aesthetic beauty. Uses creativity, imagination, intuition. Appreciates the artistic work of others in museums, theatre, and books.
Wants to see practical results from their work. Wants to understand and predict physical and biological phenomena and practices. Likes the physical and outdoor component.
Values intellectual effort, scientific inquiry, Math. Wants to understand and predict physical and biological phenomena and practices. Likes to work with theories, do research, and test ideas. Apt to by analytical, cautious, independent, curious, introspective, critical, studious.
Values intellectual effort, scientific inquiry, Math. Wants to understand and predict physical and biological phenomena and practices. Likes to work with theories, do research, and test ideas. Apt to by analytical, cautious, independent, curious, introspective, critical, studious.
About Us
The Integrated Studies degree is for undergraduate students who want to complete a four-year degree that will empower them to achieve their career aspirations. Students pursue a curriculum aligned with their values, interests, personality, and strengths through one of six Career Focus Areas (CFA). The CFA provides a guided pathway and allows students to define outcomes and career options to create their major requirements.
Finish at Utah State University
At USU, we know every student has a unique path to graduation. Life happens. Maybe you've started but had to pause, or you've put off college for personal, family, or work-related reasons. It's never too late to earn your college degree!
USU has 31 statewide campus locations and is Utah's #1 online university with more than 500 courses and 26 bachelor's options to choose from—including the Bachelor of Integrated Studies option that allows you to customize the coursework for your degree.
No matter where you attend USU, you’ll be backed by local faculty and online support until you earn your degree. We can help you accomplish your goal. Even if your life changes, you can still finish your degree at Utah State.
To have this Integrated Studies degree has allowed me to come back and finish and get a degree and not have to start all over with something else, it's been great. I will have a degree that suits my career needs moving forward. I can't even put a price on the things that I'm learning as an Integrated Studies Student.
Ivory Foundation Completion Scholarship
The Ivory Foundation Completion Scholarship is available to former USU bachelor's students who meet the following criteria:
- Are returning to school after a break of at least five years
- Are within 30 credits of completing their degree
- Are committed to completing their degree within 18 months of their return
Thanks to the generous grant from the Clark & Christina Ivory Foundation, qualifying students will be awarded an individualized scholarship meant to provide a boost of financial support towards tuition and fees throughout the last stretch of their undergraduate education at USU.
I had been out of college for eight years. I started a family in that time. I've always thought, I really should go back and finish, but every time I looked into it and researched it with my husband, we thought there was no way we could afford it. To have the potential of some help, it really opened that door of possibility For us to get this opportunity, it has just been honestly life changing.
Requirements
For more information on common courses in each career focus area (CFA), see the USU Integrated Studies Course Catalog.
Admission Requirements
To be eligible for Integrated Studies, students need at least 60 earned credits, 12 credits from Utah State University (USU), and a 2.0 GPA.
Integrated Studies Graduation Requirements
To graduate with a BS or BA in Integrated Studies, students must complete the following:
- General Education Requirements
- University Studies Depth Education Requirements
- 30 credits of upper-division in one Career Focus Area
- ISTU 3010: Career Exploration & Design (2 credits)
- ISTU 4010: Career Design & Planning (1 credit)
Guiding Principles for Developing a Career Focus Area (CFA)
Students and their Integrated Studies advisor co-create the Career Focus Area that is centered in the student's strengths, values, goals, interests, abilities, and needs. Students may earn a minor, but the courses applied to the minor cannot also be used in the students Career Focus Area. Students may also apply ISTU 4250: Advanced Internship to any Career Focus Area, which can be taken for 1-6 credits. For questions regarding ISTU 4250, students should schedule an appointment with the instructor, Joseph Banks (joseph.banks@usu.edu).