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Independent Study, or I.S., is the culmination of your four-year journey to intellectual independence: a yearlong project that allows you to throw yourself into a topic you care about.

What exactly is I.S.?

It’s like being in a class of one – literally; I.S. takes the place of one of your four classes each semester of senior year. With the one-on-one support and guidance of a faculty mentor, you will plan, develop, and complete a significant piece of original research, scholarship, or creative expression – culminating in a major research paper, an art exhibit or a performance – that pulls together what you’ve learned and demonstrates the analytical, creative, and communication skills you have honed at ������Ƶ.

������Ƶ Seniors Share Their I.S. Journey

How does it work?

J.C. Chandor ’94, writer and director of “Margin Call” and “All Is Lost,” wrote, shot, and edited a film for his I.S., which he now cheerfully admits was “a total overreach, too vast in scope and scale…but I got jobs right away after graduation based on it.”

A Celebration of Independent Study

Each year, ������Ƶ cancels classes on a Friday in April to celebrate the accomplishments of the senior class with the Senior Research Symposium. The College itself becomes a classroom as hundreds of seniors share the projects they have developed during the academic year. Students, faculty, staff, parents, and community members are encouraged to visit campus that day and listen to presentations, view art exhibits, ask questions about research posters, and explore the work of the senior class.

The Support You Need to Succeed

Abundant Workspace

The Flo K. Gault Library for Independent Study – one of three libraries on campus – reserves more than 300 study carrels for seniors working on I.S. projects. Most are hardwired to the campus network, through which you can connect to academic libraries and databases throughout the state, gaining access to more than 44 million books and other materials. (There’s also wireless access throughout the library.)

If you’re a science or studio art major, you’ll have access to dedicated lab or studio space. And when it comes time to present your I.S., you’ll have the resources to do it well: every studio art major gets a public exhibition of his or her work; every music performance major gives a recital.

Does all that work pay off?

Don Kohn ’64, former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve, whose I.S. was titled “Flexible Exchange Rates as a Means to Stable Markets: Theory, Practice and Evaluation,” says, “It has served me well because I have been thinking about closely related issues my entire career.”

Your completed I.S. is tangible proof that you have developed key skills and abilities that employers and graduate schools alike value. As the president of the  told a recent graduating class at ������Ƶ, “Employers want employees who can write…who possess analytical skills, creativity…and a multidisciplinary perspective.” Most of all, they want people with the capacity for continuous innovation, which she likened to “an everyday exercise in I.S.”