Is a Bachelor of Multidisciplinary Studies Right for You?
The Bachelor of Multidisciplinary Studies (BMS) remains a somewhat mysterious degree path for some, but once you understand the program you’ll see why its popularity has been growing steadily throughout the years.
So what is this degree? Who is it for? And what can it do for your career?
Let’s take a look.
What Is a Bachelor of Multidisciplinary Studies?
Multidisciplinary studies is a degree plan that is designed with flexibility at the forefront. It’s a highly customizable degree that allows you to study multiple subjects at once and lets you combine courses that wouldn’t traditionally go together. If you’ve been unable to find a degree that incorporates all of your interests, the Bachelor of Multidisciplinary Studies can be the perfect solution.
While a Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies allows you to customize your degree with two concentrations, the Bachelor of Multidisciplinary Studies allows you to choose three or more specializations. This makes it the most flexible of all degree paths, and a great choice for students who want to explore their options without the boundaries of a specified degree plan.
Would You Benefit From a Bachelor of Multidisciplinary Studies?
Though the Bachelor of Multidisciplinary Studies (BMS) can be useful for a wide range of students, these are the types of students that typically find it most rewarding.
Students who want to focus diverse interests into a specific career path
Since the BMS combines all specializations—science, business, arts and humanities, social sciences and more—it’s a perfect degree if you’ve got a niche career path in mind. At UTEP, you can take three concentrations, along with core classes and electives. If you want to go into project management for a media company, for example, this would be helpful because you could complement a business concentration with concentrations in media advertising and corporate communications. You’ve now got a very well-rounded education and are highly prepared for a career in your exact field of interest.
Students who have yet to choose a career path
While the BMS works well for those with a laser-focused idea of the career they want, it’s also great for those at the opposite end of the spectrum. If you aren’t quite sure what you want to pursue, this path will help you to explore a variety of specializations before settling on the area(s) of interest that you want to focus on long-term. Many students actually begin with a Bachelor of Multidisciplinary Studies so that they can test out different options without getting bogged down by traditional degree requirements, and then switch into a more focused major later in their academic career. As an added bonus, this makes you less likely to prolong graduation because you switched majors a few too many times and ended up with a host of irrelevant credits.
Students who have a lot of transfer credits
If you’ve accumulated credits from a variety of programs or institutions, you probably know what a pain it is to figure out what to do with them. Transfer credits are notoriously difficult to make use of in a traditional degree, and you’ll often lose quite a few hours of work in the process. In this case, the BMS can be extremely helpful for making use of all of your credits, instead of just some. Advisors are more than willing to sit down and talk about how you can spread those previously earned credits across a few different concentrations in the Bachelor of Multidisciplinary Studies, earning you an individualized degree plan and a quicker graduation time.
How Can a Bachelor of Multidisciplinary Studies Degree Help You in Your Career?
As we mentioned earlier, this is a degree that’s perfect for those with a niche career interest. You’re able to create a highly specialized degree that fits the exact requirements for your potential field. In fact, many students in the program are already on a specific career path and use this degree to advance their careers in a way that is tailored to their exact needs.
If your professional pursuits are more broad, then you’ll also find this degree very flexible for your career prospects. Instead of limiting yourself to one concentration, and consequently one career field, you’ll be qualified for a wide range of professions. In this program, you’ll find that your opportunities are as dynamic and fluid as your academic experience.
Another major bonus of the program is that it helps you to become truly well-rounded, delving into multiple perspectives that others don’t often get to combine. For example, you can learn to solve problems and analyze topics through a STEM viewpoint as well as through the cultural, historical and social contexts that you gain from arts and humanities or social sciences. This experience can help prepare you for any field you want to go into, and make you a stand-out candidate in comparison to those with a more limited education.
For a more in-depth look at how this program could be the right path for you, look at our program page for the online Bachelor of Multidisciplinary Studies You can also reach out to our enrollment counselors to get answers about your ideal concentration combinations, transfer credits and much more.
