Integrative Experience (IE) GenEd Requirement

What's the IE requirement?  Do I have to take it?

WHO?  If you entered UMass Amherst (as a freshman or transfer) in Fall 2010 or later, you will need to take the Integrative Experience course as part of your GenEd requirements.  Any students who entered F10 or later who will complete all graduation requirements - except the IE - for graduation in May or September 2012 may appeal for a waiver of the requirement (see your advisor or academic dean for more information).  Transfer students who entered the University for the first time in Fall 2010 or Spring 2011 and brought in 57 or more transfer credits prior to enrollment were granted a waiver of the Integrative Experience.     
 
WHAT?  Programs, majors, departments, Schools or Colleges will offer the 3-credit IE themselves and/or they will arrange with others to offer various options for satisfying the upper division Integrative Experience requirement.  Check with your major department or your ARR (on SPIRE) for more details. 

WHEN?  Plan to take your IE course in your junior or senior year, after you have completed most or all of your other GenEd requirements.


WHERE?  The IE requirement appears on your Academic Requirements Report in SPIRE, after your Gen Ed Diversity requirements.  The IE requirement is associated with your primary major, and only courses/options approved by that department can be used to satisfy the requirement. Specific courses that will fulfill your IE requirement are listed on your Academic Requirements Report.

WHY?  The upper-division integrative experience (IE) provides students with a structured opportunity to look back on their early college (and GenEd) learning experiences, reflect upon and make connections between those earlier experiences and the more advanced work in their major, and use their integrated learning to prepare for the demands of the world beyond the University.