A bachelor’s in general studies is a completion degree with a design element. Instead of one department’s required sequence, you satisfy general education and then build the upper-division half of the degree from two or three chosen areas of study. Schools title it Bachelor of General Studies, BA or BS in Interdisciplinary Studies, Liberal Studies, Integrative Studies, University Studies, or Multidisciplinary Studies. The credential is a standard accredited bachelor’s degree. What varies from school to school is how much freedom you actually get, how much credit transfers in, and whether the program makes you tie the areas together at the end.
This page explains the degree titles you will encounter, how areas of study are structured, why the transfer credit policy usually decides which school you should attend, and how to compare programs honestly.
Quick answers
What is a bachelor’s in general studies?
It is an accredited four-year degree in which general education plus two or three chosen areas of study replace a single department’s major. The coursework is ordinary departmental coursework. The structure is what differs: you assemble the combination, usually with advisor approval, rather than following one prescribed list.
Is a general studies degree a real bachelor’s degree?
Yes, if the institution holds recognized institutional accreditation. It confers the same degree level as any other bachelor’s, satisfies “bachelor’s degree required” postings, and meets the undergraduate prerequisite for most graduate admissions. It does not satisfy postings that name a specific major.
How is it different from an English or business major?
A named major certifies depth in one field and signals that to employers automatically. General studies certifies breadth you chose, and the signal has to come from your areas of study and your work history. If the roles you want name a field, take the named major. If they say “bachelor’s degree in any field,” the general studies route usually gets you there faster with credits you already have.
How many credits is it?
Approximately 120 semester hours, the same as any bachelor’s. The difference is how many of those you can bring with you. Transfer maximums commonly run high in these programs precisely because they are built for transfer students, but the number is institution-specific and worth asking about first.
Do I choose my own areas of study?
Sometimes. Programs fall into two camps. Menu-based programs give you a published list of approved concentrations or minors and you pick two or three. Custom-plan programs let you propose a combination and have an advisor approve it. Both are legitimate. Ask which one you are enrolling in, because the marketing language (“design your own degree”) is used by both.
Does it include a capstone?
In a well-built program, yes. An integrative seminar, research project, or portfolio that requires you to connect the areas is what separates a designed degree from a pile of electives. Ask to see the requirement in the catalog rather than the brochure.
At a Glance
- Common degree titles: BGS in General Studies, BA/BS in Interdisciplinary Studies, Liberal Studies, Integrative Studies, or University Studies
- Typical duration: 4 years full-time from scratch; substantially less with transfer credit
- Credits: Approximately 120 semester hours
- Structure: General education plus two or three areas of study, often with an integrative capstone
- Accreditation: No programmatic accreditor for general studies; verify institutional accreditation
For a full map of this program area, start here: General Studies Program Guide
Schools to compare
How We Rank Schools
Every school list on this site is ordered by the BOC Score, computed from the most
recent school-level data published by the U.S. Department of Education (College Scorecard and IPEDS).
To qualify, a school must be currently operating and accredited by an agency recognized by the
U.S. Department of Education. Each eligible school is then scored on five measures, percentile-ranked
against schools at the same credential level:
BOCSCORE
- Graduation rate 30%
- Median earnings, 10 years after entry 25%
- Average net price (lower is better) 20%
- Retention rate 15%
- Fully online availability 10%
Schools without enough outcome data appear after ranked schools, without a score.
Advertising never affects these rankings. Read the full methodology.
Graduation rate
95%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$101,028
TuitionContact school for pricing
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
93%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$88,174
TuitionContact school for pricing
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
97%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$124,080
Avg net price
$13,807/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 98%
- Programs offered: 100
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Acceptance rate
7%
Graduation rate
95%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$82,735
Avg net price
$14,398/yr
TuitionIn‑state$67,832
Out‑of‑state$67,832
Key stats
- Retention rate: 97%
- Programs offered: 40
Source:Accreditor: New England Commission on Higher Education · IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
96%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$88,665
Avg net price
$17,716/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 97%
- Programs offered: 38
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 97%
- Programs offered: 28
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
96%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$143,372
Avg net price
$20,111/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 99%
- Programs offered: 53
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
90%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$81,400
Avg net price
$17,379/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 95%
- Programs offered: 37
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
The main undergraduate pathways
The degree-completion route
The most common reason people enroll. You have 45, 70, or 90 credits from one or more schools, spread across majors you started and left. A named major would strand a large share of that credit as free electives, adding terms. A general studies degree is built to absorb it. The question to ask an admissions office is not “do you accept transfer credit” but “how many of my specific credits apply to degree requirements, and how many land as free electives.” Ask for a written credit evaluation before you deposit.
The design-your-own route
Less common but real. You want a combination no department offers – health sciences and Spanish, criminal justice and data analysis, communications and psychology – and the interdisciplinary major is the only structure that permits it. This route rewards students who can articulate the combination. It punishes students who chose it to avoid a difficult required course, because the transcript shows what you took.
The first-degree route
Some students enter as freshmen and choose general studies from the start, often because they are undecided or because they are working full time and need scheduling flexibility across departments. This works, but declare a direction by the junior year. A degree assembled entirely from whatever fit the schedule reads that way to an interviewer.
Typical coursework in a bachelor’s program
| Course Topic |
What You Learn |
| Composition and advanced writing |
Building an argument, editing your own drafts, writing for a reader who is not your instructor |
| Quantitative reasoning or statistics |
Reading data honestly, basic inference, and where numbers mislead |
| Natural and social science distribution |
Method and evidence in fields outside your areas of study |
| Area of study I (upper-division block) |
Depth in your first chosen subject, typically 12 to 18 credits |
| Area of study II (upper-division block) |
Depth in your second chosen subject |
| Area of study III or a minor |
A third block, in programs that require three areas |
| Interdisciplinary methods seminar |
How disciplines ask different questions about the same problem |
| Integrative capstone or portfolio |
A project or portfolio that connects the areas and can be shown to an employer |
Skills you may build
- Writing clearly for readers outside your own field, which is the practical version of “interdisciplinary”
- Moving between the vocabulary and methods of two or three subjects without conflating them
- Managing a self-directed plan of study, including sequencing and prerequisites
- Reading quantitative and qualitative evidence and knowing which one a claim rests on
- Building a portfolio or capstone that shows what the transcript alone does not
- Finishing a long project on your own schedule, which is the habit the degree actually tests
Prerequisites and course sequencing
The structural risk in this degree is not difficulty. It is sequencing. Upper-division courses in your chosen areas often carry prerequisites owned by departments that did not plan for interdisciplinary students. Before you enroll, confirm:
- Whether the upper-division courses in each area are open to non-majors
- Whether prerequisites inside each area can be satisfied by transfer credit
- How often each required upper-division course runs online, and in which terms
- Whether the capstone has prerequisites you can finish on your timeline
- Whether an advisor signs off on the plan, and how often plans are revised
If you are moving faster than a standard four-year plan, compare accelerated general studies programs. This degree compresses more comfortably than most, because the coursework is modular rather than a chained sequence.
Transfer credits and degree planning
Transfer credit is the center of this degree, not a footnote. Rules vary by institution, so confirm:
- The maximum number of transfer credits accepted toward the 120
- Whether there is a separate cap on lower-division or community college credit
- The minimum grade required for a course to transfer
- Whether credits apply to areas of study or only to general electives
- Residency requirements, meaning the minimum number of credits completed at the institution
- Whether credit by exam, such as CLEP or DSST, and portfolio assessment of prior learning are accepted, and against which requirements
Two schools with identical published prices can differ by a year of enrollment once these policies are applied. See Affordable Online General Studies Degrees for how transfer policy drives total cost.
Accreditation and program quality checks
There is no programmatic accreditor for general, interdisciplinary, or liberal studies degrees. Verify that the institution holds accreditation from a recognized institutional accreditor through the U.S. Department of Education database.
Because no specialty accreditor reviews these programs, institutional accreditation is doing all the work. Check it directly in the federal database rather than trusting a badge on a program page, and be especially careful with schools whose accreditation status has changed recently.
Making the degree legible to an employer
A named major explains itself. A general studies degree does not, so you explain it. Practical habits that pay off:
- Choose areas of study that describe a direction, and be able to say the direction in one sentence
- List the areas on your resume under the degree, since “BS, Interdisciplinary Studies” alone tells a reader nothing
- Treat the capstone as a work sample, not a graduation requirement
- Add a certificate or a named minor if a target employer screens on one
- If a specific licensed field is the goal, check the licensing requirement before you enroll, not after
Bachelor’s vs a named major
A general studies bachelor’s is the right degree when finishing matters more than field signaling, when your credits are scattered, or when the roles you want require a degree in any field. A named major is the right degree when the posting names the field. Both are accredited bachelor’s degrees; they are not interchangeable in a resume screen. If management is the target and you can start a sequence cleanly, compare business administration and organizational leadership.
Compare degree options:
Data verified: September 5, 2026.
Salary, employment, and tuition figures on this page are sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS May 2025; Employment Projections 2024–2034) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (2023 cohort). The source agency and data year are cited inline with every statistic.
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