Fall 2023 and Fall 2024 ISF Transfer Admits
This page is only applicable for UC Berkeley transfer students who were admitted directly into the ISF major in Fall 2023 and Fall 2024. If you were/are admitted to UC Berkeley in and between those terms as a different major, please follow the standard application process to declare the ISF major.
Within their first semester, Direct-to-Admission transfer students (Fall 2023 and Fall 2024) should identify their own Research Program and Course of Study. A viable Research Program is more than a topic or theme: it consists of an interdisciplinary inquiry that requires engagement with both theoretical scholarship and empirical studies. To understand the qualities of breadth, interdisciplinarity and social significance that a Research Program should have, students are advised to consult the ISF-defined Research Fields, review the additional qualities of a viable Research Program, and to meet with a faculty adviser before submitting their proposal.
A student’s Research Program consists of a proposed Course of Study (at least six courses in three departments or disciplines totaling 20 units, with no more than three courses from any one discipline) and a tentative topic of a Senior Thesis. The Senior Thesis is not a summary of the Research Field but an attempt to contribute new knowledge on a focused question, using primary sources when possible, within a Research Field.
Course of Study Proposal
Once students have chosen a Research Field and have discussed this with a faculty advisor, they should submit a Course of Study Proposal in their first semester before enrollment for the following Spring. The purpose of this is to outline the classes you plan to take to satisfy the six Course of Study class requirements for the major and to ensure the upper division classes taken for the major are supportive of the larger Research Field context, and of the student’s eventual Senior Thesis. Students’ APRs (Academic Progress Reports) will be updated by the end of each semester with any classes they have enrolled in from their proposal as well. This plan is not permanent; ISF advisors understand that research interests may change slightly over time, that classes may not be offered in the semester they are planned for, and that new classes may be of interest to students. In the event that students need to make changes to their proposed plan, they should confirm their updated class selection(s) with their faculty advisor.