Majors & Minors

Degrees Offered
BA in Self-designed Major
BA/BS in all GMC Majors

Program Goals

The Progressive Program at Green Mountain is an alternative, innovative, and intensive educational program within the college that allows exceptional and highly motivated students to work closely with faculty and peers to craft personalized programs of study. Every semester, students work with advisors to clarify their educational goals and program of study, regularly produce narrative self-evaluations that reflect on their progress toward these goals, and receive narrative assessments of their performance in all courses from their instructors.

The Progressive Program draws much of its pedagogic inspiration from educational pioneers like John Dewey, who believed that education “is a process of living and not a preparation for future living.” Participants in the program recognize passionately, therefore, that learning is an inherently social process that connects us with our community and environment, that significant learning occurs outside of the classroom as well as within it, and that the individual learner may best fulfill his or her potential when given the power to design the educational journey.

The Progressive Program has many unique requirements. Progressive Students are required to take the four core courses at Green Mountain College, but they are not required to take the general education, or ELA, distributive requirements. Instead, once during their sophomore year and once during their junior year, students undergo an intensive Level Review process. During these Level Review semesters, students produce a portfolio demonstrating competency in twelve areas (including scholarship, writing ability, community engagement, quantitative and scientific reasoning, and historical awareness) and write an essay reflecting on their past educational growth and future learning goals. A Level Review Team of the student’s choosing evaluates the portfolio at a meeting with the student at the end of the semester.

The Progressive Program experience culminates in a substantive Senior Study Project that is worth 12 credits. The project allows students to integrate their coursework, interests, skills and passions into a single, focused project that is shared with the college community. Previous senior projects have included art exhibits, musical and dramatic performances, extensive writing projects, environmental design and planning projects, a forest management plan, and film projects.

Students in the program often take Independent and Group Independent Studies, with a maximum of 42 independent study credits allowed during the student’s career, not including the Senior Study Project.

Students may elect to earn a Self-Designed Major or any of the majors already offered at GMC. Students may elect to receive grades or earn Pass/Fail designations, although in all cases they will receive narrative evaluations of all coursework from instructors.

Self-designed Bachelor of Arts
Progressive Program students often choose to design a course of study which deviates from the requirements set forth in the college's majors. At the end of their college career, Progressive students who do not want or don't have the requisite credits to claim a traditional degree may name their self-designed focus, in a title up to eight words long to be approved by each student's advisor and the program director.

Degree requirements for the BA, Self-design Major:
120 hours of total coursework
33 hours coursework at the 3000/4000 level
Four ELA Core Classes (Images of Nature, Voices of Community, Dimensions of Nature, Delicate Balance)
Successful completion of the Level III and Level VI Reviews
  SDE 200G/201G (3 credits total)
  SDE 300G/301G (3 credits total)
Successful completion of the Senior Project
  SDE 400G/401G (12 credits total)
Download the guidelines for Level III and IV Reviews (PDF format).

Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science in any GMC Major
Progressive Program students may also choose any of the majors already offered at Green Mountain College, so long as they fulfill the requirements for that degree. Progressive Program students are exempt from taking the seven distribution courses required of other students in each major; they have only to fulfill the courseload specific to their major to receive a traditional degree.

Requirements for a B.A/B.S. in a traditional major within the Progressive Program:
120 hours of total coursework
33 hours coursework at the 3000/4000 level
Four ELA Core Classes (Images of Nature, Voices of Community, Dimensions of Nature, Delicate Balance)
Successful completion of the Level III and Level VI Reviews
  SDE 200G/201G (3 credits total)
  SDE 300G/301G (3 credits total)
Successful completion of the Senior Project
  SDE 400G/401G (12 credits total)
Successful completion of all classes required by the elected major
Download the guidelines for Level III and IV Reviews (PDF format).

Program Goals

• Students will participate in holistic, cooperative, and value-driven learning.
• Students will be sensitive and engaged members of their community.
• Students will be able to cultivate their own educational goals, and work with professors to bring them to fruition.
• Students will demonstrate competencies in a variety of areas critical to academic success, such as research, writing, environmental and cultural awareness, critical thinking, and quantitative and scientific reasoning.