My good friend and fellow-blogger Will V. had written earlier about research-to-practice seminars – courses that explore a specific topic in great depth with a deliberately small group of students and give the students the opportunity to interact with Tuck faculty on a personal basis.
Tuck offers yet another way in which students can really research a topic of their interest to as much an extent as they want. This is done through what is called an independent study. This is a course that is literally tailor made for the student because the student defines what she/he plans to focus on as part of the study – whatever the topic may be.
The student first has to identify a couple of faculty members who are willing to be “sponsors.” Once the sponsors are lined up, the student then writes a proposal describing the purpose of this study, how she/he plans to research the particular topic of interest, the resources that will be used as part of this effort, etc.
After the faculty members sign-off, the registrar gets the approval from the associate dean and enrolls the student in this self-directed course. Of course, the very fact that this is an independent study means that there are no set class sessions, and the student has the flexibility to take up the research at a time that works for her/him.
Needless to say, with that flexibility comes the responsibility of being disciplined enough to carry forward the work so that the course objectives are accomplished in a timely manner. There are, of course, regular meetings with faculty sponsors to ensure this.
One of my friends is now pursuing an independent study on corporate social responsibility, and yet another friend is looking at opportunities to invest in the IT industry. In other words, the topics can be literally be as diverse as one’s interests. Many Tuckies take advantage of this every quarter to pursue topics that are of interest to them.
A T’09, whom I know very well, had enrolled in one independent study every quarter in the second year to delve deep into three different topics he wanted to explore. Perhaps not so surprisingly, he is now working on the West Coast as an expert on one of the very topics he had researched while he was a student.
In that sense, independent studies offer a fantastic opportunity for the enterprising student to shape her/his future. It can’t get much better than that!
Read the full article: Independent Study