Students who have completed at least three quarters of work at the University of California and a minimum of 45 UCLA units with a 3.4+ GPA and a sound proposal for a major that is not otherwise offered at UCLA may create an Individual Major (Individual Field of Concentration). Students take the lead in designing their personalized major, working closely with two sponsoring faculty members and an Honors academic counselor. The plans for these majors are unique to each student and include coursework from different departments across the College of Letters and Science and, in some cases, selected Professional Schools.

The Individual Major curriculum must include 5-7 pre-major courses in the lower division and 13-15 upper division major courses. Typically, this coursework includes at least one directed research (199) course in which the student works closely with a faculty member on a specific student-designed project. The Individual Major experience culminates in completion of a senior thesis or special project that addresses a salient issue pertaining to the topic of the student’s major, conducted with guidance from sponsoring faculty members.