The CUNY Baccalaureate for Unique and Interdisciplinary Studies is CUNY's individualized degree program, allowing you to create a nontraditional major drawing on courses from across CUNY. Build your own specialty to solve a real-world problem, conduct research or strengthen professional skills.

Infographic about CUNY BA: Since 1971, over 8,400 alumni who enter prestigious jobs and graduate schools, $400,000+ awarded in annual schiolarships.

Our Mission: Flexible, Future-Forward Education

  • Make excellent, meaningful, flexible, and innovative education accessible to CUNY Students.
  • Empower students to build future-forward, interdisciplinary programs of study, allowing learners to draw on different disciplinary perspectives to explore a topic that is too complex to address with a single discipline (Klein & Newell, 1996) and to prepare for fields of study and careers that don’t yet exist.
  • Unite a constellation of support around the student, including an academic advisor, faculty mentor, robust community of students and alumni, funding opportunities, and home campus.
Graphic on the value of creating your own degree: meaningful, flexible, innovative and a constellation of support.

How It Works

  • Faculty Mentors: Work one-on-one with world-class CUNY faculty to develop your area of concentration.
  • University-Wide Access: Take courses across CUNY to build your perfect curriculum, meet your scheduling needs
  • Interdisciplinary: Combine 2–3 disciplines into a single, cohesive field of study.

Proven Success

  • Accredited: CUNY BA is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Our program meets rigorous standards for academic quality and institutional effectiveness.
  • Degree Granting: Students earn a CUNY Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) or Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree.
  • Student Results: With a graduation rate of over 70% and a high percentage of students graduating with honors, CUNY BA is a proven engine of social mobility and academic success.

A History of Innovation

"The major emphasis of this proposed new program is upon the student's freedom to learn, and the relationship between the student and faculty member as they interact in the learning process..... The present system of academic checks and balances is the establishment of curriculum and degree requirements was formulated in an environment which no longer exists."

See the full compilation of correspondence related to the founding of CUNY BA here: Correspondence - Founding of Program (PDF)

Among the first design-your-own-degree programs in the US, in 1971, CUNY BA was created in response to a rapidly changing world to cultivate innovation and give students freedom to learn. The program has long attracted older and nontraditional students. See our founding document.

Student Stories & Data

CUNY-BA-Annual-Report-2024-2025

Download the annual report (PDF)

Meet students and read their stories in our annual report. See data on scholarships, community events, and exclusive opportunities just for CUNY BA students.

Be One-of-a-Kind

Blue laurel leaves with the phrase "Esse sui generis" between them.

CUNY BA students are more than learners; they are Laureates, symbolized by the laurel wreath.

Learn more about creating your own degree, how to apply, and see sample majors on the Prospective Students page.