When junior Maggie Scudder was applying to college, she was one of the lucky few that knew what she wanted to major in. She became even luckier when IU didn’t offer that major, but allowed her to pursue it through the Individualized Major Program.
Scudder began her college career with interests in dramatic and screen writing, especially for comedy. She auditioned and joined The University tWits, a sketch comedy group at IU, and took classes in media, theater, creative writing, playwriting and telecommunication.
It was in her Advanced Topics in Theater course that she met professor Peter Gil Sheridan, who later became her sponsor for her individualized major, she said.
With Sheridan’s help, she worked with the IMP office to declare a Writing for Television and Comedy major, in which she’ll graduate with a B.A. degree from IU next year.
Scudder is just one of 60 students currently pursuing undergraduate majors of their own creation at IU. Human Sexuality, Music Business, Animal Behavior and Conflict Resolution are among the unique majors that have been curated here.
Students are eligible to apply for the IMP after their first semester at IU with a GPA of a 2.5 or higher. First, they must complete an application including a list of potential courses and a plan for completing them, a written component and confirmation from a faculty member who is willing to be their sponsor. Once their application is submitted, they will have an interview with a member of the IMP faculty and their sponsor.
“It’s not a competitive admission process,” IMP Assistant Director Paul Aarstad said. “If a student meets our modest GPA requirement and has a major that works for the program, they will be admitted.”
Aarstad said IMP students who perform well in their classes have had the same experiences applying to graduate programs and jobs after school compared to students with pre-existing majors.
Scudder said she hopes to get her degree and move straight to New York.
“My dream job is to write and produce my own half-hour comedy,” Scudder said. “It’s the form I have the most fun in.”
Scudder currently writes sketches for the University tWits group to perform, which allows her to take her studies and passion for the field and put it to work.
“The way I think of most of my sketches is that something either actually funny happens, or something that could be funny happens, and I just write it down,” Scudder said.
Scudder said she also gets inspired by her favorite shows and celebrities, like Tina Fey and her show “30 Rock,” and other shows such as “The Mindy Project” and “Veep.”
Although her work for the University tWits doesn’t count for school credit, Scudder uses her personal life and class experiences to influence her tWits work, and said she can use her sketches for her portfolio or future job search.
“Its kind of funny because my academic life is the same as my professional life, which is the same as hobby and personal life,” Scudder said. “So I take few breaks, but also I have a lot of fun.”
