<p>Is there a program that allows students to design their own major, or do you have to strictly go with one of the options. Is that what they mean by special divisional major?</p>
<p>It is possible to design your own major, but from what I have heard/seen, a relatively tiny proportion of students at Yale (or other top schools) do this. The reason is typically that within the many existing majors themselves, there is typically a lot of "wiggle room" to design your own course of study. Certain majors are more accommodating of this than others and many have different "tracks" that approach different areas. A major like Physics or Chemistry is going to be more straightforward (although I think there is also a "Physics & Philosophy" major at Yale that combines the two, just as there is an "Ethics, Politics, & Economics" major that combines three fields and is also very popular), whereas "American Studies" might be interpreted to focus more on the study of American musical history, American urban studies, Native American studies, etc., and therefore allow for a great deal of flexibility in designing the program of study. Another example, the Architecture major at Yale has a design "track" that most students do, but it also an urban studies "track" that lets you apply coursework from departments like political science, American studies, sociology, environmental science and many other areas if they have some relation to how communities work. There are many other examples.</p>
<p>If you do design your own program entirely, it seems that you would need to do the Special Divisional Major. However, the university will generally not particularly encourage this if your studies can be accommodated within an existing department, because without a department you lose a lot of "structure," if you know what I mean. On the other hand if you really want to focus on something unusual, like "Postmodern Postcolonial Performance Studies of South Africa," and have the motivation to pursue it by designing your own curriculum and finding your own advisors, I think they will be supportive.</p>
<p>From Yale's website:</p>
<p>"A Special Divisional Major affords an alternative for students whose academic interests cannot be met by an existing departmental or special major. Students may, with the approval of the Committee on Honors and Academic Standing, design majors of their own in consultation with members of the faculty and in accordance with the procedures outlined below.</p>
<p>"Special Divisional Majors differ so widely in content that there is no uniform format, but two patterns prevail. Some majors combine two disciplines (e.g., music and English, religious studies and anthropology), while others draw from several departments to focus on a particular culture, period, or problem (e.g., French studies, medieval studies, urban studies). A Special Divisional Major may not be offered as one of two majors."</p>
<p>Harvard has a similar program called "Special Concentrations": see <a href="http://www.specialconcentrations.fas.harvard.edu/alumni.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.specialconcentrations.fas.harvard.edu/alumni.html</a> for examples. If this list is accurate, you can see that the number of students who do special majors like these is typically about 1% of the graduating class.</p>