The Bachelor of Multidisciplinary Studies (BMS), offered by The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) as part of the Finish@UT program, is a highly flexible degree plan that allows you to maximize the credits you have already earned to build a degree plan that best fits your educational and career goals. If you have a significant number of credits and/or credits in different areas, your academic advisor can help you design a degree plan tailored to your interests that incorporates your transfer courses with online courses offered in accelerated 7-, 8- or 15-week sessions.
The BMS may be a good fit for you if you:
- want flexibility and want to participate in the planning of your undergraduate study;
- have accumulated college credits in various programs, but the combination of those courses has not led to the completion of a degree;
- have varied interests and want to study different disciplines;
- are a working student who has accumulated college credits and desire professional advancement that only a degree can provide
Degree Plan
The BMS degree plan requires 120 total credits for completion. Consult with your advisor regarding how many credits must be taken from UTEP. A 2.0 GPA is required for graduation.
The degree plan consists of:
- General Education Core Curriculum (42 credits)
- Three Concentrations (45 credits)
- Electives (33 credits - 18 upper-division)
Please refer to the downloadable sample degree plan for reference.
General Education Core Curriculum (42 total credits)
The State of Texas requires students to complete a core curriculum that encompasses a variety of disciplines. The list included here notes the areas that are required for completion of the UTEP core curriculum. Your transcript will be evaluated to determine which areas have already been fulfilled.
- Communication - 6 credits
- Mathematics - 3 credits
- Life and Physical Sciences - 6 credits
- Language, Philosophy, and Culture - 3 credits
- Creative Arts - 3 credits
- American History - 6 credits
- Government/Political Science - 6 credits
- Social and Behavioral Sciences - 3 credits
- Component Area Option - 6 credits
Should you need to complete some areas listed, you may do so by:
- taking online courses through the Finish@UT in either accelerated sessions or traditional semesters;
- completing courses on site at UTEP's campus; or
- completing courses at another college or university and having them transferred into UTEP.
Three Concentrations (45 total credits)
You will work with your BMS advisor to choose three areas of concentration. Each area of concentration is 15 credits, so your concentration coursework will be 45 credits total. You will need to complete at least one concentration from UTEP. Your advisor will help you incorporate concentrations from other Finish@UT partner institutions into a personalized degree plan that best fits your previous study and your career goals. For example, you may wish to take two concentrations from UTEP and work with your advisor to build a third concentration in some other area of study with the courses from other Finish@UT partner institutions.
The online concentration coursework is offered via Finish@UT in accelerated 7-, 8- or 15-week sessions at UTEP, 8- or 15-week sessions at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) and the University of Texas of the Permian Basin (UTPB), or 15-week sessions at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV).
Courses listed below are suggested for each discipline based on the available accelerated format online courses from UTEP. Other appropriate courses not listed here, either accelerated format or face-to-face or online courses in semester-length format, may be used to fulfill requirements for each area.
Students must take five courses to complete a concentration. Each course is three credits for a total of 15 credits for each concentration. At least nine credits in each concentration must be upper-division courses (3000 or 4000 level).
I. Chicano Studies (15 credits)
- CHIC 3301 La Chicana
- CHIC 3339 Cultural Diversity and Youth: US
- CHIC 4301 Chicano Legal History
- CHIC 4306 Colonias on the U.S.-Mexico Border
- CHIC 4350 Topics in Chicano Studies: American Immigration and Justice
II. Criminal Justice (15 credits)
- CRIJ 1301 Introduction to Criminal Justice I
- CRIJ 2328 Police Systems and Practices
- CRIJ 3300 Applied Research Methods in Criminal Justice
- CRIJ 3313 Criminology
- CRIJ 3321 Family Violence
- INSS 3302 Seminar in Intelligence and National Security
- INSS 4350 Selected Problems in Intelligence: Crime and Border Security
- INSS 4350 Selected Problems in Intelligence: Law Enforcement Intelligence
- INSS 4350 Selected Problems in Intelligence: Mexican National Security
III. Health Promotion (15 credits)
- HSCI 1301 Foundations of Health Science and Health Promotion
- HSCI 2302 Fundamentals of Nutrition
- HSCI 3301 Community Health
- HSCI 3306 Environmental Health
- HSCI 3315 Research for the Health Professional
IV. Humanities (15 credits)
- HUMN 3301 Backgrounds and Foundations
- HUMN 3302 From Faith to Reason: Creating Christendom
- HUMN 3302 From Faith to Reason: Unity to Division
- HUMN 3303 Challenges of Modern Culture
- HUMN 3312 American Cultural Studies
- LING 3313 English Historical Linguistics
- PHIL 1301 Introduction to Philosophy
- PHIL 2306 Ethics
- PHIL 3325 Social Philosophy
V. Religious Studies (15 credits)
- RS 3310 Major World Religions
- RS 3320 Introduction to Judaism
- RS 3322 History of Antisemitism (formerly RS 3350)
- RS 3330 History of Christianity (formerly RS 3350)
- RS 3340 Introduction to Islam (formerly RS 3350)
- RS 3350 Special Topics in Religious Studies: Introduction to Bahá’i
VI. Social Sciences (15 credits)
- ANTH 1310 Cultural Geography
- ANTH 4308 U.S.-Mexico Border Society and Culture
- ANTH 4346 Global Health
- GEOG 1310 Cultural Geography
- POLS 3350 Introduction to Public Administration
- POLS 3351 The Public Policy Process
- SOCI 1310 Cultural Geography
- SOCI 4308 U.S.-Mexico Border Society and Culture
- SOCI 4346 Global Health
Electives (33 credits)
Lower-division - 15 credits
- ENGL 2322 The Academic Vocabulary of English
- LING 2322 The Academic Vocabulary of English
Upper-division - 18 credits
Frequently Asked Questions
What can you do with a BMS degree?
A Bachelor of Multidisciplinary Studies degree can open many doors. Some graduates may qualify for new job opportunities or a promotion at their current place of employment. The opportunities for BMS graduates are extensive, including careers in business, government, or non-profit organizations. Others may choose to enroll in graduate school or pursue alternative teacher certification.
How many semester credits are required to complete the degree?
The BMS degree plan requires a minimum of 120 semester credits. Some of the online concentration coursework is offered via Finish@UT in accelerated 7-8-week sessions (UTA, UTEP, and UTPB) instead of a traditional semester-length format.
How many semester credits should I have completed before enrolling in the BMS program?
The BMS is designed as a completion program, so you should have completed your general education core curriculum (42 credits) prior to enrolling in the concentration coursework. If you don't have the required credits, additional online courses are available for you through UT institutions via the Finish@UT.
What are my options when selecting the courses for the three required concentration areas for the BMS?
The goal of the concentration coursework is to give you an interdisciplinary foundation that satisfies your individual educational and professional goals while maintaining academic rigor and integrity. The five concentrations offered by UTEP for the BMS are: Chicano Studies, Criminal Justice, Health Promotion, Humanities, Religious Studies, and Social Sciences.
What if I want to take a concentration from another Finish@UT degree plan?
Working closely with your advisor, you’ll be able to incorporate concentrations made up of some combination of Finish@UT courses from other partner institutions in a personalized degree plan that best fits your previous study and career goals. You will be required to complete at least one concentration from UTEP. For example, you may wish to take two concentrations from UTEP and build a third concentration in some other area of study offered by UTA, UTPB, or UTRGV.
What is the cost of BMS courses?
The cost of Finish@UT courses depends on the tuition and fees structures of the campuses hosting them and is based on residency status. Refer to the Cost Information page for more details.
What institution will issue my degree and what will the diploma read?
When you complete the BMS program, your degree will be from The University of Texas at El Paso and your diploma will be for a Bachelor of Multidisciplinary Studies.
