Independent Study
The purpose of an independent study is to provide students with unique study opportunities with an individual faculty member. The guidelines with respect to independent studies are as follows:
- Students must gain authorization prior to registration by developing a robust and rigorous proposal. A description of the independent study project must be approved by the individual faculty member, by the department chair, and the dean’s office of the respective school.
- Adjunct faculty are not eligible to supervise an independent study.
- Independent studies may be taken for variable credit; a single independent study cannot be taken for more than 4 credits in CAS and 3 credits in SBS.
Additional guidelines for BSBA students:
- Only juniors and seniors with a GPA of 3.0 or higher are eligible.
- Independent Studies cannot replace a required course or duplicate an existing course. They allow students to research and study an area of interest not covered by Suffolk courses.
- The deadline to turn in a proposal to the Dean’s Office is the first three days of the semester in which you plan to complete an Independent Study. If the proposal is denied, this leaves sufficient time for students to revise and resubmit to the faculty, department chair, and Dean's Office.
Students wanting to register for an Independent Study should submit a request in the University's student information system. Please visit the
How Do I? page for navigation on submitting an Independent Study Request.