Our DIUS Exec is working to compile a guide of recommendations from past Program II applicants. We will publish it here once it’s done! In the meantime, here are a few places to get started if you’re considering or already designing your own Program II:
- Articulate the question you’re trying to investigate through your Program II coursework. This is probably going to be a “What does…look like during…”, “How has…intersected with…” or other question stem that is specific but doesn’t presume the answer.
- Look through old course offerings in the Catalogue function within DukeHub. This can help you get an idea of what is offered generally, beyond the current semester/Bookbagging period.
- Pro-tip: Use Planner to see which semester/how often courses are usually offered.
- Categorize courses into “buckets.” These might be the same as departmental differentiation but not necessarily. You want to make sure you have multiple buckets (if you don’t, you’re probably interested in something that could be a Program I major) but not too many (5 is probably the higher end).
- To identify your advisor, think about professors you’ve already connected with if their area of teaching/researching is (even peripherally) related to your interest. You can also cold email professors, but this will take more time to build a relationship before you can ask them to serve as an advisor. Make sure you give your potential advisor time to write the letter of recommendation before the deadline!
Other tips:
- Think through T-reqs once you’ve already sorted the courses you’re sure you want to take. Also think about any pre-reqs courses may require.
- Courses you’ve already taken can be part of your core courses but this should be proportional to how many semesters you’ve already taken vs. have left, skewed toward having more core courses left as you get deeper into areas of study.
- UNC (or other interinstitutional agreement) courses can be core course requirements for Program II.
We’ll continue to share example applications and titles that have been approved on this page as well:
If you have insight to add to the guide, an application that has been approved, OR if you’d like to chat with another Program II student about your application, email Zoë at zoe.macomber@duke.edu.
