Interdisciplinary Studies Distribution Courses
NOTE: Students who start taking classes at Northwestern after Spring 2023 should refer to the Foundational Disciplines and Overlays page. The information below pertains to students who started at Northwestern Spring 2023 or earlier.
Many Weinberg College courses include substantial content from multiple distribution requirement areas. Those identified as Interdisciplinary Studies courses have been approved for fulfilling WCAS distribution requirements in more than one area.
Interdisciplinary Studies courses show up in CAESAR searches for each distribution area for which they are approved. They are also marked in the distribution requirement course lists on this website.
Important rules for Interdisciplinary Studies courses
- If you take an approved Interdisciplinary Studies course, you can count it toward one and only one distribution requirement area. You can choose to count it toward any one area for which it has been approved.
- You can fulfill the two-unit requirement in a distribution area with either two Interdisciplinary Studies courses approved for that area or one Interdisciplinary Studies course and one course approved for that area only.
How will these courses be identified in CAESAR?
If you take an Interdisciplinary Studies course, it will automatically be placed in the numerically first available area in your Academic Requirements report on CAESAR. Here are two examples:
- If the course can count in Areas III and IV, and you still need a course in Area III, then the program will automatically place the course in Area III. If you want it to count in Area IV instead, you should email RODA@northwestern.edu to ask that the course be moved to that area. The message should include your full name, 7-digit Student ID number, the course number and title, and the quarter the course was taken; it should also clearly indicate in which eligible area you would like the course to count.
- If the course can count in Areas III and IV, and you have completed Area III but not Area IV, then the program will automatically place the course in Area IV.