It takes between 18-20 credit hours, depending on the certificate topic, to earn a BDP certificate. This is the equivalent of about six courses, which you can take at any point during your undergraduate career at UT.
Although each BDP has different requirements (see individual program pages for details), a typical program will include:
- Foundation Courses
A BDP forum seminar or foundation course, and possibly other courses that offer a broad foundation on which to build your knowledge of the topic.
- Connecting Experiences
Research, internship, creative project, or capstone project experiences that connect your BDP topic to your major and your career goals. Visit our student profiles to read about some of the Connecting Experiences BDP students have completed.
- Courses in a Strand
Additional courses you choose to develop your interests in a particular facet of your BDP topic.
- Integration Essay
A three to four page essay completed at the end of your BDP experience. The integration essay allows you to draw together the different threads of your BDP work and reflect on what they mean to you.
Courses taken for the BDP may also count toward students’ major requirements, electives, and core curriculum requirements. The coursework you do for the BDP must be interdisciplinary in scope, so typically no more than one course from your major discipline may be counted toward the BDP strand.