Every explanation of New College I read before applying was either a brochure or a forum post from 2014. Here is the plain version, written in my first week, by someone who chose it and can tell you what the trade actually is.
What it is
New College is an interdisciplinary program inside the Barefield College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Alabama. It has existed since 1971, which surprises people who assume it is a recent experiment.
The core of it: instead of choosing a major off a list, you design one. You work with an advisor to build a program of study around a question you care about, drawing courses from wherever they happen to live in the university.
The vocabulary you will hit immediately
Depth study. Your self-designed concentration. Existing examples include Socio-Legal Studies, Psycho-Social Sciences and Neuroscience, which gives you a sense of the range. Mine combines psychology and data science, aimed at psychiatry and at how AI can reduce the administrative load on mental health clinicians.
Seminars. Described by the program as a key part of the experience. Readings, discussion, presentations, experiential learning and public service. Small, and the discussion is the assessment rather than a supplement to it.
Independent study. You can build coursework around work you are already doing rather than adding it on top, which is the part that made the decision for me.
Levitetz Leadership Program. Workshops, seed grants, internship opportunities, and the Levitetz Light Bulb Award for student research addressing real-world problems. Seed grants are the phrase to notice if you are building anything.
The honest case for it
If your actual question does not map onto a department, a traditional major makes you approximate. You pick the closest one and spend four years reading around the edge of the thing you meant.
New College removes the approximation. If your interest sits between psychology and computer science, or between law and public health, you build the degree that asks your question directly rather than the nearest available one.
It also rewards people who already do things. If you run something, write something or build something, that work can become the coursework instead of competing with it.
The honest case against it
Nobody knows what it is. "Psychology" is legible to a graduate admissions committee, a recruiter and your grandmother. "A self-designed depth study in psycho-social sciences" needs a sentence of explanation every single time, and you will give that sentence for the rest of your life.
The structure is yours to supply. A traditional major is a sequence somebody already thought about. Here, the person deciding whether you take the hard course is you, and the failure mode is a transcript full of interesting courses that do not add up to anything.
Prerequisite chains do not care about your design. If your question needs a 400-level course, it needs everything under it, and the mathematics sequence in particular is unmoved by how coherent your plan is.
Some paths are structurally hostile to it. Pre-med works, because medical schools care about the prerequisites and the MCAT rather than the major's name. Anything with a licensure body or an accredited curriculum, check before you commit.
Who should actually pick it
Pick it if you can already say, in one sentence, the question your degree is for. Not the career. The question.
Do not pick it because you cannot decide. It is the worst possible structure for indecision: it removes the guardrails at exactly the moment somebody undecided needs them most. A traditional major with a minor is a better tool for finding out what you like, and switching in later is easier than rescuing an incoherent transcript.
Practical
New College is reachable at (205) 348-4600 or ncfrndsk@ua.edu. It combines with the Honors College, which is what I am doing. Ask about the depth study proposal process early, because it shapes which courses are worth taking in your first year rather than your third.
I will write this again at the end of the year, when I know whether I was right. If you are a New College student and I have got something wrong here, tell me and I will correct it and say who corrected it.
Related: studying AI at Alabama and what you have already paid for.
Common questions
What is New College at the University of Alabama?
New College is an interdisciplinary program inside the Barefield College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Alabama, operating since 1971. Instead of choosing a major from a list, a student designs one with an advisor, drawing courses from across the university around a question rather than a department.
What is a depth study at New College?
A depth study is the self-designed concentration at the centre of a New College degree. Existing examples include Socio-Legal Studies, Psycho-Social Sciences and Neuroscience, which gives a sense of the range.
Should I choose New College at Alabama?
Choose it if you can already say in one sentence the question your degree is for. Do not choose it because you cannot decide: it removes the guardrails at exactly the moment an undecided student needs them most, and a traditional major with a minor is a better tool for finding out what you like. Also check any licensure or accreditation requirements in your field before committing.
What is the Levitetz Leadership Program?
A New College program offering workshops, seed grants, internship opportunities and the Levitetz Light Bulb Award for student research addressing real-world problems.