The Bachelor of Science in General Studies (BSGS) is a degree-completion program comprising 60 semester credit-hours of instruction at the upper level (junior and senior years). Applicants to the BSGS program must have completed high school. Passing the General Educational Development (GED) test will be considered equivalent to a high school diploma.

Students must complete a minimum of 120 semester credit-hours, including at least 30 credit-hours of general education courses and a capstone Summary Project, to qualify for the bachelor’s degree.

Students entering the BSGS program seeking advance placement must have completed a minimum of 60 semester credit-hours of college-level studies, either at UMT or at another appropriately accredited institution either in the U.S. or internationally. Credits may include U.S. military training that earns ACE-recommended college credits. Typically, the student's lower-level credits will include courses covering the core curriculum of the UMT ASGS.

Applicants to the BSGS program who have attended other appropriately accredited post-secondary educational institutions or have received training in the U.S. military may transfer up to 75 percent of the credit-hours towards the BSGS requirements. For all courses offered for transfer credit, the applicant must have earned a passing grade of C- or better.

Some students may possess extraordinary life experiences that may enable them to waive some courses. The Admissions Committee will determine whether or not to waive courses in areas where students have demonstrated expertise. For undergraduate degrees, no more than ten courses (30 credit-hours) may be waived based on experience.

Students in the program are expected to achieve a level of competency in several academic areas: (1) computer technology, (2) information literacy, (3) quantitative methods, and (4) writing. In addition, all BSGS students need to complete a capstone Summary Project integrating their course work and demonstrating their knowledge, skills, and abilities.

Summary Project

The BSGS Summary Project (Gst 199) is a senior-level project in which the student presents a synthesis and evaluation of his/her coursework. In the Summary Project, students must integrate their course work and demonstrate their knowledge, skills, and abilities.

Student Competencies

• Information Literacy

• The term information literacy relates to the student’s general knowledge, skills, and abilities in the areas of information creation, organization, and dissemination, as well as the ability to locate, access, retrieve, evaluate, and synthesize. These competencies are central to the Summary Project.
• Courses addressing information literacy include:

Engl 100. English Grammar
Engl 101. English Composition
Comm 100. Business Communications
Comm 101. Technical Writing
Cst 117. Internet and Web Programming
Cst 182. IT Project Management
Cst 191. Systems Analysis & Design

• Quantitative Methods

• All students must pass a minimum of two math or statistics courses.
• Courses addressing quantitative methods include:

Math 100. Business Math
Math 105. College Algebra
Math 106. College Trigonometry
Math 110. Finite Math & Calculus I
Math 111. Finite Math & Calculus II
Mkt 115. Marketing Research
Stat 100. Basic Statistics
Stat 101. Business Statistics I
Stat 102. Business Statistics II
Stat 125. Statistics for Managers

• Writing

• All students must pass a minimum of two English or communications courses that require writing.
• Courses addressing information literacy include:

Engl 100. English Grammar
Engl 101. English Composition
Comm 100. Business Communications
Comm 101. Technical Writing
Mgt 195. Entrepreneurship

• Computer Technology
  
  • Entering students are expected to have the basic computer technology skills including proficiency using MS Office Word, Excel, Power Point, and Outlook. Students may take Cst 107. Microcomputer Applications, to develop these skills.
  • Students must complete two courses in computer technology, to include at least an introduction to programming (Cst 117 or Cst 120) and management information systems (Cst 191 or 192). Students interested in taking more computer technology courses are welcome to do so.
  • Courses addressing computer technology include:

Cst 115. Computer Architecture & Organization
Cst 117. Internet and Web Programming
Cst 120. Program Logic & Design
Cst 140. Programming in JavaScript
Cst 145. Programming in Java
Cst 161. Data Communications
Cst 182. IT Project Management
Cst 190. Database Systems
Cst 191. Systems Analysis & Design
Cst 192. Management Information Systems

Sample BSGS Curriculum

The curriculum shown in the following table illustrates the typical sequence of courses. Students must complete a minimum of 120 semester hours earned with a GPA of 2.0 or better on a 4.0 scale, including at least 30 credits in general education and a Summary Project, to qualify for the bachelor's degree.

The student must coordinate his/her work on the summary project with his/her faculty advisor. The student first drafts a Summary Project Proposal that is reviewed and approved before the student commences the project. The faculty advisor may require the proposal to be reworked until is meets UMT’s standards. The faculty advisor and UMT Academic Dean approve the proposal in writing. The faculty advisor then informs the student that he/she may commence the project and informs the student of the criteria that will be used for evaluation of the project and how grades will be assigned.