The Bachelor of Applied Science (BAS) is an interdisciplinary degree designed for students who have completed an Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degree and who would benefit from a Bachelor’s degree for career or personal advancement. The BAS gives students the unique opportunity to apply sixty of their technical AAS credits to an Indiana University bachelor’s degree. Since the credits accumulated in these types of programs do not readily transfer to traditional baccalaureate programs, the BAS degree was designed to provide students with an opportunity to advance their professional skills. The BAS is a very flexible degree. Every student could design his or her own program of study. Students will work closely with an academic advisor to select a set of classes that best fits his or her individual needs. Not only can students build a unique curriculum that aligns with his or her educational and career goals, but students can complete the degree while taking only classes on campus, taking only classes offered online, or any combination of the above.

Admission

The Bachelor of Applied Science is a degree-completion program, and all incoming students should have an Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degree from a regionally accredited community college. This degree is not available for traditional freshmen.

Degrees Awarded with Distinction

The Bachelor of Applied Science Program recognizes outstanding performance in course work by awarding degrees with three levels of distinction: distinction, high distinction, and highest distinction. In order to graduate with distinction, students must have at least 60 graded IU credit hours towards the BAS degree. (Pass/fail and self-acquired competency credits and courses not applicable to the degree such as remedial courses are not counted in calculating the number of credit hours.) Courses with S grades (not self-acquired competency) are counted in these 60 hours.

The levels of distinction, which are printed on both the student’s transcript and the IU diploma, are determined by the overall cumulative grade point average of each graduating class and generally approximates the following GPAs:

• 3.50-3.74 distinction
• 3.75-3.89 high distinction
• 3.90-4.00 highest distinction

Required Areas of Study

The curriculum consists of 120 credit hours (60-64 of those are transferred in from an accredited community college). The courses are divided between four specific sets of courses:

• General education courses (can be taken at IU Northwest or transferred in)
• Applied science courses (transferred from an accredited community college)
• Required BAS Core Courses (18 credits from required competencies)
• Required track courses
• Electives

Currently, there are two available tracts: 1) Health Management and 2) Interdisciplinary. Using the Interdisciplinary Tract, you can create your own program designed to meet the goals of the individual student. In addition, several other tracts may be added. Please see a General Studies advisor (980-6828) for more information and for a complete curricular mapping of each concentration.