Baylor Interdisciplinary Core

The Baylor Interdisciplinary Core is an honors core curriculum that replaces most general education requirements with an integrated, four-year sequence of courses that complements most majors at Baylor. Taught by faculty from multiple disciplines, BIC helps students make connections across science, history, literature, philosophy, and theology as they explore the questions that shape our world. Students graduate not only well prepared for advanced study and professional life, but formed by a way of thinking that stays with them.

Why Choose the BIC

The Baylor Interdisciplinary Core (BIC) is an honors core curriculum that replaces most of Baylor’s general education requirements with a four-year, cohort-based course of study. Through a shared sequence of team-taught courses spanning the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, students engage enduring questions about truth, meaning, culture, and the natural world within a close intellectual community.

A Curriculum Built for Integration

Rather than completing general education requirements through separate courses, BIC students fulfill those requirements through an intentionally sequenced curriculum in which disciplines are taught in conversation with one another. Faculty from various fields teach together in the same classroom, modeling interdisciplinary thinking as students study historical, literary, philosophical, scientific, and social texts alongside one another.

A Cohort of Learners

BIC is designed for students who enjoy careful reading, thoughtful discussion, and sustained intellectual engagement. Courses are seminar-style, writing-intensive, and discussion-driven. Students learn alongside the same cohort of roughly 200 students over four years and are mentored by faculty who teach across the full arc of the program.

Preparation for Advanced Study and Meaningful Work

BIC graduates are well prepared for a wide range of paths, including medicine, law, graduate study, ministry, public service, and business. Alumni have gone on to leading programs at institutions such as Harvard, Oxford, Duke, UT Southwestern, and Notre Dame, and pursue vocations that require strong analytical skills, clear communication, ethical reasoning, and intellectual depth.

The BIC taught me how to study effectively, manage my time, and approach challenges with confidence.  I knew I could handle whatever came my way, having already been through such a rigorous undergraduate experience.  I'm forever indebted to Baylor and the BIC

Priya Chandna
Priya Chandna
BIC Alumna

BIC News

May 28, 2026
Dr. Sarah Walden Appointed Director of the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core

The Honors College is excited to name Sarah Walden, Ph.D., as the next Director of the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core (BIC), effective June 1. In addition to her administrative role, Walden will continue to serve on the BIC faculty as an associate professor of rhetorical theory and criticism.

May 8, 2026
Baylor Students Selected for Fulbright Awards, Rotary Global Grants

Baylor University students and recent graduates continue to be awarded the most prestigious scholarships and fellowships at the national and international levels – winning Fulbright U.S. Student Grants and Rotary Global Grants.

Jan. 27, 2026
Brittany Tausen, Ph.D., Appointed Assistant Professor of Social Psychology in the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core

Baylor’s Honors College is pleased to welcome Brittany M. Tausen, Ph.D., assistant professor of social psychology in the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core (BIC) and affiliated professor of psychology and neuroscience.

Jan. 15, 2026
Baylor Receives $295,000 Teagle Foundation Grant to Expand Examined Life Scholars into Residential Program

Baylor University has received a $295,000 implementation grant from the Teagle Foundation’s Knowledge for Freedom initiative to expand the Examined Life Scholars program into a residential experience for high school students from the Waco area.

The multi-year grant will support the program’s next phase by allowing the Honors College to offer a fully immersive, two-week residential experience that introduces students to liberal learning, campus life and the rhythms of college study while continuing to provide mentoring and college-readiness support throughout students’ senior year.