The AHS Concentration requires students to identify a question, subject, or field of interest and pursue more than one course in that area. Students accomplish this by proposing a coherent sequence of twelve or more credits of AHS coursework from the AHS offerings at Olin or at other schools (BBW, transfer credits). The AHS Capstone can be used to satisfy the final four credits of the AHS Concentration.
Effective September 2012, the AHS Concentration is now being called a twelve-credit sequence with Capstone as an optional path for the final four credits. This is effectively the same as the past system's inclusion of a “Course Capstone” option.
The AHS Concentration has two goals:
The AHS Concentration has a third goal for students who elect to undertake an AHS Capstone, as it offers an introduction to the content, practice, and goals of the AHS field that makes Capstone project work possible.
The AHS Concentration represents twelve (12) or more credits of AHS coursework that satisfy three primary conditions.
First, AHS Concentration courses must all fall within approved AHS disciplines. A student is allowed to create a concentration from courses in two or more AHS fields, such as history and philosophy, but all of the fields must be AHS. To determine if a field or course counts as AHS, click here.
Second, AHS Concentration courses should build upon and/or connect to each other.
Third, AHS Concentration courses cannot be taken pass/fail, as an Independent Study, or as an Olin Self Study except by petition.
In addition, students cannot count the AHS Foundation as part of their AHS Concentration (i.e., no double counting of a single course). A student might take two AHS Foundation courses and use one of them to fulfill the AHS Foundation requirement and the second as part of the AHS Concentration, with permission of the AHS Foundation instructor (and pending space in the Foundation class).
All students must submit an AHS Concentration Proposal to the AHS committee in the second semester of the sophomore year, easily accomplished by responding to an online registrar's survey. Students can propose courses they have already taken or courses they plan to take. Students are never committed to an AHS Concentration if a proposal is accepted, and are welcome to submit a new proposal at any time and for any reason. The AHS Committee will discuss and respond to all proposals; if a proposal is rejected, students must resubmit a proposal after reading the AHS Committee’s feedback.
Students must receive approval for an AHS Concentration and must complete their Concentration in order to graduate. Students complete the coursework for their AHS Concentration at their own pace. As mentioned above, students can begin (and even complete) coursework for their AHS Concentration before submitting a proposal.
The AHS Capstone can be used to satisfy the final four credits of the AHS Concentration. In this scenario, students complete eight credits of AHS Concentration coursework and then take the AHS Prepstone and the four credit AHS Capstone. Students are also welcome to complete more than eight credits of AHS Concentration coursework before taking the AHS Prepstone and Capstone.
The AHS Capstone is entirely optional, and students are welcome to complete the AHS Concentration without taking the Capstone.
The AHS Capstone is described in more detail here.