Course Offerings and Registration
Course Offerings and Descriptions
Registering for 2023/24
Fall and Winter terms
Senior KS courses are open only to KS and CS majors until July 13, excepting certain courses. Non-major students may register beginning July 14.
For KS203OC, KS340L, KS340M and KS400Q non-major students may register beginning July 10.
Prerequisite overrides are allowed for senior KS courses if one of either your major or overall GPA is at least 7.00. Request a prerequisite override by sending an email to csaadv@wlu.ca with your ID number, course code and the term when you wish to take the course.
Spring term
There are no restrictions on Spring courses.
All terms
Prerequisite requirements apply for certain senior courses. Where there are no prerequisites (such as KS205), students in Year 1 may not register.
Communication Studies Course Limit
Communication Studies majors are allowed to register for no more than 4.0 Communication Studies (CS) credits (eight courses) over fall and winter terms until July 9 at noon, so that all students can have courses and fulfill program requirements.
If you register for more than the amount allowed before July 9 at noon, you will be arbitrarily de-registered from extra courses without consultation.
After July 9 at noon, you may register as you wish in courses that remain open.
400-Level Restrictions
Year 4 Communication Studies majors are allowed to register in:
- One section of CS400 (senior seminar);
- One section of CS411, CS412, CS413, CS414, CS415, CS416.
These restrictions remain in place until lifted by the department. If you register for more than the amount allowed, you will be arbitrarily de-registered from extra courses without consultation. You may go on as many waitlists as you wish, but may register in only one section of CS400 and one section of CS411-416. The department will be monitoring registration daily. Should space remain after all students have registered, the department may lift this restriction to allow students to have more than one section. Students would be notified by email to their mylaurier email account regarding when the restrictions lift.
NOTE: this restriction lifted on July 9 at noon
Students following the programs requiring one of CS401 or CS402 or CS403 or CS405 may use one of CS411, CS412, CS413, CS414, CS415, CS416 or KS400.
Students joining the program in their senior years should expect to take longer to complete requirements.
Restrictions by Other ProgramsRestrictions are deliberately placed; you should not expect to be given exceptions. The type of restriction and how long the restrictions remain varies from one department to another. Some departments do not restrict any courses, some restrict some courses and some restrict all courses.
To check whether a course has a restriction and when the restriction ends, please use the 'LORIS Browse Classes' function, click on the course name, select 'Restrictions".
Fall and Winter
- Senior CS courses are restricted to CS majors until July 13 at 11:59pm except certain courses; you may register on July 14 for classes that are not full.
- CS240A has no major restriction
- CS310A, CS315B and CS341C will open to non-majors on July 11
- 400-level courses: These courses remain restricted to Year 4 honours Communication Studies majors always.
Spring
Prerequisite requirements still apply for senior courses. Where there are no prerequisites (such as CS205), students in Year 1 may not register.
Communication Studies Courses
Restrictions are placed by the department after much planning and careful consideration of many factors. We therefore will not override any of our restrictions.
Prerequisite overrides are allowed only if you have taken a course elsewhere equivalent to the prerequisite course. If you feel this applies to you, please send an email to csaadv@wlu.ca using your mylaurier email account, with relevant details. Please include your student ID number.
Cultural Studies Courses
Prerequisite overrides are allowed for senior Cultural Studies courses if one of either your major or overall GPA is at least 7.00. Request a prerequisite override by sending an email to csaadv@wlu.ca with your ID number, course code and the term when you wish to take the course.
Wait lists will be available for senior Communication Studies and Cultural Studies courses without tutorials.
Once space in the wait-listed course is available for you, an email notification will be sent to your MyLaurier email address. You have 24 hours to register for the course before your name is removed from the waitlist, and you lose the option to register. For more detailed instructions please see the information posted on wait lists.
Keep in mind that the waitlist should be considered a "wish list" as registration is not guaranteed to students on the waitlist. Make sure you are registered for your required courses; you could drop courses later once you get into the section you want.
- Procedure: If an instructor suspects a case of academic and/or research misconduct, he/she will initiate the Academic Misconduct Investigation and Adjudication Process as stated in University Policy 12.2.
- Important: Regardless of the specific penalty levied, the names of all students engaged in academic misconduct will be reported to the department, the Dean of Arts office, and the University’s central registry.
FAQ for Undergraduate Students
There are only two required courses in first year:
- Communication Studies: CS100 and CS101
- Cultural Studies: KS100 and KS101
All other courses should be chosen based on your own interests. The first year is an introductory year and you should select courses from various different disciplines.
Communication Studies
We do not have a yearly scheduled curriculum. You are required to take CS203 and CS235 in your second year. Successful completion of both courses is required for third-year courses.
You are required to complete CS400 and one other 400-level, advanced topic non-seminar Communication Studies (CS) class. Beyond this there are no specific courses that you are required to take in a given year.
However, in Year 3, you may wish to consider the 400-level courses you are interested in, and ensure you take any required prerequisites.
Students in Honours CS need to take at least nine senior CS credits over three senior years. This would average to three CS credits (six courses) per year. Students may also count up to one credit (two courses) from senior KS courses toward CS credit requirements.
Students in the combined CS program need to take a minimum of six senior CS credits, but no more than 12 credits, over three senior years therefore averaging two CS credits (four courses) per year. A minimum of two credits must be at the 300 or 400 level. Students may also count up to one credit (two courses) from senior KS courses toward CS credit requirements.
Cultural Studies
Cultural Studies (KS) has a fairly open curriculum with many possible courses in several departments. At the 200-level, KS203 and 1.0 additional KS credit are required. At the 300-level, 0.5 credit from the KS curriculum is required. You must take one fourth-year KS course, KS400. Additional requirements, including KS Program Electives, are described in the calendar.
Students in the combined KS program need to take a minimum of six senior credits listed in the KS program over three senior years. This would average to two credits (four courses) per year.
It is our department policy not to override class limits. If a class or tutorial is full your only option is to check through LORIS for a space to become available or add your name to the waitlist, if available (see Wait Lists above).
The Communication Studies department offers courses during the fall and winter terms based upon a budget of four credits per major in the program. This budget is what is allocated to the department from the Faculty of Arts. In order to ensure an equitable distribution of courses among all majors in our program, we expect you to stay within that budget. At a later date, once everyone has had a reasonable opportunity to choose their courses and schedule their classes, the four credit cap will be lifted and majors may select additional courses subject to availability. Until that time, if you exceed the budget, we will remove you from any and all courses above four credits.
Current requirements:
- For students entering Year 2, you will need to have completed CS100 and CS101 with a C in each course and an overall GPA of 4.0 or more.
- For students entering Year 3 or Year 4, you will need C in each of CS100 and CS101, CS GPA of 6.0 or higher and an overall GPA of 9.0 or higher.
The overall GPA includes every course in your Laurier record. The CS GPA includes Communication Studies core (CS) and elective courses (KS). Provided you have the required GPAs, you can declare yourself as a Communication Studies major through LORIS. Alternatively, you can fill out a program selection form available from Enrolment Services.
Note: If you have repeated either CS100 or CS101 and achieved less than a C in the second instance, you will not be able to continue in the program.
No. If you are already enrolled at Laurier and did not enter as a Communication Studies major, then you must first enrol in and successfully complete CS100 and CS101 meeting all progression requirements.
If you do not meet either of the GPA requirements and fail to stay in the Communication Studies program, please consult with Arts academic advisors to better understand and discuss your options.
That depends upon what you have already completed towards the program requirements. The Communication Studies program is designed to be completed in four consecutive years of study. If you are changing your program or returning to the program, you may need more than four academic years in total to complete your new requirements.
During the fall and winter terms, all courses offered by the Communications Studies department have majors-only restrictions, excepting CS100, CS101. For 2023/24, CS240a (Sport on Screen) also does not have a major restriction. Other senior courses in Communication Studies are restricted to CS majors until later in the registration period. The dates when the major restrictions will be removed will be posted in the 'LORIS Browse Classes' function.
The Management Option is handled by the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics; consult a Business department academic advisor.
Yes. These are called Letter of Permission courses. The applicable forms and instructions are available from Enrolment Services. When selecting courses at another institution, be sure that they do not overlap with courses you have already taken at Laurier. It is essential that you receive the necessary permissions from your academic advisor and Enrolment Services before you start your course. The Communication Studies department has a residency requirement that limits Communication Studies majors to a maximum 1.5 credits in CS equivalents be taken on Letter of Permission.
It is important to note that because this is a university and not a college program, we do not train you for practice in a specific field. It is a misconception to think that an undergraduate student in history becomes an historian, that a biology student becomes a biologist or that a communication studies student gets employment in the media industry. A university degree gives you a broad set of critical and analytic skills that can be applied in any area of employment. In the job market you will be competing with others who have degrees in history, English, biology, kinesiology, business, geography and many other fields. The type of job you get has more to do with how you market yourself than the subject of your degree. The Laurier Career Centre is a terrific resource for those thinking about work after graduation.
Yes, you can count courses that appear in the requirements of your Communication Studies degree and the requirements of another major, minor or option; however, you still only receive 0.5 credit for the course (or 1.0 credit if it was a full-year course).