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First-Year Program Requirements: Faculty of Arts

The following information is part of Step 1: Program Requirements of the Course Registration Guide for first-year Faculty of Arts students. To view the remaining steps, consult the Course Registration Guide.

On this page: 

First-Year Recommendations

In your first year as a Faculty of Arts student:

  • We encourage you to select a major and register for the mandatory courses that correspond with that major. 
  • With only a few mandatory courses, you will need to select electives to surround your mandatory courses. We recommend that students take three to four electives from programs within the Faculty of Arts.
  • We recommend taking AF105 Think Arts: Skills for Academic Success, which is designed to support a successful transition to post-secondary studies. 

Honours Bachelor of Arts – No Major Declared

This temporary designation allows you to explore disciplines in the Faculty of Arts before declaring a major at the end of your first year:

  • Select one to two majors of interest and take the first year required courses of those programs.
  • In addition to these courses, we recommend that you take electives from two to three other Faculty of Arts programs, allowing you to easily transition into a major starting in year two.

We highly encourage Honours Arts students to prioritize Faculty of Arts courses from a major program over courses related to an option or minor – those courses cannot lead to a major.

Choose Your Electives

One of the best ways to choose elective courses is to explore different themed topics that interest you.

Below we have listed several themes you may choose to explore, and the programs from which you should select elective courses to focus on these areas:

  • Exploring global issues: Anthropology, Archaeology and Heritage Studies, History, Global Studies, North American Studies, Political Science
  • Studying society: Anthropology, Archaeology and Heritage Studies, North American Studies, Philosophy, Political Science, Religion and Culture, Sociology, Women and Gender Studies
  • Analyzing language and media: Communication Studies, English and Film Studies, Languages and Literatures, Sociology
  • Engaging with law and society: Philosophy, Political Science, Religion and Culture, Sociology, Women and Gender Studies
  • Interpreting the past: Archaeology and Heritage Studies, Ancient Studies, History, Medieval and Medievalism Studies
  • Expressing arts and culture: Anthropology, Communication Studies, Cultural Studies, English and Film Studies, Cultural Studies, History, Languages and Literatures, North American Studies

Program Requirements by Major

The 100-level courses for each program, both required and elective, are listed below. Some things to note:

  • Full-time students may choose to ease the transition into post-secondary studies by taking four courses (2.0 credits) in the fall term, and five courses (2.5 credits) in the winter term. In doing so, students will move into a Year 2 registration standing following successful completion of the fall and winter terms.
  • Though easing into a fall term is the recommendation, you can complete a maximum of five courses in each term, should you choose.
  • The elective recommendations below are based on taking five courses per term.

Definitions

  • BA: Bachelor of Arts (honours)
  • BSc: Bachelor of Science (honours)
  • Combination-Only BA: A program that must be taken in combination with another BA program
  • An asterisk (*) denotes a course worth 1.0 credits

*If you are interested in any of the following programs, review their respective requirements as these programs are not housed within the Faculty of Arts:

Options

Course Load

To earn an Honours Degree, you will need to complete 20.0 credits:

  • 0.5 credit: Normally conducted over one term
  • 1.0 credit: Normally conducted over two terms

If you are studying part-time, you can take up to 1.5 credits per term. Full-time status is given to students who take 2.0 or 2.5 credits per term.

If you select 2.5 credits in the fall term and 2.5 credits in the winter term, you can complete an Honours Degree in four years.

GPA Exceptions

In order to progress in most honours Arts programs, you will require an overall grade point average GPA of 4.00+ (C-), with the following exceptions:

  • Communication Studies: A minimum grade of 6.00 (C+) in CS100 and a minimum grade of 6.00 (C+) in CS101 are required for progression into Year 2.
  • Political Science (Sussex Stream): Progression to Year 2 requires completion of 5.0 credits during Year 1 with a minimum cumulative GPA of 7.00 (B-) in all Political Science courses and a minimum cumulative GPA of 8.00 (B) in all 5.0 credits. All credits taken during Year 1 will be included in the GPA requirements for progression into Year 2.
  • Philosophy (Sussex Stream): Progression to Year 2 requires completion of 5.0 credits during Year 1 with a minimum cumulative GPA of 7.00 in all Philosophy courses and a minimum cumulative GPA of 8.00 in all 5.0 credits. All credits taken during Year 1 will be included in the GPA requirements for progression into Year 2. 
  • Management Option: Students who have entered through direct-entry must have a minimum GPA of 6.00 (C+) in BU111 and BU127 and a minimum 5.00 (C) GPA in one of EC120 or EC140 to remain in this option. Refer to the academic calendar for details on minors, options, progression and graduation requirements.

Next Step: Choose Your Electives

Now that you've determined your program requirements, it's time to move to Step 2: Choose Your Electives to plan and select your electives.