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Admission Requirements

Grade Requirements for Admission Interviews

We interview only those applicants who completed their first year, progressed to the beginning of second year, and achieved the minimum required Grade Point Average (GPA) for co-op by the application deadline.

Please review the information about eligibility, entry points, and GPA requirements specific to your program:

Courses Graded as Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory

When calculating your GPA, we will include only those courses for which we see a numeric grade. We will exclude grades from courses such as UU150 that provide only a grade of either satisfactory or unsatisfactory. We will, however, include courses graded as "satisfactory" when counting the number of courses you have completed.

We may give you slightly less credit for your marks than we give students who provided numeric grades for all ten half-credits.

Note: If you took UU150 when it still provided numeric grades, we will include your grade when calculating your GPA.

Courses Taken After Winter Term

Refer to our resource on Courses Taken After the Winter Term to learn more about how we consider these courses.

Students Who Started First Year in Winter Term

Most students begin their first year studies in September. If you began your first year at Laurier in January, please note that you still need to complete ten courses by the end of the spring term. The admission process occurs only in the fall each year.

Credit (CR) Option Courses

If you attended Laurier before spring 2022 and converted any grades to credit (CR), we will not include the CR grade when calculating your grade point average (GPA). We will, however, include CR courses when counting the number of courses you have completed.

 

Re-Admission to Co-op

If you are removed from your academic program, you are not eligible to continue in co-op, even if you are later reinstated into that program.

Requirements by Applicant Type

International Students

We are now accepting applications from students seeking admission to co-op in fall 2023. The co-op application deadline is September 1, 2023. 

Students on study permits may apply to and be admitted into co-op programs at Laurier. 

The only entry point for co-op is in the fall at the beginning of second year. You must be enrolled full-time in second year as of September. (If you are seeking admission to UXD Co-op or to PEP, you are eligible in September if you are enrolled full-time in third year.) If you are removed from your academic program, you are not eligible to continue in co-op, even if you are later reinstated into that program.

You must have completed five credits and no more than 7.5 credits in order to be eligible for a co-op admission interview.​

LEAF Students

  • SOJE252 Niagara Falls counts as a .5 credit, and we use the grade when determining your GPA.
  • Only your first five full credits (or ten half credits) will be used to calculate the minimum grade point average. ​
  • Starting your Laurier honours program in spring? If possible, study part-time in spring, then take four half-credits each in fall and winter.​
  • Starting your Laurier honours program in winter? You may have taken too many courses by fall of second year to be eligible for co-op.

Co-op Work Permits

  • If you are at Laurier on a study permit and are admitted to co-op, you are responsible for obtaining a co-op work permit and for ensuring that your visa documents, including passport and entry, study and work permits, remain valid for the duration of your co-op program.

You are required to do the following:

  • Review the process for obtaining a co-op work permit on the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada website.
  • Complete any forms required to request the work permit within two weeks of your admission to co-op, and at least four months before your work term. 
  • Provided the Co-op Office with proof of your application.
  • Pay any costs that may be associated with requesting or obtaining the work permit.
  • Accept the terms of the work permit.

Participating in Co-op Recruiting

To be eligible to apply to co-op job postings, you must:

  • Provide the Co-op Office with documents showing that you have a valid work and study permit or clearance. (If you do not have a valid work permit, please provide evidence that you submitted your application for a permit at least four months before the start of the work term.)
  • Notify the Co-op Office of your location, if you reside outside of Canada during the study term before your work term.
  • Notify prospective employers whether you have received a work permit.
If you reside outside Canada in the study term before your work term, there is no guarantee that you will be allowed into the country before first work term. For this reason, please identify where you are located when applying to co-op job postings and during interviews:
  •  Include your current address in cover letters and mention you are abroad during interviews. (Some employers can hire only students who reside in Canada, so cannot let you work remotely if you are not allowed to enter Canada.) 
  • If your employer wants you to work on site, but you are unable to relocate to Canada, we will check whether you informed the employer of your location during the recruiting process and, if you did not, we reserve the right to remove you from co-op.
  • You must return to Canada before your work term is scheduled to begin. (If your employer has agreed to let you work abroad due to extenuating circumstances, please consult with your co-op coordinator.)

Transfer Students

Arts or Science

If you are an Arts or Science student with more than five credits, you must provide verification from your academic department that you need to complete three more years of full-time study.

We will not consider you for co-op if you have more than a total of 7.5 credits at the end of year one.

If you choose to have any excess credits excluded from your transcript at the point of admission to Laurier, we will consider you eligible to apply for admission. Please note that this change to your transcript will be permanent and that you will still need to achieve the minimum required GPA in first year to be eligible for an admission interview.

When determining whether you met the minimum overall GPA requirement for co-op, we will first consider all required courses in your first year, then we will consider the earliest electives you took at Laurier, followed by your later electives, to a total of five full credits.

Business and Economics

We will not consider you for co-op if you have more than a total of 7.5 credits as of the end of year one. The Lazaridis School of Business and Economics requires students to be registered in a minimum of four courses in each term of first year. If you have more than 3.5 transfer credits, you will not be eligible to apply for admission to co-op at the beginning of second year. If, however, you choose to have any additional credits excluded from your transcript at the point of admission to Laurier, we will consider you eligible to apply for admission. Please note that this change to your transcript will be permanent and that you will still need to achieve the minimum required GPA in first year to be eligible for an admission interview.

When determining whether you met the minimum overall GPA requirement for co-op, we will first consider all required courses in your first year, then we will consider the earliest electives you took at Laurier, followed by your later electives, to a total of 5 full credits.

If you have more than 7.5 credits you are not eligible for co-op as you are too far along in your studies.

Double Degree Program

We will not consider you for co-op if you have more than a total of 7.5 credits as of the end of year one. The Lazaridis School of Business and Economics requires students to be registered in a minimum of four courses in each term of first year. If you have more than 3.5 transfer credits, you will not be eligible to apply for admission to co-op at the beginning of second year.

If, however, you choose to have any additional credits excluded from your transcript at the point of admission to Laurier, we will consider you eligible to apply for admission. Please note that this change to your transcript will be permanent.

If you have more than 7.5 credits you are not eligible for co-op as you are too far along in your studies.

User Experience Design

We will not consider you for co-op if you have more than a total of 14.0 credits at the beginning of third year. If you completed 14.0 credits by the end of second year, you must complete no more than 4.0 credits in third year; (2.0 in each of fall of and winter of third year) to be able maintain full time status in fourth year. You need to complete at least 2.0 credits in the study term that follows a work term; you will likely complete 2.0 credits in each of 4A and 4B. To be eligible for co-op, you must have completed or received credit for the following courses; UX100, UX103, UX115, UX212, UX211, UX205, UX200.

International Baccalaureate (IB) and Advanced Placement (AP)

We will assess your Grade Point Average (GPA) as of the end of April of your first year.

If the university recognized IB or AP courses you completed at high school as university credits toward your first year, we will count these credits towards the ten courses required for admission to co-op. We will not, however, include in your GPA marks you received from IB, AP or other courses you completed in high school, even if you received university credits for them. We will only include marks you received for first-year courses completed at Laurier.

If you take courses during the spring term after first year, please note that we will consider only courses you repeated, courses required for progression to second year and courses needed to meet co-op requirements for completing five full credits during first year.

If your overall GPA is based on fewer than eight courses because of your IB or AP courses, we may give you less credit for your marks than we give students who completed ten courses when we evaluate your academic achievement during the admission selection process.