Many engineering students seek to enhance their degree with material from other disciplines and programs. There are several officially recognized alternatives available to engineering students:
- Options within the Faculty of Engineering (open to BASc and BSE students only) are described in the Options section of this chapter. Most of these options focus on technical aspects of engineering. One exception is the Management Sciences Option, offered by the Management Sciences Department, which focuses on the application of scientific methods to managerial decision making.
- Interdisciplinary options are described within the Faculty chapter of the calendar of the Faculty offering the option. The most common ones taken by engineering students are the ones offered by the Faculty of Arts, listed in Arts Opportunities for Non-Arts Students, and described in detail in the Art's chapter of the calendar. It should be noted that some of the items in this list are not available as options. As well there is the Option in Society, Technology and Values offered by the Centre for Society, Technology and Values and housed within Engineering and available to students from all faculties.
- Minors are offered by other faculties and described in that faculty section of the calendar. In some cases a minor and an option in a given discipline may be similar in work load. As an Honours student, all engineering students (BAS, BASc, and BSE) can pursue an option or a minor if both are offered.
- Joint Honours with non-engineering departments.
It should be noted that for all of these alternatives Engineering students must meet the criteria for their degree (BAS, BASc, or BSE) as well as the requirement of the option, minor, or joint. This usually requires courses in addition to your degree.