Link to the University of Waterloo home page
2010-2011

The Undergraduate Calendar

 

 

Academic Plans and Degree Requirements

General Science

Three-Year General Program

Advisor: Professor M. Coniglio

The three-year General program allows students to specialize to a limited extent in a particular subject area or to pursue a broad range of Science subjects. However, students graduate with the "General Science" degree with no area of specialization designated.

Students must maintain an overall cumulative average of 55% and a cumulative average of 55% in all Science courses to be able to continue in Years Two and Three of the General Science Plan. Students are encouraged to take at least 2.0 units from non-science areas, such as Arts or Mathematics. Normally, 5.0 lecture units are taken per year.

In order to graduate with a three-year General degree, the following requirements must be met:

  1. Successful completion of 15.0 units with a cumulative overall average of 55% and a cumulative average of 55% in all Science courses. Of the 15.0 units:
    • 14.0 must be lecture units (no more than 1.0 lab unit can be counted);
    • at least 7.5 must be Science units, and 2.0 of these must be lecture units from the Year One offerings in two different disciplines;
    • at least 7.5 must be at or above the 200-level;
    • at least 1.0 unit must be in Mathematics. (i.e., ACTSC, AMATH, CM, CO, CS, STAT, MATH, PMATH, not MATH 103,  or any COMM or MTHEL courses).
  2. Completion of the English Language Proficiency Examination (ELPE)
  3. No more than 3.0 "SCI"-labelled units, exclusive of SCBUS 122, 123, 223, 323, 423, 424, 425, and SCI 237. "SCI"-labelled courses taken beyond 3.0 units will be counted as electives.  SCBUS courses do not count as Science courses.
  4. No more than 5.0 failed units will be allowed.

Year One

5.0 lecture units, and associated laboratory units.

At least two of (a), (b), (c), or (d) must be taken:

a) Any two 100- or 200-level BIOL courses plus labs;
b) EARTH 121/122 plus labs, Introductory Earth Sciences/Introductory Environmental Sciences;
c) CHEM 120/123 plus labs, Physical and Chemical Properties of Matter/Chemical Reactions, Equilibria and Kinetics;
d) PHYS 111/112 Physics 1 and 2 plus labs or PHYS 121/122 Mechanics and Waves 1 and 2 plus labs, or PHYS 121/112 plus labs, Mechanics and Waves 1/Physics 2.
It is recommended that the required Mathematics unit be taken in First Year.

NOTE: 200-level Biology courses used to satisfy First-Year Science requirements may not be used to satisfy upper year requirements. Any 100-level Biology courses taken beyond the 1.0 unit used as a First-Year Science requirement will be counted as 200-level Biology courses exclusive of BIOL 112.


Years Two and Three

5.0 units of which 2.0 or 3.0 should normally be in Science.


Office of the Registrar
University of Waterloo
2nd Floor, Needles Hall
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
519 888 4567
 Campaign Waterloo