The academic plan leading to the degree of Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Honours English (Co-op) is designed for students who plan careers in diverse areas: business, industry, labour, education, or government; media, arts, or digital communication; or non-profit and non-governmental organizations. Qualified students will ordinarily be admitted to the academic plan after completion of their first two academic terms at the University of Waterloo and will proceed through the Honours English BA academic plan consisting of six further terms of study on campus and a minimum of four work terms with participating employers.
The academic requirements of the co-op mode are essentially those of the regular Waterloo Honours BA in English (either Literature, Literature and Rhetoric, or Rhetoric and Professional Writing). However, co-op students must also complete CS 100 or another 0.5 units in computer science at the university-level. Students with an interest in doing so are strongly encouraged to take more than one course in computing.
Co-op students are strongly advised to follow a fully-alternating schedule of academic and work terms and not to go off-stream.