Faculty of Mathematics

The Mathematics section of this Calendar contains regulations and requirements that must be satisfied to obtain a credential offered by the Faculty. All undergraduate students are also responsible for following the University Policies, Guidelines, and Academic Regulations section of this Calendar.

Degree requirements and policies that apply to students enrolled in the Bachelor of Software Engineering (BSE) degree program are included in the Software Engineering program description. Also see Degree Requirements for definitions of the basic terms used in this section.

• Academic Enrolment Blocks (Holds) 
• Academic Standing within the Faculty
• Averages for Math Students
• Major Averages for Math Students
• Co-op Regulations
• Repeat Rule
• Course Load
• Discretion in the Application of Policies
• Exceptions
• Extended Absences and Withdrawals
• Other Course Rules

Academic Enrolment Blocks (Holds)

In some instances a student will be blocked from enrolling in classes. Any student with an enrolment block (hold) should speak to their academic advisor concerning their situation. A student will be blocked, regardless of their academic standing for the term, in the following circumstances:

• after the term in which a student reaches 1.5 failed or excluded units; or 
• after the term in which a student enrolled in Mathematical Studies reaches 3.0 failed or excluded units; or
• after the first term in which a student reaches or exceeds 4.0 units of unusable course attempts; or
• when the "First Course" of the Communication Skills requirement is not completed before enrolling in 2A.

Students may be blocked from enrolling in courses for reasons other than those listed here.

Academic Standing within the Faculty

This section specifies the rules that determine a student’s academic standing. A student’s standing determines whether a student is able to proceed in the Faculty or in their chosen plan, how many courses they are able to take in the next term, etc.

The following table describes the implications of the standings listed above.

Averages for Math Students

The Faculty of Mathematics computes several averages that are used to determine a student’s “standing” within the Faculty. The averages are:

Cumulative Average (CAV): The average grade of all courses taken by a student that meet the following criteria:

• was taken while the student was enrolled at the University of Waterloo,
• is not a specifically excluded course,
• is eligible for credit towards the student’s degree (e.g., ECON 211 would not be included in the CAV because all Math students are barred from taking it) and towards their particular plan (e.g., CS 330 would not be included in a computer science major’s average because it is only for non-majors).

Term Average (TAV): The TAV is just like the CAV except that the courses included are limited to those taken in a specific term. A TAV is computed for each term in which a student is enrolled in the Faculty of Mathematics.

Major Average (MAV): Courses included in the MAV and average requirements are contained in the table below.

Special Major Average (SMAV): Some plans have a special major average, or SMAV. A SMAV is a kind of MAV. The specific courses in a SMAV are defined in the next section.

Notes

1. Courses taken in fall 2013 or later cannot be excluded.
2. Failing grades less than 32 and grades of DNW (did not write exam), FTC (failure to complete), NMR (no mark reported), and WF (withdraw/failure) are counted as 32 for average-calculation purposes.

Major Averages for Math Students

Co-op Regulations

General Regulations

• Co-operative mathematics students are expected to follow the normal academic/work-term sequence appropriate to their plan from admission through to graduation.
• Students admitted at the 1A level, with the exception of those in the Mathematics/Chartered Professional Accountancy and Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA)/Bachelor of Mathematics (BMath) Double Degree plans, will normally have eight academic terms and six work terms.
• Students may not end their sequence with a work term.
• Students’ requests to re-arrange their sequence will normally be approved if all the criteria listed on the Academic/Work Term Sequence Change form are met. Students who alter their sequence without obtaining prior approval may be required to withdraw from the co-op system. It is the student’s responsibility to deal with any timetabling difficulties that may arise and to select courses for subsequent terms.

Professional Development (PD) Courses

• As specified in Table I, co-op students are required to complete a minimum of five different Professional Development (PD) courses.
• PD 1 is required in the academic term prior to the first work term and PD 11 is required during the first work term.
• Students in the Bachelor of Mathematics in Computer Science and Bachelor of Computer Science plans must include PD 10, Professional Responsibility in Computing, as one of their PD courses.
• With the exception of PD 1, PD courses are normally taken during co-op work terms.
• Students are required to take a PD course each work term until the requirement is completed.

Work Reports

• Co-op students must submit a work report following every work term until they have completed four acceptable work reports. Successful completion of PD 11 meets the requirement for a first work report.

Co-op Standing Rules

The following table describes the implications of the standings listed above.

Courses on a Work Term

• Co-op students on a work term are limited to one course (0.5 unit), unless they have written support from their employer to take two courses (1.0 unit). COOP, PD, and WKRPT courses are not included in these limits.

Transferring into Co-op

• Late transfers to the co-op system are considered once per term. Admission is very competitive and is a function of availability and demonstrated academic performance at the university level.
• Regular students in the Faculty of Mathematics may apply to transfer to the co-op system of study in their 1B term. To be eligible, at the time of admission to co-op, such students must have successfully completed between 4.0 and 6.0 units, including transfer credits.
• Non-co-op students from other faculties at the University of Waterloo may apply to transfer to the co-op system in the Faculty of Mathematics at the end of their 1B term, as part of the internal transfer process.
• Non-co-op students external to the University of Waterloo are eligible to apply for co-op in the Faculty of Mathematics only if, at the time of admission, they have successfully completed no more than 3.0 units of math transfer credits and between 4.0 and 6.0 transfer credits overall.
• Applications to transfer to co-op from co-op students external to the University of Waterloo will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Repeat Rule

Students are limited to a maximum of three attempts per course. A course attempt is defined in Table 1.

Course Load

• The standard course load is five courses per term (2.5 units). A student may take up to 2.75 units without special permission.
• Students who have a cumulative average of 80% or more and are in Excellent standing have a maximum course load of 3.25 units. Honours co-op students should not enrol in six courses with a view to graduating in fewer than eight terms, because co-op students must complete at least eight full-time terms to graduate with the co-op designation.
• If a student has courses with INC (incomplete course work) grades on their record, the total unit weight of those courses and the courses enrolled for the current term may not normally exceed 3.25 units. A student may obtain permission from an academic advisor to exceed this limit if an INC will not be completed in the current term because the course is not offered.
• If, during a student’s first 1A term in the Faculty of Mathematics, a student fails one or more courses and has a CAV of less than 65%, then the student’s course load for the following term will be reduced to 2.0 units. Students who will likely be required to withdraw and are also enrolled in the subsequent term may continue in a non-degree term enrolled in a maximum of 2.5 units. Exceptions may be brought to the associate dean by plan/program advisors, and will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

Discretion in the Application of Policies

The Faculty may, in extenuating circumstances, make exceptions to its policies. For example, students who experience difficulties beyond their control, such as serious illness, may be allowed to continue in a plan when a strict interpretation of policy would force them out.

Students should consult their academic advisor to determine whether their circumstances are appropriate to warrant asking for an exception.

Normally, the S&P Committee considers petitions for exceptions to Faculty or University policies and regulations. Students wishing to petition S&P should consult their academic advisor.

Exceptions

For students near graduation, any student who has:

1. exceeded the limit for failed or excluded units in Table I, or
2. accumulated more than 5.0 units of unusable course attempts, and
3. has no more than 0.5 units remaining to satisfy degree requirements, may enrol in one additional term. The student will still qualify for an Honours degree if, at the end of that term, they:

• satisfied all degree requirements other than the failure or attempt limit,
• have credit for at least 1.5 units in the additional term, and
• have no failed or excluded courses, WDs (withdrew, no credit granted), or CLCs (no credit granted, in average) in that term.

No student may take advantage of this provision more than once.

Extended Absences and Withdrawals

First-year Withdrawal

A first-year student who has never previously been registered at a degree-granting post-secondary institution will normally be permitted to withdraw from all of their courses without academic penalty until the last official day of lectures for their first term. These courses will continue to appear on the student’s academic record with a grade of WD. Even though a WD appears, these attempts will not impact a student's academic progress. Such students may resume their studies after an absence of two terms (eight months). Students wishing to pursue this option should contact the Registrar’s Office.

Readmission

A student who has completed at least one term of study and who has been inactive (i.e., not registered as a candidate for a Faculty of Mathematics degree or on an approved Letter of Permission) for at least five consecutive academic terms must apply for readmission.

For example, a student whose last term of enrolment was spring 2016 would not need to apply for readmission if they returned to study in winter 2018 or earlier. However, if this student remained inactive until spring 2018 or later, then they would need to apply for readmission.

Application for readmission must include a résumé covering the inactive period, and must include transcripts from any post-secondary institutions attended in the interim. If the student is readmitted, Faculty policies in effect at the time of readmission will apply unless otherwise stated by the Faculty.

Other Course Rules

Courses on Letter of Permission

Students in Good or Excellent standing are normally permitted to take non-math courses at other universities on a part-time basis during terms off campus, provided that the courses are not explicitly required for their particular plan. A Letter of Permission may not be used for any Faculty of Mathematics course. Students wishing to take courses at other universities must submit a completed Letter of Permission Form to the Registrar's Office before taking each course. The S&P Committee will not approve courses taken elsewhere for degree credit after the fact.

Courses taken on a Letter of Permission will be recorded on a student's academic record as transfer credits (CR - credit granted) or transfer failures (TF - transfer failure) as appropriate. A grade of 60 or higher will be recorded as a credit and a grade of less than 50 will be recorded as a failure. Grades of 50-59 will result in the course not being recorded on a student’s record.

It will be the student's responsibility to ensure that an official transcript from the host institution is sent to the University of Waterloo Registrar's Office within two months of the completion of the course. Otherwise, a transfer failure will be automatically recorded. Any changes a student wishes to make to an authorized Letter of Permission must be approved in advance by the S&P Committee.

Course Prerequisites

At any time prior to the completion of lectures, if the Faculty discovers that a student has enrolled in a course offered by the Faculty without the appropriate prerequisites and without being granted an override of those prerequisites, the Faculty may purge the student’s registration in the course. Such purging may be done at the request of the instructor, the department offering the course, or the Faculty, but not without the consent of the instructor.

Double Counting of Courses

With the exception of specially approved double-degree plans (e.g., BBA/BMath Double Degree plan with Wilfrid Laurier University), the Faculty of Mathematics does not allow students to have more than 50% of the course units that they are counting for Mathematics Faculty degree credit be ones that have previously been used, or that are being used simultaneously, to obtain a second degree from another University of Waterloo faculty or from another university.

Policy for Late Switches from Advanced MATH Courses to the Regular Equivalents

At any time before the end of the “Drop, Penalty 1” period, students may switch from an advanced section MATH or STAT course to the equivalent course at the regular honours level:

Students making this kind of switch will normally only be graded based on course elements from the regular section course. Any grades from the advanced section course will be disregarded. Students are responsible for making up any material in the regular section course that they may have missed, and are required to discuss their situation with the regular section instructor as soon as possible after making the switch.

Students in MATH 147 who have transfer credit for MATH 137 may elect instead to drop the class, retroactive to the first day of lectures. If such a student chooses to switch to MATH 137 instead, then they will forfeit any transfer credit for MATH 137.

Students in MATH 247 who have already gained credit for MATH 237 may elect instead to drop the class, retroactive to the first day of lectures.

The School of Computer Science has a special rule for any first-year student who has never been previously registered for full-time study at a degree-granting post-secondary institution (e.g. a university or college) and wishes to transfer from CS 135 to CS 115 (fall and winter terms) or from CS 145 to CS 135 (fall term).