Admission Information | Calendar Home | A&S Students Home | University of Toronto Home


Calendar Home | Calendar Contents | Registrar's Office Home | Arts & Science Home

Degree Requirements

Students completing a second Faculty of Arts & Science degree: please see “Second Degree Requirements” below.

In the requirements below the word “course” means one full course equivalent—a “full course” or two “half-courses”; in the Programs and Courses section, “full courses” are listed as Y1 courses, and “half-courses” are listed as H1 courses.

Honours Bachelor of Arts/Honours Bachelor of Science

General Degree Requirements

Please note: in the requirements below the word “course” means one full-course equivalent.

To qualify for an Honours Bachelor of Arts (Hon.B.A.) or Honours Bachelor of Science (Hon. B.Sc.), you must:

(a) Obtain standing (i.e., receive 50% or more) in at least 20 courses that meet the following criteria:

1. No more than six courses may be 100-series.

2. At least six courses must be 300+series courses (no more than one 300+series transfer credit may be counted towards these six).

3. No more than fifteen courses may have the same three-letter designator (“AST”, “ENG”, etc.).

(b) Complete one of the following program requirements

One specialist program (which includes at least one course at the 400-level)
or
Two major programs, which must include at least 12 different courses
or
One major and two minor programs, which must include at least 12 different courses
or
Students registered in the Faculty before the 2000-2001 session may also complete three minor programs, which must include 12 different courses; this option is discontinued for students registering for the first time in 2000-2001 and thereafter.

Note: whether you receive an Hon. B.A. or an Hon. B.Sc. depends on the program(s) you complete; see Program Requirements, below.

(c) Complete the Distribution Requirement.

(d) Obtain a Cumulative GPA of 1.85 or more by the time of graduation. Students who meet all the requirements for the Hon.B.A./Hon.B.Sc. except for the GPA requirement may elect to graduate with a B.A./B.Sc. degree provided they are In Good Standing (i.e., CGPA is 1.50 or more).

Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science

Effective for all students registered for the first time in a degree program in the Faculty of Arts & Science for the summer 2001 session and thereafter, the St. George Campus of the Faculty has discontinued the 15 course (three-year) B.A. and B.Sc. degrees. Students registered in a degree program in the Faculty before Summer 2001 may still choose a 15-course (three-year) degree; these students should consult their college registrar’s office.

Students with a B.A. or B.Sc. who return to upgrade that degree to an Hon. B.A. or Hon. B.Sc. must exchange the B.A. or B.Sc. for an Honours degree. A B.A. leads only to an Hon. B.A.; a B.A. CANNOT be upgraded to an Hon. B.Sc., and a B.Sc. CANNOT be upgraded to an Hon. B.A. Students who upgrade to an Honours degree are not eligible to attend the convocation ceremony for the upgrade.

Different degree regulations apply to students who first registered in the Faculty before Winter Session 1992; these students should consult their College Registrar.

Graduation

Students who expect to graduate at the end of a given session must use the Student Web Service or notify their College Registrars in writing to make their degree requests by the dates specified in the Calendar. Prospective graduands should receive the following documents from the University:

1. a Program of Study Assessment form (late April/early October) from the program sponsor;

2. a letter from the Office of Convocation providing details of the convocation ceremony (late March/mid-October);

3. a Statement of Results (or letter for non-registered students) from the Office of the Faculty Registrar confirming degree eligibility (early June/late October).

“Second Degree” Requirements

Students must petition through their college by June 30 to begin a second degree. Before applying, students are urged to determine whether a second degree is actually required for their purposes; for example, a “make-up” year as a non-degree student may satisfy admission requirements for graduate school. Students are governed by the rules of the Faculty in place at the time they commence their second degree. Students who already hold a degree from the Faculty of Arts & Science, the University of Toronto Scarborough or the University of Toronto Mississauga may complete a second degree only of an alternate type (i.e. if a student has a B.A. degree then he/she may not complete a second B.A. degree). The Faculty normally exempts students from the first year of the degree requirements (five (5.0) credits: four 100-level and one 200-level), regardless of the number of previous degrees held. Second degree candidates may not repeat courses taken in a previous degree; they may however, count such courses towards satisfying pre-requisite and program requirements, on approval of the department/programs office concerned. A new Grade Point average will commence with the second degree courses.

Program Requirements

Completion of a program of study (also known as a subject POSt) is only one part of the general degree requirements. Variations made in program details for individual students do not in any way affect degree requirements.

Meaning of “Program”

Programs are groupings of courses in one or more disciplines; these groupings are listed with each college or department entry in the “Programs and Courses” section of this Calendar.

Types of programs are:

  • Specialist Program: a sequence of between 9 and 17.5 courses* in one or more disciplines. Specialist programs must include at least four 300+series courses, one of which must be a 400-series course.
  • Major Program: a sequence of between 6 and 8 courses* in one or more disciplines. Major programs must include at least two 300+series courses.
  • Minor Program: a sequence of 4 courses* in one or more disciplines. Minor programs must include at least one 300+series course.

PLEASE NOTE
Courses may have prerequisites not listed in the program but which must be taken. Programs which list optional courses do not necessarily list prerequisites. Students are responsible for fulfilling prerequisites; students enroled in courses for which they do not have the published prerequisites may have their registration in those courses cancelled at any time without warning.

Program Requirements

1. You must enrol in at least one and no more than three subject POSts (of which only two can be majors or specialists), in the session in which you pass your fourth course (see the Registration Handbook and Timetable for details). Students admitted with transfer credit for four courses or more must do this immediately upon admission.)

2. You must meet any enrolment requirements for a program as stated in the Calendar. If you do not meet these requirements, you may be removed from the subject POSts.

3. The subject POSts(s) you complete determine whether you receive a science or an arts degree upon graduation. In the “Programs and Courses” section, each program indicates the type of degree to which it leads. For example, in the English section, the English Specialist listing is followed by “Arts program”; the Geology Major is followed by “Science program”, etc.

To receive an Hon. B.Sc., for example:

O ne Specialist in a science area leads to an Hon. B.Sc.;

One Major in a science area plus one Major in an arts. area leads to either an Hon. B.Sc. or an Hon.B.A. - your choice (two Majors must include at least 12 different courses);

In combinations of one Major and two Minors, at least one Major, or both the Minors, must be in the Science area for an Honours Bachelor of Science (combinations must include at least 12 different courses).

Note:

In biological and science programs there may be occasions when scientific observations are made by students on themselves or on fellow students. These include common diagnostic or immunization procedures. Unless a valid reason exists, students are expected to participate in such exercises. If any investigative work involving student participation does not form part of the program, participation is voluntary.

Self-Designed Programs

Students may design their own Programs, which must be substantially different from any Program in this Calendar. Such a Program, if formally adopted by the student’s College on the basis of its academic rigour and coherence, and if approved by the Committee on Academic Standards, will be accepted as fulfilling the degree requirement for certification in a Program (transcripts indicate only “Completed Self-designed Programs approved by ’X’ College”). Since the approval process is necessarily a long one, students following this alternative must discuss this process with their College Registrar immediately after completion of the fourth course in the Faculty.

Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com.) Degree Requirements

For the complete Commerce degree, program and course listing, see page 26.

Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com.) Degree Requirements

This is a four-year Honours program.

To qualify for a Bachelor of Commerce degree, a student must:

(a) Complete twenty full-course equivalents, including no more than six 100-series courses;

(b) Complete one of the Specialist programs - Management, Finance and Economics, or Accounting;

(c) Complete the Faculty Distribution Requirement for B.Com. students (see below);

(d) Complete ten full course equivalents from Management (RSM/MGT/COM) and ten full course equivalents from disciplines outside of RSM/MGT/COM which include Economics (ECO) and other Arts & Science courses.

(e) Obtain standing (i.e., complete with a grade of 50% or more) in at least six 300- or 400-series courses, including at least one 400-series course. No more than one 300+series transfer credit may be counted towards these six. (Students participating in an approved exchange program may count all 300+ transfer credits from the exchange towards the required six.)

(f) Achieve a cumulative GPA of 1.85 or more by the time of graduation.

Graduation

Students who expect to graduate at the end of a given session must use the Student Web Service or notify their College Registrars in writing to make their degree requests by the dates specified in the Calendar. Prospective graduands should receive the following documents from the University:

1. a Program of Study Assessment form (late April/late August) from the program sponsor;

2. a letter from the Office of Convocation providing details of the convocation ceremony (late March/mid-October);

3. a Statement of Results (or letter for non-registered students) from the Office of the Faculty Registrar confirming degree eligibility (early June/early September).

Faculty Distribution Requirement for B.Com. Students

As part of the degree requirements for the B.Com., STUDENTS MUST COMPLETE ONE FULL COURSE EQUIVALENT IN EACH OF THE HUMANITIES, THE SOCIAL SCIENCES AND THE SCIENCES AREAS as defined below:

1. ONE full course equivalent must be from the Humanities.

2. ONE full course equivalent must be from the Social Sciences (MGT/RSM courses may be used to meet this requirement with the exception of MGT120H1/MGT201H1, COM110H1, and RSM100Y which have NO Distribution Requirement status).

3. ONE full course equivalent must be from the Sciences, with the following exceptions: all 100-series courses in CSC, MAT, STA; STA250H1, STA255H1, STA257H1, STA352Y1.

4. NOTE: transfer students from University of Toronto Mississauga or Scarborough must meet the St. George B.Com.Distribution Requirement.

The Distribution Requirement

On the St. George Campus Arts & Science courses fall into three areas:

  • Humanities
  • Social Science
  • Sciences

To qualify for any degree you must complete at least one full course equivalent in each of these three areas, for a total of 3.0 full course equivalents.

Courses that you take as part of your Specialist, Major or Minor programs may also be used to count towards the Distribution Requirement.

To help you understand the Distribution Requirement, there is a sample student course enrolment on next page.

The courses in these three areas are as follows:

Humanities

Courses with the three-letter designators below are Humanities courses. (In addition, other designators have courses in more than one area; these designators are listed below.)

  • Architecture (ARC course designators)
  • Art History (FAH course designators)
  • Classics (CLA course designators)
  • Drama (DRM course designators)
  • East Asian Studies (EAS course designators)
  • English (ENG course designators)
  • Estonian (EST course designators)
  • Finnish (FIN course designators)
  • French (FCS, FRE, FSL course designators)
  • German (GER course designators)
  • Greek (GRK course designators)
  • History (HIS course designators); except HIS 103Y1
  • Humanities First-Year Seminars (HUM199 course
    designators)
  • Hungarian (HUN course designators)
  • Italian (ITA course designators)
  • Latin (LAT course designators)
  • Music (MUS, HMU, TMU course designators)
  • Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations (NMC and NML course
    designators)
  • Philosophy (PHL course designators), except PHL245H1,
    which has NO Distribution Requirement status)
  • Portuguese (PRT course designators)
  • St. Michael’s College Courses (SMC course designators)
  • Slavic Languages & Literatures (SLA course designators)
  • Spanish (SPA course designators)
  • Visual Studies (VIS course designators; listed with Art)

Social Science

Courses with the three-letter designators below are Social Science courses. (In addition, other designators have courses in more than one area; these designators are listed below.)

  • Archaeology (ARH course designators)
  • Economics (ECO course designators)
  • Mathematics: MAT 123H, 124H and 133Y are Social Science courses; ALL other MAT are Science courses
  • Management (MGT/RSM course designators), except COM110H1, MGT120H1, MGT201H1, and RSM100Y1,
    which have NO Distribution Requirement status)
  • Political Science (POL course designators)
  • Sociology (SOC course designators)
  • Social Science First Year Seminars (SSC 199 course designators)
  • Woodsworth College (WDW course designators)

Science

Courses with the three-letter designators below are SCIENCE courses. (In addition, other designators have courses in more than one area; these designators are listed on the next page.) Some restrictions in the applicability of 100-series Science courses apply to B.Com. students; see the Commerce Programs listing starting on page 40 of this Calendar for more information.

  • Actuarial Science (ACT course designators)
  • Anatomy (ANA course designators)
  • Applied Mathematics (APM course designators; listed with Mathematics)
  • Astronomy (AST course designators)
  • Biochemistry (BCB, BCH course designators)
  • Biology (BIO course designators); except JBS 229H1
  • Cell & Systems Biology (CSB course designators)
  • Chemistry (CHM course designators)
  • Computer Science (CSC course designators)
  • Ecology & Evolutionary Biology (EEB course designators)
  • Geology (GLG course designators)
  • Human Biology (HMB course designators); all HMB courses except HMB303H1, HAJ453H1, and HMB498Y1, which
    are both Science and Social Science courses
  • Immunology (IMM course designators)
  • Laboratory Medicine & Pathobiology (LMP course designators)
  • Mathematics (MAT course designators); all Mathematics courses except 123H, 124H, 133Y1, which are Social Science courses)
  • Materials Science (MSE course designators)
  • Molecular Genetics & Microbiology (MGY course designators)
  • Nutritional Sciences (NFS course designators)
  • Pharmacology (PCL course designators)
  • Pharmaceutical Chemistry (PHC course designators)
  • Physical Education & Health (PHE course designators)
  • Physics (PHY course designators)
  • Planetary Science (PLN course designators)
  • Physiology (PSL course designators)
  • Psychology (PSY course designators)
  • Science First-Year Seminars (SCI199 course designators)
  • Statistics (STA course designators); all STA courses except 220H, 221H,250H, 255H, 257H, JBS 229H which have
    NO Distribution Requirement status)

Courses Which Can Fall in More than One of the Three Areas

To find which area each course is in, check the individual course descriptions:

  • Aboriginal Studies (ABS course designators)
  • Anthropology (ANT course designators)
  • Asia-Pacific Studies (ASI course designators)
  • Diaspora & Transnational Studies (DTS course designators)
  • Environment (ENV course designators)
  • European Studies (EUR course designators)
  • Geography (GGR course designators)
  • History & Philosophy of Science and Technology (HPS course designators)
  • Innis College (INI course designators)
  • Interdisciplinary First Year Seminars) (INX199H1/Y1 course
    designators)
  • Joint courses (JXX course designators)
  • Latin American Studies (LAS course designators)
  • Linguistics (LIN course designators)
  • National University of Singapore (NUS course designators; see entries for Chemistry and Life Science: Ecology &
    Evolutionary Biology for details)
  • New College (NEW course designators)
  • Religion (RLG course designators)
  • Trinity College (TRN course designators)
  • University College (UNI course designators)
  • Victoria College (VIC course designators)
  • Women and Gender Studies (WGS course designators)

Sample Student Course Enrolment Allowing for Distribution Requirements

Sokit wants to do a major in political science and a major in anthropology. She needs ANT 100Y1 for the first year of an anthropology major and POL 103Y1 or 105Y1 or 108Y1 for the first year of the political science major. She is also interested in sociology, so chooses SOC 101Y1.

The ANT, POL, and SOC courses are in Social Sciences, so they fulfill that part of the Distribution Requirement. She needs the following to fulfill the rest of her Distribution Requirement:

  • One course from Humanities
  • One course from Sciences

Sokit thinks that a History course would be a useful complement to her Political Science interest; at the same time it will fulfill the Humanities Distribution Requirement, so she enrols in HIS 104Y1: Ten Days that Shook the World.

To fulfill the Science Distribution Requirement she chooses ENV 200Y1: Science and the Environment.

Sokit’s first year courses (and their respective Distribution Requirement areas) are thus as follows:

ANT 100Y1 Introduction to Anthropology (Social Science)
ENV 200Y1 Assessing Global Change (Sciences)
HIS 104Y1 Ten Days that Shook the World (Humanities)
POL 105Y1 Ethics & the Public Sphere (Social Science)
SOC 101Y1 Introduction to Sociology (Social Science)

Sokit’s course choices fulfill the first year course requirements for the programs she wants to pursue; they also fulfill all three Distribution Requirements, giving her lots of flexibility in future years.

Humanities Courses for Science and Social Science Students

These courses are especially designed for science and social science students to fulfill the Humanities Distribution Requirement; none of them has Grade 12 prerequisites.

Science Courses for Humanities & Social Science Students

These courses are especially designed for humanities and social science students to fulfill the Science Distribution Requirement; none of them has OAC/Grade 12 prerequisites.