Advising for current Arts students

Our Faculty of Arts advising team can answer questions and provide support to current students. 

Bachelor of Arts degree requirements

The Bachelor of Arts program has five main requirements:

• First-year distribution requirements
• A major
• 51 credit hours of upper-level courses
• 120 credit hours at a cumulative GPA of 2.0

These apply to BA degrees and the BA portions of the BAS, BABSC, and BABCS programs.

Bachelor of Applied Arts

See specific requirements for the BAA degree.

For more detailed information on undergraduate Arts degrees, please review the academic calendar.

First-year distribution requirements

In the first 30 credit hours of your degree, you will explore what the Faculty of Arts has to offer.

• ARTS 1013, 1014, 1023 or ARTS 1024: Arts students are required to complete six credit hours (6 ch) of first-year ARTS introductory courses. Students can obtain credit for ARTS 1000 (6 ch) or a combination of ARTS 1001, 1002, 1013, 1014, 1023 or 1024 (3 ch each).
• There are four categories to choose from: humanities, languages, social sciences and science. You will choose from three of the four categories (6 ch in each subject for a total of 18 ch).
  • Humanities: Classics, comparative cultural studies, English, film, history, media arts and culture, music, philosophy
  • Social sciences: Anthropology, criminology, economics, gender & womens studies, international development studies, political science, psychology, sociology
  • Sciences: Biology, chemistry, earth science, computer science, physics, mathematics
  • Languages: German, French, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Spanish, Latin, Greek (Ancient), Mi’kmaq, Maliseet

• Electives give you the opportunity to choose an additional two courses (one each term) from any category or you may choose from gender and women’s studies, international development studies, drama and music courses. You will need 8 courses (24 ch) of 3rd and 4th year courses.
  

Major

Every Arts student needs a major (or a double major) to graduate. Alternatively, you could pursue the same subject with an honours degree (or a joint honours degree). You may also choose to pursue a minor in a variety of subjects; however, you are not required to minor in a subject to graduate.
Students typically declare their majors in the winter term of the second year.

Upper-level credits

Undergraduate students will need 51 credit hours at the upper level. Upper-level courses include 3000, 4000, and 5000 level courses. This total includes majors and honours requirements.

120 ch with a 2.0 cumulative GPA

While this can take four years (30 ch per year from five courses per term), the 120 credit hours can be completed at your own pace with a variety of fall, winter and summer classes. Many students complete in five or even six years in order to accommodate work and family commitments or for health considerations.

Open entry and term based CEL courses

Students interested in taking an online course must first obtain approval from their BA Academic Advisor. Additionally, if a student plans to use an online course to fulfill major requirements, it is the student’s responsibility to ensure the course can be used by checking with their major advisor.

Students may also register for online courses during the summer term (May-August).

Graduation assessment

A grad assessment will be done by the Office of the Dean of Arts after you have applied to graduate.