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Plan Your Program
There are many ways to earn a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in FASS. You may choose to complete a major, two minors (at least one in FASS), an honours program, a joint major program, or a joint honours program. You can also create your own unique program combination, such as a major in one subject and a minor in another. The options are endless.
Ready to declare your major/minor?
Overview
All students in FASS are admitted into the Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree and are undeclared until they contact a department to formally declare a program (major, minor), usually by the time they have completed 60 units.
Major
You can choose one subject area of concentration within your BA degree – most students do. All programs have specific requirements for lower and upper division courses.
Minor
A minor requires about half the number of courses needed for a major. You can add an optional minor to your degree with any major. You can also complete two minors to earn your BA degree.
Honours
An honours program includes the requirements of a major plus other advanced courses that prepare students for the pursuit of a graduate program.
Joint Major
A joint major includes two subjects that are complimentary to one another and have similar unit value (as opposed to a major in one subject and a minor in another, where the major would be considerably larger than the minor).
What are the differences?
The difference between majors, joint majors, extended minors and minors is essentially the number of units you would complete in a particular subject at the lower and upper division levels:
|
Major |
Joint Major |
Extended Minor |
Minor |
Lower Division |
~18 to 24 units |
~18 to 24 units |
~18 to 24 units |
~9 to 15 units |
Upper Division |
~30 to 36 units |
~20 to 24 units |
~15 to 18 units |
~15 to 18 units |
Honours degrees require the completion of at least 120 units, including at least 60 upper division units. Of these, at least 50 upper division units must be taken in a subject in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
Find out whether your choice of major or minor will affect your Career Planning.
Programs Available
| Major | Honours | Joint Major | Joint Honours |
Minor | Extended Minor | |
| Anthropology | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Behavioural Neuroscience | X | X | ||||
| Cognitive Science | X | X | X | |||
| Creative Writing | X | |||||
| Criminology | X | X | X | X | X | |
| Economics | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| English | X | X | X | X | X | |
| French | X | X | X | X | X | |
| Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies | X | X | X | X | ||
| Gerontology | X | |||||
| Global Asia | X | |||||
| Global Humanities | X | X | X | X | X | |
| History | X | X | X | X | X | |
| Indigenous Languages | X | |||||
| Indigenous Studies | X | X | X | |||
| International Studies | X | X | X | X | ||
| Italian Studies | X | |||||
| Labour Studies | X | X | ||||
| Legal Studies | X | |||||
| Linguistics | X | X | X | X | ||
| Philosophy | X | X | X | X | X | |
| Police Studies | X | |||||
| Political Science | X | X | X | X | X | |
| Psychology | X | X | X | X | X | |
| Public Policy | X | |||||
| Social Data Analytics | X | |||||
| Sociology | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Urban Studies | X | |||||
| World Literature | X | X | X | X | X |