You can apply for the major program in Political Science at the end of your second year in the Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree.
Applying to the Major
The 2023W application portal for our Major Program is now closed. Our next admissions cycle will run from February – May 2024.
To be admitted into our Major program, a student must:
- be enrolled in the Faculty of Arts;
- have completed at least 54 credits of course work;
- have completed at least 9 credits of the 12-credit lower-level requirement (POLI 100/101/110/240) prior to admission into our program–any remaining lower-level POLI credits must be completed as soon as possible once accepted into the program and prior to graduation;
- have attained the minimum grade-point average established by the Department (this can vary annually, but it is typically around 65%)
- Selection for admission to the major will be based on the average grade for all post-secondary work attempted to date, excluding IB/AP grades. If necessary, 12 credits can be excluded from the calculation which will be on at least 48 attempted credits, including all POLI courses. This means that any failed courses will be factored into the calculation.
Students who have not entered the major at the start of their third year may also apply following completion of their third year. In this case, selection will be based on the same criteria used for third year entrants, except that at least 72 completed credits must be used in calculating the average.
In order for a student to be admitted to the Major program for the 2023 Winter session, these requirements must be met by August 31. This means that if have not completed one or more of the prerequisite courses before the point of application, you will still be able to complete those courses in 2023S and still be admitted for 2023W.
Please note that if you have completed fewer than 54 credits at the conclusion of 2022W, your year standing will remain at Year 2. This will affect your registration date for 2023W.
Please note:
- POLI 100 serves as a foundational course for the rest of our undergraduate course catalogue. We highly recommend that students take this course before taking POLI courses at a higher level.
- In addition to POLI 100, 110, 101, and 240, we encourage students to take our other two foundational courses on Comparative Politics (220) and International Relations (260).
Degree Requirements
To graduate with a major in political science, students must complete at least 42 credits, but not more than 60 credits, of political science in their overall 120 credits of the Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree.
At least 30 of these political science credits must be in courses numbered 300 or above, including two required courses: POLI 380 and one 400 level POLI seminar (the seminar is a BA requirement and can be fulfilled outside of the POLI specialization, if preferred or necessary).
Please note:
- Students will not get credit for both POLI 380 and any of the following courses in counting up the required 120 credits needed to graduate: STAT 200, 203, BIOL 300, COMM 312, 291, ECON 325, EPSE 482, 4POL83, FRST 231, GEOG 374, KIN 371, PSYC 218, 366, SOCI 328.
- All our fourth-year seminars satisfy the Research Requirement for the BA degree. Students can satisfy the Research Requirement by taking other appropriate courses in Arts, but we strongly encourage majors to take at least one fourth year seminar in POLI.
- In addition to these courses, students may take any political science courses for which they have prerequisites, provided that they take at least 42 but not more than 60 credits of political science and at least 30 of their political science credits are from courses numbered 300 or above.