First Semester Electives for New Students

The Majority of Majors in the B.Sc. Program Take a Liberal Education Elective (0.5 credits) in First Semester

New students often wonder which courses are the "best" to take. In fact, there is no "best" option. An elective is just that - an elective! You may take whatever interests you.

Please see below for a small list of 'popular' choices that are taken by many B.Sc. students - it is provided only as a general guide, and should not be considered comprehensive (see link below for the complete list).

If you are experiencing issues with course restrictions, we anticipate that many restrictions on first year courses will be removed when the system reopens at Noon on July 15th (the system will be offline that morning). You may wish to try registering again at that time. Please continue reading for further information on restrictions.

Students are welcome to choose any course on the complete Liberal Education list for B.Sc. students, as long as you are able to register (ie: as long as the course has space available, is being offered in the Fall semester, is not restricted to students in certain majors, and any necessary prerequisites are met). 

There are many courses to choose from. New students would normally select a first-year course (1000 level, sometimes referred to as 100 level), as higher level courses often require prerequisites to be taken first.

Students are advised to register for their required Science courses first (they take priority) and then schedule the elective around the required courses.

The B.Sc. Academic Counselling Centre cannot help students register for an elective course that is full or restricted to students in certain programs or majors. Our office has no influence on non-science courses. If your preferred elective is full, please continue to monitor WebAdvsior regularly to see if a space becomes available. In the meantime, it would be wise to register for an alternate course. For information on course restrictions, please see the restriction section of our Course Selection Information page. We anticipate that many restrictions will be removed when the system reopens at Noon on July 15th (the system will be offline that morning). You may wish to try registering again at that time.

NEUR majors may choose to register in PSYC 1000 section DE01 (online) if they wish to do so in Semester 1, as the major is included on the restriction. PSYC 1000 is a required course taken in Semester 2, but may be taken in Semester 1 if desired (pending space availability).

If you click on the course codes below, you will be to view the Course Description given in the Undergraduate Calendar (an important resource for all students).

Popular Choices for a First Semester Liberal Education Elective.

At the time of writing, the following courses should be available to all first year students in Fall 24, without restriction to particular majors or programs (assuming space is available). This list may change as course selection approaches. Courses with sections indicated as "DE01" are on-line courses, and therefore have no scheduled class times. (last updated July 2024).

ARTH 1510 - Art Historical Studies I
ACCT 1220 - Introductory Financial Accounting (no restriction in place on the DE01 - online - section only)
CLAS 1000 - Introduction to Classical Culture
ECON 1050 - Introductory Microeconomics
ECON 1100 - Introductory Macroeconomics
FREN 1200 - French Language I
IDEV 1000 - Understanding Development
ITAL 1060 - Introductory Italian I
LAT 1100 - Preliminary Latin I
LING 1000 - Introduction to Linguistics
MUSC 1130 - Introduction to Musicianship
SPAN 1100 - Introductory Spanish
SPAN 1500 - Hispanic Film
SPMT 1020 - Sport Management Today - Additional spaces opened July 8, 2024!

The list below includes other popular options for B.Sc. students, but may have restrictions in place, at least initially. We anticipate that many such restrictions will be removed when the system reopens at Noon on July 15th (the system will be offline that morning). You may wish to try registering again at that time. This list is based on typical Fall course offerings. Some courses may also be offered again in the Winter semester, as well.

ACCT 1220 - Introductory Financial Accounting
ANTH 1120 - Biological Anthropology
ANTH 1150 - Introduction to Anthropology
ECON 1050 - Introductory Microeconomics
ENGL 1030 - Effective Writing
FREN 1xxx - French Studies (exact course depends on ability)
FRHD 1010 - Human Development
FRHD 1100 - Life: Health and Well-Being
GEOG 1220 - Human Impact on the Environment
HIST 1xxx - History (usually three or four to choose from)
IDEV 1000 - Understanding Development
PHIL 1xxx - Philosophy (usually two or three to choose from)
PSYC 1000 - Introduction to Psychology
SOC 1100 - Sociology
SPAN 1100 - Introductory Spanish

Please note that the First Year Seminars (UNIV 1200) are no longer offered, effective the Fall 2023 semester.