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).

Students are welcome to choose any course on the complete Liberal Education [1] 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 correct semester, is not restricted to students in certain majors, and any necessary prerequisites are met). 

There are many courses to choose from. New students 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. If you meet the prerequisites and restrictions on a course, you can add yourself to the waitlist on WebAdvisor for any preferred elective courses.  In the meantime, you should register for an alternate course. For information on course restrictions, please see the campus-wide restrictions [2].

If you click on the course codes below, you will be able to view the Course Description [3] given in the Undergraduate Calendar [4].

Popular Choices for First Year Liberal Education Electives

• ACCT 1220 [5] - Introductory Financial Accounting 
• ANTH 1120 [6] - Biological Anthropology
• ANTH 1150 [7] - Introduction to Anthropology 
• ARTH 1510 [8] - Art Historical Studies I
• CLAS 1000 [9] - Introduction to Classical Culture
• ECON 1050 [10] - Introductory Microeconomics
• ECON 1100 [11] - Introductory Macroeconomics
• ENGL 1030 [12] - Effective Writing
• FARE 1300 [13] - Poverty, Food and Hunger
• FREN 1200 [14] - French Language I
• FRHD 1010 [15] - Human Development
• FRHD 1020 [16] - Couple & Family Relationships
• FRHD 1100 [17] - Life: Health and Well-Being
• GEOG 1220 [18] - Explaining Environmental Change
• HIST 1XXX [19] - History (various options)
• IDEV 1000 [20] - Understanding Development
• INDG 1100 [21] - Indigenous Language & Culture
• ITAL 1060 [22] - Introductory Italian I
• LAT 1100 [23] - Preliminary Latin I
• LING 1000 [24] - Introduction to Linguistics
• MCS 1000 [25] - Introductory Marketing
• MUSC 1130 [26] - Introduction to Musicianship
• NUTR 1010 [27] - Introduction to Nutrition
• PHIL 1XXX [28] - Philosophy (various options)
• PSYC 1000 [29] - Introduction to Psychology
• SOC 1100 [30] - Sociology
• SPAN 1100 [21] - Introductory Spanish
• SPAN 1500 [31] - Hispanic Film
• SPMT 1020 [32] - Sport Management Today