Bachelor of Arts in Honours Arts - History (Co-op)

at University of Waterloo Canada

At Waterloo, we offer much more than just German language courses. Explore German culture, film, literature, and linguistics, or add classes in other Slavic languages like Russian and Croatian. The language skills and cultural competence you develop over the course of your degree will serve you well in a variety of careers, including education, business, and government.

Study at one of the world’s best schools for computer science, where more than 80 professors are pushing the boundaries of the field.

Computer Science focuses on the study of software, algorithms, programming, and the limits of computation. Using a combination of theory and application, you will learn how to describe problems in a formal, precise way so that machines can solve them. You will also learn about managing large scale programs, and about understanding the power, limitations, and organization of computer software and hardware.

The Bachelor of Computer Science (BCS) will allow you to develop a solid understanding of computer science with the flexibility to choose from a wide range courses in this area. If you are admitted to the BCS, you'll start off in this program right away.

Explore how people shape the planet we live on. Delve into the dynamics of the Earth’s physical systems. Help solve many of the world’s most pressing problems, such as climate change, water scarcity, resource management, global population growth, natural resource sustainability, and more.

Waterloo's Geography and Environmental Management department is one of Canada's largest and is ranked 39 in the world for research and reputation (QS Subject Rankings 2019, Shanghai World Rankings 2020). Choose from more than 70 geography courses, including lots of field studies, and maybe even take the opportunity to gain paid work experience through co-op.

Geography offers the flexibility to focus your degree with a variety of specializations and options or even add another major.

You’ll quickly connect with other students in the Faculty of Environment’s welcoming and close-knit community. And when you graduate, your degree can take you literally anywhere around the globe.

The only one of its kind in Canada, this program goes far beyond basic anatomical knowledge and sexual health. Use different perspectives to explore relationships, communication, parenting skills, how media affects our understanding of gender/sex/relationships, the impact of culture on sexual values, and more, all from a social justice perspective.

Meanwhile, the program itself has a real family vibe. You’ll enjoy small classes and a tight-knit community at St. Jerome’s University, one of Waterloo's on-campus University Colleges.

With your degree, you can choose from a slew of high-impact career paths, including teaching, counselling, social services, community engagement, and more. And you can always explore them early through the co-op stream.

Go beyond urban planning and learn to tackle the environmental and social challenges facing the world's urban, rural, and natural areas. Learn how to manage the growth of cities, design efficient transportation systems, protect parks and other natural areas, preserve heritage, and more.

This multidisciplinary program covers everything from economic and legal issues to design skills, land development, and GIS technology. Whether you choose to put your degree to work for government, academia, or the private sector, you'll be ready to create a sustainable future through smart planning. 

Because this is a co-op program, you’ll graduate with 20 months of paid real-world experience. Use your five co-op work terms to explore the many areas within planning so that when you graduate, you have a network of potential employers and you know which career areas you'd like to pursue.

What is co-op?
Co-op lets you explore careers and gain paid work experience while earning your university degree. What could be better than that?! As a co-op student at Waterloo, you’ll normally alternate between four months in school and four months as a full-time employee of the organization you're working for. It's an amazing way to learn to successfully interview for jobs, see how your degree relates to real-life problems, graduate with up to two years of valuable experience – and make money!

The Honours Visual Culture academic plan focuses on the important role visual culture plays within culture and society. The academic plan is intended to be truly interdisciplinary with a focus on the history and theory of visual culture while recognizing the rapidly growing international contexts and vastly diverse cultures of spectatorship. The plan consists of a spine of five courses in visual culture, beginning with introductory courses that situate art and film within the wider context of visuality (i.e. how we see the world), followed by courses that address visual culture from a variety of disciplines and within diverse theoretical models, and culminates in an independent tutorial-style course in which students prepare a final-year thesis under the supervision of a faculty member. These courses are supplemented by at least 11 other courses that concentrate on different aspects of visual culture, chosen from more than one hundred possibilities taught in over 20 different departments and units across the university.

Students enrolled in the Honours Fine Arts – Visual Culture academic plan may wish to enhance their plan by taking a second upper-level course (VCULT 401) in their final year that is a continuation of the final-year thesis.

Get ready to tackle the climate crisis. In this program, you’ll study the science behind the challenges facing our planet’s environment. Combine biology, chemistry, physics, and earth science with human geography to address challenges such as flooding, permafrost thawing, drought and forest fires, peatland degradation, rising sea levels and coastal change, and changing economic opportunities in climate sensitive sectors.

Become a high school teacher and help students excel at math. There’s no better place to hone your skills than Waterloo, where you’ll gain eighth months of high school classroom experience (along with paid work experience if you enrol in co-op) even before you apply to a Bachelor of Education program.

During your academic terms, you can take a wide variety of math courses or choose to focus your studies in a particular area in math. Add a second teachable from Waterloo's Faculties of Science or Arts.

What is co-op?
Co-op lets you explore careers and gain paid work experience while earning your university degree. What could be better than that?! As a co-op student at Waterloo, you’ll normally alternate between four months in school and four months as a full-time employee of the organization you're working for. It's an amazing way to learn to successfully interview for jobs, see how your degree relates to real-life problems, graduate with up to two years of valuable experience – and make money!

Whether you want to create a VR training program for surgeons, the next "swipe right" dating app, or an autonomous car, software engineers have endless career options in today’s tech-enabled world.

At Waterloo, you won’t just write code. You’ll also analyze software architecture, apply algorithms, understand digital hardware systems, and design human/ computer interfaces. Plus, you’ll learn how to work in teams and manage projects, all while being taught by one of the best universities on the planet for software engineering (Shanghai World University Rankings 2020).

Then, during your co-op, you’ll put those skills to work at leading companies like Snapchat, Facebook, or hot new startups. When you graduate, you’ll be ready to create reliable, affordable, and faster software for all kinds of different purposes.

What is co-op?
Co-op lets you explore careers and gain paid work experience while earning your university degree. What could be better than that?! As a co-op student at Waterloo, you’ll normally alternate between four months in school and four months as a full-time employee of the organization you're working for. It's an amazing way to learn to successfully interview for jobs, see how your degree relates to real-life problems, graduate with up to two years of valuable experience – and make money!

If your passions don’t fit neatly into a traditional university program, consider Knowledge Integration (KI).

The Bachelor of Knowledge Integration is a flexible and challenging transdisciplinary program for creative and diversely talented students. KI offers students the opportunity to explore interests on both sides of the traditional arts and science divide, building their program around a core of skills that will equip them to understand and solve complex problems, communicate effectively, and be able to make a difference in and adapt to a changing and complex world.