Bachelor of Arts in Honours Arts - Political Science

at University of Waterloo Canada

In the world of biotech, specialists who can understand both spreadsheets and gene sequencing are a hot commodity. Enrol in the only accountancy program in Canada that combines biotechnology, accounting, and paid co-op work terms.

You’ll learn about biology, biochemistry, and biotechnology in the Faculty of Science. At the same time, you’ll take accounting, auditing, financial management, and taxation courses in Waterloo’s top-ranked School of Accounting and Finance.

Outside the classroom, you’ll have all kinds of opportunities to get involved in competitions and student clubs. You’ll graduate ready to succeed in your choice of fields: accounting, biotech business development, financial analysis, and more.

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!

Public Health has some of the smallest class sizes in the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences at Waterloo. This means that you will get to know your professors really well—and they'll get to know you too—which will position you for success in your studies.

Gain a new perspective on illness and health
Biology isn't the only thing that determines health... social, cultural, political, and geographical conditions play a pivotal role in individual and population health. In the Public Health program at the University of Waterloo you'll learn how to improve human health by understanding these determinants and seek innovative ways to prevent diseases from occurring in the first place.

We recognize that the world is constantly changing, and so too should the policies, practices, structures, processes, and tools we use to improve health and health care. With this systems-thinking approach, you'll be able to tackle some of the world's toughest health challenges.

What will I get out of the Public Health program?

• Understanding of how and why social, political, economic, geographic, and biological factors interact to determine health
• Skills in using policy, advocacy, human engagement, mediation, communication, and community development and mobilization to implement change
• Ability to fully participate in the process of knowledge exchange, and to retrieve, interpret, and use research as the foundation for action
• A well-rounded education that will prepare you for a variety of pursuits when you graduate. Some students may go on to graduate and professional programs (e.g., Master of Public Health) while others will go straight into the workforce

You can also add additional areas of interest and expertise by including one or more of the areas of focus within the program.

• Gerontology
• Health Informatics
• Health Research

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!

From the ATM down the street to the drone that will one day deliver your pizza, computer-controlled electromechanical systems drive all kinds of technology. Learn to design those systems in Waterloo’s Mechatronics Engineering program — the first of its kind in Canada and one of the top 100 in the world (Shanghai World University Rankings 2020).

You’ll develop expertise in mechanical engineering, electronics, control engineering, and computer science, pulling together know-how from these different fields to develop sophisticated machines.

During your co-op terms, you’ll have the chance to try out different career paths, earn money to pay for your education, and build a résumé guaranteed to impress potential employers.

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!

Philosophy has long been a central component of a liberal arts education — and with good reason. It teaches you critical reasoning like no other discipline. It’s also an excellent addition to studies in mathematics and the sciences. 

In the Philosophy program at Waterloo, you’ll explore enduring dilemmas of human existence, learn the fundamentals of formal logic, and apply philosophical reasoning to highly topical issues and current events. And have the opportunity to apply it all in your co-op work terms, too.

Once you graduate, you’ll have a wide range of options. A philosophy degree is ideal for a career in law and valuable preparation for just about any field that demands breadth of thinking, careful reading, thorough analysis, and clear argumentation.

How will the stock market perform next February? How much will insurance companies pay out in claims next year? With an Actuarial Science degree from Waterloo, you’ll have the answers.

In this program, you'll take courses such as the mathematics of finance, risk theory, and pension mathematics taught by professional actuaries in one of North America’s top actuarial schools.

Meanwhile, adding computer science, arts, and various math electives will give you the combination of technical and communication skills that employers are looking for.

Whether you choose the regular stream or the co-op stream, you'll graduate ready to enter a great job market with great prospects and high starting salaries.

Discover how to manipulate individual atoms and molecules in Materials and Nanosciences at Waterloo. As one of the top two nanoscience programs in Canada (Academic World Ranking of Universities 2020), this program has lots to offer, including co-op opportunities. You’ll learn the ins and outs of designing composite materials, ceramics, semiconductor materials, fuel cells, energy storage devices, solar cells, and more. And thanks to small classes, you’ll have plenty of opportunity to connect with other students and professors.

Materials and Nanoscience is a mix of chemistry, physics, and math. You’ll also take materials science courses where you learn about what makes a substance unique. For example, if you arrange atoms in a certain way, why does the material have stability and strength rather than flexibility? In upper years, you can choose to take more chemistry or physics. It all depends on what aspects of materials science you enjoy.

You’ll graduate ready for a career at the forefront of innovation, helping create environmentally friendly, efficient, and cost-effective solutions in fields ranging from aerospace to biomedicine.

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!

Law touches virtually every aspect of society. That makes a degree in Legal Studies great preparation for a career in government, business, the non-profit sector, law enforcement, and (of course!) law itself.

At Waterloo, you’ll enjoy small classes led by highly respected researchers, giving you lots of opportunity for discussion, and you'll also have the opportunity to gain work experience through co-op.

Over the course of your Legal Studies undergraduate degree, you’ll explore the impact of law on society, the origins of legal systems, how the Charter of Rights and Freedoms creates change, and issues such as crime, deviance, punishment, and restorative justice.

You’ll graduate with skills in research, problem solving, critical thinking, and communication, along with an in-depth understanding of law and legal systems.

In one of the most advanced undergraduate finance programs in the world, you’ll focus on the math behind financial markets.

Offered jointly by the Department of Pure Mathematics and the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, Mathematical Finance is designed for students with elite mathematical abilities who wish to pursue finance combined with pure mathematics.

Our challenging curriculum includes courses on corporate finance, mathematical finance, asset-liability management, statistics, and forecasting. It also provides a co-op stream where students can gain up to two years of paid work experience.

Earn a Bachelor of Science degree and your Commercial Pilot Licence through the largest aviation program in Canada.

Your core science education will be supplemented with courses that include cartography, climatology, geographic information systems, aerodynamics, and remote sensing. Our curriculum also emphasizes the organizational and communication skills you’ll need to succeed in the working world.

Aviation and aerospace industries demand a new breed of specialists who have well-developed analytical and decision-making skills, along with an understanding of complex aircraft systems.

Waterloo’s Science and Aviation program equips you with that expertise.

Program highlights

• Log 200+ flight hours. You’ll spend lots of time in the air — flight hours that count toward your Commercial Pilot Licence with aviation courses through the Waterloo Wellington Flight Centre.
• Build valuable skills. When you graduate, your combination of a university degree and a pilot’s licence will set you up for a wide range of airborne and ground-based careers — and give you a distinctive edge over your competition.

What will you learn?
First-year courses
In your first year, you'll take a mixture of Aviation, Geography, and science courses to give you the foundations for your upper-year classes. After first year, most of your classes will be Aviation and science courses with some Mathematics and Geography courses.

Learn to engineer the products we use every day. Turn fuel into energy, waste into resources, and raw material into finished products in one of the largest chemical engineering departments in Canada, and one of the top 100 in the world.

You’ll develop expertise in chemistry and materials science — plus you’ll learn the systems analysis skills to design, implement, and manage processes from start to finish.

You’ll put that knowledge to work during your six co-op terms: creating an impressive résumé, exploring different career areas, and earning money to help pay for your education.

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!