BCS: Choosing Electives

Electives are courses required for completion of your 20-credit degree program. Many first year students find it difficult to choose electives. Our best advice is to choose a topic you enjoyed in high school or are generally interested in studying."

Courses titles and descriptions can be found online in the courses section of the undergraduate calendar. Read the course descriptions to ensure you have the prerequisites and then check the Public Class Schedule in Carleton Central to see when the course is offered.

Arts, Social Science, Science or Business Electives are all of the courses offered by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, the Faculty of Public Affairs, the Sprott School of Business, and the Faculty of Science, excluding all prohibited courses (see below) and all courses in Computer Science, Math and Statistics. Here is a small sample of courses you might choose: Psychology 1001, Business 1003, Biology 1103, Earth Sciences 1006, History 1001, Film Studies 1000, Japanese 1010, Food Science 1001, Religion 1710, Music 1002, Chemistry 1001. If you take a minor in another discipline (except Math/Stats), most likely all the courses in the minor would count towards this category of electives.

Free Electives are all courses in Approved Arts, Social Sciences, Science, Business, Computer Science, Math and Statistics and can be from any subject, including computer science, math and statistics. We encourage students to take electives each term.

Prohibited courses. The following courses cannot be used for credit in a Computer Science or any Combined Computer Science program or Minor in Computer Science: BUSI 1402, BUSI 2402, COMP 1001, COMP 1004, COMP 1007, ISCI 3000, MATH 1009, MATH 1119, MATH/ECON 1401, MATH/ECON 1402.