Planning your first year as a Law and Society Major
Getting Started
In your first year, please plan to take the following courses, which are required for your LAWS Major:
- LAWS 1003 Introduction to Law and Society
- POLS 1303 Introduction to Law, Politics, and Government or SOCI 1013 Introduction to Canadian Society
- ENGL 1413 or 1483 Writing and Reading Critically 1
- ENGL 1423 or 1493 Writing and Reading Critically 2
Arts Core
All Bachelor of Arts students are required to complete the Arts Core as part of their degree. The Arts Core requirements are:
- 6 credit hours in a single language other than English: e.g., French, German, Greek, Latin, Spanish
- 6 credit hours in English at the 1000-level
- 6 credit hours of Social Science: Economics, Law and Society, Politics, Sociology, or Women's and Gender Studies
- 6 credit hours of Humanities: Art, Classics, Comparative Religion, History, Law and Society, Philosophy, Music, Women's and Gender Studies (Note: Studio classes in Art and Music do not fulfil this requirement)
- 6 credit hours of Science: Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Engineering (APSC), Geology, Math, Nutrition, Physics, or Psychology
We recommend that you complete as much of the Arts Core in your first year as possible. Please keep in mind that you will complete some of these Arts Core requirements as part of your LAWS Major. These required LAWS courses will meet the Arts Core requirements for English (6 CH), Social Science (6 CH) and Humanities (6 CH):
- ENGL 1413/1483 and ENGL 1423/1493 meet the 6 credit hours in English requirement
- POLS 1303 or SOCI 1013 meet 3 credit hours of the 6 credit hours requirement in Social Science
- LAWS 1003 meets 3 credit hours of the 6 credit hours requirement in either Humanities or Social Science
- LAWS 2003, which you will likely take in your second year, meets 3 credit hours of the 6 credit hours requirement in either Humanities or Social Sciences
- PHIL 2813, which you will likely take in your second year, meets 3 credit hours of the 6 credit hours requirement in Humanities
How many courses and at what level?
For your first-year course schedule, try to plan and register for your Fall and Winter courses together. If you wait too long to register for your Winter courses, you may encounter wait lists.
Typically, students take five courses in each semester (Fall & Winter). You are not required to take five courses and some students prefer to take fewer. After your first year, if your sessional grade point average from your previous session (Fall & Winter) was 2.5 or greater, you can take up to 33 credit hours (i.e., overload). If it was 3.0 or greater, you will be able to take 36 credit hours.
Keep in mind that you need 120 credit hours in order to graduate with a BA. Passing five courses each semester will put you on pace to graduate after four years (5 courses [=15 credit hours] x 8 semesters = 120 credit hours).
In your first year, you should be taking almost exclusively 1000-level courses. It is ok to take a couple of 2000-level courses (e.g., LAWS 2003, PHIL 2813) if you want, but it is not expected. As a general guide, think in terms of: 1000-level for year 1, 2000-level for year 2, 3000-level for year 3, and 4000-level for year four.
Plan to declare a Minor
Students majoring in Law and Society must also complete a Minor in another discipline as part of their BA requirements. Students can declare a Minor at any time, from the Academic Units that offer minors, but should do so before third year to ensure appropriate course selection and program plans. A BA Minor must be a minimum of 24 credit hours and all courses must receive a grade of C- or higher.
Want to learn more?
Students are encouraged to contact the Law and Society Coordinator if they have questions regarding program requirements and course registration. There are also additional advising resources available on the Law and Society's Moodle site.