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Undergraduate Programs Calendar
2007-08
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5.3 Faculty Degree Requirements
Each student in the Faculty of Arts must be aware of the Faculty regulations as stated in this Calendar and on the McGill, Arts, and ARTSCI Websites.
While departmental and Faculty advisers and staff are always available to give advice and guidance, the ultimate responsibility for completeness and correctness of course selection and registration, for compliance with, and completion of, program and degree requirements, and for the observance of regulations and deadlines rests with the student. It is the student's responsibility to seek guidance from the Student Affairs Office if in any doubt; misunderstanding or misapprehension will not be accepted as cause for dispensation from any regulation, deadline, program or degree requirement.
To be eligible for a B.A. degree, students must fulfil all Faculty and program requirements as indicated below:
"Minimum Credit Requirement", see section 5.3.1
"Residency", see section 5.3.2
"Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA)", see section 5.3.3
"Time and Credit Limit for Completion of the Degree", see section 5.3.4
"Program Requirements", see section 5.3.5
"Course Requirements", see section 5.3.65.3.1 Minimum Credit Requirement
Students must complete the minimum credit requirement for the degree as specified in the letter of admission.
Students are normally admitted to a four-year degree requiring the completion of 120 credits, but advanced standing of up to 30 credits may be granted to students who obtain satisfactory results in the Diploma of Collegial Studies, International Baccalaureate, French Baccalaureate, Advanced Levels, and Advanced Placement tests.
Students who are readmitted after interrupting their studies for a period of five consecutive years or more may be required to complete a minimum of 60 credits and satisfy the requirements of a program. In this case, a new GPA will be calculated. The Associate Dean (Student Affairs), in consultation with the appropriate department, may approve a lower minimum for students who had completed 60 credits or more before interrupting their studies.
Students who are readmitted after a period of absence are normally subject to the program and degree requirements in effect at the time of readmission.
5.3.2 Residency
To obtain a B.A. degree, students must complete satisfactorily a minimum of 60 credits at McGill University towards the fulfilment of the B.A. degree requirements. At least two-thirds of all program requirements (Multi-track, Honours, Faculty) must normally be completed at McGill. In addition, some departments may require that their students complete specific components of their program at McGill.
Exceptionally, and subject to departmental approval, students in a Minor Concentration who pursue an approved exchange or study away program may complete up to half of the Minor Concentration requirements elsewhere.
The residency requirement for the Diploma in Environment is 30 credits completed at McGill.
5.3.3 Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA)
Each candidate for a degree must achieve a minimum cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of 2.00.
5.3.4 Time and Credit Limit for Completion of the Degree
Students who need 96 or fewer credits to complete their degree requirements are expected to complete their degree in no more than eight terms after their initial registration for the degree. Students in the Freshman Program become subject to these regulations one year after their initial registration. Students who need or wish to exceed this time limit must apply to the Associate Dean (Student Affairs) for permission to continue their studies.
Students who wish to exceed the minimum credit requirement for their degree must also seek permission of the Associate Dean (Student Affairs) to continue their studies.
Permission for exceeding the time and/or credit limit will normally be granted only for valid academic reasons, such as a change of program (subject to departmental approval) and part-time status.
5.3.5 Program Requirements
5.3.5.1 Freshman Program
Students who need to complete 97-120 credits to complete their degree requirements must complete the Freshman program, which is designed to provide a basic foundation prior to selecting a departmental program. Students may select one of the following Freshman program options on Minerva:
General Option
· 6 credits in each of three of the following areas: social sciences, languages, humanities, or mathematics and science, with a maximum of 18 credits per area and 12 credits per department.
Arts Legacy (Freshman) Option: Making Modernities
· 24 credits of prescribed courses that will be taught in four consecutive units of six and a half weeks. Courses will be thematically linked and deal in an interdisciplinary way with the Ancient Worlds of China and Greece/Rome, Medieval Mediterranean Worlds, Early Modern Atlantic Worlds, and Global Modern Worlds. Each course features lectures, seminars, tutorials and performances. Enrolment is on a first-come first-served basis. Students should register for six additional credits, preferably from the areas of language or of mathematics and science. For more information, please contact Professor G. Vankeerberghen (Department of History).
French Option
· 18 credits of courses conducted in French. Depending on degree of language proficiency attained, this could include a maximum of 12 credits of intensive French language courses.
For further details, refer to the Arts Freshman information on the Web at www.mcgill.ca/artscisao.
5.3.5.2 Departmental Programs
Arts students, other than those registered in the Freshman Program, are required to have an approved program (Multi-track, Honours, Faculty), and to select their courses in each term with a view to timely completion of their degree and program requirements. Students must complete one of the following program streams:
MULTI-TRACK SYSTEM
To recognize the diversity of student backgrounds and interests and the multiple routes to understanding provided by a modern university, the Faculty of Arts offers a 90-credit multi-track system that includes a Major Concentration complemented by at least a Minor Concentration and that may be completed in one of the following ways:
Options
A: Major Concentration (36) + Minor Concentration (18) + 36 credits of electives
B: Major Concentration (36) + Major Concentration (36) + 18 credits of electives
C: Major Concentration (36) + Minor Concentration (18) + Minor Concentration (18) + 18 credits of electives
Regulations:
· Within option A and option B, all Concentrations must be in different academic units. (For students completing a second degree in the Faculty of Arts, this regulation is waived.)
· Within option C, one of the Minor Concentrations may be in the same unit as the Major Concentration. Students who pursue a same-unit Minor Concentration will substitute additional complementary (non-required) courses to a total of 18 credits for any courses completed as a part of their Major Concentration within that unit.
· Students will include within the 36 or 18 credits of their Major or Minor Concentration any university-level (200 or above) prerequisites to required courses within their Concentrations.
· No course may fulfil the requirements for more than one program or concentration requirement.
Definitions:
Units:
academic departments or administrative equivalents.
Programs:
lists of required and complementary courses (including prerequisites for required courses) prepared and maintained by units.
Major Concentration:
a program of 36 credits taken from a unit's course offerings.
Minor Concentration:
a program of 18 credits taken from a unit's course offerings. Expandable Minor Concentrations are those which can, on the completion of 18 additional approved credits, be expanded into a Major Concentration within the appropriate unit.
HONOURS PROGRAM
Honours programs demand a high degree of specialisation, and require students to satisfy specific departmental and Faculty Honours requirements while maintaining a good academic standing. They are designed to prepare students for graduate study.
Regulations:
· To be registered in an Honours program after the first year, students must have attained a GPA and CGPA of at least 3.00 in the previous year, unless they have special permission from the department and the Associate Dean (Student Affairs).
· To complete an Honours degree, a student must achieve a minimum CGPA of 3.00. The program GPA (the GPA of all required and complementary courses taken at McGill which constitute the Honours program) must be a minimum of 3.00, although academic units may set higher requirements for their program GPA.
· In addition to the completion of the Honours requirements, students must complete at least a Minor Concentration in an academic unit other than the one in which the Honours requirements are satisfied. (For students completing a second degree in the Faculty of Arts, this regulation is waived.)
JOINT HONOURS PROGRAM
Students who wish to study at the Honours level in two disciplines can combine Joint Honours program components from any two Arts disciplines; see section 5.11.4 "Joint Honours Programs" for a list of available programs. Each Joint Honours component consists of a maximum of 36 required and complementary credits (not including program prerequisites). In cases where a minimum of 24 credits are in courses normally restricted to Honours students, the total of required and complementary credits may be as few as 30.
To complete a Joint Honours degree, a student must achieve a minimum CGPA of 3.00. The program GPA (the GPA of all required and complementary courses taken at McGill which constitute the Joint Honours program) must be a minimum of 3.00, although academic units may set higher requirements for their component of the program GPA.
FACULTY PROGRAM
A Faculty program is an approved selection of courses constituting a concentration in an intellectually coherent and inter-faculty field of studies. These courses must include approved selections from one of the following:
· The Faculties of Arts and of Science, and at least one other faculty
· The Faculty of Arts, and at least one faculty other than the Faculty of Science
· The Faculty of Arts currently recognizes the following Faculty Programs:
· Industrial Relations
· McGill School of Environment
5.3.6 Course Requirements
All required and complementary courses used to fulfil program requirements must be completed with a grade of C or better. Students who fail to obtain a satisfactory grade in a required course must either pass the supplemental examination in the course or do additional work for a supplemental grade if these options are available, or repeat the course. Course substitution will be allowed only in special cases; students should consult their academic adviser.
Normally, students are permitted to repeat a failed course only once. (Failure is considered to be a grade of less than C or the administrative failures of J and KF.) If a required course is failed a second time, a student must appeal to the Associate Dean (Student Affairs) for permission to take the course a third time. If permission is denied by the Associate Dean and/or by the Committee on Student Standing, on appeal, the student must withdraw from the program. If the failed course is a complementary course required by the program, a student may choose to replace it with another appropriate complementary course. If a student chooses to substitute another complementary course for a complementary course in which a D was received, credit for the first course will still be given, but as an elective. If a student repeats a required course in which a D was received, credit will be given only once.
Full details of the course requirements for all programs offered are given in each unit's section together with the locations of departmental advisory offices, program directors and telephone numbers should further information be required.
5.3.6.1 Course Overlap
Students will not receive additional credit towards their degree for any course that overlaps in content with a course for which the student has already received credit at McGill, CEGEP, at another university, or Advanced Placement exams, Advanced Level results, International Baccalaureate Diploma, or French Baccalaureate. It is the student's responsibility to consult the Student Affairs Office or the department offering the course as to whether or not credit can be obtained and to be aware of exclusion clauses specified in the course description in the Calendar. Please refer to the following Website for specific information about advanced standing credits and McGill course exemptions: www.mcgill.ca/student-records/transfercredits.
Credit for statistics courses
will be given with the following stipulations:
· Credit will be given for ONLY ONE of the following introductory statistics courses: AEMA 310, BIOL 373, ECON 227D1/ ECON 227D2, ECON 257D1/ECON 257D2, EPSC 215, GEOG 202, MATH 203, MGCR 271, PSYC 204, SOCI 350.
· Credit will be given for ONLY ONE of the following intermediate statistics courses: AEMA 411, ECON 227D1/ECON 227D2, ECON 257D1/ECON 257D2, GEOG 351, MATH 204, MGCR 272, PSYC 305, SOCI 461.
· Students who have already received credit for MATH 324 or MATH 357 will NOT receive credit for any of the following: AEMA 310, AEMA 411, BIOL 373, ECON 227D1/ECON 227D2, ECON 257D1/ECON 257D2, EPSC 215, GEOG 202, GEOG 351, MATH 203, MATH 204, MGCR 271, MGCR 272, PSYC 204, PSYC 305, SOCI 350.
· For 500-level statistics courses not listed above, students must consult a program adviser to ensure that no significant overlap exists. Where such overlap exists with a course for which the student has already received credit, credit for the 500-level course will not be allowed.
· Credit for statistics courses offered by faculties other than Arts and Science requires the permission of the Associate Dean (Student Affairs).
· PSYC 204 may not be taken if a grade of 75% was received in an equivalent course completed at CEGEP.
Credit for computer courses will be subject to the following restrictions:
· Credit for courses offered by the School of Computer Science is governed by rules specified in its individual course descriptions.
· Credit for computer courses offered by faculties other than Arts or Science requires the permission of the Associate Dean (Student Affairs).
5.3.6.2 Courses Outside the Faculties of Arts and of Science
The following regulations apply to students in the Faculty of Arts who wish to take courses outside the Faculties of Arts and of Science:
· Regardless of their minimum credit requirement towards their B.A. degree, students are allowed a maximum of 12 credits in ELECTIVE and/or COMPLEMENTARY courses taken in faculties other than the Faculties of Arts and of Science.
[Revised, Fall 2007: section begins.]
· Students in certain designated programs that include a number of REQUIRED and COMPLEMENTARY courses in other faculties are permitted a maximum of 30 credits outside the Faculties of Arts and of Science. These programs are the Faculty Programs in Industrial Relations and in Environment, the Joint Honours in Economics and Accounting, the Joint Honours in Economics and Finance, the Minor in Finance for Non-Management Students, the Minor in Management for Non-Management Students, the Minor in Marketing for Non-Management Students, the Minor in Operations Management for Non-Management Students, the Major and Minor Concentrations in Music, the Major Concentration in Geography (Urban Systems), the Honours in Urban Systems, the Minor Concentration in Educational Psychology, and the Minor in Education for Arts Students.
· Students who combine any two or more of the programs listed above may not exceed 40 credits outside the Faculty of Arts and of Science.
Any courses taught at McGill University may be used towards the maximum allowed with the following exceptions:
· Continuing Education: Continuing Education courses with a teaching unit that starts with C are not for credit (except for CHEM).
· Distance Education: Refer to the "Policy on Distance Education Courses", see section 5.3.6.5.
· For the purpose of this policy, courses taught in other faculties and specifically listed in the Arts or Science section of the printed Calendar are considered as courses taught in the Faculties of Arts and of Science.
· The maximum number of credits allowed will be strictly enforced.
5.3.6.3 Inter-university Transfer Credit Policy for Courses Taken Outside the Faculties of Arts and of Science
Students who transfer from faculties outside the Faculties of Arts and of Science at another institution may transfer up to a maximum of 30 credits under the following conditions:
· Only courses passed with a grade of C or better will be transferred. Grades of C- are not acceptable. Grades of P or S are not acceptable. The letter grades applied by the former home institution take precedence over the numerical grades if provided.
· Decisions on whether a course is outside the Faculties of Arts and of Science will be based on the original faculty in which the course was taken.
· Refer to the "Policy on Distance Education Courses" in section 5.3.6.5.
· Transfer credits for Continuing Education courses will be granted only if the courses can be used towards a degree program in a faculty other than Continuing Education at the original university.
· Transfer students will be allowed to take courses outside the Faculties of Arts and of Science at McGill only if they have transferred fewer than 12 credits, and then only up to a maximum of 12 credits.
· Transfer students who register for a Faculty of Arts program that requires additional credits outside the Faculties of Arts and of Science will be allowed to take only the number of credits outside the Faculties of Arts and of Science required to complete the program. These programs are the Faculty Programs in Industrial Relations and in Environment, the Joint Honours in Economics and Accounting, the Joint Honours in Economics and Finance, the Minor in Finance for Non-Management Students, the Minor in Management for Non-Management Students, the Minor in Marketing for Non-Management Students, the Minor in Operations Management for Non-Management Students, the Major and Minor Concentrations in Music, the Major Concentration in Geography (Urban Systems), the Honours in Urban Systems, the Minor Concentration in Educational Psychology, and the Minor in Education for Arts Students.
5.3.6.4 Inter-faculty Transfer Credit Policy for Courses Taken Outside the Faculties of Arts and of Science
Students will normally have counted for credit (for grades of D or better) and/or GPA (regardless of the grade) all courses in Arts, and up to a maximum of 30 credits of courses outside of Arts and of Science.
· Transfer students will be allowed to take courses outside the Faculties of Arts and of Science at McGill only if they have transferred fewer than 12 credits, and then only up to a maximum of 12 credits.
· Transfer students who register for a Faculty of Arts program that requires additional credits outside the Faculties of Arts and of Science will be allowed to take only the number of credits outside the Faculties of Arts and of Science required to complete the program. These programs are the Faculty Programs in Industrial Relations and in Environment, the Joint Honours in Economics and Accounting, the Joint Honours in Economics and Finance, the Minor in Finance for Non-Management Students, the Minor in Management for Non-Management Students, the Minor in Marketing for Non-Management Students, the Minor in Operations Management for Non-Management Students, the Major and Minor Concentrations in Music, the Major Concentration in Geography (Urban Systems), the Honours in Urban Systems, the Minor Concentration in Educational Psychology, and the Minor in Education for Arts Students.
5.3.6.5 Policy on Distance Education Courses
A maximum of 6 credits of elective courses taught through distance education may be used towards the B.A. degree at McGill. Courses taught through distance education from institutions other than McGill will be approved as transfer credits under the following conditions:
· the course is given by a government-accredited, degree-granting institution acceptable to McGill;
· the course counts for credit towards degrees granted at the institution giving the course;
· prior approval for the course is obtained from the Student Affairs Office of the Faculty of Arts.
The combined total of regular course credits and distance education course credits may not exceed the permitted maximum number of credits per term according to Faculty regulations.
Courses taught through distance education may not be used to complete program requirements, except on an individual basis when serious, documented circumstances warrant it. In such cases, prior approval must be obtained from the student's program adviser and the Associate Dean (Student Affairs).
5.3.6.6 Internship Courses
The Faculty of Arts offers internship courses for credit. For more information refer to section 5.12.2 "Faculty of Arts Internship Program".
5.3.6.7 Courses Taken Under the Satisfactory/ Unsatisfactory Option
For more information and restrictions, please consult "Courses Taken under the Satisfactory/ Unsatisfactory (S/U) Option" in section 3.3.6.
5.3.6.8 Courses in English as a Second Language
ESL courses are only open to students whose primary language is not English and who have studied for fewer than five years in English-language secondary institutions. Students in the Faculty of Arts may take a maximum of 12 credits, including academic writing courses for non-anglophones.
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