Choose your Major

Choose your Major

UCalgary offers 250 high-quality program combinations for you to choose from. Learn more about how to choose your program below.

Understanding University Terminology

Selecting your program starts with choosing a credential and major. From there you can decide to further specialize in several different ways. As part of your initial application, you can select two program choices. Your first choice can include a combined degree. Further customizing your degree by adding a double major, minor(s) or embedded certificate(s) can happen in an upper year. For more information on first and second choice, click here.

Upper year requests are made through the student centre where students can request to change their program between October 1 and February 1 each year for the following fall. This allows students to add or remove a combined degree, move to an honours degree program, change major(s) and add or remove a minor or embedded certificate as they progress through their degree.

Bachelor’s degree
An undergraduate degree that typically takes four to five years to complete. Many bachelor’s degrees are direct entry; however, some degrees require prior university study (e.g., Social Work, Law and Medicine). A student who is pursuing a bachelor’s degree is called an undergraduate student. View all of UCalgary’s Bachelor degree options.

Honours bachelor’s degree
An honours degree is a further specialization of a bachelor’s degree requiring high academic standing and, typically, a thesis project. A thesis project is an original research idea that’s presented at the end of the undergraduate degree. Some programs at UCalgary, like the Bachelor of Health Sciences, are only offered as an honours degree. Some programs the honours degree is only available to select in an upper year.

Combined degree
A combined degree is when a student registers in two different bachelor’s degrees (including honours degrees) at the same time and graduates from both degrees concurrently. Learn more about UCalgary’s combined degree options

Double Major
When a student registers in an undergraduate degree with two different majors. Normally this means an additional 14-16 courses (42-48 units) in an area that is different from the first major, in the same degree. Double majors are completed within the number of units required for a bachelor’s degree.

Professional undergraduate degree
A professional undergraduate degree is one that leads to a professional Doctor degree (e.g., Doctor of Medicine, Juris Doctor and Doctor of Veterinary Medicine). These programs typically require students to present an initial bachelor’s degree before they can apply.

Major
A major is the main area of focus throughout a bachelor’s degree. Students typically take one-third to one-half of their courses in this area of focus. To view all of UCalgary’s major options, click here.

Minor
A minor is an optional secondary area of focus that can be added to a degree in an upper year. It requires fewer courses than a major and is often completed during the standard four-year duration of a degree. An example of a minor is UCalgary’s Data Science Minor. View all of UCalgary’s minors.

Embedded certificate
Embedded certificates are completed as part of a bachelor’s degree, at no extra cost, and are designed to focus on a thematic area and be available to students across faculties. A unique example is UCalgary’s embedded certificate in Entrepreneurial Thinking. View UCalgary’s seven embedded certificates.

Looking for more ways to customize your UCalgary degree? Explore your options


Unsure about what major to choose? Explore these tools to learn more