This guide will help you navigate the timelines, general promotion requirements, program specialization options, and application processes involved in transferring to UBC Science. The Faculty runs a coordinated application process for students entering second-year specializations which will go live in June. Now is the time to chart your course.

Plan Now, Guard Your Personal Info

UBC Science students with second-year standing or above have to be in a specialization (e.g., a Major) before being able to register. Third-year students begin to register on July 11, second-year students on July 18. Your year-level will be finalized when (or soon after) you're admitted and reflected in your Student Service Centre eligibility. Details like your registration date and any transfer credits that you receive also will be provided via the SSC—not from the Science Student Information Centre or the Dean's Office.

Never let anyone else know your Campus-Wide Login or birth date. Guard the privacy of your personal information. However, when communicating with university personnel, do provide your student number and name. There can be more than one student with the same names. Keep your contact information up to date on the SSC. UBC personnel send you important information by e-mail.

Choose a Program Specialization: Be Realistic, Give Yourself Options

Consider your career goals. Are there alternative academic paths to attain them? Having several academic plans gives you flexibility. What do you enjoy studying? Are you going to focus on one area or study across disciplines? You can enter a combined program (like Computer Science and a second area) but most students have one specialization (a Major). Applying for a second Major or a Minor is normally done while you are in second year.

Have you completed the required courses for the program specialization(s) you’re interested in? Have you also met the requirements that all BSc students must meet? Within the credit limits? See the UBC Calendar (see the list of relevant sections below.)

Consider the NEW Combined Major in Science

The CMS is about big picture science--it offers students a solid foundation in science and valuable transferable skills. If you want to ensure that, when you graduate, you have a firm grasp of several science disciplines, will be able to generate and interpret data comfortably, and will be able to communicate ideas and findings to specialists and the general public, consider the CMS. It features courses specifically designed to ensure that you learn interesting aspects of biology, chemistry, earth science, mathematics or physics without going through long strings of prerequisite courses.

Know Your Requirements: Use the Calendar

The UBC Calendar can be a challenge, we know. But there are a few sections of the Science chapter you must understand before making any plans:

• Introduction to Degree Options
• General Academic Regulations
• Credit at UBC and Elsewhere
• General Degree Requirements
• Communication Requirement
• Science, Arts, and Breadth Requirements
• Lower-level Requirements
• Upper-level Requirement
• Promotion Requirements
• B.Sc. Specialization-Specific Courses Required for Promotion to Year 3 or Year 4
• Minor Options
• Co-operative Education
• Study Abroad or Student Exchange
• Credit Exclusion Lists

Year-level is based on number of credits accumulated, degree-level requirements such as the Lower-level Requirements (including specific Science courses and English), and--for promotion to third year--accumulation of sufficient credits to meet the requirements for a specialization.

Determine Which Specializations Are Available to You: Prerequisites, Prerequisites, Prerequisites

Your ability to pursue a specialization depends on how many and which courses you’ve gained credit for. View Science Specializations.

Entering Second Year Science From Another Faculty or Institution

If you entered first year with advance credit, you can use those credits as prerequisites towards second-year courses. However, if you registered for fewer than 30 credits in the past winter session, you won’t qualify for any Honours option in second year—30 credits in each winter session is required. You may, however, try to qualify during your second year for a third-year Honours by passing the required minimum credit load (which, for some options is more than 30 credits) and getting a competitive average.

Understand how a specialization's prerequisites link. While all the required courses listed for each year of a program need to be completed, some may be deferred to a later year if no course in the next year of the program requires that prerequisite. When you preview the application process introduced below, you will be able to determine whether or not you will have the first-year prerequisites for the specialization(s) of interest. Looking ahead, you can find out which courses are absolutely required for promotion from second to third year in any specialization. » B.Sc. Specialization-Specific Courses Required for Promotion to Year 3 or Year 4 Do all of the required first-year courses have to have been completed in the past winter session? Can you complete one or more in summer session? If the specialization requires an application in May or June, then you won’t likely qualify unless the course has a recorded grade by the time the adjudication of applicants takes place (mid to late June). Courses completed in summer session can, however, qualify you to register for the follow-on courses in winter session.

How to Apply to a Specialization as a Second-Year Student

UBC Science runs a coordinated admissions process for second-year specializations. All Majors, all Combined Majors, and second-year declarable Honours or Combined Honours specializations must be applied to via the application. The application is now closed.

Third-Year Students Need to Contact an Advisor in a Specialization

Contact programs directly to determine the possibility of entering a specialization in third year. Some, such as Biochemistry and Chemistry, may be difficult to enter. Contacts for each specialization can be obtained through the webpage referenced above. You may also contact the Science Student Information Centre to obtain advisor contact information (e-mail advising@science.ubc.ca, drop in to the Centre on campus, or call 604-822-3820.) Remember, you must have a specialization on your record prior to your registration date. Students entering third year who don't qualify for a specialized life science program should consider the Combined Major in Science, a new specialization which will provide a strong, broad education in sciences combined with experience in handling data and in communicating to a variety of audiences – all of which should give you a strong background for entering a diversity of careers after graduation.