Hi, I plan to leave McMaster and transfer to another program at another university next year. I will be around until term 2 ends. For term 2, I do not want to take mandatory science courses for my science degree since I won't be sticking around to get that degree anyways, and I hate those mandatory courses. So I was wondering if I could just drop all of them and take any courses I want to for term 2 (I am thinking humanities and soc sci courses). What would be the penalties for doing this? Can my faculty intervene and not allow me to do this? Or is their power limited to not awarding me a degree (which I don't want anyways). If I do this, will my status as a science student disappear in term 2?

tl;dr - I have no intention of getting my degree as I plan to transfer from Mac, but I will be here for term 2. I hate the mandatory courses for my degree. Since I don't want this degree anyways, can I just drop them and take courses I like? Will I be penalized by the uni, or lose my status as a "life sci student"?

You are registered as a life science student for the entire session, and that won't change regardless of your courses.
Nobody really cares if you take the required courses or not. At the end of the day, you need the required courses when you graduate to get your degree. Nobody checks (or cares) at the beginning/end of each term to make sure students are registered in the appropriate courses. Even if you were finishing your degree, you could still drop all of your mandatory courses this term and nobody would care. It would only make things harder for you later on.

Consider looking into courses you can take that may transfer into your new degree