Do we HAVE to take electives first year? Does it depend on which faculty or program your in? I am in engineering and my friend is in Business I going into first year, and I am taking only one elective, but he is kind of confused if he is supposed to take all electives.

It really, really depends on your program and what it requires. If you take all required courses, the leftover units might be counted as electives.

For example, I was in Social Sciences in first year. I had 12 mandatory units that had to come from SocSci and 18 free units. I took more than 12 units from SocSci, but they were counted as electives in the end.

EDIT: Looking at Business I, it says he needs 3-12 units of Electives to total the 30 units he has to take in first year. So he can take anywhere from 3 to 12 units in electives, where he could have as much as 9 units of required courses, or as little as 0 extra required courses.

Originally Posted by aziz917

Do we HAVE to take electives first year? Does it depend on which faculty or program your in? I am in engineering and my friend is in Business I going into first year, and I am taking only one elective, but he is kind of confused if he is supposed to take all electives.

You should take all the required courses in level I. Whatever is left over you can either take electives (recommended) or take level II required courses.

Business I: http://registrar.mcmaster.ca /CALEN...nt/pg1188.html
Engineering: http://registrar.mcmaster.ca /CALEN...nt/pg1197.html

Its because your programs are different. Engineering has more first year required courses than does Business I so you have fewer electives than your friend does.
The electives are courses you take in addition to your required courses based on interest or necessity to end up with a full course load.

Originally Posted by aziz917

Do we HAVE to take electives first year? Does it depend on which faculty or program your in? I am in engineering and my friend is in Business I going into first year, and I am taking only one elective, but he is kind of confused if he is supposed to take all electives.

Well, he has to take the electives required by his program, which will be different from yours.

He has to take at least one (but can take more than one of) SOCIO 1A06, PSYCH 1X03, ANTHRO 1A03, GEO 1HA3

http://www.degroote.mcmaster .ca/UG/business1.html
All the information he needs is on the bottom left hand on that page, in the columns in red.

I'll elaborate by using myself as an example.
I took Advanced Functions and Calc in high school and did not take Data Management.
This means I am required to take:
Math 1A03/Math 1M03
and Stats 1L03

Like all first year Business students, regardless of my high school background, it is mandatory that I take:
Comm 1Pa0 - Orientation to the Business Program
Comm 1E03
Econ 1B03
Econ 1BB3
Comp Sci 1BA3

Then I have to take one of the courses listed above:
I took Psych 1X03.
If he has space for Geography or Anthropology, I'd take it too because of this:
http://registrar.mcmaster.ca /CALEN...nt/pg1185.html

My schedule left me with place for 9 units of electives (as Business I students need a 30 unit workload to enter Honours Commerce in Year III as opposed to Engineering students who carry 37 units)

So I took
Bio 1M03
Chem 1A03
Chem 1AA3
and will take another Bio in the summer.

My "electives" are not easy courses but a Science student's typical courses. I encourage him to choose electives that he enjoys as he'll do well in them

okay basically, for me i am taking 34 units out of 37 units for engineering I. In another thread i forget which i was reading where one them didnt take any electives in first year engineering. So, is it okay if for business I you take 24 units out of the 30 units. (so basically he is taking only 1 elective).

Originally Posted by aziz917

okay basically, for me i am taking 34 units out of 37 units for engineering I. In another thread i forget which i was reading where one them didnt take any electives in first year engineering. So, is it okay if for business I you take 24 units out of the 30 units. (so basically he is taking only 1 elective).

Are you planning on taking summer school? If not then you should take a full course load.

Originally Posted by aziz917

okay basically, for me i am taking 34 units out of 37 units for engineering I. In another thread i forget which i was reading where one them didnt take any electives in first year engineering. So, is it okay if for business I you take 24 units out of the 30 units. (so basically he is taking only 1 elective).

Unless he plans on completing the other 6 units in summer school, he should take 30 units for entrance into Honours Commerce in later years.


Is there any particular reason he doesn't want to carry the full work load?

yes i am planning to take econ in summer school.
Well the reason why he is asking is because the electives he wants or wanted are all full, he is left with language courses, and some others that don't reallyh intrest him.
But anyways thanks so much you guys!!

Originally Posted by aziz917

yes i am planning to take econ in summer school.
Well the reason why he is asking is because the electives he wants or wanted are all full, he is left with language courses, and some others that don't reallyh intrest him.
But anyways thanks so much you guys!!

He should keep on trying to get in, especially August 21st to the drop/add deadline. Which semester are his electives in?

Take the core with electives and sign up for 2nd year courses in the summer.