Hi, I'm going into Engineering I this September and I'm currently selecting courses to take.
I know that a list exists of complementary electives that we can take, but that list has two parts and I don't fully understand which ones I am allowed to take. It looks like all of the courses in the secondary list are languages, and I want to take a language course but I don't know if I can.

Do I have to take 3 credits worth of electives from the primary list in first year in order to take any from the secondary list? Or does it just mean that I have to have 3 credits worth by the time I graduate? Basically, I'm interested in taking German 1Z06; is that possible for me this year? If anybody could explain this to me I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks so much!

You can take languages; you can definitely take 1Z06. I would be surprised if it fit in your timetable though. I just took an equivalent online through Athabasca and it counted as a credit for that course. If you get through 1Z06, then the upper year German courses are easier to fit into your schedule.

Good luck!

Yeah, I had to switch some things around but I actually did get to fit it in! So I don't need to take any of the courses from the primary list in order to take ones from the secondary list? I'm not allowed to post links yet but the list can be found by searching "McMaster Engineering Complementary Electives" if anyone needs it.

Ah, I see now. It's been a while since I've seen that list

You can take a language course; you just have to EVENTUALLY take one of the other courses from the primary list: "... AT LEAST 3 UNITS OF COMPLEMENTARY STUDIES ELECTIVE
{must be} TAKEN FROM THE PREVIOUS LIST DURING THE COURSE OF YOUR ENGINEERING DEGREE REQUIREMENTS".

Awesome thanks so much!