Request for exemption to ARTS 130 and ARTS 140

All students in the Faculty of Arts are expected to complete two first-year seminars: ARTS 130 and ARTS 140. These seminars fulfil the Undergraduate Communication Requirement (UCR) and are designed to build students’ foundational competencies in communication and analysis in their first year in small course settings.

Occasionally, a student may come into the Faculty of Arts and request to be exempted from these two courses. Requests for exemption are handled by the Director and the Associate Director of Arts First, and require the student requesting the exemption to complete the following form in its entirety.

Students who are granted an exemption will be awarded the UCR milestone. Exemptions based on direct course equivalencies from another institution will receive transfer credit for one or both of ARTS 130 and ARTS 140. Please note that these transfer credits count toward the total number of credits that can be transferred and may therefore affect the number of other courses for which you can receive transfer credit.

First name

Last name

8 digit Waterloo Waterloo ID Number

UWaterloo email

From which course(s) are you requesting an exemption?

ARTS 130: Inquiry and Communication

ARTS 140: Information and Analysis

Both ARTS 130 and ARTS 140

Previous post-secondary courses

Arts First courses are small seminars (max 25 students) that involve many opportunities for students to write in class and speak in small and large groups. If you have taken a post-secondary course like this, please describe that course here, and explain how it resembles Arts First courses (small seminar, many forms of writing and speaking). (limit 1000 words)

Evidence of communication skills

Please provide evidence of your strong communication skills and your ability to assess, examine, and evaluate information and/or data from either earlier academic experience or professional, work experience. By evidence we mean an account of a past achievement that would demonstrate your ability to communicate and analyze. (limit 1000 words)

Collaboration, feedback, and self-reflection examples

ARTS 130 and ARTS 140 require collaboration with peers, ongoing detailed feedback from instructors, and self-reflection on the part of students (each of which is critical for future academic and professional success). Can you give one example of each from your past university experience? (limit 1000 words)

Additional information

Would you like to provide any additional reasons why you should be exempt from these courses? (limit 1000 words)

Supporting documentation

Supporting documentation or material may be submitted. This is optional.
One file only.
2 MB limit.
Allowed types: gif, jpg, jpeg, png, pdf, doc, docx.