Academic Advising

The Biomedical Engineering program is accredited by the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB). CEAB seeks to assure that graduates of the program meet the academic requirements for professional licensure and that they possess twelve attributes that set graduates up for success in their careers as engineers. In the Faculty of Engineering, we assess students based on a set of program indicators throughout the courses in the chemical engineering curriculum.

List of graduate attributes and associated program indicators

Course description

BME 499 is an independent research project course that can be completed in 3B (as an overload), 4A, or 4B. Course expectations and timelines are described in the BME499 course outline. Minor changes to the course expectations or timelines may occur depending on the course coordinator. To have BME 499 count towards your Specialization, only certain topics are permitted. See the Biomedical Engineering Program Director for details.

Prerequisites

To be eligible to enrol in BME 499, one of the following prerequisites must be satisfied;

• Previously completed BME 399 - Directed Biomedical Research Project
• Previous Undergraduate Research Assistantship (URA)
• Previous research co-op position with an evaluation of at least Very Strong
• Average of at least 80% in your 3A and 3B term 

Enrolment Process 

Complete the following before the term begins: 

1. Identify a project supervisor. 

2. Complete the BME 499 Supervisor Registration Form 

3. Submit the completed form to the BME Undergraduate Advisor and BME Program Director 

Please ensure that you have identified a supervisor and confirmed that you meet the prerequisites before submitting the registration form. Students will be enrolled in BME 499 upon receipt and approval of the form.

Finding a Project Supervisor 

Students are responsible for identifying a project supervisor in the Faculty of Engineering.  It is recommended that students connect with faculty members 3 to 4 weeks prior to the start of the academic term. Considering the timing of the course deliverables, students can fall behind quickly if a supervisor is not identified by the second week of the term.

Faculty members outside the Faculty of Engineering may also supervise a BME 499 project; however, due to CEAB-related requirements, a co-supervisor from the Faculty of Engineering must also be identified.  The BME 499 course coordinator or the BME Undergraduate Program Director can assist students in identifying a potential co-supervisor. 

During your final year, you will complete a Biomedical Engineering Capstone Design project. During two consecutive courses, students work in teams on a real, open-ended engineering design problem under the supervision of a faculty member with expertise in that problem area.

Important resources:

• Course Selection Offerings — list of offerings for course selection. 
• How do I select courses for a future term? — Instructions and information from The Centre surrounding course selection.
• Short list of approved Technical Electives 
• List of approved Complementary Studies Electives
• Schedule of Classes — up-to-date course offerings and information 

Important reminders:

• Course selection is a wishlist, not a guarantee of enrolment.
• Course selection is not first come, first served. It doesn't matter when you select your courses within the course selection period.
• You do not need to select core courses, only electives.
• Class times, locations, and instructor information will not be available until after course selection. 
• If you have a financial hold on your account, you will not be added to courses or have access to course selection/enrolment in Quest
• ECE and CS courses can be difficult to get into as they prioritize their own students during course selection and add/drop. 
  • If you are interested in taking a CS course, you must email csadvisor@uwaterloo.ca
  • If you are interested in taking an ECE course, please email the BME Undergraduate Advisor with the course information. You will be added to a spreadsheet of ECE course requests that will be submitted to ECE once the add period begins.

Course selection is a very busy time for advisors. Please be patient, and ensure that you include your student number in your emails. 

Important resources:

• Schedule of Classes — up-to-date course offerings and information 
• Important dates 
• Add/Drop Period guide from The Centre 
• Add/Drop deadlines
• How to view your schedule in Quest

Important reminders:

• The add period and the drop period begin at the same time, but have different deadlines. Keep these in mind when altering your schedule.
• The Add/Drop Period begins with Add/Drop appointments (dedicated system-generated assigned windows of time within Quest) then continue into the open enrolment period. 
  • Please note that Add/Drop appointments are not appointments that you have to schedule. They are already determined for you, and you can check your time within Quest. 
• The Add/Drop Period runs on a first come, first served basis (unlike the Course Selection Period) which means your timing matters
  • You should plan to make changes to your schedule during your Add/Drop appointment if possible for this reason. 
  • You should try to obtain any required course overrides ahead of the Add/Drop period so that your advisor can request to add you to the course right  

Course overrides and department consent:

In order to obtain a course override, you must reach out to the instructor of the course — these cannot be provided by your advisor. 

Please note that override approvals are not guaranteed. 

• Prerequisite overrides:

  • If you don’t meet the prerequisites for a course, you can ask the professor of the course for a prerequisite override
  • When asking for a pre-req override, you can explain your interest in the course, let them know your average, if the course is needed for an option/specialization/minor, and any relevant courses you might have taken in the past. The instructor does not need to sign an override form. You just need to forward your advisor the email that contains their approval.
  • If you don’t know who is teaching a course, use Quest to see who taught it last as they may be teaching it again

• Reserve seat overrides and capacity overrides:

  • You can request a reserve seat override if a course has not yet reached its enrolment limit, but the only seats remaining are reserved. 
    • If you are not granted a reserve seat override, you will have to wait until the reserves are dropped to attempt to enrol (see Important Dates). 
  • You can request a capacity override if a course has reached its enrolment limit.
    • If you are not granted a capacity override, you can keep an eye on the Schedule of Classes and Quest, and attempt to enrol if you see a spot open up.
  • We do not provide reserve overrides for SYDE or BME upper year courses.
  • We do not provide capacity or reserve overrides for BME courses

• Time conflict overrides:

  • You can request a time conflict override if you are interested in taking two courses that overlap in time. 
  • Students must prioritize their core courses when requesting time conflict overrides — if a core course and an elective overlap, approval must be sought from the instructor of the elective.

Eligibility

The BME Specializations have changed, and which ones you are eligible to pursue will depend on what year you began your studies.

If you began your studies between 2022-2025 —

• You have the option to declare and pursue both the 2022-2025 specializations and the current (2026 and later) specializations.
• Please refer to the 2025 Academic Calendar for a list of the "old" specializations and requirements, and refer to the current Academic Calendar for the "new" specializations and requirements. 
• Note that some of the specializations listed in the current Academic Calendar have the same names as ones listed in the previous Calendar. Please specify whether you are declaring the "old" version or the "new" version when adding the specialization to your degree. 
• If the version of the specialization that you are pursuing has a capstone component, you will need to check in with your capstone instructor and the Specialization Coordinator frequently to ensure that your project is on track to fulfil this requirement. 
• Note that regardless of which requirement term you are following for your specialization, your degree requirements will still be based on the Academic Calendar from the year that you began your studies, so it is important that you refer to that specific version of the calendar for your degree overall. 

If you began your studies in 2026 or later —

• You will only have access to the current (2026 and later) specializations. Please refer to the current Academic Calendar for a list of the "new" specializations and their requirements. 
• Note that if there are any changes to requirements for any of the current specializations, you will still follow the requirements for the term during which you declared the specialization. 

Declaring your specialization

• To declare your specialization, fill out the Plan Modification Form and email the completed copy to the BME Undergraduate Office. It is helpful if you include what you are declaring in the body of the email as well.

• You should declare your specialization before the start of your 4B term to ensure that it can be added to your transcript and properly accounted for when your Academic Advisor is conducting grad checks. 

• Once you have declared your specialization, it is a good idea to keep an eye on Quest to ensure that it has been added. Please note that these changes are not automatic, and can take a few days to appear at the student's end. 

What if a course isn't available?

It is your responsibility to ensure that you are on track to complete your degree requirements, including their specialization requirements. Some courses that are required for, or contribute to, specializations may not be offered on a regular basis, so it is important to make a plan in advance, and review the requirements as you progress through your program. Sometimes this may mean taking an elective that you aren't particularly interested in taking in order to meet a specialization requirement. Some course substitutions may be approved by the Specialization Coordinator in outstanding circumstances, but these approvals are not guaranteed. Course substitutions must be approved in writing and sent to your Academic Advisor. 

Supplemental exams:

• Students promoted conditionally with a failing grade between 42 and 49 may be eligible to write a supplemental exam. Eligibility is at the discretion of the instructor, and is not guaranteed. The exam must be approved by the program director in addition to the course instructor.
• If the student passes the supplemental exam with a grade of 50 or more, they will clear the failure and obtain credit for the course. The failing grade remains on the transcript, but the course will show as an earned credit. 
• Only one supplemental exam will be granted in any given term. 
• SUPP exams must be written within one year of the failed course. 
• There is a $175 Supplemental Exam Application Fee. This fee is non-refundable. Please contact the BME Undergraduate Office before submitting the application and paying the fee. 
• Supplemental exams are NOT offered for first year SYDE or BME courses, and are typically not offered for electives. 

Promotion rules:

Your term standing is available on QUEST shortly after the end of the term. Definitions of academic decisions and promotion rules are outlined in the Examinations and Promotions section of the Undergraduate Studies Academic Calendar. If you have any questions regarding your term standing, contact the BME Undergraduate Office. 

BME students must take a mix of Technical Electives and Complementary Studies Electives as part of their degree requirements. The number of electives that you must take depends on the year that you began your studies:

• Students who began their studies between 2022 and 2025 must complete 6 approved TEs and 3 CSEs. Approved TEs are offered by several Engineering departments, the Department of Kinesiology and Health Sciences, and departments in the Faculty of Science. Please refer to the Academic Calendar from the year that you began your studies for a list of approved TEs. 
• Students who began their studies in 2026 or later must complete 7 approved TEs from the Technical Electives List in the Academic Calendar. Please note the constraints listed, especially if you are not pursuing a specialization. 

Please see the Calendar for more information on Complementary Studies Electives requirements. 

You can find an up-to-date list of SYDE/BME Technical Electives being offered in the upcoming term, and find more information, on our Technical Electives page. If you are unsure whether a course is eligible as a Technical Elective, please reach out to the BME Undergraduate Office.