Program requirements

The Undergraduate Calendar states the degree requirements that you will need to meet in order to graduate. If degree requirements change before you graduate, the changes will NOT affect you (they only affect students entering the program in future years). Each year a new calendar is released. Always be sure you are viewing the calendar for the year you started your program. You may also visit LEARN SPHS Advising and Student Resources Group for degree checklist and course inventory.

Important note: Students must adhere to the course requirements in the correct sequence of courses. If you deviate from the correct course sequence you could miss an important prerequisite for an upper year course or you may even be required to withdraw from the program. Students wishing to alter their sequence must meet with their academic advisor and complete a Departmental Consent Form and/or request for academic/work term change form (co-op).

Minimum average requirements

Health Sciences

  • 67% Cumulative Health (Major) Average - average of ALL PUBLIC HEALTH SCIENCES (“HLTH”) courses taken so far. This average affects your academic standing once you’ve attempted 1.5 units in your major courses. However, a conditional warning may be issued prior to completing 1.5 units in your major courses. 
  • 63% Cumulative Average – this average is calculated each term but includes grades from ALL courses taken at UW so far.
  • Health Sciences students who are enrolled in lab courses must have appropriate instruction on issues of safety. The Workplace Hazardous Material Information System (WHMIS) training for students satisfies this requirement. All students at Waterloo who have a lab/shop/studio component to their studies that requires them to work with controlled products must have WHMIS training.

Public Health

  • 75% Cumulative Health (Major) Average - average of ALL PUBLIC HEALTH SCIENCES ("HLTH") courses taken so far. This average affects your academic standing once you’ve attempted 1.5 units in your major courses. However, a conditional warning may be issued prior to completing 1.5 units in your major courses. 
  • 70% Cumulative Average - this average is calculated each term but includes grades from ALL courses taken at UW so far.

Academic standing and grades

Please refer to academic standing for minimum academic averages for each program. To recognize outstanding academic achievement, the Faculty of Health has also established awards of excellence. Check your unofficial transcripts at the beginning of each term for transcript text and your overall academic standing. This standing will be based on your cumulative average and your major average of all of the courses (passed or failed) that you have taken at Waterloo while enrolled as an undergraduate.

Students who receive a Conditional standing in their first term are strongly advised to meet their academic advisor for plan-specific advice.

Conditional standing

  • If a student does not meet the Satisfactory cumulative average (CAV – all courses) and/or major average (MAV – all HLTH courses) for their degree at the end of any term, then a Conditional or Failed - Required to Withdraw standing will apply:
    • Health Sciences: 63% CAV and 67% MAV
    • Public Health: 70% CAV and 75% MAV
  • In most cases, students with a Conditional standing are granted one additional term to attain a Satisfactory standing or they will be required to withdraw from their current plan.
  • Students in Conditional standing will be required to withdraw from the Co-operative Education plan. They may continue in the Regular plan, if after one term of study, the Conditional standing is cleared.
  • Students may be required to withdraw from the Faculty of Health at any time under special circumstances, such as leaving the plan without notification (changing their sequence without first speaking with an advisor) or failing to write an examination.
  • Students can graduate with failing grades on their transcript as long as they meet the minimum requirements: 20 units including all required courses successfully completed within eight years of beginning the program, a 63% cumulative and a 67% major average for Health Sciences or a 70% cumulative and a 75% major average for Public Health.

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