Majors, minors and specializations | Recreation and Leisure Studies

Majors available in Recreation and Leisure Studies

Official degree requirements are provided in the Undergraduate Calendar for the year in which you began your program.

If you began in Recreation and Leisure Studies prior to 2024, please refer to your entry year in past year's Undergraduate Calendars (Faculty of Health > Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies section) for your degree requirement pages.

2021 Degree requirements

Major	Degree requirements	Co-op / regular
Recreation and Leisure Studies	*NEW* 21 Required REC courses See 2021-2022 Undergraduate Calendar - Honours Recreation and Leisure Studies for full details Recreation and Leisure Studies course inventory 2021 (fillable pdf)	Both
Recreation and Sport Business	*NEW* 21 Required REC courses, BUS 121W is not required See 2021-2022 Undergraduate Calendar - Honours Recreation and Sport Business for full details Recreation and Sport Business course inventory 2021 (fillable pdf)	Both
Therapeutic Recreation	*NEW* 21 Required REC courses See 2021-2022 Undergraduate Calendar - Honours Therapeutic Recreation for full details Therapeutic Recreation course inventory 2021 (fillable pdf)	Both
Tourism Development	*NEW* 21 Required REC courses See 2021-2022 Undergraduate Calendar - Honours Tourism Development for full details Tourism Development course inventory 2021 (fillable pdf)	Both

2020 Degree requirements

Major	Degree requirements	Co-op / regular
Recreation and Leisure Studies	See 2020-2021 Undergraduate Calendar - Honours Recreation and Leisure Studies for full details Recreation and Leisure Studies course inventory 2020 (fillable pdf)	Both
Recreation and Sport Business	See 2020-2021 Undergraduate Calendar - Honours Recreation and Sport Business for full details Recreation and Sport Business course inventory 2020 (fillable pdf)	Both
Therapeutic Recreation	See 2020-2021 Undergraduate Calendar - Honours Therapeutic Recreation for full details Therapeutic Recreation course inventory 2020 (fillable pdf)	Both
Tourism Development	See 2020-2021 Undergraduate Calendar - Honours Tourism Development for full details Tourism Development course inventory 2020 (fillable pdf)	Both

To declare or change your major, complete and submit a Plan Modification Form to rec-advising@uwaterloo.ca

Minimum number of courses

Specific program requirements are outlined for each degree offered by our department in the online undergraduate calendar. Students must complete at least 20 units (normally 40 courses of 0.5 units each), of which 10.5 units must be REC courses (21 REC courses); students with program requirements prior to 2021 must complete 10.0 units (20 REC courses).

Note that some REC courses are cross-listed with other subjects. If a student completes a course as the cross-listed subject instead of the REC subject, it can still count as a REC course toward their degree requirements and will be included in the major average (MAV) calculation.

Full-time status is defined as 1.5 units, unless otherwise indicated by AccessAbility Services. Part-time is defined as 1.0 units or less.

Minors

There are several interdisciplinary minors offered by many departments across campus available to students in honours programs and sometimes general programs. Consisting of eight to ten courses (as defined by the calendar requirements for each), they allow you to tailor your degree for a specific field of study in addition to your major. You can view the available minors grouped by area of interest on the UWaterloo Undergraduate Programs - Minors and certificates webpage. All Waterloo programs and plans are listed in the Undergraduate Studies Academic Calendar - Programs and Plans section. Use the Undergraduate Credential Type drop down to refine your search.

The department offers the Event Management Minor and the Tourism Minor.

Double degree: how do I customize my degree?

You may apply for one of these tailored programs by completing a Plan Modification Formfrom the registrar's office and submitting it to the Undergraduate Advisor in BMH 2201 or by email to rec-advising@uwaterloo.ca.

In addition, students may choose to pursue a "Double Degree".

Recreation and Sport Business and Therapeutic Recreation, Four-Year Honours (Co-op or Regular)
You should contact your academic advisor early in your studies if you wish to pursue a double degree. This provides opportunities to monitor progress toward completion of the combined degree requirements and ensure key required courses are not missed in sequence.

Joint honours plans

Joint Honours plans combine the degree requirements of two honours programs from different departments into one degree. It's like completing two degrees in one. For more information, see approved Joint Honours plans for students in Recreation and Leisure Studies.

General program

You may be placed in the general program at any time following your first year if you are not eligible to continue in the honours program. You may continue in the general program to graduation, or meet the requirements to be eligible to return to the honours program. For more information, see Recreation and Leisure Studies, Four-Year General (Regular only).

Double counting of courses

The practice of counting a course toward two different academic plans is known as "double-counting". There is no limit within Recreation and Leisure Studies as to the number of courses that may be double counted. However, if students are completing a second honours plan (eg. Minor or joint degree), the rules of the other department sometimes specify a limit to the number of double counted courses allowed to meet degree requirements. This should be confirmed with the department offering the second plan.