Majors, minors and specializations

Majors

Students apply to Recreation and Leisure Studies and then choose one of three majors starting right in first year:

Recreation, Leadership, and Health

Hone your leadership skills while examining the role that recreation plays in the health of people and their communities.

Learn about Recreation, Leadership, and Health →

Sport and Recreation Management

Gain transferrable business skills combined with expertise in planning, managing, and evaluating sport and recreation programs and events.

Learn about Sport and Recreation Management →

Therapeutic Recreation

Learn how to create, implement, and assess activities that support cognitive, physical, emotional, and social well-being in clinical and community settings.

Learn about Therapeutic Recreation →

Customize your degree

You can further customize your degree with minors offered by the Department or minors offered in other areas at Waterloo. Joint Honours programs and Double Degree plans offer the opportunity to focus your studies equally on two areas.

Minors

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

There are also minors offered by other departments across campus that are 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 concentrate your studies in a second area, 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, including minors, are listed in the Undergraduate Studies Academic Calendar - Programs and Plans section. Use the Undergraduate Credential Type drop down on the page to refine your search to minors, options or specializations.

Joint honours plans

Joint Honours plans combine the degree requirements of two honours programs from different departments into one degree. This is available with select majors and requires pre-approval from both departments and advance course planning with an academic advisor.

The Department offers the following Joint Honours combinations:

Joint Honours Recreation, Leadership, and Health with:

  •  Honours Communication Studies
  • Honours English (all varieties)
  • Joint Environment, Resources and Sustainability
  • Joint Geography and Environmental Management
  • Honours History
  • Honours Legal Studies
  • Honours Music
  • Honours Political Science
  • Honours Psychology (BA)
  • Honours Social Development Studies
  • Honours Sociology
  • Honours Theatre and Performance

Joint Honours Sport and Recreation Management with:

  • Communications Studies

Joint Honours Therapeutic Recreation with:

  • Honours Fine Arts
  • Honours History
  • Honours Psychology (BA)
  • Honours Religious Studies

If a student wishes to pursue a joint honours plan with another department not listed, they should contact the Associate Chair, Undergraduate Studies.

Double degree: how do I customize my degree?

Within the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies, students can combine the following majors into a double degree plan:

It's like a joint honours degree within our own department. You will have the necessary backgrounds in both areas to prepare for a career in either area, or a career that blends the best of both worlds.

You must have successfully completed your first year of studies in a Recreation major and be in good standing (minimum cumulative averages of 65% overall and 70% major) before you can be admitted to a double degree plan. The program may be completed either through the co-op or regular stream.

It is strongly recommended that students interested in the Double Degree program speak to an academic advisor about applying and when choosing their second year courses to ensure that proper sequencing of all course requirements are met.

Although it may be possible to complete the double degree in as few as 20 units, students often complete more than the minimum 20 units required. The academic advisor will review the specific requirements with you for the double degree combination that you wish to pursue.

Note: you must maintain minimum cumulative averages of 65% overall and 70% major to remain in a double degree program.

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.

Plan and track your progress

Degree requirements

Degree requirements for each program are listed in the Undergraduate Calendar. You must satisfy the requirements set out in the Calendar for the year in which you first entered the program:

  • If you are beginning studies in 2025, see Undergraduate Calendar (Programs & Plans).
  • If you began prior to 2025, go to past year's Undergraduate Calendars then navigate to Faculty of Health > Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies section for your degree requirement pages. 
  • If you are enrolled in Recreation and Leisure Studies, or Recreation and Sport Business, refer to the Undergraduate Calendar or your advisor for program and course information.

Course sequences

Recommended course sequences will help you plan your undergraduate journey from your first class right through to program completion.

  • See the Course Sequences page to find the course sequence for your program and the year you began your studies.

Use course inventories to track your progress

Go to the REC Student Community Group in LEARN to download a copy of the course inventory for your major. Track what courses you've taken and when you plan to take remaining courses.

Changing majors

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.

General program

The four-year General Recreation and Leisure program is intended for students who do not meet the average requirements for the honours program, and their averages are above a 65% REC average and an overall 60% cumulative average. 

Students 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).