Quick & General FAQs

• What Faculty am I in?
• What are the semester add/drop and/or withdraw deadline?
• What is an elective?
• Should I repeat a course?
• My classes are conflicting.  How do I register in both classes? 
• How do I check my degree requirements?
• How do I declare my major and/or minor?
• Do I need to satisfy the breadth requirements?
• How do I apply to graduate?
• How can I take a course elsewhere?
• I do not have the prerequisite for a course required for my degree.
• I don't understand the terminology that my advisor is using.
• I can't login to the Advisor's Virtual Drop Ins.

What are the semester add/drop and/or withdraw deadlines?

Before you drop a class or withdraw from a class, please consider the following:

• If you are required to maintain a minimum course load due to funding, housing, varsity sports, or other circumstances, make sure you are aware of how many credits you must be registered in before you drop or withdraw from a course.
• You should drop or withdraw from a course as soon as you identify you do not want to take it or cannot continue with it.  Dropping early may help you meet deadlines and make space available for another student to register in the course.
• Is this course being used as a pre-requisite for a January course?  How might dropping this course affect your progression in your degree program?
• Prior to the add/drop deadline students can freely add or drop courses from their schedules.
• Prior to the add/drop deadline students will receive a 100% tuition refund for dropped courses and no grade will be noted on their transcript.
• After the add/drop deadline, and prior to the withdraw deadline, students will receive a 50% tuition refund and a W will be recorded on their transcript to indicate that they withdrew from the course with permission.  A grade of W will not be calculated in the GPA.

What is an elective?

Elective courses are courses that are not listed as required for a major or a minor, and are taken to help students meet their total credit hour requirements to complete their undergraduate degree. Electives can be chosen to fulfill an academic breadth requirement, to explore interests outside of a degree program, to meet requirements for a minor, to complete requirements for a professional designation (such as Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA), Registered Professional Biologist (RPBio), or Registered Professional Forester (RPF), or to complete admission requirements for a future academic pursuit (such as social work, education, medical school, dentistry, optometry, dietetics, pharmacology, and many more). Students are encouraged to connect with their Student Advisor to discuss their elective credit need and how to fulfill it!

Should I repeat a course?

Keep in mind that you will only receive credit for a course once. UNBC will prioritize courses taken at UNBC and use the higher grade in the GPA calculation. 

Please note the following:

• You are permitted to repeat a course once.  If you need to take a course a second time, it is considered an "exceed repeat attempt" and you will be unable to register yourself.  You need to speak with the Chair of the Program of the course concerned and ask permission to register.  Be prepared to discuss what strategies you will employ to help ensure your future success.
• Transfer credit is not included in your UNBC GPA. If you are hoping to take a course elsewhere to replace a grade you achieved at UNBC, this will not improve your UNBC GPA.  If you had achieved credit in the course at UNBC, the transfer grade will not be loaded as you cannot receive credit for a course twice.
• Be aware that repeating courses may have implications for student loans or funding; please ensure you look into this well in advance of the aforementioned deadlines.

What should I do if I have a time conflict?

In terms of the time conflicts, if you want to register in two courses that have scheduling conflicts, follow these steps:

1. Register for the course which is more important to your academic plan, so that this course does not fill up before you can register for it.
2. Contact the instructors of both courses to get their confirmation that the courses will be entirely asynchronous; or if the courses are blended, request their permission to miss some portion of class time (you should avoid missing any component of a class lecture or meeting).
3. You will need approval from both instructors in order to be permitted for registration. 
4. If both instructors approve, please forward both approval emails to student-info@unbc.ca using your UNBC student email.  Please ensure you include your student ID number and your full name in all of your correspondences.

Degree Requirements

If you have declared your major and would like to check your degree requirements, please take a look at your degree evaluation. 

Uncertain how to run your own degree evaluation?  View the video below.

Declaring a Major / Declaring a Minor

You can find the Declaration of Major/Declaration of Minor form through the Office of the Registrar. There is no cost/fees associated with this process. Once completed, this form can be emailed from your UNBC.ca address to credentials@unbc.ca. 

Do I need to satisfy the breadth requirements?

Students pursuing the degrees of BA, BComm, BHSc, and BSc are required to meet the University’s Academic Breadth requirement as a condition of graduation. Each graduate is required to have successfully completed at least 3 credit hours from each of the four breadth areas or to have transferred to UNBC from another institution acceptable credit hours such that the requirement is met.  See Regulation 15 in the Undergraduate Calendar to view acceptable prefixes that satisfy each quadrant.

Note: Students pursuing the degrees of BA Nature Based Tourism Management, BSc Biology, BSC Conservation Science and Practice, BSc Forest Ecology and Management, and BSc Wildlife and Fisheries are exempt from this regulation because academic breadth has been incorporated within the curricula.

How do I apply to graduate?

If you are hoping to graduate, please visit the Convocation Application to Graduate website.

If this is your first time applying to graduate, please apply online through your myUNBC account (and see our FAQ for more information). If you are an undergraduate student who has applied to graduate previously with the same curriculum, or a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) student obtaining a Specialization, please fill out the Apply to Graduate form available through the Office of the Registrar. Make sure the fee is paid and then submit the completed form to the Office of the Registrar.

How can I take a course elsewhere?

If the course you are wishing to take is available at a BC Institution, please visit the BC Transfer Guide.  It is a really great resource to see how courses transfer to or from UNBC. The Guide provides information related to if a course transfers as a direct transfer (i.e. a UNBC equivalent course), if it would transfer over as unspecified credit (ie, a BIOL 2XX, still counting as an elective in your degree program but not a specific course), or if it would not transfer over.

If you do take a course from another institution, you need to complete a Letter of Permission (LOP). These letters allow active UNBC students in good standing to complete courses at other institutions and guarantee transfer credits back to their UNBC credential. Students then know in advance if the courses they are requesting will help them meet their degree requirements. The letters are sent to both the student and the institution which they intend to visit; they state the semester or academic year they are active for and what transfer credit the student will receive for each course. LOPs may be for either distance education or regular courses taken elsewhere, depending on the student's circumstances. If you do not receive a Letter of Permission, your courses may not be accepted for transfer credit.  Once the course(s) are completed, you would need to have the institution send UNBC the official transcripts.

I do not have the prerequisite for a course required for my degree. What should I do?

There are many reasons why a student might be missing a prerequisite. Sometimes courses are taken out of sequence which can create an issue with course progression and ultimately lead to you not having the prerequisites needed to take a course. Regardless, it is important to know that each faculty is different and might have different procedures so please touch base with your student advisor.

A student who is missing a prerequisite is highly encouraged to prioritize the missing prerequisite during course registration. Otherwise, a student who is trying to take a course without meeting the prerequisites will receive a "test score and prerequisite" error during course registration. The student will need permission from the instructor of the course, or the Chair of the program (faculty dependent) to take the course.

I don't understand the terminology that my Advisor is using.

Post-Secondary is full of key terms, short phrases and 'lingo' that can sometimes be unfamiliar to students. The first thing you should do if you don't understand a key phrase or term is to ask! Your advisor is incredibly friendly and approachable. We're here to help you on your academic journey and make sure that you understand the language being used as we explain how you can get from point A to point B in your degree! 

What Faculty am I in?

Identify your major in the table below. 

 I can't login to the Virtual Drop Ins.

• You must be a current UNBC student.
• You must log in with a UNBC email address to attend these sessions (single sign-on). 
• You may only book one appointment within a 14 day time period. Additional appointments will be cancelled at the Advisor’s discretion
• Students can only attend their own Student Advisor's drop-ins.

Please log in early and remember that these sessions are being offered on a first-come, first-served basis. You will be placed in a waiting room queue until it is your turn. If you leave and return to the session later, you will lose your place in the queue. Please be prepared with your questions.

Zoom link not working? Visit the Zoom website and login by selecting the SSO option and use your UNBC username and password before selecting the meeting link. Only authenticated users can join this meeting.

Not sure what your UNBC login credentials are? Email IT Services at support@unbc.ca. 

All times listed are in PDT. Drop-ins are subject to change due to illness or other unforeseen circumstances. Advisors will not be offering drop-ins if the session falls on a statutory holiday. If you are logged in and have concerns, please reach out to advising@unbc.ca for updated information on the Advisors' availability.