Overview
The Arts & Science Program is designed to provide students with a broad-based, interdisciplinary education, which bridges the divide between the arts and the sciences. The program features a unique, integrated core curriculum that has been planned with three major objectives in mind:
- to enable substantial work in both the arts and the sciences
- to develop skills in writing, speaking, and critical reasoning
- to foster the art of scholarly inquiry into issues of public concern
The Arts & Science Program emphasizes active, inquiry-based, and cooperative learning; social awareness; and the development of a wide range of transferable skills. It is a limited enrolment, interdisciplinary program that brings students and faculty together in a lively intellectual environment conducive to collaborative learning.
Program graduates succeed in a remarkable array of meaningful careers, pursuing work or further education in fields such as Biochemistry, Cultural Studies, Dentistry, Education, Health Policy, Law, Occupational Therapy, and Sustainability.
Expandable List
Over its more than 40 years as one of Canada’s most innovative programs, Arts & Science at McMaster has established an enviable reputation for providing an educational environment that equips its graduates to excel in work and/or further study in a wide variety of fields.
The program offers an enriching, interdisciplinary learning community where you will be exposed to multiple perspectives and develop essential skills while also feeling supported throughout your academic journey. Its limited size facilitates close relationships between students, both academically and personally, while small class and tutorial sizes promote lively interaction between professors and students.
The individual and collective expertise of Arts & Science faculty members enables the Program to continue to forge new ground in undergraduate education. Our instructors, who have diverse disciplinary backgrounds, work closely with students in the creative process of interdisciplinary inquiry.
In the B.Arts Sc. Honours degree, students take specifically designed ARTSSCI courses as well as electives. Students can use their electives to pursue a Combined Honours Program (Arts & Science may be combined with over thirty different subjects from across the University), to focus on a particular area (a minor), or to satisfy broad interests. The integrated set of required courses, offered exclusively to Arts & Science students, include Inquiry courses, which cover a range of disciplines and focus on the development of inquiry-based learning and critical thinking skills vital to meaningful social and scholarly engagement.
Electives, experiential learning initiatives, and exchange opportunities allow students to tread new paths of discovery, while individual study and fourth-year thesis courses provide an opportunity to work with McMaster researchers from across the University. The program prepares students for a variety of future endeavours, and has a tradition of producing graduates who shine in a remarkable array of meaningful careers.
Co-op and internship opportunities are unavailable at this time; however, many students spend all or part of their third year studying abroad at a host institution through the MacAbroad Exchange Program.
Students choose to study abroad for a variety of reasons, including language development, exposure to new cultures and perspectives, and unique course offerings offered only at certain institutions. Students commonly study in Australia, England, Denmark, France, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Singapore.
Students have access to the Arts & Science Space in L.R. Wilson Hall and opportunities to participate in a variety of extracurricular learning experiences such as the Common Reading Program and the New World of Work Series.
As part of its continued commitment to equity and to growing the diversity of the program community, the interdisciplinary Arts & Science Program has created an Equitable Admissions Process for Black and/or Latin American/Latinx Applicants. Students who identify as Black and/or Latin American/Latinx and meet the Program admission requirements are eligible to opt in to this process. Click here for more information.
The Facilitated Admissions Process creates additional spaces within the Arts & Science program for Indigenous (First Nations, Métis, or Inuit) applicants who meet the program’s academic requirements and other application criteria. This is an optional process; if you identify as Indigenous, you are not required to opt in to the process to be considered for admission, though you are welcome to do so. Click here for more information.
Student Testimonials
Your Classes
What You’ll Take:
- Practices of Knowledge (ARTSSCI 1A03)
- Contemporary Indigenous Studies (ARTSSCI 1AA3)
- Writing (ARTSSCI 1B03)
- Argumentation (ARTSSCI 1BB3)
- Global Challenges Inquiry (ARTSSCI 1C06)
- Calculus (ARTSSCI 1D06)
Learn more about the?academic requirements for each year of the Arts & Science program.
Since Arts & Science is a direct entry program, students admitted to this program are considered to be specializing in “Arts & Science” from first year to the end of the program.
Students take specifically designed ARTSSCI courses as well as electives. Elective space increases in upper levels of the program, with two electives per term in second year, and three electives per term in the third and fourth years.
Arts & Science can be combined with over 30 different subjects from across the University:
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For a full list of courses that can be available in this program, please consult the academic calendar.