Subject Areas, Requirements and Preclusions
As you may have noticed when reading the list of courses open to first-year students, Carleton courses are usually prefixed by an acronym for the subject area (ENGL = English). The acronym for the first-year seminar is FYSM and the subject areas may cover all BA departments or schools. You will receive credit for a FYSM in the department in which that course is offered.
Some FYSM courses may lead to a major in that subject area, but many do not. To find out if a FYSM will count as a required course for your major, see the Bachelor of Arts First-Year Course Selection Guide.
Some FYSM courses have counterparts that are regular lecture courses and the FYSM and the regular course preclude each other (are too similar to count as two separate courses). When courses preclude each other, only one of the two courses will count towards your degree—an expensive mistake that you do not want to make!
For example, if you take FYSM 1409 – Social Change in Canada, the course will be listed as an Indigenous and Canadian Studies course on your degree audit report. The course also counts as a required first-year course for Indigenous and Canadian Studies majors.
Current FYSMs by Department includes all FYSM courses available in the 2023-2024 academic year and each course includes information on the department of origin, whether it leads to major and/or whether it has a preclusion.
You can also see information on FYSM courses in the Undergraduate Calendar.