BSW Registration, Course Load, Degree Planning

Please register for BOTH the Fall and Winter terms once registration opens up to you. Courses have maximum enrolments and delaying registration may mean that you have limited choice in your scheduling options, course availability, and electives. Failing to register in one or more required courses may result in your degree progress being delayed by up to a year.

If you get a Registration Error when trying to register for a course, please submit a Course Registration Override Request if you feel you have a valid reason to be in the course. Information about when to register (your “Time-Ticket”) and how to register for courses can be found on the Registrar’s Office website. To confirm the requirements and/or restrictions for registering for specific courses please view the courses section of the Undergraduate Calendar.

The “Credits Not Included in the Major CGPA” that are outlined on the academic audit are referred to as the Elective Requirements of the degree. There are 3 sections of the Credits Not Included in the Major CGPA, generally this includes (please be advised that this will vary depending on year of entry into the program) 2.0 credits in related programs, 6.0 credits not in Social Work, and 1.5 credits in Free Electives.

An elective can be classified either as a course outside the Major (not Social Work), which can be found by searching the different subjects on Carleton Central. Some examples include searching specific subjects such as Psychology – PSYC, Criminology and Criminal Justice – CRCJ, Sociology – SOCI, Indigenous Studies – INDG and so on. It is important to note that all courses have Undergraduate Calendar requirements in order to register in the course. The other kind of elective is a free elective, this is classified as taking any course which can include a Social Work elective. In order to take a SOWK course as a free elective it must either be a course outside of your major requirements (i.e. SOWK 2301, 3206, 3207, 4209, 4210, or other special SOWK topics courses, and SOWK 4908) OR an additional SOWK 4000-level course apart of your Major Requirements (i.e. SOWK 4001 and 4003, or SOWK 4103 and 4204).

Students will want to be aware that there is limited free elective space, so if they are considering taking any SOWK electives then it is important to check your audit to ensure you have free elective requirements remaining for your degree and to not take any excess credits.

Keep in mind that searching for elective courses can be a bit more time consuming compared to your core SOWK courses, as this requires you to search up different subjects and course descriptions to narrow down your elective choices. To find an elective, it’s helpful to search through all the subjects or specific subjects you are interested in from other fields of study and review course descriptions. Electives are a good way to broaden the scope of your studies, but you want to make sure that the courses you pick will count towards your degree. You can check this if you register for an elective and you run your academic audit on Carleton Central. Your audit will either indicate where that course falls in your degree requirements or if it doesn’t count for your degree it will show up in the “Courses Set Aside” section at the bottom of the audit. If you’re ever unsure about whether or not an elective will count towards your degree requirements, you welcome to contact the Undergraduate Administrator to confirm.

To confirm the requirements and/or restrictions for registering in specific courses, please view the courses section of the Undergraduate Calendar.

It is important to consider some factors when planning out your degree progression and trying to build a course sequencing plan, these include:

Remaining Requirements
You familiarize yourself with your academic audit, this is a “road map” to your degree requirements. Please see the BSW Academic Audit page for learning how to read your audit.

Course Offerings
You must consider general course offerings by departments. Students can explore the public class schedule and compare course offerings in a Fall or Winter term to gain an understanding of when specific courses are generally offered in an academic year. Please note that this does not guarantee that a specific course will be offered in future academic years, but rather it may help you to gain a sense of general class scheduling for a specific subject or discipline such as when SOWK courses are offered (Fall and Winter, or just one specific term) or required courses for a minor.

Course Load
You consider how many courses you want to take per term. Generally course sequencing is for Fall and Winter terms [with maximum credit limit of 2.5 credits], but students do have the option to take courses in the Summer terms [with maximum credit limit of 2.0 credits].

Undergraduate Calendar Requirements
You are meeting the Undergraduate Calendar requirements for courses, such as required prerequisites, year-standing requirements, or if the course is restricted to degree students in a certain program.

When to Take a Course (Major, Not Included in Major – Electives, or Minor)
You generally want to ensure you complete required core courses in accordance with your year-standing (i.e. taking 1000-level in first year, 2000-level in second year, and so on) and balance with taking some elective courses throughout your terms. But it is important that you plan your courses to ensure you are completing required prerequisites before taking upper year courses or practicum.

• If you are admitted into First Year of the program you can see information about course sequencing for your first, second, third and fourth year of the program above, under ‘Course Sequencing for Incoming First Year Students’.
• If you are admitted into Second Year of the program you can see information about course sequencing for your first two terms in the program above, under ‘Course Sequencing for Incoming Second Year Students’ (you are required to concurrently complete SOWK 1001 and 1002 along with second year SOWK courses if you did not receive transfer credits for these courses upon admission into the program). For your third and fourth year you can follow course sequencing based on how it is reflected in the ‘Course Sequencing for Incoming First Year Students’ found above for the ‘Third Year’ and ‘Fourth Year’ of the program. However, it is very important to cross reference your academic audit to confirm the transfer credits that you received in case your requirements vary from the course selection reflected there.
• If you are admitted into Third Year of the program you can find course sequencing for the first two terms (Fall-Winter) you enter into the program above, under ‘Course Sequencing for Incoming Third Year Students’. This only indicates the course sequencing for the year you enter into BSW. For your final year (or subsequent terms) you will need to cross reference your academic audit to check your remaining degree requirements and then plan out your courses based on your remaining requirements, the general course offerings from a department (paying attention to if courses are offered in both Fall/Winter, or only offered in a specific term), and the maximum credit limits in terms.

If student’s have any questions regarding their course sequencing they are welcome to contact the Undergraduate Administrator for advising.

Part-time Studies (Reduced Course Load)

An option students can choose is to reduce their course load or complete the degree program part-time. There is no requirement for how quickly someone should take to complete the degree, and sometimes it can be in a student’s best interest to take a little bit longer to complete their degree then to compromise their well-being to finish as soon as possible. A student’s course load can really depend on the individual, we have students who organize their degree requirements for all different sorts of course loads. Everyone’s course sequencing may look different and may vary from the standard track for the degree progression. In a case where someone wishes to complete a reduced course, it is highly suggested that you meet with the Undergraduate Administrator to discuss your course sequencing.

What to Consider:

• Reducing one’s course load to 2.0 credits or less would either require students make up reduced credits in Summer terms throughout their studies to remain on track for the degree progression of the program, otherwise it would result in extending one’s studies beyond that average degree timeline. 
• If a student plans to attend part-time/with a reduced course load, please note that most core Social Work courses are not offered in the Summer terms and you must still adhere to course prerequisites. Student’s should also be aware of impacts to degree progression with completing a reduced course load, since there are limited SOWK course offerings in Summer it is often best to focus on core courses over the Fall and Winter terms and take reduced credits in their electives during a Summer term.
• Student’s should be aware that completing a reduced course load can have impacts on student funding. Should you have questions about scholarship, bursary, OSAP or other student funding requirements, please contact the Awards and Financial Aid Office.