UBC: Years 3 and 4

The Department of History offers a range of courses with both regional and global perspectives, spanning the classical era to the twentieth century. Many are organized thematically: focuses include cultural, environmental, political, social, urban or world history, and the history of science. Students engage in primary-source analysis and historiographic review as they develop research skills and critical perspectives.

The interdisciplinary International Relations program fosters an in-depth understanding of global affairs by combining the insights and perspectives of different disciplines, with foundational coursework in History, Political Science, and Economics, and a high degree of flexibility for students to pursue additional insights from Geography, Asian Studies, and other globally-oriented courses across the social sciences and humanities.

Admission to the IR major is competitive; most applications from Dual Degree students are approved, but the program advising team will additionally help students in parallel planning to ensure they are prepared for an alternative program of study should they not be admitted.

Political Science—Leaders in International Relations, Comparative Politics, Political Theory, Canadian Politics, and US Politics, the UBC Department of Political Science is also known for its application of quantitative methodologies. Students graduate with understanding of the forces that shape law, society, the economy, international relations, and the politics of the future.

Sociology—Home to several important journals in the field, the Department of Sociology focuses heavily on research, and has a particular depth of expertise in community-based approaches to research and knowledge mobilization.

The Faculty of Arts offers different types of specializations, and you can choose to add a double or combined major, a minor, or apply for an honours program or the Interdisciplinary Studies program. Dual Degree students are required to complete a minimum of 72 credits, but adding a minor without significant overlap to a students' major may require additional coursework beyond this minimum (even if the two-year timeline remains feasible). Most honours programs and double majors require an additional year of study to complete.

Minors can be a good way for students to develop some comprehensive engagement with a discipline, but Dual Degree students who enrol in a minor will generally have little to no room left for electives—where particularly valuable (and even unexpected) learning can take place. The program advising team helps students determine whether a minor is the best pathway to achieve their learning objectives, or if curating specific electives would make more sense.

Combined majors are specifically-arranged collaborations between two departments who've identified compatibility between their curricula; students cannot propose new combined minors.

Honours programs in North American universities require completion of an original thesis, grounded in research practices of the specific discipline, and are excellent preparation for students interested in pursuing a discipline at the graduate level and/or considering a career in academia.

While their academic requirements are more intense than those of a conventional major, they are not comparable to the British undergraduate degree classification system in which an "honours" designation implies greater prestige and/or higher academic performance. Admission to Honours programs is subject to the approval of the Department offering them; the program advising team helps interested students prepare their applications. Admissibility is determined not just based on academic performance, but on the Department's assessment of the student's interest (e.g. whether they will follow through on completing a thesis), whether the Department can recruit a thesis supervisor with relevant expertise, and on their review of academic references and writing samples.

The Interdisciplinary Studies program (IDST) offers students the opportunity to design their own curriculum combining courses from various disciplines and approaches so they can engage in a program of study exploring a specific topical interest not otherwise addressed by existing majors. Several Dual Degree students have pursued this option, in collaboration with the program advising team and IDST chair; proposed curricula are subject to the chair's approval and other IDST–specific regulations.

Dual Degree students interested in the Major in Economics must account for three years of study at UBC to complete all requirements. Students must complete prerequisite courses in Year 3 before applying to the major; admission even after completing them is not guaranteed. The program advising team can help students map out the appropriate pathway, including by fulfilling Economics-related learning objectives without formal enrolment in the Economics major.

While students can opt to complete a Major in Mathematics or Computer Science (both of which require a third year of study), any other major offered by a Faculty other than Arts cannot be completed without additionally completing an Arts major. The advising team can help students identify whether this pathway makes sense or how to pursue similar learning outcomes through other pathways. As a Dual Bachelors of Arts program, prospective students should keep in mind that disciplinary coverage not typically addressed by Arts curricula is not a feature this program is designed to facilitate.