BACHELOR OF ARTS – COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA STUDIES Transfer to University of Calgary Red Deer College – School of Arts & Sciences Updated April 2021 What is this guide? This is an Academic Planning Guide, prepared by the School of Arts & Sciences to help you register for courses towards the Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Media Studies with University of Calgary. This guide is prepared using information gathered from RDC, Academic Calendars from Universities, and other resources and will only highlight major points related to transfer. o We strongly advise that you read the Academic Calendar of your destination institution for full information. Can you tell me about the BA in Communication and Media Studies at RDC? This BA program at RDC offers students the first 2 years of university transferable coursework towards University of Calgary’s BA in Communication and Media Studies. There are other BA Communication programs across the province, however, RDC’s program is best suited towards University of Calgary. Why can I only take two years at RDC? Every 30 credits (10 courses) a student completes is equivalent to one academic year. If a student completes 10 courses per year for four straight years (with appropriate course selection) they will graduate with their degree in four years. Universities have what is called a residency requirement. This means that universities require a specific amount of credits to be completed as their student in order to grant the degree. o UAlberta and UCalgary (and most universities), require a minimum of 60 credits to be completed while registered as a student of their institution. Therefore, students can transfer up to 60 credits towards their degree. What are terms, and how many of them are there? Terms are the period of time in which your studies take place. At RDC, we offer four terms. Fall term (September through December) Winter Term (January through April) Spring term (May through June): Spring term is a condensed term. We recommend only a maximum of two courses in the Spring. Course offerings are reduced in this term as well. Summer Term (July through August): Limited course selection. How many courses should I take a term? The traditional path you will see is 5 courses per term, 10 total (5 in the Fall, 5 in the Winter). Bachelor of Arts does offer flexibility in how a student schedules and pursues their degree. o Some students will complete 10 courses in a year by taking 4 courses in the Fall, 4 in the Winter, and 2 in the Spring (or some mixture). o Some students will take 3-4 courses per term (6-8 per year) and take 5-6 years to complete their degree. We encourage you to take a course load that works best for you. In most cases, to be considered for full time funding students need a minimum of 3 post-secondary courses and 9 academic credits in the Fall and Winter term. o Please check and confirm the course load requirements if you are receiving funding. What happens if I take less than 10 courses a year? You may need an extra term or year to complete your degree. What is a credit? A credit is what you earn for completing courses. To earn a BA from UAlberta or UCalgary, a student will need to earn 120 credits. Most courses a student completes will be three credits. There are some courses that span a full year (Fall to Winter) that are six credits. As such, 120 credits is generally 40 courses. How do I know what courses to take? Use this guide and use the advice! Make sure the courses you take are transferable using Transfer Alberta. You should be taking university level and university transferable courses o “200” Level courses are Year 1 courses at RDC o “300” Level courses are Year 2 courses at RDC o (each institution will use different numbering conventions for their years) 2 COURSE REGISTRATION AND SCHEDULING The schedule below is a recommended schedule which can be greatly customized depending on a student’s transfer institution, desired course load, and other factors. If you are not sure how to put your schedule together, the example below can help you get started. YEAR 1 EXAMPLE FALL TERM WINTER TERM ENGL 219 Humanities or Social Science Elective (see elective note below) COMM 271 COMM 341 COMM 375 or COMM 383 Humanities or Social Science Elective (see elective note below) Open Elective (see elective note below) Science Elective (see elective note below) Open Elective (see elective note below) Open Elective (see elective note below) YEAR 2 EXAMPLE FALL TERM WINTER TERM COMM 381 COMM 369 COMM 375 or COMM 383 COMM 371 or Open Elective Humanities or Social Science Elective Humanities or Social Science Elective Open Elective (see elective note below) Science Elective (see elective note below) Open Elective (see elective note below) Open Elective (see elective note below) Electives Electives are requirements you will find in any Bachelor of Arts degree. o Yes – you do need to take them! Electives add depth and are degree requirements. Click this link to see 2021-2022 Arts & Science courses in more depth. This will help with course selection in the categories listed below. Humanities Electives: At RDC, choose courses from: Classics (CLAS), English (ENGL), History (HIST), Philosophy (PHIL) Social Science Electives: At RDC, choose courses from: Anthropology (ANTH), Economics (ECON), Political Science (POLI), Psychology (PSYC), Sociology (SOCI). Science Electives: At RDC, choose courses from: Astronomy (ASTR), Biology (BIOL), Chemistry (CHEM), Computer Sciences (CMPT), Mathematics (MATH), and Physics (PHYS). Psychology students should not take Statistic (STAT) courses. Please consult with [email protected] if you plan to take a STAT course, or have in the past. See Page 4 for important transfer information about Science electives. Open Electives: Any additional course from the lists above, or any 3 credit course transferable to your future transfer institution. See page 4 for important transfer information about open electives, specific to University of Alberta and University of Calgary. 3 INFORMATION FOR TRANSFER STUDENTS UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY – ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS Science: Students must take at least 6 credits (2 courses) in courses from the Faculty of Science. You can see examples of Science electives here: Maximum of 24 credits (8 courses) in the field of Communication and Media Studies As part of the 60 credit transfer maximum, UCalgary also only allows a maximum of 24 credits (8 courses) that can be transferred into the major. As there some non-Communication Studies courses (COMM) that are counted towards the major, students should be aware of how many courses they care completing. Overall, students should not have more than 8 courses from the list below: COMM 271, COMM 313, COMM 341, COMM 361, COMM 363, COMM 369, COMM 371, COMM 375, COMM 381, COMM 383 SOCI 344 Additional Transfer Information Transfer Credit Transfer up to 60 credits Maximum of 24 credits in your major field Applying for Transfer Deadline typically March 1. Consult U of C timelines. Apply to U of C here. Minimum Transferable A minimum grade of C- is recommended to maximize transferability (“D” Grade grades may transfer, depending on the circumstance). Please talk to an Academic Advisor as soon as possible if you feel you may be in jeopardy of not getting at least a C- in a course you are enrolled in. Junior Courses A maximum of 48 credits (16 courses) of Junior level coursework is allowed. Non-Arts or Non-Science No more than 6 credits (2 courses) may be used from Physical Options Activity/Dance courses. How Admission Grade Point Will be calculated using the most recent course work to a maximum of 30 Average (AGPA) is units, unless otherwise specified by the faculty. All courses attempted calculated within a term will be included except where the number of courses taken within a term results in the overall number of units exceeding 30 units. Should this occur, the highest grades from the oldest term being considered will be used to calculate the GPA.. For more information on transfer, please consult the University of Calgary Calendar. 4 CONTACT INFORMATION School of Arts & Room 2203 Sciences [email protected] Red Deer College 403.342.3585 (select option 1) Transfer Alberta Guide http://transferalberta.alberta.ca University of Alberta https://uofa.ualberta.ca/arts [email protected] University of Calgary http://arts.ucalgary.ca [email protected] PLEASE NOTE: This document is designed to provide recommendations and general information related to transfer pathways that best suit Red Deer College (RDC) course offerings. There are many ways to create a schedule and complete your studies, and we recommend you familiarize yourself with the intricacies of the program and university you want to transfer into. We are here to assist in helping you navigate your studies and can connect you with resources as needed, but you are responsible for your course registration, class schedule, applications to transfer and other related matters. Students in university transfer programs are strongly advised to refer to the calendar of the university that they wish to attend, and should contact appropriate university departments as required. Please note that institutions can make changes to their program and/or transfer requirements without consulting RDC. As such, it is recommended you consult with the appropriate institutional information (i.e. university calendars, websites, advisors,) to gain the most up to date information as you progress through your studies. You are cautioned that any changes to your courses, your major, or your transfer destination may adversely affect your transferable credit or admission requirements for future programs.