Applying To Humanities and Liberal Arts School

Generally, individual programs in the various Humanities and Liberal Arts subjects are available under the Faculty of Arts, Humanities or Social Sciences, and these typically have the same requirements as the university's general requirements. This means that admission is competitive, requiring high school graduation with a minimum overall average of 60% or higher in five senior level courses, including English. Additional courses may be required depending on the individual program studied, particularly in the fine arts, languages or natural and social sciences subjects that are part of humanities and liberal arts.

Generally, humanities and liberal arts programs are not limited-enrollment, so your chances of admission are good as long as you apply by the appropriate deadline and include all required documents. Intake is normally in September and January and required documents include official high school transcripts, and may also include reference letter(s), questionnaire, current résumé, proof of English proficiency, personal essay or letter of intent. University application also includes a non-refundable application fee of anywhere between $25-$100, as specified by the institution. You can enter most humanities and liberal arts bachelor's programs directly from high school, with the exception of some social work programs. You can apply to university programs using the using the post-secondary application service of your province, if relevant, or directly to the institute.

The humanities and liberal arts cover a huge range of topics, and so there is a large range of ways to study them. In addition to the regular Faculty of Arts, Humanities or Social Sciences, some larger universities have small separate but affiliated liberal arts colleges either on campus or nearby. These may have their own admissions requirements, or may follow those of the "parent" university.

Community colleges generally have open admission in which students are admitted on a first-come, first-served basis. However, admission to community college diploma and certificate programs in humanities and liberal arts subjects can also be competitive--requiring Grade 12 completion with satisfactory standing in English--and generally follow application procedures similar to university programs. However, you may also want to consider specialty Christian liberal arts colleges, which may have different requirements.

Career colleges do offer some humanities and liberal arts related courses, and their application procedures differ in that some offer continuous enrolment with programs starting every month, while others operate on a more traditional semester system with a fall and/ or winter intake. Many career colleges therefore have no cut-off dates for admission and instead process applications all year round. Others have specific deadlines after which applications are no longer considered. Both community colleges and career colleges with internal scholarships and bursaries may encourage early application in order to qualify for these awards and financial assistance. At this level as well, application consists of an official application form (usually downloaded), a fee, transcripts, and any of the additional requirements mentioned above.

Check out CampusStarter's database of Canadian Humanities and Liberal Arts Schools and Programs