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1. Know yourself

a)  Keep your personal interests in mind when choosing

Always focus on what you find most interesting and stimulating. A good start is to ask yourself a short but telling question: "Who am I?"

The Web is teeming with sites where you can explore your personal interests and match them with any number of careers. In fact, Career Services at the University of Ottawa maintains exhaustive list of these sites.

b)  Consider your skills when choosing a program

Over time, we all acquire special skills in certain areas. Some of us have a knack for math, others for writing. Programs at the Faculty of Social Sciences allow you to put these skills to good use and, of course, to both fine-tune them and even acquire others along the way.

To learn more about competencies linked to employability, explore this extensive list of links posted on this Web page at Career Services.

c)  Online tools to help you pick a program of studies

To ease your way through your information-gathering and admissions process, the Faculty of Social Sciences has designed a Web-based tool that you can use to determine which program best suits your interests and skills.

Remember, however, that the results you get with the tool aren't cast in stone. Consider them more as a good summary of the option or options open to you. To access the tool click here.

Career Services also boasts a selection of online tools to help you pick out a program

d)  Other resources to make your selection easier

Have you consulted your school's guidance counsellor or your career-options teacher? These specialists may be able to propose useful tools for making your choice.

Have you chatted about your ideas and options with your friends, family and acquaintances? They're often a good source insightful tips, and they can help you explore your strengths and interests.

If you're already at the U of O, consider meeting with our Counselling Services and Career Services professionals for advice and guidance.

2. Get to know the disciplines, the programs and their career opportunities

Once you identify your interests and skills, take time to acquaint yourself with each of the programs offered and the careers they can lead to. To get you started, here's our list of programs.

3. Get to know the academic paths required

First, you have to choose a discipline, and that choice again has to reflect your personal interests.

Only after first year do you have to choose your program structure. So for now, don't dwell on whether to select a major, an honours with specialization or any other course of studies. However, if you're from the province of Quebec, you can have as many as 30 credits granted for advanced standing, which might then require you to choose your course of studies or program structure during the admissions process.

All Faculty of Social Sciences students complete either an honours bachelor's degree or an honours bachelor's with specialization. Below are the program and option combinations for the two degrees:

Honours with specialization

* Note that you have to complete six compulsory first-language credits (ENG1100 and ENG1121)

Remember that certain programs run strictly under the honours format, so you can't select them as minors or majors. The programs in question are:

As for our other disciplines, your degree will reflect the actual choices you make.

4. All about the admissions process

Learn more about the admission process, the prerequisites and the forms that you should complete.

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