Electives
You must follow your academic ADVISEMENT REPORT to obtain the necessary credits to graduate. Refer to that document (found in your Mosaic Student Centre under Academics) for a listing of all electives you are able to take for credit towards your degree. Each students’ Advisement Report is unique, so please read it carefully, and ensure that you are fulfilling the requirements for your own degree. If you have any concerns, please contact the ECE Advisor in the Engineering Student Services office, Sally Williams (willsal@mcmaster.ca).
Elective courses often become full. As they are not required courses, we cannot add any more seats to them. If there is a particular elective that you want, but it’s full, keep an eye on it until the last day to make changes to your enrollment because someone may drop the course, enabling you to get the seat. Always be prepared to enroll (obtaining any necessary permissions, overloads and conflicts ahead of time).
Electives should fit into your timetable without conflict, so if one elective creates a conflict then choose another! Trying to manage courses with conflicting schedules may mean poor performance in both courses, as well as possible conflicts with midterm and final examinations. Please be advised that even if a Conflict is approved by the instructors, it is YOUR responsibility to keep up with the class (authorization does not mean special accommodation will be provided).
As with ALL courses, you must have the prerequisites to take these courses. Permission is sometimes required to take a course, particularly if the course is offered in a department other than your own. If you do not have the prerequisite for an Elective, you can request Permission to take the course from the department that offers the course. Please note that Permission requests are NOT guaranteed – the department that offers the course will decide whether you will be permitted to take the course or not. Because of this and the popularity of Elective courses, plan to take another course in case your request is denied. For courses offered by departments other than ECE, refer to that departments’ website for their forms and processes.
For the “ECE Technical Electives”, NO additions or substitutions can be made. The Associate Chair of the ECE Department will consider suggestions, however they cannot be implemented until the following year.
For the “Complementary Studies Electives”, additional courses can be suggested to the ECE Advisor in the Engineering Student Services office (the ECE Department cannot authorize these credits).
Level 4: The individual Research Project Courses are considered “ECE Technical Electives”.
ECE Technical Electives
“ECE Technical Elective” refers to courses on the Approved List for each program.
“ECE Directed Technical Elective” refers to the courses which are listed for your program in the Undergraduate Calendar (of the year you started your program).
NO additions or substitutions can be made. The Associate Chair of the ECE Department will consider suggestions, however they cannot be implemented until the following year.
Faculty of Engineering Technical Electives
“Faculty of Engineering Technical Elective” refers to one of the 3, 4 or 5 unit courses at Level 3 or 4 on the appropriate list of acceptable courses from other departments within the Faculty of Engineering. These Electives are intended to broaden the breadth of knowledge of ECE undergraduates, giving them perspectives into other engineering disciplines.
Complementary Electives
“Complementary Studies Elective” refers to courses taken outside of the Faculty of Engineering.
Additional courses can be suggested to the ECE Advisor in the Engineering Student Services office (the ECE Department cannot authorize these credits).
The general Engineering Complimentary Electives can be found through the link below, under the tab “Academic Forms and Procedures”. Please watch for the list to be updated annually.
“Commerce Elective” is only for students in a Management program (either Comp Eng & Mgmt or Elec Eng & Mgmt).
“Focus Elective” is only for students in a Society program (either Comp Eng & Society or Elec Eng & Society). These electives are self-designed by each student from courses outside of the Faculty of Engineering, to obtain skills and knowledge in an area of significant personal interest to each individual student. Further details of these electives can be obtained through the Engineering & Society program website.
Program Layouts
Information Box Group
Program Layouts summarize what courses are to be taken for credit towards each individual program.
These Program Layouts are guidelines only – for the exact courses required for your degree, check your Academic Advisement Report (on your Mosaic Student Centre) and the Undergrad Calendar of the year you began your program.