Develop human-centred skills at Waterloo. Find out how to persuade and communicate, and harness your imagination and empathy to become a good leader and valued team member. And most importantly, you’ll learn how to learn.
Get motivated and start carving out a meaningful and productive career by leveraging the power of co-op. You’ll test out different industries and types of work, all the while earning money to help pay for your education.
Entry programs
Apply directly to one of these programs on your application. For Honours Arts and Honours Arts and Business, you choose your major at the end of first year.
- Honours Arts (choose one of 28 majors*)
- Honours Arts and Business (choose one of 28 majors*)
- Global Business and Digital Arts
- Social Development Studies
Majors*
In Honours Arts and Honours Arts and Business, 40% of your courses are in your major. You can even do a double major or add a minor!
- Anthropology
- Classical Studies (or Classics)
- Communication Studies (or Communication Arts and Design Practice)
- Economics
- English (choose Creative and Professional Writing; Literature; Literature and Rhetoric; or Rhetoric, Media, and Professional Communication)
- Fine Arts (choose Studio Practice or Visual Culture)
Co-op and careers
In the Faculty of Arts, Honours Arts and Honours Arts and Business have both co-op and non-co-op streams, the direct entry program for Social Development Studies is non-co-op only, and the remainder of the entry programs are co-op-only programs.
Get paid. You’ll grow from up to 20 months of meaningful work and help offset the cost of your education.
Be ready. Your courses help prepare you for that first co-op job by developing core competencies.
Build skills. Gain knowledge with each work term and strengthen your résumé.
Join us on Spotify to get the inside scoop from recent Waterloo Arts grads. Where are they working? How did they get there and what did they learn along the way?
Amy Zhou, '17 is a graduate of the Honours Arts and Business Co-op program with majors in English and Economics.
Dylan Ball, '16 is a graduate of the Honours Arts program. The former Arts Student Union executive majored in Psychology.
Samantha Santos, '13 is a graduate of the Honours Arts and Business Co-op program and majored in Legal Studies.
Discover student life in the Faculty of Arts
From social and academic clubs to learning why Arts students love a cute little boar named Porcellino. This is Arts student life.
Ready to learn more?
Request a brochure
Want to learn more about admissions, programs, student experience, and co-op?
How to apply
Not sure about next steps? We'll walk you through the process of applying.
Connect with us
Have some questions? The Faculty of Arts recruitment team would be happy to help.
From the Missing Manual
Visit our Missing Manual website for tips and advice from Waterloo students and staff. Topics include
How to choose a program in the Faculty of Arts
For those who lean toward subjects in the liberal arts, the best-kept secret about this kind of education is how it shapes you into a truly marketable employee whose skills are in high demand in a variety of industries.
Arts First: the most important course you'll take
"At the beginning of the seminar, our prof spent a whole class asking us to define how communication works. We all had one idea in mind, but were presented with a completely different perspective that no one had really thought about before. It definitely gave me a new outlook that I was able to apply to my other courses."
Let curiosité be your guide
Choosing your university program can feel like a monumental decision. What if you don’t like your major? Or what if you find a new interest along the way? For Nathanial, the former Arts student and President of the Arts Student Union (ASU), the answer is a major reason why he chose to study in the Faculty of Arts.