Degree Proposal Guidelines

Your Vision Statement should clarify the importance of integration in your education, identify two or three areas of study that you intend to integrate into a single program, and show why integration is required to achieve your major educational goals. Students should provide a detailed example to help demonstrate how the proposed program pulls together multiple areas of Science. Students should also include a paragraph justifying the uniqueness of their proposed specialization. 

In summary the following arguments should be included in the vision statement:

WHAT The student should be able to categorize their intended disciplines and explain what they entail. 

HOW The student should be able to show how something original and interesting can be explored by putting these disciplines together. Care should be made to discuss specific and concrete topics of interest to the student. The student's argument should demonstrate that the knowledge gained will be novel and valuable.

WHY It should be made clear how this integration will help prepare the student for their long term academic/career aspirations.

Why NOT Finally, the student should be able to defend their choice to build a custom curriculum rather than enroll in a standard program. Integrated Sciences is not intended to duplicate the offerings of other programs. The argument should consist of more than not wanting to take specific courses.

Your Curriculum Rationale should include short paragraphs discussing each course listed in the discipline requirement. Please explain what each course is about in your own words and how each course relates to the learning objectives presented in the Vision Statement.

Naturally, you can't develop your essays without thinking about the courses you want to take. But you also can't make your course selection without thinking about your vision for your education. So draft both your vision and your course selection simultaneously. 

Please ensure your course list meets specialization requirements. The total at the bottom of the page should be met. See below for an example.

Total ISCI credits: 7 / 7
Total Discipline credits: 33 / 33
Total Upper-level Sci credits (IntSci): 40* / 40
Total Upper-level Sci credits (Faculty): 39 / 30
Total Upper-level credits: 51 / 48

An example of the correct listing of credits for Science, Arts/Other, and Honorary Science:

(SPPH, EPSE, PATH, KIN courses are non science credit courses so should be listed as A/O)

Student submits degree proposal through the portal, indicating s/he agrees to the degree proposal contract. The Mentor receives an e-mail notification that the degree proposal has been submitted. 

After reading the degree proposal the Mentor may then submit it for review or return it to the student.

If the proposal is returned to the student, the student can make revisions and resubmit it (stage 1).

A second Mentor is randomly chosen to review the degree proposal. The reviewer should carefully inspect the degree proposal and add comments. The reviewer's comments will be visible to faculty only; they will not be seen by the student. The reviewer then sends the degree proposal back to the Mentor.

The Mentor should consider the reviewer's comments and decide how to act on them. They may:

• Add comments to address the comments and then sign-off the degree proposal (5);
• Modify the contract to incorporate suggestions, and send it back to the student for confirmation (3a);
• or Add notes instructing the student to make changes and send it back (3a).

After the Mentor signs off on the degree proposal the Integrated Sciences office reviews the degree proposal as well as the Mentor's and reviewer's comments. The following actions may be taken:

• Approve the degree proposal without revision or with minor (commented) corrections. 
• Add comments and send the degree proposal back to the student for revision (3a).

Students should register for courses during the registration period at the time allocated to them by the Faculty of Science. The Integrated Sciences office cannot help students gain entry into full or restricted courses who registered after this time. Students are responsible for ensuring registration in the courses specified in their degree proposal. 

Students may need to connect with department advisors for assistance in registering for courses. Science departments are aware that Integrated Sciences students have required course in their curriculums and will do what they can to assist in registration.

Integrated Sciences advisors cannot register students in courses (other than ISCI courses). 

If you are having trouble registering in a course due to a restriction that you feel you meet please contact the department offering the course . They will be able to help resolve the issue. If they are not able to help, please contact intsci@science.ubc.ca

When constructing your curriculum you should consider the possibility that you won't be able to get into all the courses you want.

Here are some courses that restrict enrolment. You should have a backup plan if you intend to take these courses:

• BIOC 301, 421 restricted to Biochemistry students.
• BIOC 303, 410 students may take these courses with permission of the course instructors and with the required pre-requisites.
• BIOL 341 342 - take ISCI 448 (directed study) instead.
• BIOL 351, 352, 363 - restricted to Biology students.
• CHEM 203 - take CHEM 233, 235 instead.
• CHEM 325 - take CHEM 315 instead (consult Chemistry enrolment coordinator for registration in CHEM 315).
• CPSC 310, 313, 320 (consult with CS department whether space will be available).
• ENVR 300 - limited enrolment.
• EPSE 300/400 level courses - Integrated Sciences students will be able to register in restricted seats on July 11 2023.
• FNH 451, 470, 475 - limited enrolment.
• KIN courses*
• MICB 322, 323 - restricted to Microbiology/Immunology students.
• MICB 406, 407 - Restricted and not available to Integrated Sciences students. Degree proposals will not be approved with these courses included in the course list.
• NSCI 200, 201
• PATH 375, 427, 438, 467 - limited space. Consult instructor for possible admission. PATH 437 is not available to Integrated Sciences students.
• PCTH 301, 303 - students should have >75% academic average in each year. Both courses require a minimum grade average in previous courses, and permission of the course director, Catherine Pang.  If you are interested in enrolling in PCTH 301 and/or PCTH 303, please email Dr. Pang at ccypang@mail.ubc.ca, or Dr. Horne at andrew.horne@ubc.ca
• PCTH 400 - Students scoring at least 75% in PCTH 301 and PCTH 303 may be permitted to take PCTH 400.
• PSYC 260, 360, 370, 371 - consult instructor for possible admission or take PSYC 304 instead. (But be aware that PSYC 304 is not recognized as a science course by the Faculty of Science.) Please consult Science Credit exclusion list.
• Various lab courses - lab courses have been particularly difficult for IS students to register in, as a substitution we recommend a Directed Studies course.

It may happen that you are unable to register for one of the courses in your contract. (For example, an upper-level Chemistry lab.) If this happens you should first check the list above for specific instructions. If the course is not listed above, contact the course instructor or the advisor for the department offering the course. Explain your situation and provide them with contact information for your Integrated Sciences mentor. You will need to justify why you should be admitted to the course.

If you still aren't admitted contact your Integrated Sciences mentor promptly. You may need to revise your contract and take another course.

A possible back-up for restricted courses

Consider creating your own student directed seminar (ISCI 490) on a Science topic of your choosing. ISCI 490 will not count towards specialization requirements, the course will count as upper-level science credit. Visit the Student Services website to learn more.

Many upper-level KIN courses have restricted enrolment. We cannot guarantee enrolment in any KIN course. A prioritized list for KIN registration is created during the first week of June and is sent to the School of Kinesiology. Students may not make changes regarding requests for KIN courses after this time. The Integrated Sciences office is likewise unable to provide updates on the status of student registration in KIN courses once the list has been sent to the School of Kinesiology.

Meeting some/all of the following requirements will improve the chances of getting into a KIN course:

• Have an approved Integrated Sciences contract (degree proposal must be approved before June)
• Have a competitive GPA in the Winter session prior to the KIN course request
• The KIN course be approved as part of a student's discipline requirement
• Students in their final year will receive priority

Students must have a backup plan for each KIN course included in the degree proposal.

Students can count Science credit courses taken at other universities during their exchange towards their discipline requirements. However, please note that the credit assessment and transfer process back to UBC can take some time.

To find courses from partner universities, use the Course Search Tool. We recommend searching by institution to see how courses from that university have transferred to UBC in the past.

If you cannot find a recently evaluated course, try to determine its UBC equivalent to the best of your ability.

Formal evaluation of courses occurs once you are already on exchange and have submitted your course package through the Transfer Credit Portal. Credit evaluation is handled by Science Advising. Please note that neither Integrated Sciences nor Science Advising can pre-evaluate courses before the package submission.

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