Health Sciences (BSc)

Combine your interest in sciences and health and learn scientific investigative techniques to identify and address complex health challenges to improve human health and well-being. Through our unique cell-to-society approach to learning, you gain the ability to understand how social experiences and conditions affect our biology.   
 
This degree is designed primarily to prepare you for postgraduate opportunities in health-related fields, such as medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, physiotherapy, molecular medical sciences and community, population and public health.

Program Details

Degree Highlights

Your future professors work hard to make sure your academic experience is current, complete and designed to open doors in your career. Here are a few things you can count on:

  • Career-Ready Curriculum: With support from leading researchers, you gain the chance to develop important skills that help enhance your employability.
  • Get Ready for Grad School: Complete all necessary prerequisites for health-related professional schools, including medicine, dentistry, and public health.
  • Personalized Learning: Our extensive curriculum aims to help you develop the skills required to pursue a career in health. Close contact with professors in their labs ensure that your learning is more personalized. 

Top Experiences

Here are just a few of our students’ favourite ways to apply their learning in the real world throughout their degree (check out the Experience Guide for even more!): 

  • Co-op: You can apply to co-op at the end of your first year, and complete 12-16 week placements throughout your degree.
  • Research Opportunities: Participate in summer research opportunities in hospitals (e.g., Grand River, Sunnybrook, SickKids). Get involved with the Health Sciences Students’ Association (HSSA), a student-run association committed to advocating for the Health Sciences and Laurier communities. Be hired as an Instructional or Research Assistant in Health Sciences or other Faculty of Science departments.
  • Extensive Lab Time: Deepen your understanding of molecular medical sciences and public health with hands-on lab and research opportunities.

Courses, Options and Pathways

First-Year Core Courses

  • Health Issues I
  • Health Issues II
  • Unifying Life Processes
  • Biological Diversity and Evolution
  • Fundamentals of Chemistry I
  • Fundamentals of Chemistry II
  • Introduction to Psychology I
  • Introduction to Psychology II
  • Introductory Calculus for the Natural Sciences
  • 0.5 elective credit

Sample First-Year Electives

  • Reading Fiction
  • Calculus I for the Natural Sciences
  • Mechanics for the Life Sciences
  • Thermodynamics and Waves for the Life Sciences   

Sample Upper-Year Courses

  • Research Methods for the Health Sciences
  • Foundations of the Canadian Healthcare System
  • Epidemiology
  • Social Determinants of Health
  • Introduction to Immunology 
  • COVID-19: From Cell to Society

Check out all course offerings.

Options and Minors

These are a few of the many popular academic opportunities which allow you to dive deeper into your major area of study or broaden your knowledge:

  • Biology Minor
  • Chemistry Minor
  • Psychology Minor

Check out other options to enhance your degree.

Management Option

The Management Option is for students interested in adding management-specific education to their degree. This is a direct-entry, 4.0-credit option that includes courses covering all the core pillars of business and economics. Apply directly to Health Sciences (BSc) with Management Option on OUAC.

Medical School Pathways

We prepare you for a clinical career in Canada. Laurier students apply to med school with a competitive edge and gain preferential status with internationally accredited medical schools, including the American University of the Caribbean and St. George’s University.

 

Admissions

  • Format: full time
  • Duration: four years
  • Start: September (fall term) or January (winter term)
  • OUAC code: USH; UMT (HS BSc with Management Option)

Your Career Awaits

It’s not only about the journey; it’s about the destination. Let us help you get to where you’re going.

Here are just some examples of our graduates' destinations. What’s yours?

Sample Career Options

Note: Additional training and education may be required:

  • dentist
  • epidemiologist
  • health-care administrator
  • medical doctor
  • pharmacist
  • physiotherapist
  • clinical partnerships director
  • nuclear medicine technologist
  • public policy analyst
  • radiation therapist

Explore more careers.

Support After Graduation

Alumni for life means that you have access to Career and Employment Support offered at Laurier for your entire career.

Your Co-op Experience

Co-op is a way to integrate what you are learning in the classroom with practical experience in your field of study. Build your resume, earn money, develop your network, and graduate with work experience.

You can apply for admission to co-op in your first year and may be eligible for an admission interview early in your second year. As a student in this program, you will be eligible to complete paid work terms lasting 12 to 16 weeks.

Interested? Learn more about co-op.

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98%employment rate for co‑op students – 2023 / 2024

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Tuition and Scholarships

Getting a university education is an investment in your future.

At Laurier, we take financial health seriously by providing a wide variety of funding opportunities for you throughout your degree, such as scholarships and bursaries, and by equipping you with the skills to manage your finances effectively in the years to come.

 

Laurier is among the top 6 percent in the Global 2000 World University Ranking

 

Laurier students engaged in hands-on learning in 2023

 

Laurier graduates employed or in post-graduate studies in 2023

Waterloo Campus

The Waterloo campus is tucked into about one city block, so you’re steps away from your classes, food and your new favourite study spot.

There are many ways to tour our Waterloo campus, whether that's on a guided tour with one of our Laurier student ambassadors, on your own using virtual reality, or even on-demand through one of our pre-recorded tours. See our campus spaces and start to picture yourself at Laurier.

Chat with Current Students

Want to know what it’s really like to be in this program? U Community is our Discord server where future Golden Hawks like you can connect with current students to get their first-hand stories and tips on living and learning at Laurier.

Connect with Us

Questions? Email chooselaurier@wlu.ca, call 548.889.8888 or see all contact information.


You Belong Here

Think this program might be the perfect fit for you and your future?