Ontario University Programs not requiring ENG4U for Admission

The vast majority of Ontario universities require ENG4U to be included in your Top Six admissions average if English is your first language.  But, there are 3 general exceptions to this rule:

  1. The program is general enough that it has no stated prerequisites: any six 12U credits will do.  There are [Editor’s note: at the time this post was written] only four programs like this in Ontario, all at Carleton: Music, Humanities, Social Work and Public Affairs and Policy Management.
  2. A 12U English course is required, but it need not be specifically ENG4U. There are [Editor’s note: at the time this post was written] two Ontario Universities that are flexible as to which course can fulfill the 4U English requirement: Wilfred Laurier will accept ENG4U, ETS4U or EWC4 and Ryerson will accept any 12U English course for many (but not all) of its programs.
  3. A handful of mathematics/science/engineering based programs have so many other pre-requisites because of the demands of these programs that ENG4U is not required, although it may be strongly recommended.  These programs are listed below.  Brock, Carleton, Lakehead and Waterloo all have programs like this. [Editor’s note: at the time this post was written]

If a school or program is not listed below, then ENG4U is a requirement, even for its most general humanities program and its most demanding science program. Your best strategy is to take ENG4U to give you access to all other programs.

But, if you don’t have ENG4U, you can still apply to a select few Ontario university programs. You may wish to consider applying to an Open University instead to have a wider selection of programs to choose from.  Then, after a year of study, you can decide whether to stay at the Open University or whether to request to transfer into a bricks-and-mortar Ontario university.

Note: the following information was taken from an Admissions Guidelines and Programs of Study PDF provided by OUInfo for the 2011-2012 academic year. Programs and prerequisites may have changed in subsequent years.  Please consult Ontario Universities Info each year for the current academic information.

Brock University

Biomedical Sciences: MHF4U or MCV4U; SCH4U; two from: SBI4U, SPH4U, SES4U, a second 4U math or ENG4U. Strongly recommended subjects: ENG4U.

Biophysics: MHF4U or MCV4U; SCH4U; two from: SBI4U, SPH4U, SES4U, a second 4U math or ENG4U. Strongly recommended subjects: ENG4U, SPH4U.

Biotechnology: MHF4U or MCV4U; SCH4U; two from: SBI4U, SPH4U, SES4U, a second 4U math or ENG4U. Strongly recommended subjects: ENG4U.

Chemistry: MHF4U or MCV4U; SCH4U; two from: SBI4U, SPH4U, SES4U, a second 4U math or ENG4U. Strongly recommended subjects: ENG4U and a second 4U math.

Earth Sciences: MHF4U or MCV4U; SCH4U; two from: SBI4U, SPH4U, SES4U, a second 4U math or ENG4U. Strongly recommended subjects: ENG4U.

Environmental Geosciences: MHF4U or MCV4U; SCH4U; two from: SBI4U, SPH4U, SES4U, a second 4U math or ENG4U. Strongly recommended subject: ENG4U.

Mathematics: MHF4U and MCV4U. Strongly recommended subject: ENG4U

Neuroscience: MHF4U or MCV4U; SCH4U; two from: SBI4U, SPH4U, SES4U, a second 4U math or ENG4U. Strongly recommended subject: ENG4U

Physical Geography: MHF4U or MCV4U; one from SBI4U, SPH4U,SCH4U, or SES4U. Strongly recommended subject: ENG4U

Physics: MHF4U or MCV4U; SCH4U; two from: SBI4U, SPH4U, SES4U, a second 4U math or ENG4U. Strongly recommended subject: ENG4U.

General Science: SCH4U; MHF4U or MCV4U. Strongly recommended subject: ENG4U

Carleton University

Computer Science: all programs: MHF4U or MCV4U, plus five best 4U/M courses

Engineering: all programs: MHF4U, SCH4U, SPH4U; one of MCV4U, SBI4U or SES4U; plus two best 4U/M courses. MCV4U strongly recommended. ENG4U recommended

Humanities: Best six 4U/M courses (with Biology option: SCH4U, plus best five 4U/M courses)

Industrial Design: MHF4U, SPH4U, plus four best 4U/M courses. MCV4U is strongly recommended

Mathematics: MHF4U and MCV4U, plus four best 4U/M courses.

Biostatistics: MHF4U, MCV4U, SBI4U and SCH4U, plus two best 4U/M courses

Music: Six best 4U/M courses. ENG4U recommended

Public Affairs and Policy Management: Six best 4U/M courses. ENG4U recommended

Science: MHF4U; two of MCV4U, SBI4U, SCH4U, SES4U, or SPH4U; plus three best 4U or 4M courses. MCV4U strongly recommended. For Physics, SPH4U is strongly recommended

Honours in Biochemistry, Bioinformatics, Biology, Biotechnology, Chemistry, Computational Biochemistry, Computational Biology, Food Science and Nutrition, Nanoscience, Neuroscience and Psychology: MHF4U and two of SBI4U, SCH4U, SES4U or SPH4U, plus three best 4U/M courses. MCV4U strongly recommended. (For Combined Honours programs in Chemistry and Computer Science: SCH4U andMCV4U are strongly recommended. For Honours Psychology, ENG4U is recommended.)

Honours in Earth Science, Environmental Science, Geography, Integrated Science and Combined Honours in Biology and Physics,and Chemistry and Physics: MHF4U or MCV4U; two of SBI4U, SCH4U, SES4U, or SPH4U; plus three best 4U/M courses. (For Honours Environmental Science, SBI4U and SCH4U are recommended.)

Honours in Physics, Applied Physics and Combined Honours in Mathematics and Physics: MHF4U and MCV4U; one of SPH4U, SBI4U,SCH4U or SES4U; plus three best 4U/M courses. For all programs in Physics, SPH4U is strongly recommended.

Social Work: Best six 4U/M courses. ENG4U strongly recommended

Lakehead University

Applied Science Common Year (one year upgrading for Faculty of Engineering): Six 4U/M credits; 3U/M math required, Grade 10 Academic or Applied Science is required

Engineering: MHF4U, SPH4U, SCH4U, ENG3U

Ryerson University

All Ryerson programs require a 4U English course, but many programs do not require ENG4U specifically; other English courses may be used instead.

University of Waterloo

Health Studies: SBI4U, SCH4U, plus four additional 4U/M courses. Recommended: MHF4U, ENG4U

Kinesiology: MHF4U, SCH4U, one of SBI4U or SPH4U, plus a minimum of three additional 4U/M courses.

Wilfred Laurier University

Note: all programs require one Grade 12 English course: ENG4U, ETS4U or EWC4

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