General Information and Eligibility

A Letter of Permission is a document that allows you to take one or more courses at another university as a visiting student and transfer the credit(s) towards your degree at UWO.  Letters of Permission must be approved by the Social Science Academic Counselling Office before you register at the other university. If you take a course without requesting a Letter of Permission, you may have to apply for re-admission to this University.

A.  Eligibility
1. You must be in good academic standing at U.W.O.  Students on probation are not eligible.
2. You must have completed at least 4.0 courses at U.W.O. with an average of at least 60%.  If you are in first year, you will be asked to verify your term marks.
3. Special Students and students completing second degrees are not eligible.

B.  Number of courses permitted
The number of courses permitted will depend directly on your overall average and the number of courses required to complete degree and program requirements. This Faculty's policy is: Average of 60%-64%, 2.0 courses; 65%-69%, 3.0; 70% or above, 4.0 or 5.0. You may be given permission to take a maximum of 5.0 courses during your university career.

C.  Specific course information
Option courses can normally be approved by the Social Science Academic Counselling Office. The following will NOT be approved:
        a) courses intended to fulfill the designated essay requirements,
        b) science courses considered below the 1000 level (eg. Calculus 0110A/B)

Departments prefer that module courses be taken at Western but some permissions are granted. N.B. The Sociology Department requires that module courses be taken at Western. The Economics Department requires that the course prerequisites be the same.

D. Distance Courses at Athabasca
Distance courses at Athabasca have flexible start and finish dates that don't necessarily match the normal sessions at Western.  If you are taking the Athabasca course as a prerequisite or program requirement, you must schedule the course so that your transcript will be available for review at the appropriate time.  Otherwise, your access to related Western courses or programs may be denied or delayed. 

E.  Residence regulations for graduation
You must complete certain courses at Western. You must complete at least 5.0 senior courses in a 3 year program or 10.0 courses in a 4 year program, 2.0 designated essay courses, and most of your module courses.  (See the Academic Calendar for full details.) 

F.  OSAP
For Winter Sessions in particular, we recommend that you consult Financial Services (Room 1100 Western Student Services, UWO, London ON N6A 3K7) to see whether you have to apply for OSAP through the host institution.


Procedure to obtain a Letter of Permission

Important information about your Letter of Permission

A. Revised Letters of Permission
Your Letter of Permission is valid only for the session indicated and for the number of courses and the specific courses approved. If you register for different courses, contact the Academic Counselling Office immediately by mail or fax to request a revised L of P.  There is no charge for revising courses or a L of P. However, you need a new L or P to attend a different session. Students attending other schools without a valid L of P normally have to apply for readmission to Western and there is no guarantee of transfer credit.

B. Notice of cancellation or withdrawal
a. Before classes begin: If you decide not to attend the university, you must call (519-661-2011) or fax (519-661-3384) the Academic Counselling Office to cancel your L of P.
b. After classes begin: If you decide to drop the course or the course gets cancelled, you must submit to our Registrar's Office written confirmation from the host university indicating that you didn't register or that you withdrew on a specific date.

If you withdraw without penalty, the course(s) will normally be shown as "WDN" on your U.W.O. academic record. Late withdrawals (including WF at Athabasca) will be recorded as failures on your U.W.O. transcript and will be included in your average. The Letter of Permission fee is not refundable.
You must provide notice or a failing grade will be recorded.

C. Send a transcript of your results to Western
It is your responsibility to have the host university forward an official transcript of your grades to our Registrar's Office.  Place your order as soon as you are registered so that you don't forget. If a transcript is not received at U.W.O., the course(s) will be recorded as a failure on your academic record. This could affect your eligibility for further registration here or delay your graduation. 

D. Transfer of credit(s) and grades
An approved course will be credited toward your degree.  The grade will be recorded as a numeric value and converted using the OMSAS (Ontario Medical Schools Application content) conversion table or other conversion scale used by Western.  Grades will be included in your average.  Failures including late withdrawals will also be recorded and included in your average.

Course credit will be granted equal in value to the course weight assigned by the host institution.  For the purpose of future registration, course content covered on a transfer of credit basis may serve as either pre-or antirequisite, as determined by the Dean of the Faculty in which the student is registered.

N.B. If you wish to appeal a grade, contact the host university directly.

The policy on determining eligibility for Dean's Honor List and "With Distinction" is outlined in the Academic Calendar.

 

E. Graduation
If you have a L of P to take the final course of your program and you want to graduate, you must apply for graduation on the web (www.registrar.uwo.ca) at the appropriate time and ensure that the Registrar's Office receives your official transcript by the deadline.  Otherwise, you must reapply to graduate at the next convocation.  Normally, students attending in the winter will not graduate until the Fall Convocation.  Spring (June) Convocation,  apply between Dec 1 - Mar. 1 (transcript deadline - May 15).  Fall (Oct) Convocation, apply July 1 - Sept. 1 (transcript deadline - Oct. 1).

 

 

Tips about other universities

 

When researching course(s) at the host university, please read their calendar carefully and make note of full and half course weights.  Both official calendars and university websites are valuable resources when researching course availability. We recommend you make more than one course selection, as course availability may be limited for visiting students.

 

To assist you with your research, we have collected and reproduced some information from other Canadian universities that are frequently selected for study on a Letter of Permission.  This list is not inclusive, and we encourage you to research your selections independently. For more information about a university click on the name.

Course Values and Hours
Each course offered for credit has a unit value. A full-year course with three lecture hours per week through the full Winter Session from September to April normally has a value of 3 units. A half-year course with three lecture hours per week from September to December or from January to April normally has a value of 1.5 units. A 3-unit course (3 hours of lectures per week throughout the Winter Session) approximates a 6 semester-hour or a 9 quarter-hour course. A course of 1.5 units approximates a 3 semester-hour or a 4.5 quarter-hour course.

Athabasca University:
  • Distance Courses at Athabasca
    Distance courses at Athabasca have flexible start and finish dates that don't necessarily match the normal sessions at Western.  If you are taking the Athabasca course as a prerequisite or program requirement, you must schedule the course so that your transcript will be available for review at the appropriate time.  Otherwise, your access to related Western courses or programs may be denied or delayed. For example, if your eligibility for MOS depends on summer grades, your transcript must be available in time for review before September.
  • If you extend the completion date for the course, you must include the course as part of the normal workload for the next session unless you have permission for an overload. 
  • The credit weights are in brackets after the course title or under "credit weight" in the course description.
    • 3 credit weight = .5 course
    • 6 credit weight = 1.0 course
  • Courses are listed with four letters and 3 numbers. The courses are numbered as follows: 
    • 100 series- preparatory courses
    • 200 series- first year courses
    • 300-499 series-senior courses
    • 500-699 series-graduate courses
  • Courses that take on a "challenge for credit" basis are NOT transferable.

Note: WITHDRAWAL deadlines: WF is considered equivalent to a late withdrawal (failing grade) at Western.
University of British Columbia: 
  • 100-199 first-year courses 
    200-299 second year courses
    300-399 third year courses
    400-499 fourth year courses
    500+ only available to undergraduate students by permission of the departments concerned.
  • Credit: Shown in parentheses following a course number. In general one credit represents one hour of instruction or two to three hours of laboratory work per week throughout one term of a Winter session (September-December or January to May). A credit is approximately one semester hour. 
    • (3) credit = 0.5 course
      (6) credit = 1.0 course
  • Courses are listed with a four letter alpha and three digit number, eg.: ANTH 100.
Brock University:
  • Courses are identified with four letters, two numbers and a letter to indicate credit weight, eg.: CHYS 4 P 31. The first number indicates the year level, the P indicates 0.5 credit and the 31 represents the course number. Courses numbered 2 (alpha) 90 – 2 (alpha) 99 may be used as either second year or third year courses. Courses numbered 3 (alpha) 90- 4(apha) 99 may be used as either a third year or fourth year level credit.

    • Letter notations: 

      • E=Exchange (1.0 credit)
      F=1.0 credit
      G=1.0 credit
      M=1.0 credit
      N=0.0 credit
      P=0.5 credit
      Q=0.5 credit
      R=0.5 credit
      V=0.5 credit (variable topics)
      X=0.5 credit (exchange)
      Y=0.25 credit
Carleton University:
  • (*) courses represent 0.5 credit courses. Those without an asterisk represent a 1.0 credit course. Courses are numbered by department followed by a (.) a course number, eg.: 27.111 = Mass Communications first year course. The first digit following the (.) represents the year level. 

 
University of Calgary:
  • The course number indicates both the level of the course and the weight of the course. Courses are listed with the name, number and credit weight in parentheses., eg.: Medical Sciences 609 (H3-2T). First year courses are 200 level, Senior courses 300-400 level and Upper Level undergraduate courses are numbered in the 500 series. Courses ending in an even number represent a full course (1.0) offered for 26 weeks. Odd numbered courses represent (0.5) course offered for 13 weeks. 
  • The notation F(3-3) would be a F course equivalent of 3 hours of lectures and 3 hours of labs each week for two sessions.
  • F(3-1s-3) represents a full course equivalent of 3 hours of lectures, 1 seminar hour and 3 hours of lab each week for 2 sessions.
  • Q(3-0) represents a quarter course (.25) equivalent of 3 hours of lectures each week for a half session (one semester). 
  • H(3-3/2) represents a half course (0.5) equivalent of 3 hours of lecture and 3 hours of lab every other week for one session. 
Dalhousie University: 
  • Class codes: 
    • 1000 series- introductory level courses
    • 2000-4000 series- advanced level courses
    • 5000-9000 series- graduate level courses
  • Credit weight: 
    • 0.06 = 1.0 course
    • 0.03 = 0.5 course
    • 0.0 = no credit
  • Subject code: Four letter code used to describe department followed by number code. eg.: COMM 3406.03 = advanced 0.5 course in commerce.
Concordia University:
  • Regular academic session: 
    • Fall Term: September-December 
    • Winter Term: January- April 
      • Each term is 15 weeks long
  • Credit weight: 
    • (6) = 1.0 course
    • (3) = 0.5 course
University of Guelph:
  • Each course is identified by a two part code. The first represents subject area and the second the level and course number. eg.: PSYC 3570 is a third year level course in psychology. 
    • 1000 = first year level courses
    • 2000 = second year level
    • 3000 = third year level
    • 4000 = fourth year level of honors program
  • Letters S, F, W indicate whether the course is taught in Spring, Fall or Winter. The credit weight is found in a bracket accompanying the course code. The lecture and lab content is also represented in a bracket. (3-2) (0.5) represents a course with three lecture hours and 2 lab hours and is a half credit. 
Lakehead University:
  • The course numbers indicate the year level and the course number, eg.: Psychology 2301 (3-0); (3-0 ) represents a full course that is taught over two semesters and contains 3 lecture hours and no lab hours. 
    • The first digit of the course code indicates the year level. 
      • 0 = course has no year level
        1 = first year courses
        2 = second year
        3 = third year
        4 = fourth year
        5 = masters
    • The third digit indicates the course weight. 
      • Odd numbers 1-9 indicate a half credit course 
      • Even numbers 0-8 indicate a full course
    • The letters F, W and Y indicate the session the course is taught in. 
      • F = Fall (September-December)
      • W = Winter (January-April)
      • Y = All year (September-April)
Laurentian University:
  • The first four letters of the course code indicate the department, school or subject.
  • The four numbers indicate the course number.
  • The letter E accompanying the course code indicates that the course is taught in English.
  • The last digit of the number indicates the weight of the course. 
    • Last digit 5 = 1.0
    • Last digit 0 = 1.0 
    • Last digit 6 or 7 = 0.5
    • Last digit 1 or 2 = 0.5
    • Last digit 8 = less than half (1 credit weight)
  • Credit weight of (6) indicates a full course (1.0) and a (3) indicates a half course (0.5). 
    • Course numbering: 
      1000-1999 first year level
      2000-2999 second year level
      3000-3999 third year level
      4000-4999 fourth year level
      5000-5999 fifth year level
McGill University:
  • Normal course load is 15 credits per term. 
  • Each course represents (3) credit weight = (0.5) credit. Credit weight appears in parentheses after the title of the course.
    • Course numbering:
      200 = first year level
      300 = senior level (honors)
      400 = senior level (honors)
      500 = senior
McMaster University:
  • *Students wishing to take courses on a Letter of Permission must apply through the OUAC, and send the Letter of Permission form to McMaster. Subsequent requests for a Letter of Permission do not require an application. 
  • Course numbering:
    • Courses are identified with subject name, a year level, letter and credit weight. eg.: GEO 
      2P03. The first digit indicates the year level of the course. The letter(s) in the middle 
      identifies the specific courses within the level and the final digit(s) defines the number of 
      units of credit associated with the course (6=1.0, 3 =0.5)
Nipissing University:
  • Courses are identified with  four letters and four numbers, eg.: PSYC 1105 The last digit indicates whether the course is a full credit or a half credit course.
    • Course numbering:
      1000-1999 first year level
      2000-3999 second year level
      4000-4999 fourth year
    • Credit weight:
      Last digit 5 = 1.0 credit
      Last digit 0 = 1.0 credit
      6 or 7 = 0.5 credit
      1 or 2 = 0.5 credit
      8 or 9 = 0.5 credit
Queen's University:
  • Course numbering:
    001-009 are pre-university level but may be taken for credit as an elective
    100-199 first year level
    200-299 second year level
    300-399 third year level
    400-499 are normally taken as senior courses in the fourth year of an honors  program.
    500-590 are reading or undergraduate thesis courses.
University of Toronto:
  • The courses are identifies with three or four letters, two numbers and session level and  weight, eg.: ANTA 01 Y3 or HIS 64H3. 
    • The 4th character of the course code indicates the level of the course with A  indicating most elementary and D most advanced.
    • The 5th and 6th characters of the course code are course numbers.
    • The 7th character indicates the credit weight.
    • Typically Y courses represent full (1.0) courses and H represents half courses (0.5)
    • The (3) at the end of the course number indicates whether the course is offered at the  Scarborough campus. 
  • Summer sessions: 
    • Y- May to August
    • F- May to June
    • S- July to August
  • Fall/Winter sessions: 
    • Y- September to May
    • F- September to December
    • S- January to May
  • Detailed information for visiting students is on their web site www.wdw.utoronto.ca/index.php/programs/visiting_students/overview/

Requests to be a visiting student, must be submitted in early April to meet U of T's deadline, therefore any requests must be submitted to the Academic Counselling Office well in advance of this deadline. Preferably 3-4 weeks before U of T's deadline.
Wilfrid Laurier University:

  • Quarter course - (o) beside the course number

  • Half course - no symbol beside the course number

  • Full course - (*) beside the course number

  • The course weights are also clearly noted in the course description.

  • The subject name is represented as a two or three letter code plus a 3 digit number (eg., An101 is an introductory half course called Sociocultural Anthropology).

  • First year courses are in the 100 series.