BA/BS in Political Science at University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Canada is a bachelor's degree in Politics & International Relations programme. Tuition for international students is CAD 27,010 per semester (CAD 3,125 per semester for local students).
At a glance
Degree:Bachelor's Degree
Field:Politics & International Relations
Local tuition: CAD 3,125 / semester
International tuition: CAD 27,010 / semester
Information for the 2027/28 academic year · Last reviewed September 2026 ·
Program details
Overview
The Political Science program at the University of Waterloo leads to a Bachelor of Arts and covers subjects such as international security, local government, public policy, Canadian constitutional law, political theory, and the politics of countries including the United States and China. The degree draws on a wide range of Political Science courses alongside electives from other subject areas, and can be completed as a standard Honours Arts program or combined as Honours Arts and Business, in either case with or without co-op. In the co-op stream, students alternate academic and paid work terms from second year onward. An International Relations specialization is available within the program, and students often pair it with minors in subjects such as Economics, History, International Trade, Legal Studies, or Sociology. Instruction is delivered through the Faculty of Arts on Waterloo's main campus. The program suits students interested in how political systems, institutions, and international relations operate and who want an analytical, writing-intensive social science degree. Career paths connected to the program include policy and risk analysis, public service, research roles, and public relations or communications work within government, financial institutions, nonprofit organizations, and law firms, as well as further study in law or graduate political science.
Requirements
Admission Requirements: There is no direct-entry admission to Political Science: Ontario applicants apply to Honours Arts or Honours Arts and Business through OUAC and choose Political Science as their major at the end of first year, presenting six Grade 12 U/M courses including any Grade 12 U English (minimum final grade of 70%). Admission to Honours Arts is competitive, with recent admission averages in the high 70s. Applicants studying outside Ontario follow the University's general admission requirements for Honours Arts or Honours Arts and Business, presenting an equivalent senior secondary qualification. Applicants whose four most recent years of full-time education were not completed in Canada or at English-language schools must submit an accepted English test: IELTS 6.5 overall (6.5 writing and speaking, 6.0 reading and listening), TOEFL iBT 90 overall with 25 in writing and speaking for tests completed before 21 January 2026 (4.5 overall with 5 in writing and speaking for tests on or after that date), PTE Academic 63 (65 writing and speaking), Duolingo 120 (125 Literacy and Production), or Cambridge C1/C2 180 (176 per skill).
Application Details
Start Date:September
Application Deadline:Waterloo admits first-year students for September entry only, through the OUAC, with identical deadlines for domestic and international applicants. For Fall 2027, most programmes must be applied to by 1 February 2027 with documents due 15 February 2027; Engineering programmes (excluding Architecture) close earlier, on 15 January 2027, with documents due 1 February 2027, and require an online interview. Waterloo states a deadline may be extended if a programme is not yet full, but publishes no separate rolling-admission date and no explicit application-opening date. Pharmacy is a named exception with its own earlier deadline; Social Work and the Conditional Admission to Pharmacy stream are directed to programme-specific timelines outside this page. These are institution-wide dates; this programme publishes no deadline of its own.
