Queen's University at Kingston - Faculty of Arts and Science

Queen’s University at Kingston, usually referred to as Queen's or Queen's University, was founded in 1841 and is one of the top-ranked public research universities in Canada. It has almost 23,000 students studying across a range of schools and faculties including Arts and Science, Education, Engineering and Applied Science, Health Sciences, Law and Business. It was one of the first universities in Canada to admit women.

Academic Highlights

Queen’s is well known for the excellence of its medical and scientific research in areas such as particle astrophysics, cancer research and clean energy technology. It research strengths are also in computational science, engineering, globalisation studies, mental health, clinical biomedical sciences.

Location

Queen’s University is located on a beautiful waterfront campus in Kingston, Ontario about 200km from Ottawa and halfway between Toronto and Montréal. It’s a mid-sized, pedestrian-friendly campus that has six libraries, and several museums and arts centres.

Did you know?

Ontario has more than 250,000 lakes that contain one-third of the planet’s fresh water.

Handbook/Catalogue

Information about the units (referred to as courses) available here (found under the 'Courses of Instruction' heading, and clicking the 'Courses of Instruction document' link).

When selecting courses, students are encouraged to explore all options in the Social Sciences, Creative Arts, Languages, Natural and Physical Sciences, and the Humanities. Students may have the option to take courses from another faculty, the majority of courses, however, must be in the Faculty of Arts and Science. Students are not permitted to enrol in courses offered by the Faculty of Law.

Note that language and culture areas of study are usually offered as minor studies and therefore have less available units, sometimes only one or two.

Six credit courses which are taught in the Fall and Winter terms and three credit courses also offered within the Fall or Winter terms.

Full-time Credit Load Equivalents

Academic Calendar

Queen’s ‘Winter’ semester (Monash Semester 1): early-January to early-May
Queen’s ‘Fall’ semester (Monash Semester 2): September to mid-December

See Queen's academic calendar here.

Note

• The listed disciplines are not necessarily exhaustive and other fields of study might also be available at the institution.
• Approval to study particular subjects at any institution is always at the discretion of the departmental/discipline and faculty advisers in your managing faculty(ies) and subject to available places at the host.

Important notes

This program is only for Arts, Information Technology and Science students. Students wanting to study Business should apply here and students wanting Engineering should apply here.

This program is not currently accepting applications.

Emily Baulch
Bachelor of Arts
Semester 1, 2017
Studied: Arts units

Study Experience

I had a chance to study both Canadian literature and history while I was there. It was great to study things from a new perspective!

Culture

Queen's is a university town, which means it has this amazing student area around the university where there are all sorts of fun things going on (like the pop-up student bands in backyards). It also means there are hundreds of student clubs to join and such an enthusiastic student culture which supports all the clubs. People attend friends' games and concerts, and don't be surprised when friends and classmates of housemates turn up unannounced! It's such a great way to meet new people.

Benefits of going on exchange

Studying in another culture means that different things are expected from you. Different grammar, different essay styles, different emphasis on what’s important. It challenged me to change my essay writing style and truly focus on what I wanted to say without any flair.

Career Benefits

Life experience and intercultural communication are always a benefit, but Canada challenged me to ask questions, get help and truly engage in what was around me for the limited time it was available. These are skills I'm already employing in the workplace.

Money and Budgeting

Queen's have a fantastic second hand book program through the campus bookstore, but also check out online groups - they exist for almost everyone. Also, if you're going in Canadian winter, sublet and don't be afraid to negotiate the price. A lot of Queen's students are going on exchange too, and really want to sublet their rooms.

Top tips

• Almost everyone sublet's in the "university district" area. You should too, but don't feel like you have to sign anything until you're there and ask lots of questions.
• Join the clubs. Queen's students are involved in a lot of things and you should be too! NEWTs and the QUIC are particularly good to be involved in as an exchange student.
• Make an exchange friend! Seriously, you're going to need to share the experience while you're there.
• Prepare for everything to go wrong so you're ready for it. I didn't think I was going homesick - I was. In my second week of classes, I was really, really ill. I wish I'd been more prepared and for instance, have made a list of all the emergency contacts and put it somewhere obvious. Luckily, I'd already sorted my health insurance with the university (so do that!).