Academic language can be tough to decipher. When you enter into Tyndale University, a lot of new words and phrases will get thrown around. To help clarify some of the common terms you'll hear, we have outlined below some key words and phrases you will need to know.
A major is the primary area of study for your degree. Generally, before you start school, you 'declare a major,' which means you have stated that this area of study is what interests you most. For example if you declare History as your major, this means you will spend the majority of your time taking History related courses. To get a visual representation of this, take a look at the program requirements on the Office of the Registrar's website. There you will see your program broken down into areas of study, including Major Requirements.
An Honours Degree at the Undergraduate Studies is when you declare your intention to pursue the Honours version of your major. This type of degree has additional specific major requirements, such as a GPA requirement and additional course requirements within the major. See your major sheet for more details.
It is also possible to change your major. To do so, contact the Office of the Registrar and fill out a Change of Program form. However, the further you are into your studies, the more difficult it is to change your program without having to extend the duration of your studies.
Minors in Undergraduate Studies and Concentrationsin Seminary & Graduate Studies act in much the same way. They are declared by the student as an alternate area of study within your degree. They have their own requirements, but it requires less credit hours than a major. Typically, students will use their general elective slots to fulfill these requirements. To see how many elective slots you have, refer to your Program Requirements sheet. Your Admissions Counselor would have provided you with one, but you can also request a new copy from the Office of the Registrar.
Minors and concentrations can augment or compliment your major, but they can also be completely independent from your major. For example, you could major in Psychology but minor in Linguistics. This could show that you intend to work with persons who have speech impediments upon graduation. Or, you could be a Philosophy major and take a Music minor because it is something you are passionate about, even though it is unrelated to your major. There is no right or wrong answer when it comes to declaring a minor or concentration.
A focus and a track are very similar. They are a narrow lense to study within your major and allow you to direct your studies towards a specific direction. These exist only within a major and only certain majors have them.
Electives are courses that you are required to take to finish your degree, but they are not designated to a specific department or program. Thus, electives give you the freedom to choose any course you want and can allow you to pursue subjects outside your major.
However, there are some exceptions to note:
- If you declare a minor or concentration, focus or track, and/or an Honours Degree, a significant amount of your electives will be used up by them. Thus, you will have less electives available to you--if any at all.
- At the Undergraduate Studies level, you must have 45 credit hours of courses at the 3000 or 4000 level. This may mean that some of your electives will need to be at those levels.
- If you have transfered credits to Tyndale University from another institution, your transfer credits may have gone towards fulfilling some of your electives requirements. If you are unsure about how your transfer credits were allocated, refer to the credit evaluation that the Office of the Registrar provided you in your first year or contact them for a copy of it.
Tyndale University uses the 4.0 grading system for both Undergraduate Studies and Seminary & Graduate Studies, but they vary slightly in use. For more information, please refer to our Grading System and Scale page.
On your transcript you will note 'Term GPA' and 'CGPA.' Your Term GPA is the Grade Point Average you recieved for that specific semester term. Your CGPA is the Cummulative Grade Point Average, and it is the average of your GPA over the course of all your studies. Your CGPA (among other things) is used to determine graduation, and it is used for any application to Graduate or Post-Graduate studies. Additionaly, Student Development will use your CGPA to determine elegibility for student leadership, athletics, and other extra-curricular activities.
In order to remain in good standing at Tyndale and avoid probation or suspension, you must maintain a GPA of 2.0 or higher.
Credit hours reflect the amount of time a course requires each week of a semester. Most courses at Tyndale are 3 credit hours. This means each week you will spend roughly 3 hours in class. However, there are some courses that are only 1 or 2 credit hours, so do keep those in mind when considering the number of credit hours you need to graduate.
To graduate, you need either:
- 120 credit hours to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts (BA)
- 90 credit hours for a Bachelor of Religious Education (BRE)
- 81 credit hours for a Master of Divinity (MDiv)
- 54 credit hours for a Master of Theological Studies (MTS)
This is for Undergraduate students only.
The course codes can be very helpful in determining when you should take specific courses. When you view the course offerings you will see 2 things, a department indicator and a number. For example BSTH 1013 - Old Testament Studies. BSTH tells you that this course belongs to the Biblical Studies and Theology department. 1013 tells you a few more things. The first number tells you generally what "year" that course is to be taken in. The last number tells you the credit hours for that specific course, and you can largely ignore the middle two numbers. So for example a course like ENGL 3083 tells us that this is an English course that is generally taken around 3rd year and is worth 3 credit hours.
The year indicator (first number) is a guideline and not a rule, students can take courses in any year provided they have the prerequisites (if any) for that course. For example many Biblical Studies and Theology students will take BSTH 2013 - Hermeneutics in first year, despite the year two indicator.