What are Electives?
Electives are an opportunity for you to add breadth to your degree by taking courses beyond the required credits for your program. They allow you to study subject matter outside your primary degree focus and may provide you with the opportunity to build different perspectives or lenses to view and solve problems through. Becoming a successful nurse with the potential to create positive change in a complex health care system requires more than just learning psychomotor skills.
The most important thing to remember when selecting electives is to CHOOSE SOMETHING YOU LIKE!
How Many Total Electives Are Required as Part of the Total Credits Needed for the BScN?
A total of 4.5 electives credits are required for the BScN. It does not matter which order you complete them in, once they are at the appropriate level. The elective requirements are as follows:
- 2.0 credits at the 1000-level or higher
- 1.0 credits at the 2000-level or higher
- 1.0 credits at the 3000-level or higher
- 0.5 credit of forced choice elective (PHIL 2390H, SOCI-GESO 2430H, PSYC 3560H, PSYC 3570 or NURS 3560)
Note: If you began your studies at Trent in fall of 2018 or later, you will be required to take 0.5 credit from the approved Indigenous Credit Requirement (ICR) list as part of the above required 4.5 elective credits. To learn more about the ICR requirement and to see an approved list of courses visit the Indigenous Course Requirement website.
Possible Strategies for Selecting Electives
Read course titles and descriptions
Take the time to read through course descriptions using the Academic Calendar. It will be helpful to browse through the calendar or timetable and make a list of several different possible electives you are interested in. Not all courses are offered every year and not all courses offered will necessarily work with your nursing timetable so having several possible choice is helpful.
Review upper year courses and their required prerequisites
Another strategy for picking first year electives is to look in the calendar at upper year courses. Many upper year courses will have prerequisites (they are listed in the course description for the course in the Academic Calendar). If you find an upper year course that you would really like to take, let the prerequisite requirements guide you on what you should take now, so that in future years you can take what you are really interested in.
Consider the TFSON's Strategic Foci
The Trent/Fleming School of Nursing has five strategic foci:
- Indigenous Communities
- Women's Health and Gender
- Rural Health
- Aging
- Mental Health
A few examples of subject areas that would complement these foci include Gender & Social Justice, Indigenous Studies, Sociology, Psychology.