How Do I Qualify?

To be considered for admission to the Business Co-op Program, students must be enrolled in the BCom program and meet minimum experience and GPA requirements.   

Experience Hours Requirement

• Completed 500 hours of experience (work, volunteer and extracurricular) prior to the start of the intake term; 
• At least 350 hours of this experience must be from paid work experience; the rest can be unpaid volunteer and extracurricular experience. 
• Note: international students can use experience from their home country. 

GPA Requirement

• Finance Major: 2.9 GPA
• Accounting Major: 2.7 GPA
• All Other Majors: 2.5 GPA
• The GPA calculation is based on the most recently completed 2 terms of full-time studies comprising at least 24 credits (note: courses taken during spring/summer are not included in the GPA calculation)
• The GPA requirement for the student’s current major will apply unless the student has indicated they will be changing their major in the next semester. 

Credit Requirement 

At the time of admission to the Co-op program, students must have:

• Completed at least 24 credits* towards their BCom degree 
• At least 3 terms of full-time studies remaining in their BCom degree. As a result, applicants typically should have completed no more than 75 credits on August 31 (Fall intake) or December 31 (Winter intake).

 *credit requirement does not apply to After Degree students 

Co-op Program capacity is limited, so admission is competitive, and meeting the minimum requirements does not guarantee admission.  The competitive GPA and number of experience hours vary by major and from term to term, depending on the applicant pool and program capacity. 

Joint Degree Programs

Students participating in the following joint degree programs are eligible to apply to the Co-op program:

• BSc in Agricultural/Food Business Management
• BSc in Fashion Business Management
• BSc in Forest Business Management

All admission and program requirements of the Business Co-op Program are the same for students in joint degree programs. 

Due to the nature of the majority of the job postings received by the Co-op Program, students in one of the joint degree programs who join the Co-op program are encouraged to have a broad perspective.  We are unable to guarantee the distribution of job postings; however, Work Integrated Learning Officers are available to support students in a self-directed job search.

 

If you have additional questions, please email us at businesscoop@ualberta.ca.