GBDA Advising

Your GBDA Advisors are available Monday – Friday 9:00 am – 4:30 pm either by email and/or telephone.

Always include the following information when contacting your Advisor:

• Name
• UW Student ID Number
• Question(s) you would like answered
• If calling, always include a telephone number we can reach you at
• Emails and telephone calls will be answered in the order in which they are received and within 24-48 business hours.
  • Response times may increase during high-volume periods. For example:
    • Course Registration
    • Drop Deadlines

Drop-In Advising Appointments will be available in the Winter 2024 term!

Drop-ins will be available at the Stratford School – DMS1007:

• Tuesday, 9:00 am – 1:00 pm

Students can utilize drop-in appointments for the following reasons:

• You are in need of immediate academic support
• You need a referral to an on-campus support
• You require 1:1 in-person support
• You have general questions about GBDA programming, and/or courses
• You have general questions related to your individual academic plan and/or progress
• You have questions about Exchange Abroad
• You have questions about your co-op

GBDA advisors are available to book for in-person or virtual appointments.

GBDA Advisors work mainly from the Stratford Campus and students booking in-person appointments will need to be in Stratford to have them.

In-person and Virtual Appointments will be booked Monday through Thursday between 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM and 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM

Beginning the Fall 2023 term, in-person appointments will also be available on Waterloo Campus – PAS2439 for select dates: 

• Tuesdays October 31
• Tuesdays November 14
• Tuesdays November 28

You can request in-person via the Book an Appointment form. For more information on this type of appointment, please visit Book an Appointment with a GBDA Advisor →

The Registrar’s Office has created a resource page to help students understand course enrollment.

View the Registrar's Office Course Enrollment Guide →

• Phase 1: The Course Selection Period. The creation of a wish-list of courses you want to take during the next academic term.
• Phase 2: The Drop/Add Period. The time to modify your class schedule or add classes if you missed the Course Selection Period.

1. Tuition and Fee Refund Deadline - 100%

   • Classes dropped prior to this deadline will be removed from the academic record.
   • Deadline to receive 100% of your charges removed for withdrawing from the term, completing degree requirements or/for dropping a course.

2. Tuition and Fee Deadline - 50%

   • Deadline to receive 50% of your charges for tuition, co-op fee and student services fees removed for withdrawing from the term, completing your degree requirements or for dropping a course. All other charges remain on your account. Read more about Due Dates on the Finance Website →

3. Drop with WD

   • WD (Withdrew, no credit granted) grade assigned on the academic record for classes dropped within this period.

4. Drop with WF

The QUEST: Student Information System is where you select, add, drop, and swap courses, as well as view financial and tax information, and grades and transcripts.

Read more on the QUEST website →

For most Quest help pages, we recommend accessing via desktop

How To:

• Select courses for a future term?
• View my course selection results?
• View my appointment time for the beginning of drop/add?
• Create, change, or view my class schedule?
  • Search for classes
  • Add classes
  • Drop classes
  • Swap classes
  • Swap components
  • View my class schedule
• View my final exam schedule?
  • On-campus exam schedule (not viewed in Quest)
  • Online exam schedule
  • Select exam centre for an online course

Please note that only Student Financial Services and the Centre can assist with questions related to your tuition or student finances.

• Tuition Fee Schedules
• The Centre
  • The Centre - Contact Us
  • How to Pay Tuition at UWaterloo video
• Student Financial Services
• Student Awards and Financial Aid Office

The ARTS Academic Standing webpage can help you in understanding your unofficial transcript for:

• Grades
• Academic Standing Decisions
• Standing Decisions of “Concern”: Conditional or Failed Standings

The Transcript Legend can help you understand your grades or grade status.

Minor Average: If you wish to complete a minor, the average of all courses completed that are applicable to that minor will be used to calculate your minor average. This will not show up on your unofficial transcript.

Please visit the Undergraduate Studies Academic Calendar for more detailed information →

Students are highly encouraged to meet with an advisor if they are not currently meeting, or are unsure if they will be able to meet required GBDA program averages.

Grade Calculator

You can use the grade calculator tool on Portal. You can use this tool to calculate your overall GPA, or a subset of your classes. You can explore different earned grade scenarios and compare different academic options for various assignments and weights.

Use the grade calculator on Portal →

Disclaimer: These metrics serve as a hypothetical calculation only. It is your responsibility to submit all required work for your course, as mandated by your instructor and course syllabus. Calculations will not always reflect the grading practice of individual instructors (ie: bell curves). Official grading is at the discretion of instructors.

Understanding Academic Integrity and Student Responsibility

You can learn more about academic integrity and your role as a student under:

• Office of Academic Integrity – Integrity for Students
• Policy 71 and 71

Note: The GBDA program has a no-tolerance policy for academic misconduct. GBDA Advisors are required to report any instances of academic misconduct. Any cases of academic misconduct will be referred directly to the Associate Undergraduate Chair or Associate Graduate Chair for the GBDA program

Students who are experiencing trauma or who have a known/unknown disability, condition or illness can connect with Access Ability Services to help develop a personalized academic accommodation plan to help support your academic success.

Students can contact Access Ability Services to request an appointment during business hours: Monday - Friday between 8:30 am - 4:30 pm

• By Visiting In-Person @ Needles Hall North, 1^st Floor, Room 1401
• Phone: 519-888-4567 ext. 35082.

Please ensure you provide the following information when contacting AccessAbility Services contact information:

1. Name
2. Student ID
3. Preferred Phone Number
4. Best time to reach you to book an appointment

Quick Links:

• Information for Students
• To Apply for Academic Accommodations
• To Request and Manage your Accomodations
• (Registered students must request and manage their each individual term)

The SSO is your hub to assist you with getting started at Waterloo, if you are looking to improve your study skills, want to develop your leadership style, need immigration advice, or are dreaming of an international excursion.

Academic Development

• Learning resources
• Peer Success Coaching appointments
• Tutor Connect

Leadership Development

• Student Leadership Program
• Find a mentor
• Mentor Training and Resources

The Centre assists students in the understanding, brainstorming, preparation and revision of course assignments, presentations, etc.

The WCC offers:

• 1:1, drop in and email appointments
• Academic Skills Workshops
• English Language Conversation Circles

This free service can assist all registered UWaterloo students with career planning, co-op support, graduate and professional school preparation, work search methods, and setting up of career goals.

The Career Centre can also assist you with determining a suitable minor based on your interests, and career goals.

Connect with a Career Advisor by booking an appointment →

Under Policy 70, a petition can be used by UW students to request an exception to an Academic Regulation.

You can learn more about Policy 70 here →

Important: Petitions are not guaranteed, and may not be the right path for every student.

If you would like to discuss if a petition is the right course of action for you, please contact a GBDA Advisor: gbda.advising@uwaterloo.ca

• Contact your GBDA Instructors for help during their office hours or reach out to them via email
• Attend the GBDA 101 Tutorial offered every Friday (except stat holidays and university closures)
  • 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM
  • 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM
• Contact Noah Pratt (he/him), the GBDA 101 Lab Instructor for GBDA 101 software and equipment tutorials.

• GBDA First year students are scheduled to take ECON 101 section in the Winter Term.
• Students will have access to a free ECON101 Tutor, though, this is only available if you enroll in the GBDA Section of ECON101 in Winter terms.
• More information can be found on your syllabus.

To avoid any issues with academic integrity please keep in mind the following when you are seeking CS course help:

• CS courses are designed to be done individually and unlike ARTS courses it is not typically recommended that student’s study with others outside of the listed supports on the syllabus.
• Please exercise Caution with the use of Tutors for CS Courses. The contacts listed on your syllabus for course help should be your first stop for help (e.g., Instructor, Instructional Support Coordinator, Instructional Support Assistants)
• If you do decide to study with others, recommend that students put away course materials, laptops, written materials, etc. and instead converse about general course concepts. However, we again do not generally advise students to study with others for CS.

CS 105 provides you with additional opportunities to ask the Instructor, ISAs or IAs any questions you may have pertaining to assignments, exams, or course content. If you are unable to make it to any of these online office hours, alternative options include posting your question to the discussion board, emailing the ISAs directly at cs105@uwaterloo.caor requesting a time in the MS Teams Office Hour channel.

If you are still struggling with CS 105 and need help finding further supports reach out to the Instruction Support Coordinator:

• Instruction Support Coordinator: Barbara Daly, bmzister@uwaterloo.ca

If you are taking first or second-year CS courses and need some help, you can meet with an Instructional Support Assistant (ISA) or Instructional Apprentice (IA) in the CS Consulting Centre MC 4065. Contact course staff to arrange an appointment.

• CS 105 (Offered: F, W)
• CS 106 (Offered: W)
• CS 115
• CS 116

• Utilize The Computer Science Consulting Centre for free additional course help.

RAISE  is a Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association club that works to address racism and xenophobia on UW campus and forge a community that promotes equality and unity.

They offer students support through peer mentorship, education and advocacy as well as community building.

GLOW seeks to support and promote understanding and inclusivity for persons of all sexual orientations and genders via a variety of awareness and outreach campaigns, discussion groups, advocacy and events.

The Women’s Centre aims to create a female and trans positive and supportive environment on UW campus.

They offer resources related to sexual health, healthy relationships, mental health and peer mentorship.

The EDI - R Office is heading a transformative culture change on UW campus related to equity and anti-racism.

The office assists with disclosures of harm (racism, ableism, etc), provides resources, training, project support and document reviews to UW students and staff to facilitate culture changes, maintain EDI-R leadership is accessible, and sustain the EDI-R unit on campus for the benefit of the whole of the UW campus community.

The SVPRO seeks to support the whole of the UW campus community who have experience or been impacted by sexual violence.

Using a public health approach, the SVPRO provides training, support, education, engages in current legislation, and evaluate institutional interventions of sexual violence to prevent and confront sexual violence on the UW campus.

GBDA Advisors can only speak to GBDA-coded courses, if you have questions about the material or criteria of another programs course or minor – please contact the Advisor for that program.

If it is a department in the Faculty of Arts, see the list of all Arts Advisors.

Other Faculty Advisors can normally be found by looking at that Faculty’s website.

Unfortunately, GBDA Advisors are unable to assist you with Financial Holds. It is recommended that you contact the Centre to inquire about what the Financial Hold is for and how to remove it.

The Centre: https://uwaterloo.ca/the-centre/contact-us

Do not worry if you have missed it – students have multiple opportunities to add courses.

Please see the Course Help Webpage for more information.

Students wishing to overload to 6 courses in a term are required to have a minimum 75% cumulative (overall) average. And have completed a minimum of 10 courses.

Students wishing to overload can make this request to their advisor via gbda.advising@uwaterloo.ca . Please note that your advisor can only increase your course limit and may not be able to help you with specific course enrollment.

The best two resources:

1. Your Course Instructor and/or TA

On each course syllabus there is a contact information section that includes your Instructor and/or Teaching Assistants office hours and contact information.

Advisor Tip: Make sure to include your name, student id, and course number on any written communications.

2. Your Academic Advisor

We are here to help! Fill out the GBDA Advising Appointment Request form or email gbda.advising@uwaterloo.ca 

We can help you navigate through your options, available supports, services, and resources.

If it is a GBDA course:

For all GBDA course override requests, please email gbda.advising@uwaterloo.ca   and include your name, student ID number, and requested course and section number.

In most cases, we will not provide an override for class limits unless a student requires academic accommodations from AccessAbility Services or if a student is facing extenuating circumstances (e.g. having failed a previous course)

Email is the fastest method to request an override, advising appointments will not be booked for override requests.

Notes:

1. All GBDA courses are strictly reserved for students in the GBDA program.
2. GBDA does not currently provide a waiting list for any course. Students are encouraged to utilize the add/drop period to swap into preferred sections when available.
3. Only GBDA advisors (gbda.advising@uwaterloo.ca) are able to provide course overrides at this time. Please do not contact GBDA instructors with override requests.

If it is a course outside the GBDA program

GBDA advisors are only permitted to provide overrides for courses within the GBDA program.

If you are seeking assistance with an enrollment error or course override please see the AUO enrollment help page:https://uwaterloo.ca/arts/undergraduate/student-support/course-selection/enrolment-problems-and-course-overrides

Students the GBDA Honors internship program (enrollment prior to 2022) can go abroad in their 3A and 4A Fall terms.

Students in the GBDA Honors Co-op Program can go abroad in their 4A Fall term only.

International Exchange terms outside of these parameters will not be approved.

Students that are about to enter in their first work term:

The study term prior to your first co-op term, you will be given access to Waterloo Works (the co-op job search board) and PD 1 – Career Fundamentals (a mandatory professional development course that helps students navigate Waterloo Works system and works through resume writing, interview prep and job search skills).

If you are requiring further help, on Waterloo Works you can direct message your co-op advisor and attend a same-day drop-in advising session. 

Students won’t receive access to Waterloo Works or their Co-op advisor until the study term prior to their first work term (in GBDA this is after your 3B classes).

Students can utilize the Centre for Career Development.

Don’t panic! There are several opportunities students can pursue to complete their co-op credit.

Please contact your GBDA Advisor for assistance: gbda.advising@uwaterloo.ca

Yes! Students participating in Varsity Athletics are encouraged to request an appointment with their GBDA advisor to connect about program specific supports

It is best to connect with your GBDA advisor prior to each individual term to plan ahead (ie. Scheduling, Exams).