Queen's Arts admission requirements: QA entry and choosing your BA plan after first year

The Ontario requirements table lists Arts QA with English 4U and five additional Grade 12 U or M courses. Francophone-school applicants may offer EAE4U or FRA4U instead of ENG4U under the general language rule. The same table separately lists Economics QAE and Concurrent Education/Arts QB. These are different application choices even though they sit within the broader arts-and-science environment.

QA is appropriate for a broad Arts start. It shouldn't be used as a catch-all label for Commerce, the Music audition route or a concurrent teaching degree. Read your intended code's requirements before applying. The table doesn't list the mandatory Commerce/Health Sciences/Nursing supplement against QA, but your own SOLUS To-Do List still determines any supporting documents needed to complete the file. For education outside Ontario, transfer or mature entry, use the appropriate Queen's category rather than assuming six Ontario course codes describe your background. English eligibility and any separate language-proficiency requirement also need their own check.

Queen's competitive-average page lists low 80s for Arts QA. It labels those averages as competitive guidance and describes selection using the strongest overall qualifications. This isn't a published acceptance percentage, a guaranteed future cut-off or a requirement for every upper-year subject.

The important second decision comes after you start the degree: which academic plan you qualify to join. Queen's first-year registration guide explains that many Arts students begin without a specified plan, even if they indicated an interest when applying. The plan-selection rules use university courses and grades. A strong Grade 12 total therefore won't compensate later for missing a gateway course. When comparing offers, ask two questions: can I enter the faculty, and can I build a first year that leads to the subjects I want? That is more informative than treating the QA guideline as a guarantee of Psychology, Economics or another selective later plan. The relevant departments decide progression under their published rules.

The current faculty plan-selection page describes a 120-unit honours degree assembled from plans and electives. Its listed combinations include a major with a minor, a double major, a major with two minors, a specialization, and a specialization with a minor. If you choose a major, the framework requires a minor, two minors or a second major alongside it. Don't plan a standalone major by copying an older degree description.

The page also rules out combinations such as two specializations or two majors plus a minor, because the structure must leave room for electives. This helps turn a broad Arts offer into a real study choice. If you want depth in one field, compare a specialization with a major combination. If you want a second area of expertise, inspect the possible minor or second major and its gateway courses. Unit allocations vary by plan, so verify the complete combination in the academic calendar instead of assigning the same size to every department's major or specialization.

The faculty organizes plan options across areas such as English, History, Philosophy, Classical Studies, Art History, French, languages, Sociology, Political Studies and Global Development Studies. Those are useful starting points for a broad Arts applicant, but the actual gateway course and result needed differ by plan.

The first-year guide defines a gateway as a course needed for entry to a desired plan. It contrasts that with a terminal course, which doesn't provide entry to a plan. Electives can still be valuable, but a first year filled mostly with terminal choices can leave fewer second-year options. Start with two or more fields you would realistically like to pursue. Read their recommended first-year courses and learning outcomes, then check timetable feasibility. A plan name doesn't reveal whether its method is close reading, quantitative analysis, language learning or a mixture. Use the published course descriptions to compare that work before deciding that broad Arts is the right route for your interests.

Each plan has academic thresholds for automatic acceptance and for a pending list. If your requested combination meets automatic thresholds for every component, SOLUS can accept it. If one component only meets the pending standard, the whole combination goes to a departmental review rather than becoming partly guaranteed. You must choose an alternative for which you qualify automatically.

Queen's warns that leaving SOLUS without an automatically accepted plan removes you from the pending list. Departments review pending requests after the selection period, so a waiting message isn't an immediate refusal or an assurance of eventual acceptance. This matters if you aim for a competitive Arts combination. Identify a genuine alternative early, with the first-year courses it needs, instead of picking an arbitrary second choice at the last moment. The page's posted plan thresholds are from 2026; it says 2027 thresholds may change and will appear in January 2027. They are historical planning evidence for a future Fall 2027 entrant, whose own selection cycle will be later still.

The faculty says Arts and Science students who successfully complete at least 24.0 units must participate in plan selection, with named exceptions for Music and Kinesiology. A normal full-time first-year load is described as 30.0 units, generally five courses per term. A reduced load can change when you reach the selection stage, so ask academic advising about the sequence rather than assuming the standard timetable fits every situation.

A viable plan must be recorded before the relevant later registration period. Queen's warns that students without one by late July cannot register for the coming academic year. This is different from high-school admission: it is a progression and registration requirement once you are a university student. For a double-interest Arts plan, use the SOLUS What-If report and departmental advice to check required courses and remaining units. Shared supporting requirements may count toward both plans where permitted, but the overall honours degree still needs 120 units. Overlapping subjects don't make the missing elective units disappear.

Queen's Undergraduate Internship Program offers paid, full-time, supervised work lasting 12 to 16 months. Arts and Science BA Honours and BSc Honours students are eligible categories; general degrees without honours are excluded. The current page requires completion of second or third year, a minimum GPA of 1.9 and a return to Queen's to finish the degree. Students typically take the internship after third year.

This is not a promise of co-op employment attached to every QA offer. It is a later experience with registration, recruitment and academic requirements. If you're considering a long internship, ask how it fits the planned major/minor or double-major sequence. A placement can help you test the application of writing, research or other skills, but it doesn't replace required courses. Check current rules with Career Services, especially where your situation changes the sequence or international-student requirements. The paid label doesn't establish a wage or secure a role with a specific employer.

For QA, the application deadline is March 1, 2027 and the document deadline is March 31. The deadlines page recommends applying by November 20, 2026 to obtain access to the Major Admission Award application, but its December 8 award-deadline note advises November 15. Those are conflicting recommendations on the same official page. Plan with the earlier date if pursuing that award and ask Queen's for clarification; neither date changes the March QA application deadline.

Keep university-wide tuition and entrance-award details in the Queen's overview, with the official 2026-27 fee schedule as a dated reference. The most useful QA comparison is the academic route after admission. Bring two candidate Arts plans to an advising conversation, ask which gateway courses you need and identify an alternative you would be willing to study. Broad admission can offer flexibility, but it works through course choice and plan rules rather than reserving every subject in advance. The Science Gateways guide covers different high-school prerequisites and science-oriented entry choices.