Undergraduate Study at Trinity College

Contact Information

Room 300 Larkin Building Trinity College
(416) 978-8454

Trinity College students are eligible to enroll in any undergraduate program of study within the University of Toronto.

However, the College sponsors on behalf of the University of Toronto three interdisciplinary undergraduate programs: International Relations; Immunology; and Ethics, Society, and Law. They welcome the interest of all College members in their courses, lecture series, and extra-curricular activities.

One of the largest of the University of Toronto's college-based interdisciplinary programs, International Relations, is co-ordinated by Trinity. It combines the study of history, political science, and economics in a program that examines the recurrent methods and problems of interaction among states and societies, and the foreign policies of individual governments and international organizations. This program attracts students contemplating careers in internationally-oriented parts of the federal government, corporations or other international organizations.

Trinity and the Department of Immunology in the Faculty of Medicine joinlty sponsor the program in Immunology. This program examines the whole variety of responses of the human immune system and requires work in biochemistry and microbiology, in addition to the basic natural sciences. Immunologists are currently employed in a wide range of research projects, including studies to control cancer and AIDS.

Another interdisciplinary program sponsored by Trinity is Ethics, Society, and Law. It combines courses in the humanities and the social and natural sciences to examine ethical questions that confront individuals and societies in regulating their affairs, and the increasing role played by the law in attempting to resolve complex issues in Canada.

In addition to its interdisciplinary programs, the College offers an Independent Studies program, which gives third- or fourth-year students the opportunity to investigate in depth topics that are not directly part of the current curriculum. This research is conducted with the guidance of a faculty supervisor and normally is equivalent in weight to two courses. All proposals must be approved by the Program Co-ordinator.

New students are encouraged to participate in one of Trinity's College Courses, which include innovative, jointly sponsored "199Y" seminar courses and a popular lecture-plus-seminar course called "Modes of Reasoning". The first-year seminar courses for 2009-10 are: "Raiders, Traders, and Invaders: the Vikings and their Descendants", "Great Ideas in Social and Political Thought", "The Literary Salon of 1830s Paris", "The Past Within the Present", "Modern Physics in Perspective", and "Critical Reading and Critical Writing".