• biology,  prereqs,  programs

    the power of intrinsic motivation

    July 18, 2026

    hi!! i’m in a bit of a weird situation and i don’t know where else to go so i can’t tell you how grateful i am for this site :)!! so i just transferred into uoft st. george as a first year history student (only 1.5 transfer credits) BUT i found my love for biology in the last couple years but that means i have very few high school pre requisites :(. i took grade 11 bio online and got the waiver for bio120 (fingers crossed i get into a class!) but i have no chemistry and no grade 12 math, ive been doing self study of chemistry and math (and some bio still) going through textbooks and thinking about taking a lighter course load and then taking at least grade 11 chem online and maybe a grade 12 math in second sem. would it be possible at all to load up on bio classes (as well as my history classes weird double major i know) and still get in as long as bio is an open major even if i lack so many pre requisites? sorry i know this is a weird predicament but any help is appreciated!! tyty <33

    —

    hi!! sorry i wrote in earlier today as the history/bio major and i looked into it a bit more and realized i would have to take a chem/math per semester online! i know im in a big mess lol but what can you do! thanks for ur time either way!   

    heyyo, 

    awww i love it when you guys love aska! it’s so nice to know that i’m actually helping people, y’know? 

    i also totally understand your situation. there are plenty of people who start uni for one thing but then discover a new interest. i, for one, don’t think it’s weird at all to be a bio/history double major! Actually it’s pretty awesome that you can explore two of your interests in your degree. and hey, it’ll open up more job opportunities after grad too. 

    the sucky part of this is, as you talk about, the extremely annoying world of prereqs. the fact that you got permission to enroll in bio120 is great, and i think it’ll help you out a lot going forward. lemme break it down for you. 

    (yes, yes, let’s all collectively cringe at aska…)

    the recommended courses for first year bio majors are bio120, bio130, and some chem courses: either chm151, or chm135 AND chm136. you already have permission for bio120, so that’s awesome! ideally you’d take that in first sem. bio130 requires grade 12 bio and chem. since you’re taking bio120, and presumably high school chem online, i’d email the course coordinators to ask if you can take bio130, even though you won’t be doing grade 12 bio.

    chm135 and chm151 require chem and math. same scenario here: if you’re interested, email the department to see if they’ll let you in. no promises, but it’s worth a shot! again, just make sure to mention your plan to take those high school courses (and bio120). chm136 only requires chm135. so if you get into 135, you’re golden for 136.

    however, the good thing about the bio major is that it is not mandatory for you to take all those courses in first year. it is recommended, but since it’s an open enrollment program, you can still enroll in the major even if you don’t get into all of the courses i talked about. so, if you’d rather focus on your history major this year (or if the department denies your requests, stupid red tape…), that’s no problem. i think it would be totally fair to take a lighter course load so that you can also do those high school classes, and maybe even that self-studying you mentioned. you may not have the time for the latter even with a reduced course load, but hey, who am i to deny you the power of intrinsic motivation? 

    so to sum everything up, i think the best course of action would be to take those online high school courses (make sure they’re through an accredited school!), and then either a) contact the chem and bio departments to see if they’ll let you into those classes, or b) just focus on your history major this year (+bio120) and then be ready to go for bio/chem classes in your second year. it’ll mean a ton of time in the lab next year, but such are the sacrifices we make. 

    anyways, i hope this helped! i know it’s kind of a complicated situation (it always is when it comes to programs/prereqs), but hopefully this helped you to make sense of it all. good luck, my future mad scientist and/or the next philomena cunk. 

    cheers, 

    aska 

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  • credits,  transfer credits

    a couple disclaimers

    July 15, 2026

    hey aska, 

    incoming first year here. in high school, i took two dual credit courses (you get high school credit as well as university credit for taking them) at an accredited canadian university  

    both were 200 level courses that were pretty surface level so i did end up doing well in them.  

    i’m hoping to get the credits transferred onto my uoft record because that would be two less classes i have to take. i’m not looking for these courses to count towards my degree or my gpa or anything i literally just want the credit. 

    the transfer credit tool was no help, and neither was reddit because they’re mostly concerned with degree requirements and prerequisite courses and stuff.  

    so basically what i’m asking is. as far as you know, would i be able to get the credits transferred? or is there no way of knowing and the registrar can just be like ‘nah’? 

    heyyo, 

    i cannot tell you for certain, but it does seem like you’ll be able to get those credits! 

    this site says that you can get up to 3.0 transfer credits for postsecondary courses you took in high school. so there is def a precedent for people like you! there is one disclaimer, though: certain programs (such as comp sci) do have restrictions on transfer credits. i do have a few friends in artsci programs who had their dual enrollment courses considered towards their degree, though, so i can’t imagine that it’s too restrictive. 

    the other major disclaimer is that you have to have disclosed these courses on your application. i’m not totally sure what that means – if you’re an ontario student, i assume it would be included in the info that your school uploaded to ouac.  if you’re not, i assume it would be on the transcript you submitted.

    but as for the broader question… i can’t make any promises, and i guess there is a small chance that they just say “nah.” 

    i would really encourage you to email transfer.artsci@utoronto.ca to get a bit more clarity. i think you should be fine, but who am i but a rando undergrad? if you’re still nervous, i would reach out to that email. make sure you clear everything up by the end of your first semester. 

    oh, and one last thing: your transfer credits will not count towards your GPA, but they will (probably) count towards your degree. they will likely not count towards your program, however, but it’s possible. if you’re going into artsci, most transfer credits will be put towards completing your “breadth requirements,” which is basically a rule that says you must take a certain number of courses in various different subject areas. this essentially means that you won’t have to take as many “elective” courses in uni. that’s good for some, and bad for others (like me, who has some very niche interests that only uoft’s strangest courses can fulfill. i mean, who doesn’t want to take “witchcraft, religion, and the powers of the occult”? no one, that’s who). 

    (ok, except maybe frollo…)

    i really hope this helped you! i’d look out for the results of your transfer credit assessment between the end of august to october. if you do get your transfer credits approved, make sure to check out this page to figure out what all those random words on your assessment mean. 

    cheers, 

    aska 

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  • admissions,  getting into U of T,  neuroscience,  UTSC

    my friend… take a breath

    July 7, 2026

    Hi! I’m going into grade 12 this fall, and I really want to apply to neuroscience at the Scarborough campus. My grade 11 semester 1 grades were good (95.5% average), but not my semester 2 grades (low 90s average), which dropped my overall grade 11 average down to a 93%. I also only got a 92 in chemistry, and only got a 90 in English – both of which are prerequisites for the program. How much would low grades in those two courses affect my chances of getting into the program? 

    Thank you so much!

    heyyo, 

    my friend… take a breath. 

    you are so fine right now. a 93 average is nowhere near being “not good.” in fact, an average like that could get you into most programs in ontario (only excluding the absolute most competitive ones). i know it might not seem like it, if you’re comparing yourself to people on reddit who are worried about their 97% averages, but you are doing really really well. 

    utsc neuroscience has a recommended admission average of high 70s, or low 80s if you wanna do co-op. even if those numbers are actually a little higher, or even if your grades drop a bit next year, you would still be in a very good position to get into the program.  

    i don’t have any super detailed advice for you, other than to just keep doing what you’re doing! of course you should stay focused on school, but don’t stress yourself out over it too too much. as long as you stay on top of your studies next year, you will be perfectly fine. take some time to enjoy your hobbies and hang out with friends before you get to uoft and that’s all over… 

    ok i’m just kidding, of course you’ll still have time to do fun stuff in uni. but it is true that you will probably have a bit less free time than you used to. so enjoy your senior year, keep up the good work, and try not to get too wrapped up in admissions (as hard as that is)! 

    cheers, 

    aska 

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  • economics,  es&l,  programs,  UTM

    as clear as glass

    July 3, 2026

    Hello! 

    I had a question regarding switching majors and pre-requirements for the major I’ll be switching into. 

    I’m graduating Grade 12 soon and I’m a Group A student. I’m an incoming undergrad student starting the fall semester. I was initially accepted into UofT (UTM) for humanities without co-op. I declared my program of interest as Law, Ethics, and Society. 

    However, I have changed my mind to economics, preferably with co-op. Economics as a major is under HBA. I have completed MHF4U (Advanced Functions) and ENG4U (English) which are required. The rest of my top 6 average is safely above the required grade I need for my conditional offer. I plan to complete MCV4U (Calculus and Vectors) in July after I graduate. I know it is not required but it would greatly benefit me in first year classes as I have been struggling self-learning the material without a structure.  

    My questions are: 

    1. Would the time of my MCV4U grade being sent to UofT affect anything? (around late July — Early August). 
    2. Do I need to contact UofT to change anything like my department [BA (Humanities) -> HBA (Social Sciences)]? or, 
    3. Do I simply register for classes required for Econ POSt? and, 
    4. Are there classes that I would not get priority in that I should be worried about? 

    I apologize if my email seems unclear. 

    heyyo, 

    congrats on the acceptance! and no worries my friend, you were very clear. so clear, in fact, that some may call you glass. 

    …i apologize for the lame joke. 

    the only thing i had to look up was what “group a” means. for those who also have no idea, it usually refers to people who are applying to ontario universities that are current high school students within ontario. apparently i’m already old, because back in my day, we called that the “101” application and everyone else would use the “105” application. how the times change. 

    sooo as for your actual questions… 

    i don’t think that taking calculus in the summer will have any impact on anything at utm at all. it’s not a requirement for the program you wanna take, you already have your offer, and you already have your diploma, so i don’t see any reason why utm would care. yes, they will probably get your grade through ouac but it won’t have any bearing on your uni life. so breath easy there.  

    you also don’t need to contact utm about switching departments. first of all, you wouldn’t be switching from a ba to an hba. at uoft, almost every bachelor’s degree in the arts is automatically an hba. the only way you’d get a ba is if your gpa is between 1.5 and 1.85 when you graduate. so someone at utm taking law, ethics, and society would get the same degree as someone in utm’s econ program.  

    another thing to keep in mind is that you don’t actually enroll in your program until the end of first year. you’re not formally tied to law, ethics, and society yet, so there’s no need to contact anyone to change anything. so yes, as you said, what you need to do this year is make sure you take the courses required to get into the econ program. then, at the end of first year you can apply to both the econ program and the co-op program.  

    i couldn’t find anything directly answering if you’d have to worry about not getting priority for the classes you’d need, but i took a quick look on timetable builder (if you don’t know about it already, you’re welcome, it’s amazing) and there doesn’t seem to be any restrictions. fwiw, i enrolled in classes outside of my admission category in first year without having to go on any waitlists.  

    i hope all my advice helped and that it wasn’t too overwhelming! you can always talk to academic advising if you have any more questions. you’ve got this. 

    cheers, 

    aska 

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  • housing,  residence

    monkey clanging cymbals moment

    June 30, 2026

    hi aska 

    i missed the deadline to accept my first year residence guarantee offer by three hours because i’m a dumbass.  

    im on the waitlist for university, vic and new college now. is there any hope of me getting an offer? or should i give up and look for off campus housing? 

    heyyo, 

    oooouch i’m sure that was painful. but remember, you can make dumb mistakes and still not be a dumbass. we all make stupid mistakes, even (or maybe especially) aska.  

    (i think we can all relate to homer sometimes…)

    i couldn’t find any official information about how the waitlist would work for you, since most of it was for upper-year returning students. however, there were a few ancient reddit/facebook threads that said it was first-come, first-serve for first years. i can’t say for sure if they’re right, but it’s possible. in that case you’d have to be near the very front of the line, since i’m assuming you got on the list 3 hours after the guarantee window closed

    the fact that you’re on three different waitlists gives me hope too, especially if one of them is for the college you belong to, since you’d probably get priority there.  

    i also found an old aska post from 2016 which says that waitlist offers start going out in late june/early july. not sure if that’s still the case, but if it is, you might be getting one soon! 

    now while i do think that there is a very good chance that you get off the waitlist, you should still have a backup plan. the first place i’d start with is uoft’s off-campus housing site. they have a bunch of resources and programs, as well as a handy-dandy housing finder that lists places for rent by trusted owners. if you have a friend who’s also coming to uoft, you might want to consider being roommates with them, since it’s usually cheaper to split a 2 bedroom than rent a 1 bedroom/studio on your own.  

    you can also check out the standard rental sites. realtor, zillow, and rentals.ca always have a ton of listings, many more than the uoft housing finder. the downside is that you have to be a lot more careful when considering renting a place listed on one of those sites, since they aren’t vetted nearly as much as the those on the housing finder. if you ever find yourself questioning the validity of a listing or just need some help, uoft does provide support! 

    in the end i think it’s likely that you’ll get off of the residence waitlist, but i can’t make any promises, so i think it’s worth it to start searching for somewhere off-campus just in case. if it ever comes down to it, uoft also has an emergency housing support program that can help you find somewhere to stay. 

    i wish you the best of luck in getting off of the waitlist and/or in your housing search!! 

    cheers, 

    aska 

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  • academic standing,  petition,  suspension

    knocking it out of the ballpark

    June 30, 2026

    Hi Aska! Hope your summer is going well, and you are not terribly overwhelmed by a bunch of students asking you stuff.

    I am a student at the UTSG campus, Faculty of Arts and Science. To give you some context, I started university as a physics specialist, did terribly, had basically zero support systems, and put all my time towards school. The transition was rough, I got put on probation, thought I could stubborn my way through it, could not, realized halfway through second semester that I, in fact, hated my degree program, switched to different classes, and a completely different program. 

    My first semester of second year, I failed two classes, and got D’s in the other three, but second semester got two Bs, an A and a D in my new program (i know that last one is a rough point). I submitted a petition explaining my circumstances, as I did improve just a bit too late, attached I had two ta support letters, a profs, and proof that I have enrolled this summer in an academic support program and that in winter I attended counseling. I completely rebuilt my support program, and mentioned this in my petition. I also attached a new academic plan I made with my advisor, planning on taking an extra year regardless of outcomes. 

    I think I did a decent job of explaining my circumstances, why I believe I improved and am improving, that I think taking time off would be no helpful for me at this time, and have as much proof as I think I can gather to back up my story, but my main worry is that I do not have any extenuating and/or special circumstances, no recent deaths in the family, no sickness other then a cold ect.  

    Do I have any hope of getting my suspension lifted? Or am I pretty much screwed? 

    Thanks! 

    heyyo, 

    i just want to say right off the bat that you’ve done a lot of great stuff already and i think you should be proud. 

    unfortunately i am but an undergrad and i have zero secret knowledge about how suspension petition works. i do, however, have internet access, and i found this website which taught me the basics.  

    so seems like you’re either doing a petition for early return from suspension or a lift of suspension. both of those seem pretttty similar but with one caveat: if you’re petitioning for an early return from suspension, the website does say that it’s uncommon to do so before the one-year mark of your suspension. based on the clues you’ve given me though, i’m guessing it’s been about a year for you, so in that case you should be ok. but it is something to keep in mind. 

    anyways, i do see where you’re coming from, as that page does talk quite a bit about how you should explain any extenuating circumstances that led to your suspension, and you don’t have any “obvious” things that could fall under that category. however, while it may not be as glaring as struggling financially or a diagnosed mental health problem, you do mention that you were completely lacking a support system when you first came to uoft. the fact that you were in that situation and have now put in the work to build some supports for yourself is notable and i do hope you wrote a bit about that in your petition. 

    i also wanna point out that while, yes, extenuating circumstances do seem to be important, it also appears that it is just as (if not more) important that your application shows what you’ve done to make sure that you succeed after your return. and i really do think you’ve knocked it out of the ballpark on that one. 

    (ps: what is it with me and baseball sayings in this post? I HAVE been keeping up with the jays a lot lately…) 

    so overall, while i obviously can’t say anything for certain, i do not think that you’re screwed. i really do find the amount of work and thought you’ve put into the petition impressive and i hope the people reviewing it will think so too. if you ever have more questions about it though, i’d recommend that you get in touch with your college registrar’s office. 

    i’m crossing my fingers for you! 

    cheers, 

    aska 

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  • admissions,  applying for U of T,  getting into U of T,  rotman

    what in the psychic connection?!

    June 9, 2026

    Hi, I’m a grade 11 student in ontario and I’m taking advanced functions and I’ll get roughly an 89 or 90 if I do really good on the final. The thing is, my school doesnt offer calculus so I’ll have to apply with my AF grade unless i take it in nightschool the first semester of next year.  So how are my chances of getting into rotman (finance and economics) and if theyre not good, should i take calculus in night school to get a better grade and apply with that? if not, what can I do to improve my chances 

    Hi, I want to apply to rotman finance and economics but i have an 88 in advanced functions and a 95 in english, my school doesnt offer calculus first semester so I’ll have to apply with my AF grade unless i take it in nightschool so how good are my chances, and if theyre bad should i take calculus in night school or work on a strong supplemental application? 

    heyyo, 

    sooooo to address the elephant in the room… 

    these two asks are so so SO similar that it’s scaring me a little. the logical side of me assumes you two are bffs who go to the same school and both realized you should consult the very wise askastudent you found on google. but part of me kinda hopes that you go to school in two entirely different cities and had the same idea at basically the same time because you have a crazy psychic connection….

    ok with that out of the way, to answer your question(s). it’s definitely not weird for schools to only have calc in second sem, i’m pretty sure my medium-sized high school did the same thing. i’d be pretty surprised if your school truly didn’t offer it at all, though. from what i know, every school in ontario has to provide any course that’s required for post-secondary programs. but if not, then yeah, night school/online school is a valid option.  

    however. with that said. i would highly, highly encourage you both to take calc in day school during your second semester of grade 12. that’s right, aska is getting a little serious with this one. 

    now this is of course not to say that you’re completely doomed if you don’t follow my advice, but there’s quite a few reasons why i think you should just stick to day school for calc. for one, the rotman admissions website says that they encourage students to take courses in their day school if possible. while this isn’t an automatic disqualifier and you could probably explain this away IF your school doesn’t offer calc at all for some reason, you might as well avoid doing anything that could potentially hurt your chances. 

    another reason is that… your marks in advanced functions aren’t bad at all. the rotman website says that mid-high 80s averages are the general range they’re looking for. i know that it can get competitive and you’d prob wanna be a bit higher than that to feel safe, but even THEN, having an 88-90 in one course will not make much of a difference to that average.  

    and also, hate to break it to ya, but calc is probably gonna be harder than advanced functions. imo, pushing it forward into first sem will only make things a little trickier for you in what will probably already be a stressful time! both of your advanced function marks seem pretty solid to me, so it’s not like you’d need calc to “save” your average anyways.  

    so what i think you can do to improve your chances is, as you said, to start prepping for an awe-inspiring supplemental application. 

    (this will be the admissions officers when they see it, fr fr) 

    the supplemental app will include some timed written and video responses, usually about your skills/interests and community involvement/extracurriculars. the questions change every year so there’s no way to know for sure what will be asked, but you can work on strengthening your involvement in ecs, volunteering, or a personal project, as well as jotting some points down about why you’re interested in business (and rotman in particular). 

    that’s all i have for you, you psychically connected duo. i hope my advice landed, and godspeed in calc and your applications! 

    cheers, 

    aska 

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  • architecture,  daniels,  internal transfer

    they light the way

    June 5, 2026

    I’ve been accepted into the UTSC Arts & Science co-op program; and while initially planning an intended major, I’ve recently been exploring other options more thoroughly and found one that I’m really interested in at UTSG, specifically the Architectural Studies program at the Daniels Faculty. I came across your webpage and posts while searching for information regarding the internal transfer process and first-year course planning, and I wanted to ask a few general questions from a student perspective: 

    How realistic is the UTSC to Daniels transfer pathway in practice? 

    Is it common for students to take some Daniels or other St. George courses during first year before transferring? 

    If a student transfers after first year, do most first year credits usually still count toward the Daniels degree as electives/breadth requirements, or do students often end up significantly delayed? 

    Are there any particular first year courses or strategies you would personally recommend for students planning this kind of transfer?  

    I’m really trying to plan my first year carefully before course enrolment opens, so I would greatly appreciate any advice or insight from someone familiar with the process. 

    Thank you very much for your time! 

    heyyo, 

    oo i really love your question, it got me doing a ton of research. which isn’t a complaint btw, it was a great opportunity to expand my amazing and ginormous repertoire of uoft knowledge.  

    first of all congrats on your acceptance to utsc!! getting into uni is probably the biggest step of all, so you’re already halfway there.  

    now sadly, i can’t exactly tell you HOW realistic it is to transfer to daniels, or if it’s common. i’ve personally never seen it, but i’m sure it does happen. i just haven’t met anyone personally who’s done it, probably because aska isn’t exactly the biggest social butterfly in existence. surprising for a person crouched behind a computer all day, i know. 

    (me, btw)

    the daniels website does mention transferring into the faculty from utsc, so it’s not like it never happens. you can see more about how credit transferring works here, but basically, all of your utsc courses and the marks you got in them will be retained. none of them will apply to your daniels program, but they will count towards completing your degree. 

    oh also, another thing you have to consider is that you may end up taking a program in the faculty of arts and science (st george’s faculty for the majority of undergrad programs) along with your daniels program. this is because even the specialist in architectural studies is only 10.0 credits, and you need 20.0 to graduate. it seems like this should be relatively easy once you’re in daniels, but to be 100% honest with you, i’m not sure how exactly this works. gasp, yes, unfortunately aska is not omnipotent :/ 

    i’d really recommend getting in touch with the undergrad admissions or registrar’s offices at daniels to find out about how that whole thing works. there’s so so much red tape to navigate at uoft, ESPECIALLY with transfers, and talking to someone who knows what’s up will make that infinitely easier to navigate. 

    as for what you should do in first year… you can totally take some courses at daniels if it’s possible for you to get downtown easily. you can check out the requirements for the program(s) you might wanna do here, and from there check the first- or second-year courses that are available to non-daniels students. lots of them ARE restricted to current daniels students, but not all.  

    another recommendation would be to take some utsc courses related to potential programs you’re interested in, just in case you change your mind and to have a backup plan. if at all possible, i’d try to have certain days only for utsc courses and others only for daniels. because as someone who travels somewhat frequently from downtown to utsc myself, i think i would die if i had to do it, like, three times every day. 

    anyways that was super long-winded but i hope it helped, it was very fun to do all this research for you. in the end, though, i’m no academic advisor so i really really think you should reach out to admissions/the registrar at daniels and also the utsc registrar. they will light the way (any house of the dragon fans? no? sigh…). 

    i promise they won’t be this creepy.

    cheers, 

    aska 

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  • admissions,  business,  getting into U of T,  rotman,  social sciences

    what is the high school teacher lore??

    June 1, 2026

    Hi aska! Hope you’re doing awesome!  

    I’m a grade 11 student, and I plan on applying into the finances and businesses for Uni, I can’t say exactly what I’m applying for since I unfortunately haven’t decided yet (I couldn’t even decide if I want to go int social sciences or business ?). Tho unfortunately I’m failing a class, it’s a communication technology course (I have a 40% in that class), which has dragged my average down by a lot. My other classes are in high 70s and low 80s, and I have two courses (one of them is night school) in the higher 90s. Despite that, my average is around a 78% currently, which is freaking me out since I’ve been told grade 11 matters for university. I wish I could blame my teacher for it (since it’s technically his fault I can’t lie….hello you’ve been suspended for 67 years why are you still failing me….) 

    I wanted to know if my fail would matter and if I still have the possibility to get into the more competitive business courses (like accounting for example) or just into UofT in general. It’s been a very rough year so a lot of my grades are impacted by my mental health and current living situation, but I don’t know if that would make any difference when it comes to admission and looking over at my grades (A.k.a be kind to me world I’m just a baby….)  

    Ok thank you aska! You’re awesome and I hope I’m not cooked….? 

    heyyo, 

    i am definitely doing awesome, wow, thank you for being interested in your dear old aska’s life. 

     

    ok so you aren’t cooked. and you definitely aren’t alone. i actually had someone else in a really similar position to you (as in, they failed a non-required class), write in last month, so i think you may wanna check out that post too. 

    the short answer is that failing a non-required course doesn’t mean you’re, like, automatically disqualified from uoft. yes, grade 11 marks do matter, and yes, uoft will see if you failed a course. HOWEVER grade 12 marks will matter more, especially if you show improvement. and since comm tech is not a prerequisite for anything, it will matter even less.  

    taking a look at the programs you’re into, you are a little below the admission range now, but like I said, grade 12 matters more. business is actually offered at all three uoft campuses and the requirements differ a lil. rotman commerce at utsg i know is quite competitive, website says they’re looking for mid-high 80s but that may be on the lower end? the misssissauga (utm) and scarborough (utsc) campuses are around mid-80s. some of these programs also require supplemental applications (i know rotman commerce does for sure). soc sci will be a bit less competitive, especially at utm and utsc, and no pesky supplemental applications. i guess the world can be kind to you in these small ways. 

    so my advice to you is absolutely DON’T GIVE UP!!! it is still very possible to get into university 🙂 

    oh, and one last thing, because there was no way you were getting away with saying it and then not elaborating: i am seriously concerned about your teacher in that class?! what is the lore behind this guy being suspended for 67 (haha very funny) years? what on earth did he do??? 

    Music Video Wtf GIF

    please reassure aska that this high school classroom is not ground zero for some horrific crimes. please.

    cheers, 

    aska 

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  • admissions,  computer science,  UTSC

    be patient, young grasshopper

    May 22, 2026

    Hi! I am an international applicant and got admitted to CS Co-op @ UTSC. I have accepted the offer and applied for a study visa. However, I am most probably getting an aggregate final score of high 80s even though I predicted high 90s. The drop will majorly be due to Physics and Chemistry, though Math and English will still remain strong enough. Do I risk my offer getting rescinded by any chance? Thank You! 

    heyyo, 

    ooo i feel ya, this is a rough situation to be in. however, as your true and bestest friend ever, i am here to provide some encouragement. 

    the first thing i want you to know is that it is NOT joever until it’s joever. and luckily, we’re not joever just yet. 

    since you didn’t mention that your conditional offer said you have to maintain a specific average, i’m gonna assume that it just had the standard “maintain your academic standing” mysterious and cryptic message that most people get. 

    and in that case, from what I’ve heard, offers are very rarely rescinded. you mentioned that you predicted your grades would be high 90s, but i’m wondering if that was your average when you were admitted? even if so, a drop of 10% from high 90s to 80s doesn’t seem like a death sentence to me.  

    also, the fact that your drop in grades is mostly because of chem and physics (pesky sciences smh), and not the program prereqs of math and english, will likely be another point in your favour.  

    another consideration which may work in your favour (yippee!) is how you’re calculating your average. i’m not sure if it’s different for international students, but for ontario applicants, your average is calculated by taking your grades in each of the program prereqs (in this case, two math courses and english), along with your remaining highest grades, up until they have 6 total courses. so for you that would be two math courses + english + your three best grades in any other upper-level grade 12 course. so if you calculate things that way… new horizons may be open to you. 

    there is still a possibility that your offer is rescinded, though. if that does happen, you can contact the admissions office to explain any extenuating circumstances. my advice is to only do that if you get your offer formally revoked, though. i don’t personally see a point in contacting them prior, before anything is decided, as they might not even have an answer for you yet. you’ll just have to be patient, young grasshopper. 

    oh, and last thing: in the scenario where your offer gets rescinded AND the appeal doesn’t work, there’s a possibility you might get an alternate offer. this could be for non-coop comp sci (which has an approximate grade requirement in the low 90s rather than high 90s), or to a similar admissions category, like mathematics. 

    i really hope i was able to ease your worries a little bit! keep working hard and I’ll be cheering you on! 

    cheers (literally), 

    aska 

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  • admissions,  applying for U of T,  UTSC

    info from a not-so-secret resource

    May 10, 2026

    What is the competitive avg to get into life sci (health sci stream) at utsc? Do they care if I take courses in summer school and night school? Will I acc get in?? ??? 

    Hi aska!  

    I was wondering if uoft can reject you based on grade 11 grades? Or if you don’t get in through early admissions can you reapply w/ grade 12 grades? And do they only care about grade 12 grades? 

    heyyo, 

    soooo I’ve decided to do a dual post with this one because 1) i think it’d be useful for each of you to see the other answer, and 2) GUYS SO MANY ADMISSIONS QUESTIONS! Which isn’t a bad thing, btw. you give me purpose (because, as you all know, aska only activates when a question comes in. you admissions folks are keeping me from hibernating). 

    to my hopeful future scarborough dweller: nope, uoft doesn’t care about summer school. and utsc health sci stream is looking for a mid-70s average, or high 70s for co-op. i found this information from a very secret source. oh wait, it was actually just ontario universities’ info, which you can check yourself anytime to search for the admissions average/requirements of literally every program at, you guessed it, every ontario university. actually insane. 

    as for whether you’ll actually get in, well, i’m just your (not) humble aska, not an admissions officer. so while i can tell you that taking all the required prereq courses (english, chem, bio, any uni math course) and having your top six average in the admissions range would give you a great shot, i can’t tell you for sure. forgive me. 

    now for my early admissions-concerned future applicant: i think there’s a few things i gotta clear up. 

    i have a feeling that reddit may have you in a tizzy over “early admissions.” because the truth is there really aren’t any early admissions at uoft. the way things work is that EVERYONE applies in the fall of the year before you wanna start uni (in grade 12, for ontario). while yes, there is an “early application date” on the website, that date only exists if you want to be admitted in the first round of admissions, in february. 

    however there isn’t any reapplication that happens. you submit one application, in the fall. i’m no expert in how things work internationally, but i know that in ontario, your grades are automatically uploaded as they come out. so when the decisions are made, uoft will have access to all of your grade 11 grades and every midterm/final grade you’ve gotten so far in grade 12. so thankfully, you only gotta worry about applying once. and then you can relax! well, when you’re not dealing with the calamity of twelfth grade. 

    you’re also far from the first one to ask about grade 11 grades mattering. the short answer: yes, but maybe not as much as you think. unis will have access to grade 11 marks and will consider them, but since grade 12 is more recent and shows your overall trajectory, the latter will be more important. 

    anyways that was my long-winded answer to you guys. i do have a final piece of good news for you though: you two (along with the MANY recent future/current applicants who’ve reached out in the last several months) have inspired me to make an applicant/new student guide. so stay tuned for that soon! 

    cheers, 

    aska 

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  • admissions,  getting into U of T,  life science,  UTM,  UTSC

    the gutter called, your grades aren’t there

    April 28, 2026

    Hello, currently a grade 12 student in my final semester and I’ve already been accepted to the other 2 campuses, life sciences for scarborough and Forensic. Currently panicking my mind with admission to the St George Campus for Life Sciences as with my first semester finals (83.3%) and 2nd semester mid-terms combined (86.7%), my average looks to be in the gutter with an 85% average currently. Since there will be 2 final rounds of admission in may, I felt like my chances are on the bleak side. 

    heyyo, 

    well I’ve heard about a lot of things being “in the gutter” but for some reason, i haven’t heard someone say that about having an 85% average in grade 12. weird, huh? 

    maaaaybe that’s ’cause an 85 is absolutely not in the gutter! that’s already solid enough for many many programs and is even within the range for utsg life sci, which is mid-high 80s. i also wanna point out that your marks have even improved in second semester, which may help you out too. 

    another thing i gotta wonder is if the averages you gave me are only for your top six classes, or if they’re you’re overall averages? for utsg life sci, and assuming you’re in ontario, admission average is determined by looking at your marks for eng4u, mcv4u, and your top four 4u/m courses that aren’t english or calculus. if you gave me your overall average, you may be in an even better position than you think.  

    and even if you don’t get in to utsg life sci… there’s so many other awesome paths forward. for one, it’s great that you got into utm and utsc! forensics sounds pretty cool to me, and if that’s something you want to pursue specifically, utm might be the better choice anyways because utsg doesn’t have a forensics program. if you end up at utm or utsc but think that being downtown is more your thing, you could always take courses at utsg as well. you’d just have to take a shuttle (utm) or a bus and subway (utsc), which kinda sucks, but it’s worth it if you want your big-city moment. 

    there’s also the possibility of getting an alternate offer, which means you might get an admission to another utsg category (like humanities) instead of life sci. while you may think that being subjected to studying philosophy or international relations for 4+ years sounds like actual hell (i’m allowed to say this because one of my programs is in the humanities), fear not: you can take programs outside your admission category as long as you meet the prereqs.  

    i’m not sure when the april admissions round happened so you might’ve been accepted in the time between when you submitted this question and the time i’m writing this, in which case, congrats! but also, man, i guess you didn’t need me after all… 

    but if that didn’t happen, just know that plenty of people get admitted in may. you still definitely have a shot at utsg and even if that doesn’t work out, you have some great options in utm or utsc. stay strong and believe. 

    cheers, 

    aska 

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  • admissions,  getting into U of T

    we’ve got a clever one on our hands

    April 27, 2026

    Hey, so I have some questions as a grade 11 student in Ontario. So I want to apply to life sciences (Chemistry) and Mathematics and physical sciences. I had a 80% in functions last sem, should I take advance functions in the Summer so Uoft looks at it as my course to refer to my math grade and is Uoft okay with taking summer classes? And how to perform well in advance functions in the summer and will I have a big gap going into Calc after. Thanks.

    heyyo, 

    my my you are clever. doing a summer course so that it can take priority over your grade 11 mark? tricky.

    now i hate to break it to you, but while you are right in some parts, your plan may not be quite as effective as you hope. it’s true that universities tend to focus most on your most recent grade in a subject since, well, it’s the most accurate show of your skills/growth at the time. so in that sense, if you do better in your summer advanced functions than in grade 11 functions, the summer course will be more relevant. and yes, summer courses are totally ok.  

    however, i have two disclaimers for you.  

    one: as you might know, unis will still look at your grade 11 marks, even if you have more recent grade 12 results for those subjects. yes, the newer one will take precedence, but it’s not like your grade 11 mark will disappear.  

    two: i don’t know how things work for you, but from my experience in high school (and what i assume is the default), you can’t exactly decide which semester you take your courses. so this means that it’s possible you could take calculus in first sem. as well, if your application is considered in the april/may admission rounds, your second semester midterm marks will be in play too. so either way you could have calc become your most recent math grade anyways. 

    overall you don’t have a bad plan but i think if you wanna go ahead with it, it should be because you want to work at your own pace/give the course more attention, not just so it can be your most recent grade.  

    as for how to prep for calc if you do it in second semester? weeeeelll i have to be totally honest with you… aska is not a math expert. i maaaaay have never taken advanced functions or calculus. maybe. 

    so i can’t give you super specific tips here. however, i have done online courses in the summer, so the best advice i can give you is to set aside specific time in your day to work. it may be hard at first, but trust, it’ll make things so much more efficient and keep you focused. 

    you may have a bit of a gap for calc if you take it in second sem, but most classes will be understanding of this and provide some review at the start of the semester. i also heard some good things about this youtube channel and this website from friends who took the course. and if you feel like you need a bit more of a refresher, you could always get extra help from your teacher or guidance counselor. or the obvious… review your notes over the winter break. even though that might really suck. 

    good luck with your math adventures and your applications this fall! 

    cheers, 

    aska 

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