askastudent

Hello,
I am a first year student for the med school game. I went to an academically poor public highschool in a countryside in ontario and the
transition from high school to UofT has been rather tumultuous.
I have received B- in BIO120H, B+ in MAT135H, C in CHM139H, and currently have 62 in ECO100. I have not been partying or wasting any time. I didn’t even get to explore the city yet and have been stuck in the library every single day studying.
I have changed my studying habits twice since I came to UofT and still seems like my habits are not working.
I have figured that I will have an “average GPA” to apply to med school only if I take 22.0 credits throughout 4 years and attain 4.0 in every
single course until I graduate, which seems highly unlikely based on how I am performing right now.
Is it possible to repeat first year? Would UofT scrap my past academical history and let me start fresh?
Even if I transfer to another university, attaining 4.0 every single semester is the only option to med school now.
I need some advice,
<name has been removed for protection>

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Heyo … mystery person,

I think you have the dream of all university students, burning those terrible first year marks. Unfortunately there’s nothing you can do about them, they are carved in stone, tattooed on skin, written in ink … you get the jist. The only thing you can do now is get awesome future marks.
Some universities will put into consideration the improvement of your grades.
Transferring schools really won’t help your situation either, you are required to disclose all your mark to your incoming university.

I really don’t think this is the end of your medical career.
Here are some steps that you can take:

1) Look at the med school requirements for various schools. Here are the requirements for the Canadian medical schools. The CGPA range is quite varying between the universities.

2) U of T offers some pretty gosh-darn-tooting resources for academic success. University is not highschool and an adjustment to your study techniques and how you approach school needs to be made. Don’t glare at me like that … all students go through this awkward transition phase. It’s kind of like an academic puberty. There are also academic workshops that help with studying, note taking, kicking ass at exams etc.

3) Explore alternatives. I know, I know,  TV makes doctors look pretty effing awesome, but there really are other professions in the medical field that are pretty cool. I have a lot of smarty pants friends who entered their undergrad with the sole intention of going into med school. Then throughout their undergrad their interests stemmed and for no fault of their marks they chose not to go to med school.  Rumor has it that only 15% of applicants get a position in the first round. This is both because of competition and because they want to see who wants it bad enough to apply over and over … and over again.

Good luck grasshopper

forever always,

aska

Hi,
I am looking to transfer to U of T for next fall. I saw the CUDO statistics for Fall 2009 and the acceptance rate was 17%. This kind of worries me. I know it couldn’t be much higher since they want to reserve as many seats as possible for the highschool students, but all the same I’m concerned.
What minimum GPA should one have to have a chance? I know that you don’t have access to those stats, but maybe you have an idea from transfer students you’ve known in the past?
Cheers

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You little researcher you,

17% does seem pretty low, but I’m going to assume a few dummies didn’t check transfer requirements and applied with crazy low averages. U of T is fairly hard to get into in general (CUDO says about 26% for Arts/Humanities/Social Sciences), so it makes sense its equally hard to transfer in.

Click here, follow the steps and it will tell you what the specific requirements are for your program. It generally says a “solid B” average though.

I actually don’t know any students that have transfered into U of T … maybe that’s because only 17% get in. But if you do get in, imagine how special you will feel?

you’ll always be special in my heart,

aska

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Ohhhhtay,

Lets Side Bar before we even get started, shall we?

What do the stars of little rascal look like now?
1) Spanky – Then ~ Now
2) Darla – Then ~ Now

3) Alfalfa – Then ~ Now
This is what the Rotman Commerce website says

Most offers of admission are made in late-May. By this time, Rotman Commerce and the University of Toronto will have received comprehensive information regarding your academic record, extra-curricular involvement and personal statement. This timeline ensures that we have sufficient information on which to base our admissions decision and that applicants are evaluated concurrently.

A small number of early offers are extended in February of each year to exceptional applicants. To be considered for an early offer, you must submit your personal statement (i.e., the Rotman Commerce Personal Statement) no later than January 30, 2012.

So it would seem that early acceptence would be based on grade 11 marks and first semester of grade 12 marks. It would make sense that the regular admission put out in May would be on your  grade 12 first semester and midterm second semester marks. All admission offesr will be conditionary on  completion of  your grade 12 marks.

Rotman’s website also states:

Minimum admission requirements:

• Completion of an Ontario Secondary School Diploma or equivalent, with six Grade 12 U/M subjects including English 4U and Calculus & Vectors 4U. (NOTE: It is expected that all students will have completed Advanced Functions as a co-requisite or prerequisite for Calculus & Vectors. However, in calculating your average for admission, the Faculty of Arts & Science will use the top four highest marks after ENG4U and MCV4U. Please note, Rotman Commerce does not accept repeated courses.
• An average in the mid- to high-80s on your six Grade 12 courses (including ENG4U and MCV4U).
• Completion of the Rotman Commerce Personal Statement (i.e., the supplemental application).

So they will choose your highest 4U courses. It will be ENG4U, MCV4U and the 4 next highest. So if those two 70 something maths are your lowest they will not be included.

Good luck you little math minx.

forever faithful (most of the time),

aska

Hi,

I am deathly afraid as to what my future will hold for me. I feel that if I do not graduate in 4 years, I am a failure. Right now, I am on academic probation, but did not acheive the 1.5 GPA for the fall/winter session. Does that mean I will not be able to attend school for the January – April school year? What am I going to do? I feel very lost and worthless. Please, please, PLEASE.. shed some light for me.

Scared to Death.

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Hey Scared to Death,

First off … WHOA!!! calm yourself … breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth.

The course calendar says:

Academic standing is assessed twice a year:

1. At the end of the Fall/Winter Session; the GPAs used for this status
   assessment are the annual and the cumulative GPAs.
2. At the end of the Summer Session; the GPAs used for this status assessment
   are the sessional and the cumulative GPAs.

You are good to go for the winter session. They will reassess your situation at the end of this currrent semester. Many students are put on probation and even more take more than 4 years to complete their degree. Honestly I know more people who took longer than 4 years, than who do it in that time. That’s only a “suggested” time frame to do your degree in. If you find that 5 courses a semester are too many, take less and make sure you get good marks in those classes.

What you are feeling is totally normal. If you have a little panic moment, feel free to talk with your academic advisor and they can tell you all the options that are available for you.

now child’s pose,

aska

Are midterms for the winter session generally before reading week? Or are they the week after?

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hey hey,

Planning on a Girls Gone Wild kind of spring break? At least you a preplanning your academics before getting trashed and waking up on a beach dressed in a clown suit (NO this didn’t happen to me … geez).

Unfortunately it all depends on the professor. Some do after, but generally I find that they do them before hand so you can run free on the break!

bottoms up,

aska

Hi,

I’m applying to UofT as an undergrad, and on the application they ask for a ranking of which colleges you would like to attend. I’ve read each of the college’s information on their website, but each one makes themselves just as good as the next! So I have no idea which ones to choose. What is the general consensus of preferred colleges? I’m looking for a good residence and stuff, but I really have no idea about the rest. Any ideas/thoughts about generally preferred campuses? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks so much!

- Confused applicant

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Hey confused soul,

I think it is generally assumed that the St.George campus is preferred, but that might just because of its location in downtown Toronto. Which … lets me honest … is a pretty awesome location for running free.

For preferred college, that’s going to be hard. Everyone seems to defend their own college to the grave.
Check this earlier post out, for the hub bub on every college!!

peace out,

aska

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Hey Columbia/Columbus

They don’t actually allow entering averages to available to non super secret people but from what I have heard, low to mid 80′s are what are suggested at the St.George campus. Admission at UTM is usually considered to be slightly lower, so you might have a chance.
It all depends on the applicant pool. If you are applying with a lot of smarty pants than your chances might be lower, but it also works in reverse if a lot of dumb-asses apply! Who knows! It never hurts to apply though.

forever optimistic,

aska

Hey,

I graduated high school in BC 2008 and I am apply to the mathematics and physics program for fall 2012 and had a couple of questions. I’ve since upgraded two of my courses and taken another for the first time, I know that the university policy states that they reserve the right to give
preference to students whose marks represent one attempt and they urge students to do well the first time. This is good advice however a little
late for me. What I am wondering is how they give preference, do they average your first and second attempts? or do they use it as a tie breaker?
Also, would it be beneficial to explain why I had poor marks originally? Would a send a letter in with my transcripts or to someone specific
directly, or would it be reasonable to go to the office in person and if so who would I speak to?

Any names, suggestions, even a point in the right direction would beappreciated.

Thanks,

Theo

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Hey Theo,

From what I understand it is used as a tiebreaker. So in the case that it comes down to you and another student they will choose the one who received good marks in their first attempt.

If you have a pretty darn good reason for why you repeated courses, then it really couldn’t hurt to investigate. Admission and Awards is the best office to be talking with about this. I have heard of transfer students being allowed to write a statement with an explanation, so there’s a slight chance this could apply for highschool applicants.

HERE … did you click? That’s all the contact information you would ever need in order to stalk A & A until they gave you an answer.

like a compass,

aska

Hello,
My name is Kiana. I’m hoping to go into either human biology, English, or business at U of T. Right now I’m looking at about a high/ mid 80′s for my average, for my TOP 6. But will they look at some courses individually for my admittance ?

Sent IPod Touch
- Kiana<3.

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Hi Kiana <3,

It is your top 6, which will include the required courses. For example, for English it will be your 4U english mark and the next top 5.  These are the requirements for Rotman Commerce:

Minimum admission requirements:

• Completion of an Ontario Secondary School Diploma or equivalent, with six Grade 12 U/M subjects including English 4U and Calculus & Vectors 4U. (NOTE: It is expected that all students will have completed Advanced Functions as a co-requisite or prerequisite for Calculus & Vectors. However, in calculating your “best six” average, the Faculty of Arts & Science will use the top four highest marks after ENG4U and MCV4U.)
• An average in the mid- to high-80s on your “best six” Grade 12 courses (including ENG4U and MCV4U).
• Completion of the Rotman Commerce Personal Statement (i.e., the supplemental application).

So, in all scenerios it is an averaged mark, but individual courses will be required to be in that average.

Hope this was more helpful than confusing.

ta,

aska