• admissions,  prospective student,  science,  St. George

    hope in the face of gr 12 calculus

    March 19, 2023

    Hi! So, my top 6 average before I took calculus was a 91, then I got a 60 on my midterm and now my average is an 86. Overall, I took 8 courses this year and most were low 90s with the exception of an 85 and an 88. I’ve completely given up on being accepted into material sci because I doubt they’ll accept me because of my calculus mark, but do I still have a chance for LifeSci? This is about stg campus btw. Please help!!

    hello there!

    a stem kiddo — we love to see it. i gather that your top six average is 86 now including calculus, which was a 60. it’s a tricky situation because your average is technically still in the running for both programs, but they both require calculus.

    just so you know, you won’t actually be admitted for specific programs like material sci in first year, btw. you would have to enter the physical and mathematical sciences stream in the first year, and then apply for the material sciences POSt (specific majors, minors, stuff like that) afterwards. complicated, i know.

    physical and mathematical sciences requires a top 6 average of mid to high 80s, including grade 12 english and calculus, and so does lifesci. they do both recommend mid to high 80s in english and calc though, and it’s kind of hard to say how strict the admissions office is with that requirement.

    i know a few friends who’ve gotten into lifesci with a few marks in the 70s, so i’d say you’ve still have a shot, especially since you did well overall and in your other courses. lifesci is also known to be a huge first year stream, which does improve your chances.

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    if you do end up getting into lifesci, a cool thing about utsg arts and sciences is that you can apply to pretty much any program in the faculty for second year. there are some exceptions that are much more competitive, like computer science or rotman commerce, but as long as you take the high school prereqs and do well in the required first year courses, you can still get into materials science or any other program that you might find interesting!

    good luck! hope that helps!

    aska

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  • admissions,  prospective student,  repeating course

    second chances: technically possible, probably hard

    March 5, 2023

    So I failes my advanced functions class and I am retaking it. Am I still gonna get accepted if I have a repeat? I know that Rotman does not count MHF4U but how about Scarborough and Mississauga. Will they accept?

    hello hello,

    so from the utm, utsc, and utsg admissions websites it looks like all of them have the same somewhat vague stance against repeated courses, which is basically that generally they’ll allow it but “urge you to do as well as possible on your first attempt” (and that’s word for word on all three sites — a lot of repetition there, ironically).

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    so while a repeated course won’t take you out of the running, it’ll probably be an uphill battle especially for more competitive programs, and students without repeated courses might be given greater preference. to be honest it’ll be really important to try and ace the course this time around to show that ultimately you can do well (yeah i know, no pressure or anything…)

    utm was also kind enough to specify that they’ll only take the highest grades of the repeated courses, but the others weren’t as clear, so as with many admissions-related things, it’s kind of a black box.

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    you could also apply for special consideration if you have proof of any extenuating circumstances that affected the first time you took the course. no, i’m not gonna link all that for all three campuses but i promise it’s out there and it’s a thing. google is your best friend 😉

    oh also, interestingly, rotman allows repeated courses too, though i was under the impression that they didn’t for some time. like all the others, they also “urge you to do well on your first attempt” and all that, and they do prefer candidates without repeated courses. but as you mentioned they don’t require advanced functions, just calculus and vectors, so hopefully that all goes well in case you’re interested in applying.

    best of luck,

    aska

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  • admissions,  cegep,  prospective student

    r score why r u so confusing

    February 7, 2023

    Hello! Im currently a quebec cegep student looking to go into life sciences / animal physiology at U of T and would like some advice on admissions. I struggled quite a bit in calculus this year and my cal 1 grade is only a 72… I was wondering if this is way to low for getting accepted and if its recommended that I retake this course. I’m very worried about this right now so any advice on this or admissions in general is greaaaatly appreciated!!

    hey there,

    i’m so sorry for the long wait on this one, but hopefully this still helps.

    according to the admissions website, cegep students need an r score of mid-20s or higher – specifically, utsg arts and science has an r score cutoff of 26. it does mention that they will see your full transcript with the actual percentage marks, but i’m not sure if there’s a specific cutoff for that.

    you’re probably familiar with the cegep r score, so hopefully that magic number 26 means something to you because frankly after digging around a bit i still don’t really know what it really translates to in terms of a percentage. i mean, you got a 72, but did you really, compared to the course average and then comparing your school to all the other schools… quebec really went all out with this whole scoring thing and tbh it’s just too much stats for me.

    Confused Confused Math GIFfrom Confused GIFs

    hopefully you already know your r score by the time you apply, which will give you a much better idea. if not, it might help to generally follow the recommended grades for the equivalent grade 12 high school subjects? it’s not a perfect comparison since cegep courses might be harder (?) but uoft life sciences recommends mid to high 80s in high school english and calculus.

    based on that, i’d say the safest plan is to retake calc if possible, and aim for a higher mark in the 80s just in case. but then again, if all of your other marks are in the 80s-90s and you are generally at or above the course average, it also doesn’t hurt to try and apply. although 70s might be on the lower side for calc, i don’t think it’s necessarily a dealbreaker, especially if you have a good average overall.

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    best of luck!

    aska

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  • admissions,  grades,  prospective student

    grade 11? i don’t know her

    September 16, 2022

    hi, i just finished grade 11, and i ended with mid 70 to high 60 for my courses. i recently moved here from alberta and in albertian uni’s, they check both gr11 and 12 marks, but here, i’ve been told that they dont look at gr11 marks as much. i was wondering if that was true, like if they dont really care about gr11 marks unless you pre-enroll(which i am not). also, is there like a certain average i should have in gr12 to sort of ‘cancel’ my gr11 marks? the course i wanna get into is bio-med, ty

    hey there,

    welcome welcome! yes, it’s true. most ontario unis only care about your grade 12 marks, not grade 11. each uni posts their own admissions requirements (the uoft one is here) but they usually only judge you on six of your grade 12 courses, which include any required courses for the program you’re applying for, and other electives where you got the highest marks. pretty sweet, i know.

    Bless You GIFfrom Bless GIFs

    grade 11 marks only really matter for early consideration, if the marks for your required grade 12 courses aren’t available yet, and scholarships. even for really competitive programs, i’ve rarely seen ones that use grade 11 marks for admissions (at least for regular acceptance).

    the admissions averages can vary for different programs and unis but if you’re interested in something like uoft life sciences (biology etc), you should be aiming for at least mid to high 80s, which is pretty similar to biomed type programs at other unis from what i remember. so don’t sweat it, just focus on working your ass off this year because the past is (mostly) in the past.

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    good luck,

    aska

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  • admissions,  business,  economics,  prospective student,  rotman

    let’s get down to business

    August 30, 2022

    hi! i was wondering what the business course is like? stuff like what subjects are required in high school to be able to take business as a major, how big the classes are and what other courses i should take alongside business

    hi there,

    so uoft doesn’t actually have a ‘business major’ — if you’re interested in business you’re gonna have to be more specific than that, because there are a bunch of different business-related programs.

    for example, utsg has the rotman commerce program, and the application requirements are listed here. you’ll need to take grade 12 english and calculus, and also submit an supplemental application.

    utsc offers business administration (bba) programs under their department of management. if you’re wondering about the difference between “commerce” and “business administration”, this is a pretty good breakdown.

    but get this, utm has a bba program (under their department of management) and a commerce program (under the department of commerce). to make things more convoluted, utsg, utsc, and utm all have their own economics programs, which are offered as part of bachelors of arts or bachelors of science degrees.

    i honestly couldn’t tell you the difference between all these business-esque paths, so you’re probably better off just searching for key words of programs you might be interested in on uoft’s website.

    the admissions requirements do vary depending on the program so definitely check for the specific ones that you end up applying for, but they seem to all require grade 12 english, and in some cases, one or two grade 12 math courses.

    class sizes can also vary depending on the specific program you go into, but classes are generally larger in first year where there may be several hundred students in a class, and tend to get smaller in upper years. if you’re looking for some cold hard numbers, this 2012 report from uoft actually breaks things down and shows how over 50% of first year classes had 200+ students, while over 80% of fourth year classes had less than 50 students.

    the exact class sizes for business programs might differ, but there’s not a lot of info out there on the specifics — utsc management is the only program that actually gives an estimate of their class sizes in their faqs, rotman mentions that their upper year courses are capped at 55 students, and utm’s info on this is dissapointingly nonexistent. just don’t be surprised if you end up in first year classes with hundreds of students, especially in courses like calculus which are prereqs for a lot of different programs.

    alright, now to wrap up this very long post, let’s talk about other courses/electives. honestly, it’s really up to you to choose!

    Gordon Ramsay Choice GIFfrom Gordon Ramsay GIFs

    i know it’s kind of a drag and hugely overwhelming to sift through courses in the uoft calender (the utsg artsci one is linked here) until you find the ones you like, but i mean… that’s just what you gotta do. if i’ve learned anything about courses at uoft, it’s that people’s experiences can really vary. a bird course or an interesting course for one student might be absolutely horrible for another, so don’t be afraid to try out anything that interests you. also, uoft’s course evals page and ratemyprof are some handy ways to double check the courses on your list for any red flags or really poor ratings, which can be a legitimate reason to avoid a course.

    outside of your program requirements, you can choose pretty much any electives you like, or even do a major or minor in a completely different field, if that’s what you’re into. uoft’s pretty great that way because there are just so many different courses and programs out here. for example, you can use your electives to just chill and learn things for interest, or go for classes that might complement certain aspects of business you’re interested in. or maybe you just want to double down on more business courses, which works too!

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    hope that helps, and best of luck in your business endeavours!

    aska

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  • admissions,  conditional offer,  Transferring

    i am once again asking you to ask enrolment services

    August 3, 2022

    [Asking for a Friend] He’s a transfer student from UK and failed a course during his spring term. Will his admission offer be revoked by UT? Is there any way to prevent this?

    hi there,

    Queen Elizabeth The Second England GIFfrom Queen Elizabeth The Second GIFs

    so… i’m a bit confused. is your friend in high school and transferred from the uk to canada? is he transfering to uoft from a university in the uk? or neither? i have so many questions.

    anyway, i’ll just assume it’s one of those two… if your friend’s in a canadian high school (although similar criteria apply for international schools, like in the uk), it’s possible that his offer will be revoked, especially if the course is a prerequisite for the program he was accepted for.

    conditional offers made before your final marks are out will usually have requirements to maintain your marks, but they can be super vague. unfortunately, i can’t say if uoft will rescind his offer but i’d recommend contacting enrolment services directly to ask, if you haven’t heard from them already.

    if the offer gets rescinded, your friend might be able to further explain his situation to the admissions office to see if any exceptions can be made, or if they would accept a retake of the course in summer school, private school, or any other options available to him.

    if your friend’s transferring from a university/college, the failed course could also be an issue since conditional offers for transfers do emphasize your cgpa and overall academic performance. again, prerequisites probably matter the most, but you’d also have to pass the cgpa cutoff which is generally around a B average, according to the requirements. to be safe though, i’d still recommend asking enrolment services.

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    it might seem like i’m just outsourcing every other question to enrolments services at this point, which… well. just trust me, they know best.

    good luck (to your friend, that is) and hope that helps!

    aska

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  • admissions,  criminology,  prospective student

    the psych/philosophy to criminology student pipeline??

    July 5, 2022

    Hi! I am considering pursuing the criminology program at this university. However, I have questions about the prerequisites. I took 2 psychology courses and a philosophy course. Do they take the marks of the 2 psych courses to make one average? Also could we, for instance, use our marks from one psych course and our marks from one SOC class to calculate an average with the other psych? course?

    hi there,

    well first of all, that’s a lot of psychology courses! at least for high school, which i assume that’s what you’re talking about, but then again that was a while ago… anyway. the first thing i do have to kind of clear up is whether those courses you’ve listed are from grade 12 or previous years.

    that’s because uoft usually calculates your average from your top grade 12 courses, including any mandatory required courses for your admission category. in ontario, for example, that would be your top six grade 12 courses. for criminology, you’d be applying for the sociology admissions category, which just lists english as a required course.

    the courses are all treated separately, so if your philosophy and two psychology courses were taken in grade 12, and were among your highest marks (other than english, which has to be included), then they would all be included as individual courses to calculate your average.

    so to be clear, your admission average is going to end up being the average of a bunch of your top grade 12 courses, which may or may not include all your philosophy and psychology courses, although english would be mandatory.

    anyway, i hope that helps and wish you all the best in your future criminological endeavours.

    Bye Wave GIFfrom Bye GIFs

    aska

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  • admissions,  scholarships/bursaries

    mysterious money box (aka scholarships)

    June 9, 2022

    Hello, I was wondering how UofT calculates their averages for qualification of their admission scholarships. I got admitted to the faculty of Life Science and did not receive a scholarship. My average when I calculated it all my courses was 97%, and my friends said their averages were similar or less.

    hello hello,

    as far as i’m aware, utm and utsc have specific ranges for admission averages (e.g. grade 12 top six marks required for the program you applied to) for their automatic entrance scholarships, in addition to some extra requirements on the eligible courses. for example, neither campus will take the second mark for a repeated course, utsc won’t count grades updated after admissions or courses taken the summer right before university, yadda yadda yadda. i’m assuming you’re interested in the automatic, grades-based scholarships, by the way — don’t even get me started on the applications-based scholarships, because there are just wayyy to many factors to account for there.

    it looks like admission averages around the high 80% or 90% range would guarantee you scholarships at these campuses, so if you applied to utm or utsc, you can certainly send a strongly worded email to their admissions departments asking about your scholarships.

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    i have a feeling that you’re asking about utsg though, which, uh…

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    let’s just say they like to keep things mysterious. the uoft scholars entrance scholarship at utsg doesn’t seem to have any specific range in terms of grades. they do state that scholarships are specific to your campus/faculty/college, though, which does make everything more complicated. (great.) anyhow, to answer your question, i can’t really say for utsg, but it might depend on your college and what their cutoffs are for lifesci, too. if you find that your friends going to the same college/program with similar averages got an automatic scholarship, it might be worth asking the admissions department or college registrar about it, in case you were also eligible.

    either way, congrats on getting through high school with those marks! entrance scholarships can be fickle and competitive, but it looks like you’re doing great regardless and will hopefully keep it up in uni! if tuition costs are an issue at all, you should definitely also prepare to apply for osap (if you’re an ontario kid), utaps, or other financial aid from uoft.

    good luck!

    aska

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  • admissions

    waiting, not waitlisted

    March 16, 2022

    I was notified today that uoft can’t offer me admission in this round of applications. They will consider it in the next round, meaning in the nest four weeks I would get the decision.

    Does this mean I’m waitlisted? Should I be concerned?

    hey there,

    acceptances should be sent out throughout late january all the way to the end of may so there’s no need to panic yet! it looks like you haven’t been waitlisted at this point, but you’ll just have to wait a bit longer to receive a decision. if you’ve submitted all your required documents and everything you should be all set, so just hang tight and look out for more updates in the next round!

    fyi, uoft will actually be starting a waitlist system this year for applicants that were close to meeting the requirements but weren’t able to get an acceptance directly. you can check if you’ve been invited to the waitlist in the ‘Check Your Application Status’ section of the join uoft site. waitlisted applicants will get their final decisions by june 17 for ontario high school students, or may 25 for other applicants.

    however, if you didn’t get a ‘waitlisted’ status update, then rest assured, you’re haven’t been put on the waitlist, your application is just… undecided!

    Suspense Waiting GIFfrom Suspense GIFs


    i know, i know, no one likes a cliffhanger, i mean come on, uoft… anyway, i hope that helps to somewhat quell your concerns. although the wait can be stressful, i hope you get some time to just chill and enjoy these next few weeks/months 🙂 and hopefully, you’ll get the final decision soon!

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    best of luck,

    aska

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  • admissions,  OSAP

    early bird gets the osap (well not yet tho it’s literally february)

    February 6, 2022

    hi aska! this is less a question about uoft and more about applying in general (hope that’s alright). do you apply to osap right after applying to schools or do you apply once you’ve accepted an offer? thanks a bunch

    hi there,

    i’m pretty sure you can start applying once osap opens for the academic year you’re entering. if you’re applying for the 2022-2023 academic year, the application should be open around may/june, which is probably after you’ve submitted your applications and gotten most of your offers.

    you can actually submit osap as late as 60 days before the end of the school year (that is, if you’re in school full time for the fall and winter semesters). it’s probably best to apply as early as possible though to make sure you get that sweet sweet osap cash by the time classes start and tuition is due.

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    this extensive faq should be helpful if you have other questions!

    all the best,

    aska

     

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  • admissions,  prereqs

    be freeeee my child (from math)

    January 23, 2022

    Hi I am going into grade 12 and I was wondering if I needed to take grade 12 functions to get into UofT? I’m really weak in math and I just know that if I took advanced functions, it would make my average drop significantly. The program I want to get into only requires me to take English as a course so would it be necessary for me to take math?

    hey there,

    apologies for the late reply!! but it looks like you’re already on the right track by checking out the requirements for your program!

    i’m assuming you’re applying from a canadian high school, in which case, you just need to submit your top six grade 12 courses, including english (ENG4U or EAE4U). you can find more info here. so if the program you’re interested in doesn’t require advanced functions, you don’t need to take it!

    Youre Free Now Run Go GIFfrom Youre Free Now Run GIFs

    i think you probably know where to find the program requirements, but just in case, you can check out specific programs from the full list here, or get a really good breakdown of programs by categories here.

    the only other thing i’d recommend to look out for is if any of the courses you might want to take in the future have advanced functions as a prerequisite. the arts and science calendar is a real godsend for listing all the programs, and their courses, and the prereqs of those courses, so if you have a program in mind you can definitely check it out to be sure!

    so yeah, bascially, you should be all good! hope you’re living your best math-free life~

    aska

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  • admissions

    a (late) reply about early admissions

    November 25, 2021

    If I applied between mid-Nov and early/mid-Dec would that be considered early admission? Also what are the usual circumstances around someone getting a conditional offer? Thanks a lot 🙂

    wellll this is slightly embarrasing — sorry to be answering your question during late november, we’re really cutting it close here.

    hopefully you’ve been able to gather more info on this by now, but if not, all the important dates for early admissions should be here. although admittedly, that webpage gets pretty convoluted with all the different programs and applications and documents, so i’ll try to break it down a bit here.

    first of all, the deadlines are going to be a bit different depending on if you’re currently attending an ontario high school (OUAC 101) or not (international applicants, OUAC 105 i.e. canadians not at an ontario high school, or internal applicants). if you’re at an ontario high school, you’re in luck: applications this round are due january 13, 2022 for you, and the only faculty that has an early consideration deadline for applications is the faculty of applied science and engineering, on december 1, 2021. there are also early recommended dates for submitting supplementary applications and other supporting documentation, and the earliest dates for those are in mid-december, but they vary for different programs.

    it’s a bit more complicated for other applicants: a bunch of programs have a recommended application deadline of november 7, 2021 for early consideration. some also have early recommended dates for supporting documentation in mid-november, but it really depends on your program.

    hopefully you’ve already figured this out but if not, then go go go!! good luck 🙂

    EDIT: oooops i totally skipped over your question about the conditional offers… luckily, the answer for that is pretty simple. most offers for students applying from high school will be conditional because uoft won’t have all your final marks yet. so the offers are made on the condition that you maintain “acceptable academic standing“. just make sure your grades don’t drop too much, and you’re good.

    aska

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  • admissions,  applying for U of T

    alternate offers, alternate univers(ities — well, campuses actually)

    November 21, 2021

    If I applied to the same program at st George and the Scarborough campus will uoft be more inclined to accept me in to one school rather than the other depending on my grades? And if I applied to st George, is it possible that they’d offer me acceptance into Scarborough or Mississauga?

    hello hello,

    i would assume that the admissions process operates separately at each campus — i mean, nothing on the admissions websites seems to hint at the existence of some secret network connecting all three campus’ admissions officers to conspire on your fate… although there’s nothing on the admissions websites denying the existence of such an exchange, either.

    honestly, admissions are kind of a mystery sometimes, so if you really want to get to the bottom of this, i’d recommend asking the admissions office directly – you can find their contact info here. aaand it looks like each campus has its own phone number for admissions… but their online “ask a question” forms all link to the same page. yeah, it’s weird. who knows, maybe you’ll find out that all three campus admissions officers are all just run by the same dude.

    what i do know is that it’s certainly possible to get accepted to multiple uoft campuses, although each campus usually has different admissions criteria in terms of grades and whatnot.

    and yup, according to the uoft st. george admissions website, if you apply to a program at st. george and don’t get in, you might receive an alternate offer for a different program at the st. george campus, or a program at the scarborough or missisauga campus if you qualify for those.

    anyways, hope that somewhat helps you navigate uoft’s weird multiverse of campuses that are kinda connected but also kinda not. wishing you the best wherever you end up!

    aska

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