credits - askastudent

credits, polisci, transfer credits, Transferring

ur not special (said in solidarity)

May 5, 2023

Hi aska, I’m a transfer student from UTSC and I only took 4 credits thinking it was full time but apparently 5 credits is full time — im gonna take some courses for english and PoliSci in the summer (I took POL101 and 106 to make the FCE) so I can get into the Polisci post and get access to 200 level English courses. I’m planning to take summer courses for my whole 4 years — would it be possible for me to graduate in 4 years even with the transfer (and credits that are now just extra/breadth) and the only 80% courseload in year 1? Thanks!

hi bestie,

trying to graduate in 4 years after taking an 80% courseload in first year? sorry bro, but. you’re not special.

i think you have a chance here, assuming i understand your situation right and haven’t lost my marbles yet. overall, you need to check off completion requirements in two areas to graduate: degree requirements, and program requirements. using degree explorer is a great way to check your current status on the requirements in both of these areas.

technically, 4 credits per year is a full time course load, since 3 is the minimum to be a full time student according to the academic calendar. but, it’s true that it is recommended to take 5 credits per year to complete the minimum of 20.0 credits within 4 years. with that said, i know several people who take 4 credits during the school year and then take 1 credit during the summer to make up for it, adding up to 5 credits per year. depending on how many courses you take, it could be possible to complete 20 credits by your fourth year—during the summer, there is a max of 1 credit (2 courses) per term, so you could complete 2 credits through the 2 summer terms. if you do that each summer as you’re planning to, that would help a lot.

meanwhile, you should also keep track of what courses you need to complete for your polisci program. here, i can’t give you specific advice since i don’t know what courses you’ve taken towards your degree.

overall, it’s hard for me to say anything definite on your situation since your timeline here is a bit unclear and i’m not sure how many transfer credits you have. i would highly recommend that you visit your registrar to get a more specific answer, and spend some time mapping things out with them.

over and out,

aska

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credits

after a year at u of t you’ll be able to answer this question in your sleep

August 14, 2020

HI! This may sound like a dumb question, but approximately how many courses amount to 20 credits?

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HI back at you! love the enthusiasm.

another name for credits at u of t is full course equivalents, or FCEs. once you know that, understanding what 20 credits actually means is a lot simpler— it essentially entails that, to complete your degree, you need the equivalent of 20 full-year courses. with very few exceptions, each full year course is typically worth 1.0 FCE, while each half-year (single-semester) course is worth 0.5 FCE. so to finish your degree with 20.0 FCEs, you’ll need to take some combination of full year courses and half year courses that add up to the right amount. you can also think about it this way: if you plan to take 5 courses each fall/winter semester of your degree (which you totally don’t have to, but many people do), then that means you’ll end up with 20.0 FCEs after four years.

i hope that makes sense! no dumb questions here, since this blog basically exists to help people navigate the tangle of rules and bureaucracy that is u of t. if you want a handy-dandy tool to help you track your credits and programs, you can check out degree explorer.

but… oh, honey, if 20 credits confused you, you’re gonna love this thing called the 12 distinct credits rule.

be Boundless,

aska

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credits, subject POST, summer

another day, another POSt

April 12, 2019

Hi! I took the min amount of courses a full time student can take so I should have 3.0 FCE at the end of the year right? So I can’t apply to a POST? What happens then? I have to wait until next summer or will I have to apply in the coming fall semester as soon as I complete 1 more FCE to make 4 total? Also I want to major in sociology but I didn’t take perquisite course (took a different soc course) & I can’t take it in the summer so do I have to apply to random programs then just switch later?

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hey there,

if you took the minimum amount of courses to still qualify as full-time, you should indeed have 3.0 FCE by the end of the year. you’re correct that this bars you from applying to a POSt right now, and unfortunately there’s no POSt application period in the fall. it only happens in two periods once a year, generally beginning near the end of winter semester and in the middle of the summer semester.

this puts you in kind of a weird place.

my recommendation to you depends on your plan going forward. there are two possibilities:

1.you’re taking summer classes and will have another 1.0 credit once the first summer semester is up

there’s a rule that prevents students from enrolling in courses once they reach 4.0 credits and aren’t registered in a program. if you are taking enough summer classes to have 4.0 by july, i’m worried that this will kick in for you before course reg, and you’ll find yourself unable to come back for fall/winter next year. what you’ll want to do with this case is request programs during the second request period. this request period depends on what program type you’re going for, and you can find those dates here. i dunno if you’re well-versed on program types, so if you’re not you can read up on them there as well. to check what kind of type your programs are, ctrl+f them on this page.

yikes, i feel like one of those automated phone lines you call and have to press 5 buttons before you can speak to a real human being. press 8 for more information. press 9 to repeat this message. press 0 to revive aska-with-a-personality from the hellhole that is exam szn :(( my apologies for being as dry as a piece of two-week-old bread.

… i don’t know what i’m throwing this gif in for. it serves no purpose other than making me a lil uncomfortable.

since you won’t be able to get your soc prereqs by then, what you should probably do is pick placeholder programs. this’ll ensure you’ll be able to register in courses, and they’re easy enough to drop at the end of next year if you still want to switch to soc. i’d go for random type 1 programs, as they don’t ask anything extra of you. it’s basically just so your acorn continues to function and treat you as a student following the rules. loopholes!

2.you’re not taking summer courses/enough summer courses to have 4.0 by july

with this, i’m relatively confident the no-course-enrollment rule will not affect you. what you’ll have to do in this case is just wait til next year’s program enrollment period. this, thankfully, gives you time to complete your soc prerequisites without having to throw placeholders into your ACORN.

hope this helped! best of luck with what exams you have left, and feel free to shoot me another question if you run into any trouble with this.

over n out,

aska

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arts & sciences, courses, CR/NCR, credits, enrollment, enrolment, GPA, prereqs, repeating course

we love a good second chance

February 18, 2019

Hey, so I wanted to know if you can retake a course you “no credited”? I want to major in sociology but I took only SOC102, LWD SOC103, and NCR SOC150 ( first 2 yrs were tough) There’s only certain combinations allowed and my only hope really is if I’m allowed to try SOC150 again. Any advice?!

Thanks!

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hi there,

did some digging for ya, and i’m not gonna lie– initially, it looked like it was gonna be bad news. as far as the artsci website says, you shouldn’t ever cr/ncr a course if there’s even a remote chance you’ll need it for program enrolment. the implication being, you don’t have many options if you’ve already done so.

HOWEVER. i read through half of the faculty of arts and sciences rules and regulations to see if i could find you a loophole, and it looks like there might actually be one.

apparently if you’ve already passed a course, you’re not allowed to retake it; that includes courses you’ve passed with ‘CR’. but under the ‘repeating passed courses’ section, the rules allow for a single repeat of a course to achieve the minimum entry mark for a program like soc. this retake won’t count towards your gpa or graduation requirements, but it will be on your academic record.

either way, what’s important in your case is that yes, you are able to give SOC150 another shot!

in order to make it happen, you’ll need to get in contact with your college registrar. they’ll be able to give you further advice as well as enrol you in the course (from what i’ve read, i don’t think you can enrol in it yourself). i believe you’ll have lower priority to get in than students taking the course for the first time, but don’t let that stop you from going after this.

best of luck,

aska

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credits

anotha one (semester)

July 26, 2017

I also wanted to ask if it was viable for a student to graduate in 4.5
years (since I’m missing 1.5 credit to graduate on time) ?? Like if I had
to take a semester more of classes, is the only option to pay for another
whole year?

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hi!

you can totally graduate in 4.5 years! you can take as much time as you need.

if you were only taking 1.5 credits, you would be considered a part time student and charged the fees associated with that status.

i would check in with your college registrar to see what they say. they could provide you with options to see if you could graduate without taking the extra semester (though of course, taking more time is no big deal at all! but knowing your options can be helpful). they’ll also be able to help you change your stratus from full time to part time or tell you about changing your fees to be per-course. the college registrar is your best friend!

i hope this helps! good luck!

xoxo,

aska

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credits

may the force be with you

July 19, 2017

Hi! Can I graduate from a Honours degree in 3 years instead of 4 by taking classes in the summer?

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hi!

yes you can!

however, in addition to classes in the summer, you would have to also take 6 FCE during the year. i did the math in this post.

basically, you’d have to take 6 FCE for 3 years (for a total of 18 FCE) and then take 2 during the summers. either one in each summer or cramming both into one. you could also split take 6 FCE one year, 5 FCE the next two years for a total of 16 credits. then, you’d have to take 4 FCE and the only way you could do that in two summers is if you took 2 FCE every summer.

it’s totally within the realm of possibility, but it would be hard and exhausting. but not impossible!

good luck dude. may the force be with you.

xoxo,

aska

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credits, first year, one programs

the first credits are so special

July 12, 2017

Good day!

I would like to ask a question regarding enrolment. I accepted a One Program Gradients of Health & Wellbeing in an Urban Mosaic (Health Studies) and I think it is worth half credit. Does that mean I have to take another four courses? If so, I am only going to have 4 and a half credit for the first semester? Sorry, it really confuses me. I know that I have to take five credits every semester. Please enlighten me. Thank you.

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hi!

actually, according to this, that particular ones program is worth 1 full credit. in that case, you do only need to take 4 more FCE (full course equivalents) for a total of 5 FCE.

most students take 5 FCE every school year (fall and winter semester). this could be 10 half credit courses, 5 full year courses, or any combination of the two. you can check out this website for more information about course loads. it’s a little complicated looking, but just know that as long as you’ve got a total of 5 FCE at the end of second semester, you’re good!

hopefully this helps! looking forward to seeing you on campus in the fall!

xoxo,

aska

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credits

mission possible

July 11, 2017

is it possible to graduate in 3 years?

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hi!

yes it is. you’d have to take 6 FCE every year for three years (for a total of 18 FCE), plus 2 FCEs worth of summer courses for the total of 20 FCE that you need to graduate. you could take the 2 summer FCE either all at once or spread them out over 2 summers. this would allow you to graduate in june of your third year.

though it is totally within the realm of possibility, it’s important to remember to take your time. if it suits your pace to finish in 3 years, then go for it! if somewhere along the line, you find that you need to drop a course or two, then do that and take an extra semester or two! there’s no one way to finish a degree and i wanna beat up every high school councilor or american college movie for perpetuating this stupid and (in my opinion) incorrect idea of university. it isn’t always a 4 year journey.

i hope this helps! good luck on your mission.

xoxo,

aska

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credits, exchange, french, transfer credits

je m’excuse, je ne parle pas le francais

January 31, 2017
heya aska. this is a question that is not u of t-specific necessarily, but i can’t seem to find the answer anywhere online, so thought i would ask here first before resorting to talking to whomever in whatever administrative position that would know. i completed the explore program in summer 2015 (at a u of t-approved university) but still haven’t transferred the credit (for ~complicated reasons~); i’m just wondering if anyone knows if it counts for 1.0 FCE or just 0.5. thanks !

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hello,

i contacted the french department’s study elsewhere coordinator (a lovely man named Paul) and he was very helpful in answering your question! i’ve paraphrased his words below:

in short, all explore courses are worth 1.0 FCE, but there are other steps you need to take to ensure you receive the transfer credit.
1. you need to go to the transfer credit office at sidney smith hall (100 st. george street) and fill out a transfer credit application
2. then, arrange to have your Explore course transcript sent to the transfer credit office at sid smith
3. after that, contact french.secretary(at)utoronto.ca to book a french placement test
4. after the test, forward the results to the transfer credit office
our friend Paul also included the following note: “if you have already taken an FSL course at U of T, the placement test result must show that your level has increased by the one full course in order to be eligible to receive a transfer credit”.

hope this helps!

bonne chance!

paix et amour,

aska
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