admissions,  failing,  grades

thank heavens i’m not you


Hi, i kind of stumbled upon this website by accident while googling what the hell am i going to do with my advanced functions mark. So i plan to go to U of T for life sciences or business, possibly even engineering :S So heres the story, i’ve been an awesome student my entire life and grade 12 comes along and i have no idea what the heck happened. Im still not sure about the courses i need but im sure that my advanced functions mark is not good enough, right now its at 50 i know ill need at least an 75+ if i want to get in. Can you give me any advice on what to do? I got a 95 in Data Management and my science marks last year were all 80s or 90s. Im pretty sure i cant drop Functions or take it in night school because what im looking into, they wont look at that. I need to know what courses U of T will look at for these programs, and what i will need to get in my courses. Im taking chemistry, biology, physics, advanced functions, calculus, english and world history. and i already took Data Management in Grade 11. Please HELP!!!

Hmmm… I kinda prefer psycho-mom’s question…

So you’re an awesome student. That’s nice. Unfortunately, it’s not nice enough to wave your Advance Functions marks, which is a requirement for the sciences and commerce streams at the Faculty of Arts & Science. I didn’t take that course in grade 12. I took art instead. Needless to say, I’m a happier person because of that. But I’m not here to criticize one’s choices, as bizarre as they might be.

So here’s the thing. Since this course is a major req for admission into the streams mentioned above, and the application season is already here, AND your admission basically relies on your mid-term marks, you might feel a bit… doomed. That’s actually not the case. Well, maybe it is, but you still have a chance at getting into your desired program at UofT. So if you’re such an amazing student, and your marks are sky-high (except for that functions course), you still have a pretty good chance at getting accepted to the humanities/social science stream. Now you might be thinking “I don’t want no blastin’ humanities!” But wait- even those who aren’t initially admitted as science students can enrol into first year science courses, albeit with lower priority in terms of the date of enrolment. Once you’re in the science combo, and you pass the first year courses successfully (good luck with that!), you can enrol into a science program for your second year, and become a full-fledged science geek!

A couple of disclaimers:

-I am not guaranteeing in any way that you’ll be accepted. But if your average is high enough you have a good chance.

-You’re still going to have to maintain good grades till the end of the year- your acceptance is

conditional, which means that if there’s a plunge in your average, you’re in trouble.

– The first year “business” course (Commerce 100) is going to be a lot harder to get into form outside the commerce stream. So that may be an option that’s severely affected by your adv’func’ grade.

-First year science courses are a bitch here at UofT, containing a lot of math and other atrocities. -Make sure that you’re up to it. Talk to your guidance counsellor or something. Maybe you’re better of with some other program (I’m not saying that’s the case, but just be aware that oh so many A students come to their first year all smug, and then they collapse after they get their first series of Cs and Ds…).

That’s what I can do for you, sport…. Yep… still very happy with that art choice…

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