Dear Ask a student,
Hi, I’m an American student studying biology, and…to be honest I have a bunch of questions. I was admitted to Trinity, and I don’t really know much about it. However, I do know that the Trinity one program has social science programs…I was wondering if you could tell me what percentage of Trinity is life science/ physical science majors, and other majors..like..the arts! I was also wondering if you could tell me about the diversity on Trinity. My cousin attended St. Mike’s for journalism a few years ago and told me Trinity was more than 80% Caucasian. Since I grew up in New York City.. I wanted to attend a college that was preferably At least 40-50% Asian/Hispanic/ Middle Eastern/ International/ American Indian/ Black. And as stupid as this sounds, is there information about ratio’s on other demographics as a huge such as the percentage of male and female students, and the % of students who stay at Trinity. I was also wondering if it’s possible to switch out of Trinity..to lets say University College, and if UC does single dorms for freshman. My cousin also told me a rumor about how the science classes are huge, and the grading deflation is tough. Is that also true? It’s been my dream to go to Baylor or Stanford Medical School since I was like 10…this means I have to get a 4.0 unless it kills me. My other college options right now are Wellesley and Case Western, so I’m not dumb, but I’m not going to Harvard so I’m not crazy ridiculous smart…in America these two weeks were rejection/acceptance week, and right now I’m doubting my ability to be able to be the only one in the class with an A..if that’s how bad the deflation is. So I was wondering if you could confirm or deny the rumors. And, last question, how many freshman take summer classes ? I want to take a calculus course so I can take on physics and orgo chem. freshman year. Wait, I lied two more questions. Is there a mandatory core curriculum? Ie. freshman writing seminiar..some history classes..etc. And how much does U of T even cost for biology international students, i cant find an accurate amount anywhere.
Thanks
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Just in case you’ve been too busy dissecting worms to notice the current literary trend, paragraphs do exist, and you should use them. It’s really hard for me to read that wall of text without feeling like my eyes are going to start springing out of their sockets. Oh whoops, one of them’s popped out already.
Anyway, you were wondering whether I could tell you the percentage of Trinity students that are:
- in the arts vs. the sciences
- Caucasian vs. Asian/Hispanic/ Middle Eastern/ International/American Indian/Black
- male vs. female
- commuters vs. residence kids
My answer is a resounding no, for two reasons. First of all, I don’t know much about Trinity, and there is no way that I will be able to find out the about their demographics, unless I somehow hack into their database (I don’t even know if they even keep track of their own demographics). Second of all, I feel like you are making too big of a deal over this demographics business, when it shouldn’t be an issue that matters to you that much.
I have heard that there are a lot of International Relations, life science, and Ethics students at Trinity. But this is just what I have heard, and you should take everything you’ve heard about Trinity with a grain of salt. Besides, there are a lot of life science students in every college. Trinity miiiiight attract a larger percentage of arts students because of their Trin One program, but again, that’s just a guess. Anyway, you are not going to be ONLY hanging out with people from your college. You’ll undoubtedly meet people in your program who are not going to be in your college, so I don’t see what the big hoo-ha is.
Moving on to the race issue: honey, you’re going to be coming to Toronto. Last time I checked, Toronto is one of the most multicultural cities in the world. So there’s no reason to be scared that Trinity is somehow going to be non-multicultural. I highly doubt Trinity is 80% Caucasian, as you cousin claims. If you take a look at Cynthia’s Trinity article, the Dean of Trinity claims that their college is among the most culturally diverse colleges, with students from different ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds, and I daresay that the Dean knows more about his college than a St. Mike’s student who probably just likes trashing Trinity.
Male vs. female: This is a pointless question. There are males in University, and there are females in University. There are males in the real world and females in the real world. Big surprise there. It’s not like 99% of the students here are guys and 1% are girls. I don’t know what shelter you’ve been under, but you’re going to need to learn how to get along with both sexes. Moving on?
Commuters vs. Res people: Trinity’s website says that there are approximately 425 students living in their residences, and approximately 1800 students total, so … around 24% of their students live on residence. Again, though, I don’t see what the big fuss is. You can make friends and get along with both commuters and people who live on res. UofT is an extremely diverse University, and your social circle doesn’t necessarily have to be from your college.
Here are some more demographics that you might find helpful in your University choice. 70% of Trinity students prefer McDonald’s to Burger King. 24% of Trinity students prefer Firefox to Internet Explorer. 62% of Trinity students watched Avatar this year. 51% of Trinity students can’t tell the time. 100% of Trinity students think I’m pretty.
Okay, I lied. I just made those up (except for the last one). But do you get my point? Why should demographics matter? You’re going to meet people of all shapes and sizes at University, wherever you go. At the end, UofT is an extremely diverse University in one of the most multicultural cities in the world.
It is indeed possible to switch colleges. You can switch colleges after your first year (you can ask me how if you actually decide to switch after first year). Yes, UC has single dorms, but I don’t think ALL first-year students at UC get single dorms.
Regarding grade deflation: personally, I’m from a small department (physics), so I haven’t really experienced this. I have, however, heard that the averages for 1st year life science courses usually end up at a C or C+. I’m guessing that perhaps around 10-20% of students (or more) in a class get A’s, so you will definitely not be striving to become the only person in the class with an A. Your claim that you need to get a 4.0 GPA unless it kills me? kind of worries me. It?s great that you have ambitious dreams, and it’s true that some med schools may be extremely harsh in their GPA cutoff. However, getting past that perfectionist mentality might make your undergraduate career more enjoyable (and isn?t that the important thing?). Just like the old saying ?no one ever died of a broken heart?, no one ever died of a B or two.
Many first-year students take summer classes, and you can take up to 2 credits in the summer. I myself took a summer course last year. So yeah. It’s not that rare. Oh wait. Are you talking about the summer BEFORE your first year at UofT? If so, then that’s an issue you’re going to have to sort out with the Trinity registrar. Go email them and ask!
There is no mandatory first-year curriculum. However, MOST (but not all) first-year life science students take two semesters of biology, chemistry, physics, and calculus. Breadth requirements do exist, but you don’t necessarily have to complete them all in first year. You CAN take first-year seminars, which are nice, small (24 students max) classes that can be used to fulfill your breadth requirements, but you don’t NEED do. Nothing’s mandatory.
Your tuition depends on your college; some colleges have slightly higher fees than others. You can find last year’s tuition fees on this site. Last year, international students had to pay $23,415.78 CA (you’re under category ‘1.’ on that webpage); next year, the tuition might be a lil higher.
Anyway, that’s about it. Hope this helps.
