hey hey sailors,
just a little aska announcement that i’ll be going offline for the winter break, so any questions that come in won’t be answered until school starts again in the new year. i need a break.
your college registrars will also be closed, from dec 24 to jan 5, so don’t go treading through the snow to find them during the holidays. i know we all love them a lot but they also need a break. from the work, not from you ofc.
so yeah, see y’all in a bit.
over and out,
aska
hey, im in grade 12 and i applied to victoria. i know that starez is opening in a few days, and i’ll have to chose a residence to stay in for my first year
from your experience, what’s the best residence in victoria college (upper/lower burwash, rowell jackman, annesley etc.)
hey there,
thanks for asking!
soooooo i have actually never lived in a victoria college residence. i actually live in a little cottage on the moon.
so i’m not sure i’ll be much help on the personal experience side of things, but maybe i can point you towards some resources that might help?
the first thing i would recommend is to tour the residences, but i’m assuming that’s probably not in the cards if you’re asking this question on here. another option would be to see a virtual tour. i think it’s cool that those exist now, and from what i can see these are high quality and have a nice user experience lol.
you can also see videos about each of the residences at the bottom of this page, and more on the bottom of this page.
i’d highly recommend that you do your research and make a decision based on what each one offers and how they would fit your needs. for example, do you want to live with a roommate? how many roommates do you think you can handle? do you want to live with the opposite gender? do you want a kitchen? how many people can you stomach sharing a bathroom with? (it gets kinda gross, i’ve heard).
i know that all vic students are required to buy a meal plan, so maybe you don’t think you’ll need a kitchen. but i had some friends in first year who had meal plans and realized they really missed having a kitchen, and were trying to boil noodles in their kettles. having a kitchen also means having a fridge and freezer. ice cream requires a freezer. just some things to consider.
here’s a quick rundown of what all the 5 residences offer.
annesley hall
annesley hall is an all-women’s residence, which offers a music room and library. here, you’ll be living in either single, double, or triple rooms. you can see the floor plan here.
margaret addison hall
margaret addison hall is traditional dorm co-ed style with a common room and kitchen on each floor, floor plan here. they have single or double rooms here, and also music practice rooms, study areas, kitchenettes, and 6 common rooms.
rowell jackman hall
rowell jackman is an apartment style dorm with both single-gender and co-ed options. each suite has a kitchen, common room, one or two bathrooms, a kitchen, and a living room. idk what the difference would be between a common room and living room, but i guess they have both? and in this apartment-style suite, you’ll be with 3 to 7 other students, in single or double rooms.
i was gonna say that this place seems like the best to me, but it does say that it’s mainly a residence for upper year students and first-years are only sometimes placed here in the double rooms. the rowell jackman floor plan is here.
upper burwash hall
upper burwash hall has co-ed single and double rooms. on each floor is a kitchenette, small eating area, and common room. washrooms are co-ed and the floor plan is here.
lower burwash hall
finally, lower burwash hall offers single, double, and triple rooms with “semi-private” washrooms, whatever that means. again, each floor has a kitchenette and common room. floor plan is here.
full transparency, i just got all that info from this official vic website. sorry that i couldn’t offer you any scathing personal opinions on vic residences. but if you don’t have social anxiety, you could absolutely just send a DM to some vic student group instagram accounts asking if anyone could give their personal opinion on the residences. students are behind those accounts and will see your message, it’s just a matter of whether they have the energy to respond. doesn’t hurt to ask though!
here. i’ll happily dox them for you: @vusac @viccollegelife @vicscarletandgold @vicorientation
and this is how i find out vic college has an mma club?!
if you really wanted to, you could also reach out to the vic registrar at vic(.)registrar(@)utoronto(.)ca , since they have people there who are available to help with new student transitions and answer student questions specific to victoria college.
anyhoo. hope this was sort of helpful? wishing you the best first year ever!
over and out,
aska
Hi Aska!! I’m a grade 12 student who’s thinking of applying to Arts & Science at the St. George Campus. I was just wondering what the workload is like?? Like how much time do you spend in lectures? How much homework is there? How long does it take to do the homework? I’m a pretty big procrastinator, so I’m really scared that I won’t be able to handle the university workload 🙁
hey there,
ok first off, love you for specifying the faculty and campus! and second, this is so real of you, i remember lots of people wondering about this when i was in high school.
just a disclaimer to start off: the workload would sort of depend on whether you’re in humanities/social sciences or the life science/physical sciences side of things. i do however, actually happen to have one major in social sciences and my other major in life sciences, so i feel like i can speak to both. just please remember that this is one person’s experience and everyone’s is different!
workload
so the overall workload just depends on how many courses you’re taking. each semester, people usually take five (or four) courses at a time. you will hear about people taking six, but in every instance they are super busy and school is the only thing they do — aka no extracurriculars or jobs. so taking more than 5 courses is not super recommended by anyone and is pretty rare. anyways, my humble opinion is that four courses is the sweet spot, and by taking four courses per semester, students are usually able to get better grades and get the most out of each course. (that is, if you are able to. i know some people have to take five courses because they can’t take summer courses and stuff).
within my four courses, i have been taking two life-sci and two social science courses at a time, to balance it out.
for some context: life sci/physical sciences will almost always have practicals and/or tutorials, which will increase your time spent in class. you’ll be assessed mainly on tests/quizzes and problem sets or lab reports. there’s a lot of memorization and the end-of-term assessment will pretty much always be an exam. meanwhile, social sciences/humanities will have longer readings, and assignments are fewer but heavier weighted. here, end-of-term assessments could either be a long essay or an exam.
take from that what you will.
how long does it take to do the homework/study
man, i wish i tracked how much time i spent doing each of my assignments, but i don’t. and i can’t really generalize about this because there are so many different types of assignments.
so i guess i can tell you how much time i spend generally studying/writing essays/doing assignments? uhhhh it might scare you off but i know you asked this question wanting honesty so i have no choice but to give it to you straight:
generally, i spend all my time working, unless i’m cooking, going grocery shopping, or sleeping. every weekend of the semester, i study from noon to night time. often, if my lecture is recorded, i’m skipping it to finish the assignment for said class, and then watching the lecture back in 2x speed. annnd during this past exam season, i was studying from around 7am to 11pm almost every single day for 3 weeks straight.
BUT before you start running, i’m pretty sure this isn’t true of the average U of T student. keep in mind that i do still have the time to work two part time jobs and volunteer on the side. it’s also a known fact that i spend a lot more time on things than others, just because that’s how i’ve always done school, and i like to be super thorough. i am not, however, an anomaly. my old roommate studied even more than i did and i literally never saw her leave her room to do anything fun the whole semester.
which brings me to this: your time spent studying will mainly depend on what grades you’re shooting for. people who are aiming for grad school usually spend more time on their work because they need better grades, but if you aren’t planning on going to grad school and just trying to pass, your workload will look a whole lot different. i, and my aforementioned roommate, just choose to suffer because we’re both trying to get the best grades we can for grad school.
how much time i spend in lecture
i’m going to include tutorial time into this total, because that also counts as class time. (in case you’re not familiar, lecture is the instructive class time that happens in larger groups, tutorial is added to some courses as smaller more focused discussion/assignment time).
i am taking four classes this semester, and i have 10 hours of lecture/tutorial and 3 hours of lab per week. last fall, i was also taking four courses, and i had 12 hours of lecture/tutorial and 3 hours of lab per week. each year, i’ve averaged around 11 hours of lecture/tutorial per week, taking 4-5 courses per semester.
idk what 11 hours of lecture tells you, but an important point i want to highlight is that your time spent in lecture is not indicative of your workload. it’s all about what’s assigned, how long your readings are, and how many assessments you have. you’ll see some people with schedules that are super full and other people with schedules that look sparse, and tbh, they’re often the same amount of busy.
handling the transition to uni
i’d say the workload is definitely a jump from high school, and to be so honest, it took sweat and tears to adjust during my first year. what i would recommend to make this transition easier is to take first year foundation courses — these are super cool courses that you can only take in first year, maxed at 25 people per class. in my experience, the professors of these classes make more of an effort to transition you into uni, like teaching you tips on how to write your first uni paper and stuff.
if you’re worried about procrastination, i will say that i recently wrote a post about how i learned to deal with procrastination in university, which you can find here. maybe it’ll tell you a bit about what it’s like dealing with procrastination and the U of T workload? but also, there are a vast amount of academic resources available at U of T to help you out.
for example, there are learning strategists that can do things like help you out a lot with study habits, preparing for your exams, or managing your time. there are even peer mentors that can do the same thing if you’d rather it come from a fellow student in the same boat as you. i have some friends with ADHD, and accessibility services helps them find accommodation for that in their classes and deadlines. there are registered study groups that are formed for most courses, which can really help with procrastination. your college registrar also offers learning strategists and academic advisors, and you will have counselling services at health and wellness available to you as a U of T student.
this is in no way an exhaustive list, U of T offers more resources than i can put in a single post. the gist is that if you’re worried about procrastination, i want you to know that there are ways to navigate that and you are able to succeed at an academically rigorous institution while dealing with procrastination.
overall..
i really don’t want to scare you off but i also don’t want to lie. the reality is that the workload at U of T is genuinely hard to handle for everyone. but it’s not a U of T specific problem, university is just built to stress you out and make you work hard. i know plenty of other people at other universities who are also very busy, i think that’s just part of the deal you take when you go to university.
i do choose to put up with this rigorous workload for a reason, and that’s because i personally think that the pros of U of T outweigh the cons. i am throwing up while saying this but nothing worthwhile is gonna come easily and U of T is a very. good. school. the opportunities that come with it are numerous and high quality, and you will come out with a world-class education. there are SO many good things about going to U of T that make it worth it.
and finally, just remember to take this all with a grain of salt, because i’m sure other people will have different opinions on things i’ve said here. everyone’s uni experience is different!
over and out,
aska
hey! so im a first year who was switched into social science from life science because of a grade requirement in grade 12. im taking all life sci courses currently but im worried i wont get all the courses i need for a lifesci program next year because of my admissions category. how would i switch back to life sci? is it an easy switch or would i have to jump through a lot of hoops??
hey there,
omg twin, where have you been.
first off, i can tell you that it will all be ok, because i did this myself. when i was in first year, i was in the social sciences admission category, but then after getting into social science programs i decided i sorta hated it. i then spent my second year taking pre-req courses for my life sci program and got in the summer after my second year.
you’ll be in a better position if you’re already taking life sci courses during your first year. but it would be helpful if i knew exactly which life sci program you wanted to get in to? like are you taking the first year pre-req courses this year? or does the program not have any pre-reqs?
check if your program has pre-reqs
because there are two types of programs — open and limited. this website does a great job of explaining the difference, if you want to check it out. but basically, some programs will have a list of first year courses you need to take to get into the program when you apply the summer after your first year, while other programs are “open”, with no required courses.
what you’ll want to do to figure this out is search “your program” art sci calendar on google. for example, this is the art sci calendar’s page for biology. if you click on the drop-down for the biology major, you’ll see that it says “open enrolment program” under enrolment requirements. so that means anyone who applies can get in.
however, if you look at the immunology page and click on the drop-down for the immunology major, it says something different under enrolment requirements. here, it says “limited enrolment program”, and lists courses that you have to take in order to get into the major.
so essentially, all you have to do to get into your life sci program is take the pre-requisites (and sometimes, meet the required grade threshold of those pre-requisites). but if there are no pre-requisites, you’re literally chilling. it doesn’t matter what admission category you’re in, anyone can get in.
to make it easier, i was told that admission category don’t mean anything, and they just make things seem more complicated than they really are. they do not tie you down in any way. the only program that i know actually requires you to be in their admission category is the comp sci specialist.
if you haven’t taken pre-reqs yet:
now, going back to your question of whether you have to jump through hoops. if you are already taking all the pre-req courses you need this year, or if your program has no pre-reqs, then you will have no hoops to jump through. all you gotta do is click the button to enrol during program enrolment and you’ll have switched to life sci.
however, if you have not taken required pre-reqs yet, i fear there will be some hoops. they will be jumpable, but they will be a lil frustrating.
the main thing that got me was enrolment priority on courses. i have an inkling this might be the same issue you also run into, since you mentioned you’re worried you won’t get the courses you need for your program?
basically, during enrolment, some courses are restricted to certain student groups who have “priority” for a few weeks, until they open up enrolment to everyone else after. often, if the course is popular, it’ll just fill up during the priority period.
in my case, the pre-req courses like MAT135 and BIO120 that i needed were restricted to “only first years in life sciences” during the priority enrolment period. i was worried because i literally needed them to get into my program and was watching the numbers slowly fill up as i waited for general enrolment period to come.
in the end, they did not fill up. but by the time i could enrol, all the good lectures and tutorials had been taken and i had to deal with the most diabolical schedule. (i am being a little dramatic but what else am i here on this earth to do).
so it ended up fine, but it was super stressful. i highly highly recommend seeing an academic advisor at your college registrar to help you figure it out, because that’s what i did — i don’t think i could have done it alone.
but yeah, that’s the only thing that made the switch to life sci difficult. still, i was pretty surprised that all you need to do to switch from social sci to life sci was take the pre-req courses and it was a lot simpler than it seemed. and now, i’m really glad i made that decision despite how scary it felt.
so i hope this all made sense and answered your question. best of luck to you, you’ve got this!
over and out,
aska
Hiii! I’ve just applied to UTSC for the English Major, and I was wondering if my grade 11 marks are going to be considered as well? I’m a little worried because due to unexpected circumstances I was only able to complete one semester and I’m taking the other semester courses this year along with my grade 12 courses. I dont know if this will affect my acceptance since the grade 11 courses I took were in the range of 85%-60%. I hope someone can help me out with this! Have a good day!
hey there,
yeah, it makes sense that you’re worried about this, this is a really common question! not that you’re basic. you’re special in my heart.
so all applicants to U of T are considered based on their top six academic grade 12 courses. since you’re applying to the english program, english 12 will have to be included in your roster of top six grades — it’s a pre-requisite and it would be crazy if they didn’t look at your english marks when you’re applying to english.
anyways, these six grades are then used to calculate your admission average. according to this website, the admission requirements for english at UTSC say that you would need an average approximately in the mid-70s to high-70s to be competitive.
however, your grade 11 marks that you took last year will still matter, since your marks from this year won’t be fully out when you send in your application. and how much they matter kinda depends on a bunch of uncontrollable factors. like, when your high school releases interim marks, how intense the competition is in the applicant pool, etc.
basically, U of T will look at your grade 11 marks if you applied during the early application period. but, to my understanding, if those marks don’t quite make the cut, you will be considered again when your grade 12 marks start coming out.
overall, it honestly seems to me like you might be fine??? since your marks land right in the mid-70s range that’s required. but like, remember that i’m not a U of T admissions officer or recruiter!
so this is not official advice. if you wanted that, i would recommend attending one of these ask a recruiter sessions. U of T does a bunch of web casts and chat sessions where you can talk to recruiters and get answers in real time. i’ve never attended one, but i’ve heard they’re helpful.
and yeah, that’s it. hope this made sense, and good luck with the rest of your grade 12 year! and sorry i made you wait so long for this answer, final exams the past 2 weeks obliterated me.
over and out,
aska
Hello, I am a 16 year old student and I had a quick question related to a reel I saw. In this reel, it says that colleges and universities release something called a common data set, which shows the acceptance percentage based on marks. I was wondering if uoft has a common data set or something similar to it that poses the same information.
hey there,
common data set? we don’t know her. unfortunately, U of T does not release this.
honestly, it might be because there are so many admission categories, all of which require different grades and courses. and that’s just in arts & sciences — there are also different faculties, like rotman, architecture, music, etc. plus, things change a lot every year.
the closest thing that i can point you towards is the U of T admission bulletin. this is like, the number one resource for finding out everything you need to know when applying to U of T. if you scroll to the bottom, you’ll see a huge chart of all the areas of study at U of T, their pre-requisites, and what programs types are offered. there are also approximate grade ranges listed for some programs.
on top of that, i spent some time looking through U of T’s data website and found a U of T data figure about how many students apply, how many are admitted, and how many register each year. you can also see in this one how many students are enrolled per each field of study at U of T.
i know these don’t provide exactly what you were looking for, but i hope these provided some sort of useful information for you.
anyway. if you’re 16, you’re doing a great job in thinking ahead. i’d say at this point of high school, the best thing you can do is just look at the admission category you’re considering (if you know that yet), and make sure you’re planning to take the grade 12 course pre-requisites you need.
you might also wanna peruse my past posts in the “applying for U of T” category. and “admissions” category. there are a lot of common questions you might useful there.
and yea, that’s it from me. happy to help if you’ve got more questions! <3
over and out,
aska
hi friendos,
did you know there’s a student-run food bank on campus? since the weather is getting colder, i thought it might be good to let folks know about this resource.
the place in question is the UTSU food bank, which can be found at 230 college street (in the student commons building at the corner of huron and college).
this is an accessible building, and you can go to food bank room 136 to pick up food every friday, 11am to 3pm by appointment. to make an appointment, you’ll book a slot on this site — bookings open up every wednesday at 9am.
when you show up, just make sure to bring a valid T card or a copy of your current timetable (to verify you’re a U of T student), and reusable bags for carrying food. but if you can’t pick up food between 11am and 3pm, you’re able to assign a proxy by giving them your T-card!
for this fall semester, the food bank will run until dec 13, 2024 — but it’ll open up again for the winter semester in january.
meanwhile, if this food bank doesn’t work for you, check out 211 ontario, where you can find a directory of local food resources near you. there are also several community fridges spread throughout downtown toronto. you can find a super pretty map of these here.
on that note, i encourage anyone who sees this to donate to toronto community fridges! it’s literally so easy, they’re covered in colorful paintings so they’re easy to spot, you just open it up and put food in! i also saw that the UTSU food bank is currently taking volunteer applications for the winter semester btw.
and that’s it from me, i’ll be happy if even one person finds this useful. let me know if you’d like more posts about similar U of T resources, or places to get cheap groceries near campus, etc etc!
over and out,
aska
Hi there! I hope you’re doing good. I’m a grade 12 student who’s really interested in applying to the Rotman Commerce program at St. George campus and I planned ahead for grade 12 by taking advanced functions and calculus in the summer, which I ended off in low 90s with (yay!). Unfortunately though, from grade 11 I have 3 bad marks (in chemistry, physics and functions) but got 90s in all 6 other classes. Even though I’m applying for business, I’m scared that those 3 bad grades are going to show. I had low-mid 60s in functions and physics and then I failed chemistry, but I’m not pursuing science and so now I’m scared it’ll ruin my chances if UofT looks at my grade 11 grades since I have one failed class. I took Advanced Functions in the summer to fully focus on getting a high grade and to make up for the bad functions grade. ^ I apologize for how long it is since I just wanted to provide some context but:
I’m really sorry for the bother again!! Thank you so much and I hope you have a good one!!
hey there,
thanks for this question! i really appreciate the way you formatted it — i love having context, and i love organized, specific, and direct questions. biggest gold star for you. most of the time, i am staring at questions like this:
anyways bro, let me put you on this year’s rotman commerce viewbook. on page 12, it goes over the admissions process for ontario high school applicants. and based on the fact that you said you took advanced functions, i’m going to assume you’re from ontario.
here, under “ontario high school admission requirements”, it says that special attention will be given to calculus & vectors (MCV4U), since it’s a pre-requisite to get into rotman. to be a competitive applicant, you need to have marks in/above the high 80s in both english and calculus. (you can also cross reference this with the rotman commerce admission category page, which says that the two pre-requisite courses for rotman are english and calculus. so these are the courses that admission will care the most about.)
this page says that “all grade 11 and 12 courses may be considered“, and the average from all your grade 11 and 12 courses should be in the mid-high 80s and above. also, it doesn’t say it here, but U of T will look at your complete academic record when considering you for admission. it’s just that they look most closely at your pre-req courses.
so will the science classes you did badly in have an impact on your chances? will they look at your grade 11 functions mark? honestly, maybe, but probably not that much. these marks won’t be the main thing your admission is based on. most of the emphasis will be on your grade 12 marks. however, they will see those bad marks, as part of looking at your whole record. and those marks will impact your overall total average, so.
another reason why your grade 11 marks will matter is that your grade 12 marks won’t be fully out yet when you apply. this means that conditional admission offers are made through the year based on your grade 11 finals and grade 12 interim marks.
however, there is some good news! the thing with rotman is that admission is not purely based on grades, which makes it different from applying to general arts & science categories. there is something called a supplemental application that you will submit, which has a sort of interview-like function, to showcase your skills and experiences. so like, if you’re worried about your marks, you might wanna cook on the supplemental application.
overall, it’s just a matter of how all these moving parts balance out in the end. your marks in grade 11 science are not the make-or-break factor in your application, and there are a lot of things the university will look at. all you can do now is lock in and get the best marks you can in grade 12, and make yourself shine in that supplemental application. you’ve got experiences! you’ve got skills! you can do it.
finally, does U of T mind that you took functions in the summer online?
good news, they will not mind! they don’t really care when you complete your courses, and summer classes are not seen any differently than fall/winter classes.
and yeah, i hope this somewhat cleared things up?? best of luck to you, please send another ask if you’ve got more questions or are still confused. you’ve got thisss!!!!
over and out,
aska
hey folks,
i have another important psa for y’all. this is about final exams, so tune those fried attention spans in and listen up.
in the past years, if you couldn’t make it to your exam due to extenuating circumstances, you were able to submit a request to defer your exam.
you used to have until 5 days after the exam period to submit this request.
this final exam period, you now only have 3 business days after the exam to submit your petition. this applies to all exam types, including deferred exams, re-deferred exams, and exam re-writes.
keep in mind within these 3 days, you’ll also have to gather up supporting documentation to submit along with your petition. ie, verification of illness or injury, etc.
so if you’ve deferred an exam in the past and think you have lots of time to submit a petition, you don’t anymore. #lifeissofun
i highly encourage that you read up more on deferred exams here.
over and out,
aska
p.s. this title makes no sense unless you’re chronically online i’m sorry.
Hello!! I was wondering how hard it is to transition from Physics to Biological Physics/ Mathematical and Physical Sciences to Life Sciences, assuming I get accepted into the Physics program. I see that I have to take BIO130 to get into the Biological Physics specialist program, but I don’t have Biology Gr12 (Needed for BIO130). Is there any way to waiver that prerequisite for BIO130, or do I have to let go of the biological physics program 🙁
hey there,
i’m assuming you’re currently in first year? these are some great questions, and it’s actually really common to be confused about all this. i literally went to my registrar confused about this exact same stuff (different program switches though) during my first year.
let’s go through it together, and hopefully i can help clear things up.
how hard it is to transition between science departments
switching programs is actually SO much easier than it seems, especially within the sciences. i’d be a little more worried for you if you wanted to switch, say, between physics and architecture, but going from physics to bio is definitely on the simpler side. people do that all the time, and you’re gonna be ok!
pretty much, to switch programs, all you have to do is get into the program you want to switch to. you are not locked in to anything!
the first thing to note is that there are two types of programs in the faculty of arts & science: open and limited. i’d recommend you check out this sid smith website, which gives a great overview of how open/limited programs work.
for open programs, there are no required courses, you just need to have an expected completion of 4.0 credits to get in. basically, if you’ll have 4.0 credits done by the end of your first year, you apply during the spring of your first year. no application is required – for open programs, you literally just click the enrol button in acorn.
for limited programs, you’ll have to complete 4.0 credits, but also might have to complete required courses with certain minimum grades. these requirements are different according to the program.
so what this all means is that you can switch pretty easily between physics and bio programs. i took a look, and almost all the bio programs are open enrolment! you can check it out yourself here. click on the programs to see their drop down descriptions, where it’ll say whether the program is open or limited.
getting into the biological physics specialist program
the biological physics specialist program is actually also an open enrolment program, all four streams of it. you’ll see this on that page i just linked, if you click the drop down of each stream of this program, each of them says “open enrolment”.
this means that there are no required courses to get into the program! you can automatically enrol at the end of your first year if you’ve completed 4.0 credits.
i see that you think you’ll have to take bio130 to get in to the biological physics program. but what you might have gotten confused about is enrolment requirements vs. completion requirements. don’t worry, i also got these confused during my first year.
just because a first-year course is listed on the program page, doesn’t mean you have to take it to get in. you actually don’t need to take all your first-year courses in first year, you can absolutely take them in second year too. it’s more like a suggestion of how to organize your years, but not a rule whatsoever.
if you look at one of the biophysics specialist stream pages, like the physiology stream, you’ll see that there are no courses listed under “enrolment requirements”, so there are no required courses to get in.
bio130 is instead listed as a first-year course under “completion requirements”. so you just need to take this course sometime during undergrad to graduate from the program, not to enrol in the program.
getting into bio130
i’ve got good news for ya: there’s actually a way that you can take bio130 even without having taken grade 12 biology! according to the artsci calendar’s page on bio130, it does say you need to have gr. 12 biology and chemistry. but it also says if you don’t have these, you can just get the permission of the department, by emailing bio130(@)utoronto(.)ca .
i had this problem in my first year with bio120! i thought i couldn’t take it because you needed gr. 12 bio, which i didn’t have. but all i needed to do was send them an email, and they said something along the lines of “yes, you’re allowed to take it but just be warned that people who haven’t taken gr. 12 bio tend to get worse marks in the course or drop it. so take it at your own risk”.
if they tell you something similar, do not be scared off! this intimidated me and i entered the course with so much fear but i think it’s funny that it ended up being one of my easiest courses LOL.
so yeah, i hope i explained this clear enough and that it helped somewhat. the tldr is: check if a program is open or limited enrolment. it’s super easy to switch if it’s open, which most bio programs are. the one you want is open, so yay. and also, you can get the pre-requisite for bio130 waived if you email the department.
best of luck!
over and out,
aska
Hey Aska, do you have any advice or personal strategies that have helped you for avoiding procrastination? I don’t know if I’m burnt out or don’t feel like doing any work but I desperately need to be more productive. I’ve been putting my assignments off until I feel the panic streaming through my bones and it can’t be healthy. Not sure what to do about it, I’m only in lifesci but my work load is crazy. Don’t know if you’ve dealt with procrastination but I’ll take any tips. Thanks.
hey there,
my brother, my buddy, my comrade, my pal. i feel you.
you are not alone and it’s so normal to feel this at U of T, regardless of what program you’re in. i gotta be honest, the life sci work load is truly crazy and i don’t even have the time to wrap my head around how it’s humanly possible to get all your work done — your panic is not your fault, the system is just built in a panic-inducing way, methinks.
but man, i’m sorry you’re feeling that way, it really sucks.
well, i am proud to inform you that i consider myself a highly practiced procrastinator, and like you, am also constantly feeling the panic streaming through my bones. especially this midterm season, it’s been crazy.
anyway. i’d tell you it might be helpful to see a learning strategist at your college registrar, because that is a resource that is helpful for some people, though i’ve never tried it myself. but i’m sure that’s already on your radar, and so are the array of the university’s mental health resources.
the best i can do is just share what sort of works for me and what strategies i use. i am far from having it all figured out, but i do struggle with procrastination like you, so maybe something here will be helpful for you.
my first tip is to plan all your deadlines and assessments out in some sort of calendar system. there are so many out there that it’s too much to attempt to find the best one, but what you can do is find one that works for your purposes right now. at one point, that was notion for me. then, it was those little brown muji planners. then, at one point i didn’t plan anything out and kept it all in my head (it didn’t go well). now, i use google calendar.
what i look for in a calendar is the ability to add colour — specifically, the colour red, which i use to highlight all my big assessments/tests. this adds Urgency and i need that. and what i like about google calendar is you can add time-events that block off hours in your day AND to-do list tasks AND day-events that just sit at the top of your schedule.
ahh ok i’m realizing this is hard to describe but i also don’t really wanna add a screenshot of my calendar here lol. so lmk if you want a more in-depth post about the calendar planning side of time management.
anyway, planning things out visually is super helpful for me because while i plan, it induces panic ahead of time as i’m writing it all out — which is a good thing! it tells me i need to get on top of things now and not later. it also helps you see how much work you’ll have per week in the next month, which can indicate how you should be balancing your work.
2. small steps
my next tip comes from a counsellor i once saw in first year, and it is directly targeted towards procrastination.
a lot of the time, the reason we procrastinate is because a task feels too big or daunting, and so we try not to deal with it until we absolutely have to. so breaking your task into small steps is a really effective way to take away how big the task feels to us.
for example, you’ve got to study for a midterm in 3 days, and there’s just so much content to get through, you missed a couple lectures, and haven’t done a single reading since the first week of class. so you feel overwhelmed and don’t know where to start. well, what i would do (and what i did, because this happened to me last week) is break this situation into smaller steps.
first, go through the lecture slides that you missed, and make that a separate task in itself: so now, you’ve just got to catch up on a lecture.
YAY, one step done.
then, you’ve got to catch up on the readings. this feels big again, so what i do is break the reading list apart into the weeks they were assigned to, and make a goal of how many weeks to get through in how many hours, depending on the reading lengths.
see what i’m getting at? rather than letting your brain go “oh no i have to catch up on a semester’s worth of content in three days and somehow memorize it all”, let it go “ok so right now, in this moment, i just have to watch this lecture recording”. it makes things a lot more do-able.
and if you’re really overwhelmed, it doesn’t even have to be “watch this lecture recording”. it can literally be, “fill up my water. load quercus, load the lecture. open my notes”, etc. etc.
3. dismantle yo’ fears
disclaimer: i have zero qualifications, i just love to psychoanalyze things and i’ve done a lot of thinking about this so hear me outttt (or scroll past, whatever).
ok. so while we can take care of how large a task is, we can also take care of how daunting it is. for example, think of some big deadline or assignment that’s stressing you out right now. for me, that’s a 15 page personal essay that i’ve got to write for one of my classes. then, think about why it’s scaring you. what exactly is so scary about it?
just sit and ponder that for a sec.
procrastinating is just a natural human response to a stressor — like the fight, flight, or freeze response. procrastination is the freeze. and depending on the person and situation, they procrastinate not because of a lack of motivation, but because they’re scared of one of the following things:
so for me, if i really think about why my 15-page paper is scaring me, i realize that i don’t want to start because i want to write absolute Bars and get a high mark on it. meanwhile, i’m also trying to avoid the stress i associate with writing a long paper — but it’s not like putting it off is going to solve any of that, in fact, it will only work against me!!!!
so basically, really thinking about why that thing scares you and dismantling it is one man’s way to conquer the anxiety of starting big assignments/tasks.
4. rest when you’re resting
my final tip also comes from that counsellor i saw. and it is to take proper breaks and draw clear boundaries between rest and work. you mentioned that you’re not sure if you’re burnt out or don’t feel like doing work, so i think this one might help you.
a problem that i (and several people i know) have is that when we take a break, we’re not really taking a break because the whole time we’re stressing about all the work we should be doing. so while we say we’re resting, our brain is still in drive-mode and is not resting.
as a result, this defeats the whole purpose of taking a break and then when you’ve got to lock in again, you still feel mentally exhausted. so it can be helpful to just being aware of this and consciously try to make a clear boundary between time set aside for work and time set aside for rest.
i also realize this is a pretty abstract instruction, so what this can tangibly look like is making your boundary physical. i heard somewhere that setting different environments for different things is super important because your brain will unconsciously associate an activity with that environment or something.
for example, a big one is not working in bed. doing work while laying in bed tells your brain that bed is an environment for working and resting, rather than just resting. or, having a different table for eating meals and another one for working. whatever is feasible for your living environment!
and, yeah. i’ll end it here cause this was another long post and i don’t want to bore the masses.
overall, i really hope that this was helpful in some small way or another. U of T is so notoriously hard and it’s a natural response to feel burnt out in this environment. it’s rough out here, but you’ve got this! best of luck to you <3.
over and out,
aska
hi what are your recommendations and pros and cons for your favorite places on/near campus to study? i need to stop living at robarts.
hey there,
well, have you have come to the right place! i happen to pride myself on knowing better places to study than robarts. you’ll never catch me setting foot in there during midterm/exam season, you can literally feel the stress in the air emanating off students. no, i am a proud “i-know-a-spot” culprit and i am so glad you asked.
it’s great that you’re looking for alternatives to robarts, because imo, changing up your study spot regularly can do wonders for your quality of life. if i study in the same place for weeks and don’t rotate it out, the walls start to look like we’re in a simulation, my eyes stop focusing, and i go a little crazy!
so here are my top recommendations for places to study.
on campus
if robarts didn’t exist, this one would be the classic U of T study spot. it’s a super huge place, so next to robarts, this is the library where you’ll be least likely to be fighting for a spot. the little rooms on the ends of the halls are my favorite because they have huge windows where you can look at the pretty leaves and get some good natural light in.
however, it can be a little loud sometimes in the general study areas (some people don’t take hints and you can only give so many side-eyes at their rambunctious laughter before giving up). so if you’re like me and lose focus when people talk, go on downstairs to the quiet study area.
i love how spacious this area is, and it is a great quiet space to get work done. i also love the design of the place, lol. i feel so University Student in there.
pros:
cons:
2. hart house
this is my personal favorite, just based on vibes. i feel like i can focus the best at hart house out of all my study spaces, and i’m not sure why? maybe it’s the semi-dim lighting and gothic windows.
at hart house, there’s a great space to study on the main floor, but it’s also open to the public, so sometimes there are interesting people in there. (one time my friend and i were studying and an old man just sat down at our table and started playing chess.) the main floor is sort of like a cafe experience in that sense.
but if you wanted a student-only space, there’s a great little library on the second floor. this library is a designated quiet space — actually, i would say it’s my quietest study spot on campus!
i do also see people studying in the basement’s arbor room, but i’ve never tried that myself because that’s more of a social space.
it can sometimes be hard to get a good spot here on a weekday, but it’s usually quite empty on the weekends. my favorite thing to do is snatch a spot next to the windows, because the ivy growing on the outside of the windows just looks SO PRETTY. also, in the winter, you can sit on the little cement seat below the windows and it’s literally a heated seat. or seated heater. who knows.
pros:
cons:
3. caven library at knox college
next up, another place with stunning aesthetics. i am realizing that might be my main priority when choosing a study space…
this library is famous for its gorgeous stained glass windows and is in every “U of T libraries >>” edit. it is also a designated quiet space, so we love that. eating, however, is not allowed — and if you try to eat, people will hear. it’s so quiet in there that it’ll take you 30 seconds to peel your granola bar wrapper open without it making noise.
but, i love the secludedness of the little carrels in the back and outlets are pretty accessible. this place just screams dark academia and is the place to go if you need to romanticize studying to keep yourself going.
pros:
cons:
4. e.j. pratt library
this place is a little out of the way unless you’re a vic student, but it’s so worth it. if you’re tired of U of T’s gothic tendencies, e.j. pratt looks quite modern and is just the color white. it has a very open feel since the second (and third?) floor is connected to the first through the main room.
the whole place is a quiet space except for the basement. i’m not a big fan of the second floor’s seating situations, so my personal favorite spots here are the private 2-seater carrels in the back of the main floor. there are outlets there, and it is soo good for focusing. however, these are pretty popular so it can be hard to find an available one.
pros:
cons:
near campus
this place is another gorgeous spot for productivity. it’s sort of a given that there are a lot of seats and it’s super spacious in here, since it’s, like, the toronto public library. but what’s weird is that the wifi here is unreliable sometimes??
anyways, there are so many spots to choose from here, but my favorites are the upper floor seats next to the windows that overlook the city, and the little glass cubicles on the middle floors that you need to book out. these are so entertaining to me, i feel like a zoo animal in them — great for minimizing distractions, since you are in plain view of the public and must look like you’re working.
overall, the productive energy in this building is great, and when you look at hundreds of people getting stuff done, you are filled with the motivation to also get your work done.
pros:
cons:
2. cafes!
there are so many awesome cafes near campus that you can study in. i’m not gonna go through and rate them all because that’s a bit much and this is already a long post, but i’ll list a few good ones here: wildhearts cafe, 10 dean, nabulu, moonbean, carbonic, and neo. my number one place used to be charidise on baldwin, but they have raised their prices and are now more of a restaurant than a cafe. i’m in mourning about it and will tell everyone who will listen. their popcorn chicken slaps 🙁
and, yeah! those are my study-spot recommendations on and near campus. my absolute favorite place to study on campus is a super-secret-spot that i will be gatekeeping, but other than that, know that you have just received gold. these spots will elevate your study experience and your life, trust me. pick up the phone and call that u-haul cause you are not living in robarts anymore.
over and out,
aska
hi aska! i’m on my gap year working while also aiming to get a gr 12 calc credit via TVO ILC. since i’m doing an online course right now, i’m wondering if completing a program from uoft’s school of continuing studies is a good idea. i also saw that SCS bootcamp stuff too. i got accepted to uoftsg for humanities/social sciences, and the plan was to get the business fundamentals certificate too. i’m still looking into the continuing studies programs, and the finance/marketing programs have me curious. then again, i’m unsure if it’s worth pursuing since i fear it might not be as valid on my resume compared to having a BBA. plus, juggling online courses w/ IRL courses, events, etc.
at the time i applied for undergrad, i didn’t try to get into rotman or schulich since i didn’t have the required math courses at the time of applying (or the required interest in business school lol).
i like what i’m about to pursue for undergrad but i keep thinking about getting some business stuff under my belt to increase chances of employability, and i’m becoming more interested in business and marketing. this has me wondering if i should try getting business qualifications via online programs or go to business school post-grad. what do you think? i’m thinking doing a business certificate in undergrad and then business school post-grad. thank you so much for everything you do 🙂
hey there,
no because you’re so real for this. every now and then i spiral about my program choices and think that i should get a business certificate to get those qualifications under my belt, for employability reasons. #capitalismisdestroyingmydreams
so kudos to you for taking initiative during your gap year and looking into all this stuff!
in terms of the school of continuing studies programs, it looks to me like they can be really valuable for developing marketing and finance skills. they offer so many courses and programs, and everything i see here looks great. they do also offer online finance courses, so it wouldn’t have to be in-person if you’re worried about that time commitment.
now, it’s true that getting a BBA for undergrad would weigh a whole lot more than getting certificates. however, it wouldn’t be simple or easy to switch into a BBA once you’ve been accepted into U of T. the rotman school of business says they “very rarely” take in students switching in from the faculty of arts and sciences, which you’re in right now. this would be what is called an “internal transfer” into rotman and it’s quite difficult, from what i’ve heard.
so honestly, your idea of getting the business fundamentals certificate while pursuing your humanities/social sciences degree in undergrad seems like a good middle ground. especially because you like the program that you’re currently in for undergrad and want to stay in it. that way, if you’re still feeling like you want to pursue business later, you can always pursue business school post-grad. plenty of people go that route after working for a bit.
although i am not an employer (duh), i think that getting a certificate in business fundamentals would give you a boost in employability, especially when combined with your undergrad degree. and the fact that you would have certificates + a degree from U of T, a very reputable school, will give you another huge boost.
it’s also quite strategic to combine a humanities/social sciences undergrad degree with business qualifications. that way you’ll have a more diverse set of skills, making you more well-rounded and versatile in the job world? i think.
keep in mind though, that an mba and bba serve different purposes for both your career and employability. so i’d encourage you to look into which one would fit your pursuits/needs better.
through all this, my advice to you would be to not stack too many things on yourself while pursuing your undergrad degree. if you want to take those bootcamp or continuing studies course during your gap year, great! if you wanted to do those while being a full time undergrad student, i would say perhaps don’t? especially bootcamps — those are pretty intense and just balancing your courses as an undergrad student is already a LOT. ie. make sure you can commit to what you signed up for 😀
overall, i fully support you in your business pursuits, you’re doing amazing. i hope my thoughts on the matter helped in some way. best of luck to you and your decisions! (and thanks for your patience).
over and out,
aska