• course overload,  summer

    summer course overload

    January 17, 2017

    Hi Aska,

    Just wondering, if you plan to enrol in 2.0 FCE in the Summer are you able to take an online course as well?

    Thank you for your help!

    ———————————————

    hey buddy,

    if you enrol in 2.0 FCE’s and want to enrol in one extra online course, it would be considered a course overload. to get approved for a course overload, you’ll have to set up a meeting with your registrar. during your meeting, they will look at your past grades and have a conversation with you about whether or not a course overload is practical. generally, you’re more likely to be granted an overload if you are in good academic standing and have been able to handle full course loads in the past.

    you’ll see here that the maximum course load for summer is 2.0 FCE’s.

    so yes, you are allowed, but it’s up to your registrar!

    peace and love,

    aska

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  • admissions,  applying for U of T,  averages,  life science,  summer,  UTM

    summer, night school, same diff

    January 16, 2017

    So I am currently a grade 12 student and am planning on applying to UTM for Life science. Please give me a good grasp on this, because I’ve been hearing inconsistent feedbacks from different people, but what is an average that most life science admitted students get around? I have people telling me it is super competitive where you must have high 80s at least, but I also have family friends on their 4th year saying as long as your average is above 80 and around low to mid 80s, there is nothing to worry about? So what do you think it is?

    Also, how focused are they on individual marks instead of averages? because my other courses are in low to high 80s but my advanced functions is stuck in the 70s. So I was wondering if you could give me info on that too.

    Last question, is there any discrimination against courses taken in summer or night school?

    Thank you

    ———————————————

    hi!

    the life science average is available right here and it states that you’ll need low to mid 80’s.  when information is spread from person to person, it can become quite skewed, so it’s always a good idea to go right to the source! keep in mind that admission averages change from year to year and some years can be more competitive than others.

    my understanding is that individual marks aren’t as important as your average, but if you are applying to Life Science and happen to have a high average because of A’s in humanities classes, yet you got a C in Biology, they might see that low biology mark as a red flag. enrolment services will definitely take into account classes that you took which are relevant to the program.

     

    and finally, according to the UTM admissions FAQ: “All courses are considered equivalent, whether it is day school, night school, summer school, private school or online, as long as it is completed through a Ministry of Education recognized institution and it is your first attempt at that course.”

    sound like you’re good!

    peace and love,

    aska

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  • summer

    you usually need to go to some class to pass

    April 13, 2016

    hey aska!question about summer school hoping u couid answer. UTMstudent thinking about changing programs to DEMprogram. In order to get into the program i need to take cct109,110 was considering taking it in summer school, but I recently accpected a good paying summer job and they said i could have 1hr a week to go to class. Long story short do u think i could do well in the class going to 1 hr of lecture a week? wanna take the class but but also need the money& dont want to fall1yr behind.HELP!

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    no, that’s not a good idea. CCT109 and CCT110 both have 5 hours of class per week in the summer (4 hours of lecture and one hour of tutorial, each). that’s ten hours of class altogether, not to mention the time outside of class you’ll need to spend doing readings and assignments. if you only attend 1 hour of class per week, you’re only going to 10% of your classes.

    i’m not going to tell you what to do, but you’d be risking failing those courses if you decided to only go to one hour of class a week. if you really want to do them over the summer, it may be a good idea to seek other, more flexible, part-time employment.

    best,

    aska

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  • courses,  summer

    this credit is only worth half because of the sunshine

    April 5, 2016

    Hey aska, are summer Y courses worth 1.0 credits?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    yep! all courses in the summer are worth the same number of credits as they would be in the Fall/Winter. don’t worry, you’ll still pack in the same number of hours as you would in the Fall/Winter term, but they’ll just be SQUISHED INTO a smaller number of weeks. have fun.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • OSAP,  summer

    summer money: pay for school, or buy a BIG STRAW HAT

    March 15, 2016

    Hi Aska! I plan on taking a Y course during the summer. How do I apply for OSAP during the summer session?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    what an apt and timely question!

    if you had OSAP in this Fall or Winter session, then you can apply for OSAP using this online form, which you can submit to enrolment services. the recommended deadline for that is March 31st, which is always sooner than

    if you did NOT receive OSAP in the Fall, then you’ll need to go to ontario.ca/osap in order to apply.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • financial aid,  summer

    OSAP, probation, OSAP probation

    March 2, 2016

    Hi Aska,

    A year ago, I ended up on academic probation. I was able to get off it and have been very slowly increasing my GPA since then. This year, I applied for OSAP and was told it would be the last time. That’s understandable as I’ve been a repeat offender. Anyways this year, I ended up dropping courses to save my GPA from going down. While I was taking four courses in the fall, I ended up using an LWD on one of them. This winter, I dropped two out of my four courses (so I am now a part-timer). I know what a stupid way to waste of money and time. SO because it doesn’t really matter at this point as I will not be getting anymore OSAP, is there a need for me to tell the financial office that I dropped courses?

    On another note, is there a minimum GPA requirement to take UTSG courses in the summer? And do you know if they have posted their possible summer courses?

    Thanks

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    if you were getting full-time OSAP and you’ve now dropped to a part-time course load, then yes, you should get in touch with enrolment services/your divisionally appropriate financial aid office. you need to communicate to OSAP that you’re now on a part-time course load so that the amount of aid you’re receiving can be adjusted appropriately. enrolment services can fill you in on the details about exactly how you should go about doing that, but it typically involves writing a letter to OSAP explaining why you dropped down below a 60% course load.

    there is no minimum GPA to take courses in general. if you’re on probation, you do need to make sure that you make it out of that semester with a CGPA above 1.50 to get yourself off probation.

    finally, the preliminary summer schedule is available now for your eager eyeballs to peruse!

    best,

    aska

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  • enrollment,  summer

    i can’t even conceptualize summer right now

    January 26, 2016

    Hi! When does the 2016 summer timetable come out, and when can we begin enrolling in summer courses for that session? Thank you 🙂

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    the preliminary timetable will probably be available sometime in mid-to-late February, and the final timetable in mid-March. enrolment for summer courses will be happening in late April/early May.

    so it all doesn’t get going for a while yet, but good for you for being on top of things. i could take a leaf from your book; i’m not on top of things right now, lemme tell you. i’m not even level with things. i’m like, below them, being squished by them. gee, i sure love the Winter term.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • courses,  summer

    don’t tell your mother, we’re nerds for the summer

    August 21, 2015

    Which month for the 2016 year would I apply to a summer course ?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    course enrolment in the summer began april 1 and ended may 18th this year, so have your spreadsheets out and your ACORN open for April 2nd (probably), 2016: The Final Showdown TM.

    if you’re interested in an E-enrolment indicator course (i.e. a course where you need to apply to the department to get in), then just keep in mind the specific deadline to get into that course. you may have to apply in february or march, prior to course enrolment on ACORN, to get in. those deadlines will be on the calendar and/or the department website.

    enjoy those summer courses, man. hope you have a cool, fun time like demi lovato (probably less inflatable ice cream cones on top of buildings, though):

    cheers,

    aska

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  • fees,  summer

    school isn’t cheap but neither is anything else

    July 31, 2015

    how much are summer school courses at u of t? I hear rotman courses are generally more expensive- around $1300.. But what if i want to take Psy201 for example or PHL courses? Thanks!

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    fortunately for you, the summer 2015 fees are still up, so you can peruse costs at your leisure there. actually, 0.5 commerce credits cost about $1500 this past summer (it’s more for international students).

    a regulated arts & science course however (that is, any course that is not under commerce, computer science or bioinformatics) is cheaper. 0.5 credits cost about $600 for domestic students and around $4000 for international students. that would include any psych or philosophy courses.

    keep in mind that costs go up a little bit every year, but they tend to creep rather than skyrocket, so the 2015 fee schedule is a pretty good indication of what you would be looking at in 2016.

    that’s pretty much the only redeeming fact about how much university costs: it doesn’t increase too quickly.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • repeating course,  subject POST,  summer

    math in the summer? heaven forbid

    April 24, 2015

    Hello,

    I am a first-year actuarial science student, so I have to reach 65% to get to my subject post program. I am not sure about my MAT137 mark for this term (it might be not good enough). However, I cannot stay in Canada during summer time, so I wanted to ask: is it possible to retake a course during the fall/winter 2015 term instead of summer 2015 term? Thank you in advance!

    Best regards

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    it is totally possible to retake it in the Fall/Winter term! however, you are required to enrol in a subject POSt after completing 4.0 FCEs, so if you’ve already completed 4.0 FCEs, you’ll be required to sign up for a subject POSt before the next term starts.

    meaning: if you haven’t retaken MAT137 by the end of the summer, you’ll have to sign up for some other POSt as a place-holder until you can apply to the actuarial science major in the next subject POSt enrolment period (April-September 2016).

    so just make sure you’re in either one specialist, two majors, or a major and two minors. then next year, you can apply to actuarial science and drop those place-holder POSts.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • enrollment,  summer

    down at the m-i-double-s-i-double-s-a-u-g-a

    April 7, 2015

    Hi!

    I was wondering if a St. George students take UTM courses, will the grades be counted toward GPA? Especially CGPA?

    How many courses max. can we take at other UofT campuses then?

    I’m going back to mississauga to visit family during the summer so I’m thinking about taking the summer courses at UTM to save the commute. ( also I really want to boost up my GPA T-T)

    Thank you so much!!

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    1) yes. all uoft courses show up on your uoft transcript and count towards your GPA (and CGPA), regardless of which campus you took the course at (see “Courses at University of Toronto Scarborough and University of Toronto Mississauga“).

    2) no max. there is a limit for utsc and utm students who want to take courses on other campuses (5.0 FCEs), but there isn’t one for downtown students. lucky us.

    3) i realize the last bit of your question is not actually a question, but you included it so i’m gonna add my two cents: taking courses at utm shouldn’t be a problem, BUT keep in mind that course enrolment for UTSG students at UTM doesn’t start until april 21st (see page 2).

    also: taking courses at UTM is no guarantee that the courses will be easier. the earlier you break outta that downtown-campus snobbishness, the better. take it from a fellow downtown-campus snob.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • summer

    summer study, having a blast. summer study, happened so fast

    March 26, 2015

    Hi,

    How much does 1 course worth 0.5 credits (Statistics I) cost at UTSG? Is there any financial assistance i can get (as OSAP will only cover it if i take 1.5 credits) Also, i may have to work full-time during the summer (probably shift work). DO you think taking an F course would be doable or would you advise against it?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    the Summer 2015 timetable isn’t out yet, but you can take a look at what 0.5 FCEs cost in Summer 2013 here (it was just over $700). it likely won’t deviate too much from that number this summer.

    as for financial assistance: if you were a part-time student this Fall/Winter, you are eligible for part-time OSAP and the Noah Meltz Program of Financial Assistance, so you should go ahead and apply for that. if you weren’t part-time in Fall/Winter, then unfortunately you’re not eligible for either of these.

    what i would recommend is that you talk to your college registrar’s office about bursaries that may be available through the college.

    finally, i think taking 0.5 credits in the summer and a full-time job is totally doable academically. it won’t be easy, as summer courses do move along pretty quickly, but it’s not impossible. if you dedicate yourself and work hard, it can be done. YOU CAN DO IT!!!

    cheers,

    aska

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  • summer

    when can i go on vacation???

    February 23, 2015

    Hi aska, you beautiful, beautiful soul. *you can sing the old Jesse McCartney song because I sure am* I just have a quick question about summer course dates at UTM – when the hell are they going to show up? I can’t find out when they’ll be released anywhere ;-; I need to find out what half of summer a course is offered during so I can start planning my holidays, you know? ty kindly

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    jesse mcartney? there’s a reference from an old fogey, to an old fogey. hey – right back atcha.

    unfortunately i don’t know when the summer dates will come out – just make sure to keep checking this page for updates.

    what you can do is make tentative plans based on the summer 2014 dates.

    cheers,

    aska

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