• computer science,  courses,  summer,  work-study

    mysterious impossible courses

    September 23, 2014

    Hi! I was looking at summer courses, and I came across CSC207H1Y. Would students have gotten a half-credit or a full credit? How would this impact their eligibility for a summer work-study position? Thanks.

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    i think you misread the course code there, chum. i see a CSC207H1 on the 2014 summer timetable, but no CSC207H1Y.

    and it’s a good thing, too, because ‘H1Y’ is not a thing (at least, in the faculty of arts & science – not true for the faculty of engineering, or for certain independent studies courses in artsci).

    you can’t be in a half-year course and a full-year course at the same time. unless you’re cheating.

    anyway, if you’re in a half-year course, you’d need to pick up at least 0.5 more credits over the summer to be eligible for work-study.

    cheers,

    aska

     

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  • breadth requirements,  summer

    course pickins’ over the summer

    September 4, 2014

    What is the course selection like for summer section? Can I depend on certain courses (eg, breadth requirement fillers) to be available over the summer?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    here’s the thing that a lot of incoming students get confused by: there is no such thing as ‘breadth requirement courses.’

    to clarify: there’s no distinct category of courses that exist just to fulfil breadth requirements, and nothing else.?every course at uoft fills a breadth requirement. capice?

    alright, so let’s extend the logic a little. if every course can fulfil a breadth requirement, then what you’re asking is whether you can depend on every course to be offered in the summer term. and unfortunately, you can’t. the summer term is sort of like an abbreviated version of the fall/winter term – only the highlights are repeated.

    however, the question you’re likely trying to get at is, ‘can i depend on the courses i’m interested in, that i’m going to take to fulfil certain breadth requirements, to be offered in the summer?’

    and the answer to that is: maybe.

    if a course was offered last summer term, then it is more likely that it will be offered again this coming summer (that timetable can also give you a pretty good idea of the range of courses that are offered during the summer).

    if a course has multiple sections and large lectures this term, then it’s also more likely that it’ll be offered in the summer.

    unfortunately, you can’t depend on any courses to be offered for certain. every year, each department decides which courses it’s going to offer, and until the timetable comes out for each term, there’s no way to know for certain what they’ll decide. some courses are a safer bet than others, but there are no guarantees until that summer timetable comes out in late april-ish.

    best of luck with your course selection, my friend,

    aska

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  • enrollment,  summer

    do you have a death wish

    July 31, 2014

    Can I take up to 6 courses during the summer, just like during the year?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    no. summer classes move a lot faster than Fall/Winter courses, and for that reason, the university has kindly capped the number of courses you can take in the summer at 2.0 FCEs.

    otherwise we’d have students dropping like flies in the hot, july sun, and that just would not be good for business.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • summer,  UTM

    those are some crazy summer plans you’ve got.

    May 12, 2014

    Hi aska 🙂

    Right, so – transfer credits. I’ve been toying with the idea of taking an online course at Athabasca instead of taking MAT135 over at UTM (I’ve already checked, and it’s transferable)… but I’m also taking summer courses. I already know I can handle summer school and enjoy it, but my question is can I take a course at Athabasca WHILE taking courses at UTM? I didn’t ask for a letter of permission, so I have no idea whether or not this can actually work, but I’m really hoping it will.

    Thank you!

    ———————————————

    hey hey,

    well, there’s nothing in the registration guide that specifically restricts you from taking them both. if you want to make sure that it’s possible, i’d recommend contacting UTM to ask them about it.

    if you didn’t ask for a letter of permission, what you’re doing is basically going in blind and hoping that the class will count as transfer credit. if you think it’s transferable, that’s great, but basically, without an LOP, there’s no official guarantee from the university that it will be (see page 4 of this handy-dandy guide).

    also, make sure that the total number of courses you’re taking don’t go over the maximum course load (page 7 of the handy-dandy guide).

    and that should be all! good luck. i really hope it transfers/is allowed. i’m sending you my lucky aska vibes to try and help out, but those aren’t COMPLETELY foolproof, so in the future, just get a letter of permission and chat with your school about it before signing up for a course out in the wilds of Western Canada*. lets you rest easy about it.

    best of luck,

    aska

    *i mean i know the course is online, but still. that’s a long way for the little internet wizards to carry information, you know?

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  • graduation,  summer

    unfortunate timing

    May 12, 2014

    HEy aska! I was wondering if I would be able to qualify for November graduation. At the end of 2013/2014 fall/winter session I have 17 credits and plan to take 1 full credit in summer school, meaning i would only need 2 more to graduate. If i take the 2 in fall 2014 would that qualify me to graduate in november or would my only option be to be a part time student next year and graduate in june 2015?

    ———————————————

    Hey there,

    unfortunately, it would only be possible for you to graduate in november at this point if you were able to complete your 20.0 FCEs in summer school. since the maximum course load for the summer is 2.0 credits, you wouldn’t be able to pull that off. you can always go to the registrar’s office and try to see if you can get a 3.0 course load for the summer term (they may give you some leeway since you’re so close to graduating, but you’d have to ask them in order to see), but barring that, i think there’s a june 2015 graduation in the cards for you. sorry about that!

    xoxo,

    aska

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  • failing,  summer

    *sweeps previous mark hastily under rug*

    May 5, 2014

    So I did horrible in MAT136, and I failed the course. Does that mean I have to retake it in summer school to enrol in my subject post? (This is for Life Sciences Students by the way). I’m honestly also worried about my CGPA. After I retake it, will it cover up my failing mark?
    – Please post this as anonymously

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    if MAT136 is a prerequisite for your desired subject POST, then yeah, definitely take it in the summer. just make sure that if the POSt is a type 2 or 3, wait until after you’ve completed the summer course to request the POSt on ROSI – otherwise you’ll be refused because you don’t have the requirement yet.

    unfortunately, the mark you get in summer school won’t cover up the failing mark from the first time. both marks will appear on your transcript and be weighted equally. sorry about that; however, if you do really well the second time around, you’ll at least boost your GPA.

    also, whaddaya mean “please post this anonymously”? do i ever NOT post people’s questions anonymously? sheesh! what do you take me for, some random stranger on the internet?

    cheers,

    aska

    P.S. in all seriousness, i never publish people’s names?or any other personal information, either on this blog or on any of aska’s other social media outlets. if you go far enough back in the archives, you’ll see that some previous askas elected to include?people’s first names when they signed their questions with a name, but no aska has or ever will publish any of your private information, anywhere, or use it for any other reason than to communicate with you.?aska is straight up confidential business, yo, so don’t worry.

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  • failing,  math,  stats,  summer

    your status on summer stats

    May 1, 2014

    hey, so I most likely failed my MAT137 course. I was only required to take the 135/136 combo but for some reason I opted for the full year harder 137 option. Anyways, too late now. My question is, if I retake the course in summer school, what does my transcript look like? And also I was planning on doing STA247 over the summer which has MAT135Y1/MAT137Y1/MAT157Y1 listed as prereqs. (Though there must be some error as MAT135 is an H course). Can I still take STA247?? I was really hoping on taking it so I can lessen my course load for next year. STA247 is “Probability with Computer Applications” so maybe because I got a good mark in my CSC165 Mathematical Expression and Reasoning for Computer Science course that may somewhat void my MAT137 fail?? Thanks.

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    if you’ve taken a course and you fail it, then you take the same course again, both marks will appear on your transcript and be weighted equally. the passed course wouldn’t cancel out the mark of the previous, failed course.

    as for STA247, if you were to take and pass MAT137 in the ‘F’ term of the summer, and STA247 was offered in the ‘S’ term of the summer, then you would theoretically be able to take it. however, i’m taking a look at the timetable for stats and it looks like STA247 is offered in the ‘F’ term of the summer. so no luck on that one.

    CSC165 isn’t listed as a prereq for STA247, so i don’t think that’ll affect your ability to enrol in STA247 in the summer. i mean, good for you for doing well, and all. that’s groovin‘. it just won’t affect your ability to get into stats for the summer, unfortunately. maybe you can consider taking another one of your 2014-2015 courses in the summer if you’re really set on lessening your course load for next year?

    best of luck, friendo, and try to remember not to stress too much about this, and to go outside this summer.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • summer

    the sum of school

    March 17, 2014

    Hi there,

    I’ve tried asking my college about it but I think they misunderstood me. Long story short, I haven’t taken any courses this year at U of T but I want to take summer courses. I know the registration only opens on April 7 ( my college told me that) but when I go to ‘course enrolment’, ROSI tells me I am not eligible for course enrollment. This worries me a little. I really need to take courses this summer. Also, it might be worth noting that I intended to graduate in June but found out I could not. Do I have to officially cancel my graduation request or would it be done for me? I thought it was automatically cancelled. I am just really confused.

    Thanks.

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    There are a LOT of variables in this question (I can understand why your college registrar got confused), so i’m just gonna go through this possibility by possibility, and you comment or e-mail me if I misunderstood your situation, k?

    Ok, possibility #1: You decided to take a year off to do some funky, super-cool stuff. Now you want to come back and complete your degree requirements in the summer. If that’s the case, then you have to go in to your college registrar’s office, fill out a form to reactivate your account, and then you’ll be able to enrol in summer courses. However, you won’t be able to graduate in June; you’ll have to graduate in November.

    Possibility #2: You were suspended for a year. Now your suspension is up, and you want to come back and do courses in the summer. In that case, you have to make an appointment with your registrar’s office in order to discuss the possibility of you starting courses again in the summer (usually there’s no problem, but you have to make an appointment and discuss it with a registrar just in case). Again, if the courses are for the degree you were pursuing a year ago, you’ll have to graduate in November.

    Possibility #3: I’m wondering why you couldn’t graduate in June. Is it just because of some ROSI mishap, and you’ve actually completed all your degree requirements, but you want to take some more courses in the summer as a non-degree student? In that case, you can probably graduate in June once you clear up whatever the problem is, but you’ll still need to reactivate your account at your registrar’s office in order to do courses again in the summer. If you can’t graduate because you actually haven’t fulfilled your degree requirements, then we’re back at Possibility #1.

    As to your graduation request, it seems like you do need to cancel it manually. This page says that “[w]hen you log in [to ROSI], ROSI will communicate to you the degree you might be eligible to receive. You will be prompted to request graduation with the specified degree or to cancel a previous graduation request.” So if you’re not eligible to graduate, it looks like you have to cancel graduation yourself. Here is the graduation cancellation form for UC – seems like most colleges have a similar form to that one for cancellations. Take a look around for your college’s form.

    Capice? Now, like I said, this is a more complicated question than most, so if I misunderstood any of the nuances, just contact me again and we’ll sort it out.

    Stay rad,

    aska

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  • summer

    some err

    March 6, 2014

    Hi, I am a first year student and I am not sure how enrolling in summer courses will work. Seeing as when registration begins for summer school, we will not have our final marks for Y or S courses and will not have it on our record as a credit yet, how will it work if the summer course we want to take requires a certain amount of credits to be completed? Will we still be able to enrol in the course if our grades are good and it is certain that we will pass? Also, will we be able to enrol in summer courses even though we have not yet been able to select a subject POSt, again because we will not have our completed credits on our records until exams are over? Because if we have to wait until those credits are put on our record, registration for summer school will be over by then!
    Please let me know if you know!

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    if i know? IF? oh my dear friend, aska ALWAYS knows. there’s no question about it. you should just assume.*

    your question is one a lot of first years are probably worrying about, so thanks for taking one for the team and asking it. i can just tell you’re going places in life. fortunately for you, you’ve got nothing to worry about.

    the university knows your marks won’t be out by the time you have to enrol. they say that as long as you “expect” to finish at least 4.0 credits (if you’re in first year) by the end of the term, then you can go ahead and enrol in summer classes.

    also note that if you finish this year year having completed under 4 credits, you’ll be considered a first year, which just means that you won’t be able to enrol in second year courses during the summer, most of which require you to have completed at least 4.0 credits by the end of this term. but if you think you’re going to finish the term with above 4.0 credits, you’ll be able to enrol in second-year summer courses (assuming you’re going to complete the prerequisites, if any, for those courses, by the end of this term).

    as for subject POSts, you don’t have to be enrolled in a program in order to take all summer courses. some courses will be restricted or limited to students in certain programs, and they’ll be marked by the enrolment indicators R or P, but that’s certainly not the case for all courses. you can see if the course(s) you want to take are limited/restricted here.

    best,

    aska

    * This is a lie. I lie. Everyone lies. Welcome to the real world, kid.

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  • failing,  summer

    the probation equation (and summer consideration)

    March 3, 2014

    I’m gonna start by thanking you first because I’m gonna go off on a bit of an emotional rant so I probably won’t remember afterwards. So thanks for your help.

    I fucked up, I fucked up so bad. I’m a first year at UTM and I’m failing all four of my courses. It’s not even from not understanding the material
    either, I just never showed up to lectures and tutorials and procrastinated and got sidetracked by work and a family illness. Point is, it’s my fault, I was cocky and I let myself get distracted. I could have handled things better, but I didn’t and I know that and I want to fix it now.

    I’ve been kicking it into high gear this past week and I plan on trying hard to at least pass. But worst case scenario, I fail all four courses, will I get kicked out of school? And if I’m allowed to stay, I know I’d have to get my GPA up next year, but I’d basically be looking at a 5th year of school right? And would a summer course change anything? I know people with low GPAs are discouraged from signing up for summer courses but I also think that if I buckled down and focused I could pass a summer course, but would getting a single credit in the summer just fuck things up, am I better off just accepting that I’ll be doing a 5th year and retaking the courses I may or?may not fail in September?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    well thank you for coming here. being proactive and seeking help is so much better than having a panic attack and crying about it (which is how i dealt with first year). so good on ya.

    first thing: they’re not gonna kick you out right away, even if you fail all four courses. if you finish with a GPA under 1.50, you’ll be put on academic probation. what that means is that the next semester you take, you will have to get above a CGPA (that’s cumulative grade point average) of 1.50 to be taken off probation. if you get below a CGPA of 1.50, but a sessional GPA above 1.70, you’ll do the next semester on probation as well. if you get below a CGPA of 1.50 AND below a sessional GPA of 1.70, you get suspended for one year. so even in the worst case scenario, you don’t get kicked out. if you don’t know what your GPA is, you can figure it out with this and this (just go to page 11 of the powerpoint).

    if you are put on probation, i would recommend that you not take a summer semester. summer school’s really tricky because it moves quickly, and if you’re trying to get above a 1.50 CGPA to get yourself off probation, you’ll want the best possible circumstances in your next semester to get those marks. if you wait until fall to do your first term on probation, you’re more likely to do well. consider that.

    if you don’t get put on probation (i.e. if you finish this year with a GPA above 1.50), then sure, take a summer course – if you think you can handle it. like you say, doing one credit over the summer can mess things up by giving you more than you can handle, so just redoing first year without trying to catch up in the summer might be the best choice. but you shouldn’t feel bad about that! a lot of people take five years to complete their degree.

    you also may want to consider if university is really for you, or if maybe you need to take some time off before coming back to uni. i understand that certain specific circumstances contributed to what’s happened to you, but i’d recommend you take some time to self-reflect, and ask yourself whether what you’re doing/studying is the best use of your time. your time belongs to you, right? so use it how you want to.

    best,

    aska

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  • biology,  subject POST,  summer,  UTM

    get into health 4 sum wealth

    February 27, 2014

    Hi, im in first year and i somewhat screwed up and am left with 2.0 credits i really want to get into biology for health sciences but some of the courses require chm 110 and 120 which ill be doing over the summer. Do you think ill be granteed a spot in my subject post after i complete chem over the summer. Im really confused and disappointed in myself some encouragement would really help.

    – Amanda B.

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    first, let’s do practical stuff, then encouragement.

    so, we gotta see what kind of subject post biology for health sci is. if we look here, we’ll notice that the bio for health sci major has some requirements for enrolment. they are: a) completing 4.0 credits, b) completing the prerequisites listed and c) having a CGPA of 2.5. health sci is a type 2 subject POSt (just ctrl+f ‘biology for health sciences), which means that only people who have fulfilled the given requirements can enrol. however, it is not a type 3 subject POSt, where even if you’ve fulfilled the requirements, you still might not get in because of the competition. in this case, if you did a), b) and c), you’re guaranteed to get in.

    because of that, if you successfully complete your chem courses (which are prerequisites) in the summer, and keep your GPA above a 2.5 (and assuming you fulfilled all the other prerequisites), you’ll be all set to enrol in the subject POSt! you’ll just have to do it in the second request period (see page 8), between june 17 and september 22nd, after you’ve received the marks for your summer chem courses. and that’s all there is to it.

    one thing i’m a little confused about: you said you’re “left with 2.0 credits.” does that mean that you failed 2.0 out of 5.0 credits this year, or that you passed 2.0? if you passed 2.0, then you’ll have to do one more credit over the summer to fulfil requirement a) completing 4.0 credits. just keep that in mind. other than that, i don’t see any immediate problems.

    k, now for some encouragement. well, my trans-campus friend, let me tell you something: you are great. you have almost survived your first year, and you’re still intact enough to have goals for yourself and aspire to greater things. you’re not just sitting miserably in your bedroom, smoking by a window and wishing your life was sepia toned. you go out there, and work, and ask questions when you need to! that’s awesome. pushing through is awesome. keeping on keeping on after you’ve disappointed yourself is awesome. and trust me: first year disappointments? we’ve all been there, and we got through it. and so will you, because you’re amazing (dare i say, almost as amazing as aska).

    i wish you the best of luck with your summer courses, Amanda B.

    cheers,

    aska

     

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  • chem,  first year,  math,  summer,  UTM

    quaking in my boots for summer school

    February 10, 2014

    How difficult are chem110/120 & mat134 during summer school at utm?!? I really need some advice :(

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    well, if you’ll allow me to get a little PHILOSOPHICAL here, difficulty is kind of a relative thing. i don’t know what you specifically find hard. BUTTT if you’d like to know generally how difficult the classes will be, i suggest you take a look at the course descriptions (chem 110, chem 120 and mat134; these aren’t for summer 2014, but they should give you a general idea of the course content).

    just read the course descriptions and consider your own abilities. did you struggle with stoichiometry in high school? what about titrations? if you struggled with anything in the course descriptions, maybe brush up on some grade 12 problems to review. same goes for math.

    HOWEVER keep in mind that the classes will most likely have a little bit of review incorporated into them already, and you can get that just from the course description. for example, any ontario calculus class should have taught the fundamental theory of calculus, and that’s in the course description for mat134. so they definitely won’t just be throwing you into the deep end.

    the second thing to consider is the speed – most summer classes proceed at roughly twice the pace of a fall/winter class. do you think you can keep up with that speed? i mean you’ll also be going to class more often, so there won’t be LESS CLASS TIME, but it will be a bit CONDENSED.

    these are all things to consider, but at the end of the day, there’s shouldn’t be a huge difference between the summer classes and fall/winter classes. if you think you need to review, go for it, but i wouldn’t worry too much. if you work reasonably hard and make sure to keep up with the pace of the class, you’ll be alright. have a little faith in yourself.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • international students,  summer

    summer fees mysteries

    February 3, 2014

    Hi there!

    I’d like to know how much it costs for an international student to take summer courses. Some told me it’s $200 ish per credit, others said it costs like $10,000. I tried to look up the fees on the U of T website but I’m kind of confused.

    I’d really appreciate your answer.
    Cheers.

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    alright, you’re not gonna be happy with this answer, but here goes: i don’t know. and the reason i don’t know is because the university doesn’t know yet, either. student accounts tells me they don’t have the summer fee schedule up yet; it’ll be posted to the student accounts website in may, so keep an eye out there (and if you still can’t find it come may because their website is HELLA CONFUSING, call them at 416-978-2142).

    what i can tell you is that it won’t be as low as $200 and DEFINITELY not as high as $10 000 per credit. it’ll probably be somewhere between $500 and $1000 per credit, but i don’t have any precise numbers yet. SORRY. here, have a gif of a pug falling over to make up for it:

    pug falling over

    crossing my fingers for low fees,

    aska

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