Hi,

I am currently an undergrad student at another Ontario university located near UofT. I intend on taking summer courses at UofT but I am worried about how fast courses tend to get filled up at UofT. Going off UofT previous enrolment time, visiting student begin enrolling last (http://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/current/course/timetable/20135/step2) at around 5 pm of April 8th. I was hoping you could provide me some insight on whether or not I will be at a huge disadvantage registering for my summer courses

Thanks

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hey there,

ok well assuming that they put you guys at the very end again (which they probably will because they’re butts what can i say), yeah, i’m not gonna lie, it’s not going to be a great situation. i mean enrolment goes really fast even without being at the end of the queue, so if you’re gonna do this, i’d recommend you have some backup courses ready, if that’s at all possible for you.

however i’d say it’s still worth it to try! especially if you just want to take courses in certain general areas rather than HAVING to take, like, this one very specific stats course or something, you can probably figure something out that’ll work for you. plus it’s a little less crazy in the summertime, so there’s that.

also, i know that since you’ve gone to the trouble of contacting me you probably already know to do this, but make sure that you’re at that computer at 4:50 on April 8th, on ROSI, with your first choices and backups ready beside you or in a separate document. you have to be completely prepared with what you’re going to do as soon as your start time hits, because that’s the only way you can increase your chances of getting into the classes you want.

i know that’s not GREAT news, but good luck with it anyway! and i hope you enjoy your summer regardless of what happens, man.

aska

Hi there,

I’m a first year student at U of T, and I had some questions about summer courses.

I was thinking about taking 4 credits this year and then doing 1 credit in the summer. I just want to do the best I can in my courses and I’m hoping spreading my credits out will help me. Is this an okay choice to make?

How do summer courses work? Do you have to let the school know you want to take summer courses, then they’ll give you a start time to choose courses? Are Y summer courses a lot of work since the whole year is condensed into a few months?

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hey there,

good news is you’re not breaking any rules by doing 1.0 of your first year credits in the summer, since 4.0 is the minimum you have to do in a year to be enrolled as a full-time student. so you are in the clear for that.

Whether or not it’s a good choice is really up to you, but I would say that doing your full 5.0 during the year might be a good idea – the sooner you get used to 5.0 a year, the better. Just get the experience over with man, so you’re ready. First year is like ripping off a band-aid. You just gotta go for it 100%.

That said, the summer courses aren’t impossible. They are compressed to a few months, like you said, but if you’re only doing one course, you can devote that extra time to keeping up with a slightly faster pace. You can dedicate your whole summer to that course! Isn’t that exciting?

Finally, you don’t have to do anything special or let the school know. Just enrol through ROSI when April rolls around (the course calendar should come out in March), exactly the way you did for fall and winter, and you’re all set! Uoft made something simple wow look at that how crazy.

aska

Hi Aska,

I was wondering if the GPA for summer courses has an affect on the cGPA?

Thanks a lot
JJ

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JJ,

Yes, your summer courses have an affect on your CGPA.

Basically all your courses do — unless, of course, you’ve made them CR/NCR, you did a late withdrawal, they’re transfer credits, or they’re EXTs (e.g. exclusions, extra 100-levels, yada yada yada).

So don’t take summer school thinking that it’s just a joke!

The grades do still count. 😉

xoxo,
aska

Hey hey hey party people!

So it’s summer.

The sun is shining, the days are getting longer, and the shorts are getting shorter.

Nothing would please me more than to be sitting on a patio right now in my new fabulous sunglasses with a pitcher of sangria (yes, yes I do realize it’s nine in the morning) and my book of the week in hand.

Now I don’t know about all of you, but I like to spend my summer making money to support my overly frivolous and terribly indulgent lifestyle. Some people like to spend theirs travelling, some like to spend theirs volunteering, and others like to spend theirs back at UofT.

(Granted, I use “like” veeeery loosely in that last one.)

Anywho, summer aside, that’s no excuse to let your brain rot away, so aska’s going to share with you her own stack of to-read books for the season! 🙂

1.Ella Minow Pea, Mark Dunn — This one isn’t so much in my stack as it is in my bag. Now it’s an epistolary novel — fear not, the definition of “epistolary” is actually offered at the start of the book! — so I find it to be quite the quick read despite the rather formal language. It’s equal parts hilarious and horrifying from what I’ve gotten through so far. I highly recommend it though. It’s about the citizens of the island of Nollop, a place that holds Nevin Nollop (a.k.a. Mr. “the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog”) in such high regard, so when a letter falls off the statue commemorating him, the island council bans any use of that letter. But what happens when mooore letters begin to fall? 😉

2. The entire A Song of Ice and Fire series, George R.R. Martin — Guys. Guys come on. Despite my oh so endearing obsession with this entire franchise, I’ve actually only read the first book. So yeah. Gotta finish that. I shouldn’t even neeeeed to explain this one.

3.Crazy Rich Asians, Kevin Kwan — I mean look at that title. I expect nothing short of Rachel Chu being a first-person narrator who is utterly ignorant of her Chinese heritage because she was brought up in the U.S. and barely functions abroad. Also, I expect hilarity, awkwardness, and the classic “what is my life fml fml fml” voice typically attached to young twenty-something narrators.

4.Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez — Admittedly, I just try to throw in a “classic” every so often to fulfill my need to be pretentious. Also, Oprah picked this book guys sooooo. But like actually, if you feel like heart-wrenching love story, just the summary kind of does me in!

5. Super Sad True Love Story, Gary Shteyngart — Okay okay deep down I quite enjoy love stories. Or well, love stories sans the overly tragic ones. But yes, I’ve heard nothing but good things about this book so I plan on giving it a try.

6. The Eye of the World, Robert Jordan — My friend bought this for me for my birthday last December annnnd I’ve only gotten past chapter one. In my defence, it’s book one of a super long fantasy series. The prologue was quite interesting in the typical high-fantasy sort of way, but I mean asdfghjkl world-building on 7AM subway rides? Let me save this one for a sun and sangria day. This one requires coherency.

And lastly, 7. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, Mindy Kaling — Because it’s Mindy Kaling you uncultured swine!

That’s my pile (thus far).

What’s on yours?

Cheers!

aska

Hello whomever answers this,

I am currently enrolled in the summer session for an F course, and have paid my fee. However, a sudden change of plans has inclined me towards another summer course (still F section), instead of the one I’m currently enrolled in. Therefore, would it be possible to somehow “transfer” the fee that I paid for my initial course onto the new course (it’s the same cost, and meeting sections are still available), thereby dropping the first course and enrolling in the new one? Thank you for any advice or response to this dilemma.

Godspeed,
Josh

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Josh,

This is all totally possible, but I stress you follow these steps because I’m scared you’ll get royally screwed by ROSI somehow.

Basically, enroll in the second course, MAKE SURE YOU ARE IN IT, and then drop the other course. It’s actually very simple, but if you’re ever in a state of NOT being enrolled in a course, I feel like ROSI will somehow deem you financially cancelled and then you’ll be confused and locked out essentially and you’ll have to go to your registrar’s and blah blah blah yada yada yada everything is more difficult than it needs to be.

Theoretically, since you’ve already paid, ROSI should NOT do that, but because ROSI is ROSI… just try to be in a course at all times. Make sense?

xoxo,

aska

Hello,

I was registering my Subject POSts the other day and the “start session” showed up as 2013 Summer. Is that normal? I’m going into my second year now, and I have no idea how to function this… And why does my ROSI registration status indicate that I am financially cancelled… For Summer 2013? I don’t think I registered for summer tho :S

Hope you can understand my bad grammar + question 🙁

Thanks.

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Yo.

So nothing to fear, everything is fine!

Well, as long as you don’t plan to take any summer classes — in which case just ignore that.

Basically, all students are invited to take summer courses. But if you haven’t enrolled in anything / paid by the deadline (April 25), then you’re considered “Financially Cancelled.” And as long as summer courses have no meaning to you, you can be on your merry way. 🙂

xoxo,

aska

Hi aska, i am currently a second year student at ST George campus.i want to take summer courses at UTM? and i can select courses at UTM starting 18th April but i am afraid that till that time the courses might fill up and i wont be able to get courses that suit my timetable.So is it possible if i first enroll in the same courses At st George campus as a backup choice and then when i see if there is space at UTM i could switch courses.can i do this? or just try on my luck and wait till 18th April

Confused

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Confuzzled,

You’re allowed to fill up on 2.0 FCE in the summer, so you can certainly fill up on 2.0 FCE’s worth of St. George courses until 5:55 AM on April 18 and then get rid of them for the ones you want come 6:01 AM on April 18 just to be safe.

There’s no “switching,” just the tedious process of dropping x so that you can pick up y, which WILL come with the gnawing fear of y miraculously filling up in the thirty seconds it takes your to drop x.

But you can always stalk ROSI in the preceding days to see if there are any spots in the class(es) you want. When you log in to ROSI and go to “Course Enrollment,” just scoot over to the “View Timetables/Space” tab and voila.

I don’t think you’ll have too much time trouble getting the courses you want. I mean there are just soooo many things you can do with that time and not everyone wants to spend it in back-to-back academia. I mean you can travel, make money, watch every episode of Game of Thrones, yada yada yada. So yeah. You should be fine for spots! 🙂

Cheers!

aska

Hi, for the next summer courses, I want to enrol in psy courses but they have priority limits. I read that without a psy POSt you can only enrol in April 15, but then it also says that wait lists are available on April 8. So I am wondering if I can get on the wait list on April 8 or is that also only for people with psy POSt? If so, what time on April 15 does enrolment become available?

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Yo.

Waitlists are available April 8 for the students capable of getting in at the time, so you’re going to have to wait until 6:00 AM on April 15 to get around the priority designation.

Cheers!

aska

Hi,

for summer courses….do they only have a final exam? So…no term tests or anything, for S and F courses? and are these courses harder than taken during the school year (ASIDE from the fact that it is crammed into 6 weeks?)

thanks.

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Yo yo!

It all really depends on the course. Some have exams, some don’t. Naturally, you can get through this with a touch of logic. For example, if you’re taking an English course, you’ll most likely be attacked with some essays, but if you’re in say Math, yeah, there will probably be an exam.

You can try emailing the professors set to teach the courses you’re interested in so far if you’re really keen on knowing beforehand. I actually did that one year because I had to go somewhere in the allotted exam period and needed a course that didn’t have an exam. All the profs were really sweet despite my nagging! Just make sure you word things politely. 😉

And harder? Again, that depends. From my experience, the courses were actually easier but that’s mostly because the profs I had seemed like they wanted to take a trip or drink a beer just as badly as I did. Really, I don’t think they’re all that different from the ones taken in the fall or winter. What might make things “easier” is the fact that you’re only dealing with one course.

set for summer,
aska