• arts & sciences,  jobs,  switching

    Switch-a-Roo

    September 27, 2011

    Hi askastudent!
    My name is Jack and I’m currently enrolled in BBA program in utsc but i’m not really happy in the program. i’m in 2nd year atm and i’m thinking about switching my major to political science but i heard alot of ppl saying if i do liberal arts degree i will never find a good job! is this true? should i just stick through it and do bba? please give me some advice and i have ask the academical advisor but all they do is tell me to take test! THEY ARE USELESS!!!! i just want your take on it and your knowledge of ppl in liberal arts and if they have found good jobs or not!
    Thank you!!!!

    ———————————————

    Hi Jack,

    What kind of a test is this, exactly? Is it an IQ test?? Because I’m pretty sure you just made up the word “academical.” That’s kind of cool, though, because it means that you’re creative and out-of-the-box of real words. I’m getting a soft, marshmallowy liberal arts degree, so I’ve often wondered which of Toronto’s fine bridges I will one day be living under. The Prince Edward Viaduct is a clear front-runner. Let’s consult a list of famous liberal arts graduates, shall we?

    Prince Charles of England has an anthropology degree; Martha Stewart has a history degree; and Hugh Hefner has apsychology degree.

    As you can see, Jack, graduates in the liberal arts grow up to lead successful lives in royalty, celebrity crime, and the adult entertainment industry. If any of these fields interest you, I would advise immediately switching into the arts.

    This list also tells us that, in the liberal arts, your degree isn’t tied to any one specific job. Instead, employers focus on what skills you have and on how well they fit into their job description. According to the Career Centre’s helpfully misleading?list of “careers by degree”, a political science degree can lead to work as a lawyer, police officer, or member of the clergy! You should totally drop out of business school and adorn the devout and divine robes of righteousness.

    Or, you can make this decision rationally. First of all, what is it that you dislike about your Bachelor of Business Administration? Is it the heavy workload or is it the course material itself? If the former, you might be clonked over the head with hard classes in other degree programs. Second, why is your alternative political science? Why not international development studies, french, or even the celestial studies of astronomy??

    You seem to care most about getting a job. If that’s the case, having a BBA degree will be a direct route into the business world. While a liberal arts degree certainly won’t get in your way of growing up to be the next Mick Jagger (anthropology), your path to career rockstardom will be less straightforward and more windy. Like the yellow brick road.

    Either way, you’ll always be a rocktar to me.

    Aska

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  • arts & sciences,  other schools (boo!),  transfer credits

    waterloo sunset, i am in paradise

    July 19, 2010

    Hi Aska,

    I have been reading your site for some great advice and now have my own questions. I recently completed my first year in Commerce at UofT. However, I discovered where my true passion lies and decided to switch into Engineering. I recently received an offer of admission from Waterloo for Environmental Engineering and gladly accepted it. I am for sure leaving UofT next year. But will I be able to keep my utoronto email address? If so, for how long?

    Second question. Do I need to go to my registrar’s office or the Rotman Commerce department to decline the guaranteed admission into second yr?

    Thanks in advance for your response!

    ———————————————

    Hello there! Congrats on your exciting move from U of T to Waterloo, land of sunsets and dirty old rivers. (At least, according to the Kinks’ song.) You will be happy to know that your U of T email address will long outlive your death. It is the only thing that you can keep for free from this university after your graduate! (Other than knowledge, of course.)

    You should probably inform your registrar’s office that you are switching to a new school, if you haven’t already. Did you also contact the Transfer Credit Office to see if any of your courses taken this year apply, even for a breadth requirement? Do so. Basically if you don’t choose any classes from U of T, you won’t be considered a student, but they will keep your record on file. Contact your registrar’s office anyway. IT’S FUN!

    xoxo, Askastudent

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  • arts & sciences,  choosing,  jobs

    you are making me stressed out just from reading this

    July 5, 2010

    Hey Aska,

    Sorry if I missed the answer to this, but I was wondering – do you think it
    makes a difference if you double major or take a major and two minors? In
    any way at all? The only thing I could think of is having a double major may
    offer a bit of a leg up in job searching because you’ll have a major in two
    topics. I’m not sure how much employers really care about that though.

    ———————————————

    Are you interested in pursuing academia, or just the general job market? Because in academia, depending on the field, your marks and the program you’re applying to, two majors could make you a more viable candidate than two minors. If it’s just a general job search, just having a degree might be good enough. What are you looking to do, man? As always, you should contact the head of your department if you are looking to pursue further graduate study in that field.

    xoxo, Askastudent

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  • arts & sciences,  courses,  subject POST,  trinity college

    switching from engsci to IR with first year credits to spare

    July 5, 2010

    Hi Aska,

    I have just been accepted to UTSG, Faculty of Arts and Science. For the past two years, I was an Engineering student at U of T. The Transfer Credit office granted me 4.0 credits for 100 levels, and 0.5 for 200 level. How exactly does “no more than 6 100Y courses” mean? I plan to do a major in International Relations and another major in something else. Would a programme admission consider an Extra for programme requirements?

    ———————————————

    Basically in your 20-credit life as an arts/sci undergraduate at the University of Toronto, here are the rules to live by: no more than six 100 Y credits, at least six 300 + courses, with no more than 15 classes with the same program title (ENG, INI, etc.). There’s also some junk about breadth requirements and stuff that’s gets a little tricky when it comes to Specialists and Majors, but it’s all detailed on pg. 23 of your Calendar.

    You can, of course, do more than 6 100 classes, which given your switchover from Engineering to International Relations might be necessary if you haven’t fulfilled the first year introductory courses for the program. (These look to be either ECO 100/105, HIS 103 or of TRN 150/151 or two of VIC 181H/183H/184H/185H, an introductory language class or MAT133Y/137.) And we’re not even talking about your mysterious second major!

    You can take as many first year classes as you want, but only six are going to be counted towards your degree and your program. In the interest of completing your degree before you are 40, and not spending more money than you have to, I’d recommend meeting with your college registrar to advise you on picking the best classes for your program. You can contact the International Relations department here. Tell them do something about that stupid G20 ridiculousness we just endured, will ya?

    xoxo, Askastudent

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  • admissions,  arts & sciences,  engineering,  math,  switching,  transfer credits

    doozer blues

    April 3, 2009

    Hi, I’ve been browsing through this site and it looks great.
    But there’s a question that I haven’t seen.
    I’m in second year engineering (computer). But as I have found out, I’m not cut out for the engineering life. Which is why i want to transfer to Arts and Science for a Math Major.
    I was wondering, will I get the transfer credits required, and is engineering math on the same difficulty as a math major program? I took MAT196/MAT 197 and looked at the math course website, and there are equivalent for some first year courses.
    Sorry, One more question, I have a CGPA of 2.52, what are my chances of getting in?
    Thanks

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  • arts & sciences,  plagiarism

    woo-hoo transcripts!

    June 4, 2007

    Hi aska! This has been like my 1 000 000 000th question on here lol…I have a question regarding transcripts and things…you know how we can order one for a fee of $10…what exactly is the point of that? is it not the same as if we just printed it off ourselves? I think it would be….Do we get a transcript mailed to us or something at the end of the academic year?

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  • admissions,  arts & sciences,  science

    aska – pick philosophy! parents to aska – die, just die.

    February 9, 2007

    Today I signed up for university.
    I have a bunch of interests, so I picked some artsy stuff, some science stuff, all sorts of stuff.
    It just so happens that in the case of UoT I picked neuroscience, thinking that since arts and science is a big faculty, there’s a lot of flexibility. Doesn’t seem that way now that I’ve read the fine print. I like science, sure, but I want all that artsy stuff too. In fact, I think I’d love to go to UoT, but not for science. Not at all.
    So,
    1) what are my options? can I wait a few days for that OUAC thing to process, then go in and totally rearrange my picks for universities?
    and
    2) Now that I’ve realized how the colleges selections work, I think I may have picked the worst possible run-down of colleges. Please tell me I can fix this. I picked Vic 1st, trinity last, and the rest was random. I think the one with the ikea res was high up. No good.
    Again, can I edit gritty details on my application, like college choice? and hopefully program choice?

    wow, neuroscience. that is impressive. as a first student, whatever category you’ve been admitted to when you gain acceptance into U of T is actually pretty meaningless. as a science student, you may have a better start time, but it won’t stop you from signing up for whatever classes you’re interested in – artsy or not. at the end of your first year, you’ll sign up for something called a subject PoSt – which determines your major. that may limit your course options in eventual years, but you can always change it up if you have the right criteria.

    cheers, askastudent

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  • arts & sciences,  film

    internships and the problems that you will have…

    April 2, 2002

    I would ideally like to intern in France (Paris) for a few months next year, hopefully in the Film/TV industry. I want to combine learning more French with filmmaking experience, while living in another culture inexpensively. Any leads as to who I might talk to in order to accomplish this would be helpful! Thanks.

    p.s. – I m in third year with working knowledge of French

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