• life science,  lost,  new kids,  programs

    crash course for incoming students

    March 25, 2024

    Hey! I got accepted into Life Sci but I’m having some serious second thoughts… I’m not sure if I wanted to major in something science related but I really want to go to UofT, so now I’m stressing over courses. I feel like everywhere I look, I get vague answers, so I was hoping I could recieve a clearer one here :/ are there required courses in first year that are related to the area you’re admitted into, or can you just take whatever prereqs a major has (within arts and sci)?

    hey there,

    well, you have come to the right place!! before you read all this, the tldr is that you’ll be fine.

    Steven Universe Everythings Fine GIF by Cartoon Network

    when i was accepted into life sci, i was in your exact situation. i wasn’t really sure if i wanted to follow through with science and wanted to try out the arts. the rules around switching around and taking prerequisites are so confusing for incoming students, and for what? it really does not need to be that complicated, so i’ll try to lay it out as clear as i can.

    1. admission categories

    so when you’re admitted to u of t, you are in an “admission category“. there are six of these in arts & sciences, and they are just a way to group the 340+ program choices into general categories for incoming students. the great thing about admission categories is that they actually give you a lot more freedom to explore during your first year than if you were admitted into a specific program. (here is a list of all the programs included in the life sciences category).

    essentially, what i was told for ease of understanding, was that your admission category does not really matter. a common assumption many incoming students make is that your admission category is your program and you’re already tied down and committed. but at this stage, you are not in a program yet—therefore, you can really take any courses you want and shoot for programs that aren’t in your admission category. the only thing your admission category actually has material impact on is getting first-pick during course enrolment.

    2. programs of study (POSt)

    during the spring of your first year, you will apply to your programs of study (abbreviated as “POSt”). there are three levels of programs: a specialist, a major, and a minor. the difference between these is the number of courses required. most often, people take 2 majors, or 1 specialist, or 1 major and 2 minors. but the maximum number of programs you can enrol in is 3. if this is confusing, sid smith commons has a page with a really great visualizer for what these combinations can look like.

    What To Choose Vivek Shah GIF by grown-ish

    some programs are “open” and some are “limited”. open programs have no prerequisites, while limited programs do. again, sid smith has a page about how to apply to programs.

    3. first year pre-requisite courses 

    to answer your question, yes, pretty much. you can just take whatever pre-reqs a major has within arts & sciences. because remember, at this point, you are not tied down to anything.

    for example, if you were admitted into life sciences because you wanted to get into biology (life sci), but now are changing your mind and wanting to major in urban studies (humanities), you could absolutely do that! all you would have to do to get in to the program after first year is take the pre-req courses listed on the artsci website under “enrolment requirements” for that program. that is, if there even are pre-requisites.  if there are no pre-reqs, take whatever you want in first year and then select that program on acorn in march!

    4. if you’re still confused, here is what i did

    in my first year, i was admitted into life sciences, but decided going into it that i didn’t want to do sciences. so i only enrolled in arts courses for my first year. and the spring of my first year, i applied to my open enrolment arts majors. then, i decided to 180 backwards and go back into life sci. so in my second year, i took the first year pre-req courses for the science major i wanted. then in spring of my second year, i applied to my life sci major, keeping my other arts major.

    a lot of people’s paths look like a bit zig-zaggy like this. some people know exactly what they want to do, but most people don’t really know! it takes some exploring to figure it out and that’s okay. it’s normal to have second thoughts!

    Kermit The Frog Map GIF by Muppet Wiki

    anyways, i hope this clears things up! please drop any more questions that come up. good luck going into first year, you will be amazinggg!

    over and out,

    aska

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  • life science,  neuroscience,  research

    the vibes are good, methinks

    February 23, 2024

    Hello! Got accepted into life sciences ’24. What are the research opportunities like, how hard are the courses if I’m planning on neuroscience and how’s the general atmosphere (competition, friendliness etc)?

    Thank you 🙂

    hey there,

    welcome and congrats!!

    research opportunities 

    so, asking what the research opportunities are like is like asking where the uoft library is. there are so many in so many different directions, and it really depends on what you’re looking for.

    Tom Hanks Dancing GIF

    personally, i would say that the research opportunities for neuroscience are very good—from what i’ve heard and general vibes. disclaimer, i am not a neuroscience student. however, i am in another life sci program and there’s a lot of overlap/similarity between life sci programs.

    once you get here, there are always events and panels going on (if you know where to look) where you can learn about research opportunities and future pathways for your program. i would recommend checking out the u of t undergrad research students’ association, @uoftursa on instagram, since they post about great opportunities and events on there. also check out this site about research opportunities program courses to take in your upper years. it’s never too early for you to be looking into this stuff, but do keep in mind that research is something people start getting into after their second year.

    i would say the best way to hear about opportunities in my experience is from being on the mailing list for your program—you’ll get on this when you get into your program after first year. i currently receive an email every few days about research/experience/scholarship opportunities to do with my program.

    also, one of my friends is a neuroscience major, and she has said you can also get into research just by getting to know your profs and asking them if they have any opportunities for students. for example, they might be working on a research project and could use an assistant. however, this is a bit iffy and less common, and i honestly don’t know how she managed to do this.

    Mean Girls Damien GIF

    courses

    you can see all the courses you’ll have to take for the neuroscience major listed on this handy dandy arts & sciences website. (i open these pages too often but i do appreciate how convenient it is all laid out like this!!!! big fan.)

    though i’m not a neuroscience student, i have taken some of the same general first year courses required for the neuroscience major. specifically, out of the courses listed for neurosci, i took mat135, chm135, and bio120. i’d say in comparison to high school, these courses go through material very fast, condensing a lot of content into each lecture. though some of first year is kind of review, they assume you remember everything you learned in high school and pile new concepts on with the same sort of speed.

    my main message to you though is to not be overwhelmed or scared going into your first year life sci courses. everyone around me was literally scaring me so much, telling me it was super rough and difficult, but i don’t think it’s as bad as its reputation makes it seem? the hardest part is just staying on top of the amount of content each week, and not falling behind. like, it’s less about stuff not making sense but more about the amount of stuff and being able to balance all your courses.

    general atmosphere

    i would say that the competition isn’t too bad in life sci. people are just trying to get through the courses, and nobody’s out to get you or trying to step on you to get ahead (like in rotman). however, in terms of friendliness, it really depends how hard you try to make friends. people mostly keep to themselves, but if you are friendly, you’ll find friendly people! hit ’em with an “it’s so cold today” or a “it’s too early for this” and you’ll be fine.

    Adventure Time Fist Bump GIF

    good luck with everything!

    over and out,

    aska

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  • life science,  prospective student,  rotman

    the elusive rotman transfer

    September 14, 2022

    I am a prospective UTSG social science year 1 student. I am interested in Rotman commerce(accounting) and life science(biology). Is taking both programs’ required courses too overwhelming? If I only take RC’s required courses in year 1, I have 2-2.5 credits left. Any recommend courses that is helpful for me to enter for RC? If i failed to enter RC, can I still take ls’s required courses in year 2? If so, then I will be enroll in year 3 in ls? Any drawbacks except delay graduate?

    hi there,

    i’m assuming that you’re in year 1 of the social science stream and planning to transfer into rotman. if you’ve got your sights set on rotman, i’d recommend really focusing on the 2.5 credits of 1st year rotman prerequisites that they list here and making sure to get good marks in those courses and a high gpa overall.

    Exams Exam Memes GIFfrom Exams GIFs

    i’m not personally in rotman, but usually gpa is king when applying to programs, and even students who are already in the rotman stream need to maintain certain marks in the prerequisites to stay in the program. not to stress you out or anything! gpa isn’t everything — but it can definitely help your chances.

    in terms of courses, i’d recommend trying to play to your strengths. ‘bird courses’ can be different for everyone depending on what you’re interested in or good at, so while it’s nice to get some reviews from people about different courses, i would take it with a pinch of salt and also consider what you’re most interested in/confident with. if you’re good at bio, you could try bio120 or bio130, which can be used for lifesci programs. 1st year seminars are also another way to take some more interactive, fun courses (which are often mark boosters). picking ‘easier’ courses can also hopefully take off some of the stress from school and leave you with some time to do extracurriculars that might add to your rotman supplementary application (yes, you need that too…).

    if do you get into rotman, i’m not really sure how manageable it’d be to do a biology program too because, well, again, i’m not in rotman. technically it’s doable, but you might have to opt for a bio minor to fit all the required credits. you could also take more than 20 credits (possibly taking longer to graduate), or just take some bio courses as electives.

    luckily, the bio programs are all open enrolment, meaning that anyone with 4.0 credits completed can enrol in the program — you just have to apply at the end of first year. apparently rotman transfers are really rare though (again, don’t let that scare you! still give it a shot) so if you don’t get into rotman it’s good to have a backup, and there are a ton of other programs to choose from in artsci. you can apply to any other combination of programs in artsci in your upper years, including lifesci, social sciences, or economics if you’re still interested in something that’s kind of commerce-related.

    So Many Possibilities Lily Collins GIFfrom So Many Possibilities GIFs

    btw, if you’re worried about upper year courses and being able to fit all your program requirements, i’d recommend using degree explorer to plan things out!

    best of luck,

    aska

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  • 12 distinct credits,  current student,  life science,  programs

    all my homies hate the 12 distinct credits rule

    August 3, 2022

    hi! i ended up switching programs after first year so figuring out requirements has been crazy. i’m aiming for a human bio major with two minors, psych and imm. the issue is that the immunology minor doesn’t have a lot of required classes and almost all of the listed ones are also in the hmb program. how does this work with the distinct courses thing? thank you for any help!

    hey there,

    ok, maybe “hate” is too harsh a word but let’s face it, it’s just confusing.

    i also wanna preface this post by saying i am so sorry for the late response… the blog post backlog has been real, but hopefully this still helps someone out there :’)

    so anyway, back to that pesky 12 distinct credits rule. the whole idea is that your program requirements should add up to at least 12 different FCEs. for example, the human bio major is 8.0 FCEs. if all of the 4.0 FCEs in your imm minor end up overlapping with human bio, then you’d need to make sure to take 4.0 FCEs in your psych minor that are all distinct from your human bio/imm courses — that would get you to 12 distinct credits.

    of course, psych probably also overlaps with human bio/imm/other life sci programs, so it might not be possible to get 12 distinct credits just by meeting the minimum requirements of the programs. for example, even if you take your 8.0 FCEs for human bio and they all overlap with imm, you could take a few more eligible hmb or imm courses beyond the overlapping ones in order to fulfill 12 distinct FCEs for your program courses. alternatively, you could try to enrol in a different combination of programs to make it easier to get those distinct credits.

    Didiojakhi Didiojaxi GIFfrom Didiojakhi GIFs

    i know this all sounds incredibly convoluted, which is probably why utsc has a whole worksheet on the rule. personally, i’ve just planned things out on degree explorer which helps to just lay out all your program courses so that you can count them all up and make sure that they add up to at least 12.0 FCEs total.

    hope that helps!

    aska

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  • admissions,  applying for U of T,  life science

    pros and cons list

    December 17, 2018

    Hello,

    I’m a grade 12 student who’s been interested in U of T for a long time. I’m really focused on getting the best quality education and research opportunities and I know UofT is amazing for that, but I’m concerned about my GPA. I (currently) aim to pursue graduate studies after undergrad and I’ve heard a lot about U of T being a terrible school for prospective grad students since they don’t focus on undergrad and kill your GPA. If it’s relevant I’m somewhere from 10-20% above class average in all my courses and I work extremely hard in school. In your opinion do I have a chance at a high enough GPA in U of T life sci for grad school? Or should I just go to an easier and less prestigious school for undergrad that I may enjoy less but have a better chance at grad school?

    ——————————————

    hi!

    so, like, this question is a little bit impossible for me to answer. which is definitely not what you wanted to hear, but we out here.

    snoop dogg peace GIF

    yes, u of t has a reputation for being really hard on your GPA which can negatively affect your grad school applications. at the same time, u of t has amazing research opportunities as well as extracurricular and academic opportunities for undergrads that look great on a grad school application. i also know people in life sci who have excelled at u of t, more so than they did in high school. ultimately, it’s up to you. you need to make your own pros and cons list and weigh all your options.

    that being said, if you need any information regarding the actual application process, you can take a look at this FAQ from the faculty of arts and science.

    i hope this helps!

    xoxo,

    aska

     

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  • admissions,  life science,  math

    you gotta math no matter what

    October 15, 2018

    Hello!
    I am currently a high school student in grade 12 and considering Nursing at UofT. I’ve noticed one of the prerequisites for nursing is life sciences. And to take life sciences, I need to have advanced functions and/or calculus and vectors. The thing is, I was a little late in realizing this and I am taking data management (MDM4U) this year only because I took college math in grade 11 and therefore don’t have the requirements to take advanced fuctions/calculus (MHF4U/MCV4U respectively) in grade 12.
    Do you know if UofT makes any exceptions to these situations? Would I be able to take some sort of introductory course or something during first-year? I am open to options!

    I’ve searched the internet high and low for answers but it seems like I’m the only one with this problem 🙁

    ——————————————

    hi!

    whoa! a grade 12 student thinking about their POST GRAD ambitious? damn, i’m in third year and i barely know what i’m doing with my undergrad. but good on ya.

    let’s not get ahead of ourselves, though. i’m only going to address the whole getting into life sciences thing in my response.

    so, unfortunately, if you don’t have grade 12 calculus and vectors, you will not be admitted into the life sciences stream. you can check out this link to see the specific grade and course requirements for each admission stream.

    something that you could possibly, maybe, potentially do is to apply for u of t under a different admission stream, like humanities or social sciences, that only requires grade 12 english. the admission categories (life science, humanities, etc.) are only really important in first year (you actually declare your majors/minors/specialist after first year) and you can take courses outside of your admission stream (ie. a humanities student could take life sci courses).

    i don’t know if this is necessarily the best option, though. basically, students who are in a certain admission category get first dibs (or priority) on courses that are associated with that category. so, life science students would get first dibs on life science courses. this means that even if you wanted to take those courses, you might not get into them because you wouldn’t have first dibs as a non-life science student. also, most life science programs require some sort of first year math course and the prerequisite for those first year calculus courses is… high school calculus.

    new girl ugh GIF

    unfortunately… you’re gonna have to do grade 12 calculus at some point some how if you wanna do life sci here. i’m sorry, i wish i could’ve told you otherwise, but we here at askastudent are committed to the truth.

    good luck.

    xoxo,

    aska

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  • admissions,  life science

    the N to your BSc

    June 1, 2017

    How can a Life Sciences student become a Nursing student?

    ———————————————

    hi!

    i’m assuming you’re talking about the bachelor’s program? the website has tons of info about how to get into the bachelor of science in nursing program hosted by the faculty of nursing.

    according to the website, it’s a two year program and you need to have 10 FCE before applying. it also says that you need a 3.0 GPA, a personal statement, an academic reference, and a work-related reference. there are also some prereq courses that are outlined on the website, so i would check those out too.

    basically, i would just check out the prereqs, take those courses in your first two years (or first 10 FCE), then apply after! the application itself can be found here.

    good luck!

    xoxo,

    aska

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  • admissions,  applying for U of T,  life science,  math

    much mystery, such confusion

    January 24, 2017

    I’ve applied to life science and have a 70 in advanced functions. I see the the prerequisites are only English and calculus. How much would you look at that mark if my overall average is around a 86

    ———————————————

    hey,

    *as a student blogger, i won’t be the one looking at your mark at all, so don’t hold me to this answer*

    they will definitely consider your overall average, but they “reserve the right” to look at specific courses depending on what you’re applying for.

    since you’re applying to lifesci, your science grades should be on the higher side. i wouldn’t be toooo concerned about your advanced functions grade if your science grades and overall average are high. keep in mind though, admissions will consider tons of things when they look at your application, not just your grades, so you’ll never really know why you got in or why you didn’t get in. so mysterious.

    hope this was somewhat helpful,

    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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  • GPA,  grad school,  grades,  jobs,  lab experience,  life science,  lost

    don’t lose hope, youngling

    January 11, 2017

    Hello,

    I am a life science student in the second year. After completing the fall term studying, I feel that it is very difficult to get a high GPA. I wonder if I get 3.0 cumulative GPA after graduation, what can I do? what school accept me? what work opportunities do I have? Thanks.

    Best,

    ———————————————

    hello,

    *as askastudentuoft, i hope you understand that i am knowledgeable about all things U of T, and that’s about it, so this post will be very U of T centric*

    while a 3.0 GPA is great, many of the life science graduate programs available at U of T require averages which range from B+ to A- (with the exception of the occupational science and occupational therapy program which looks for mid B’s). but, keep in mind, these are just life science programs available at U of T. there are plenty of other schools which offer similar programs which may require different averages.

    you’re only in second year, which means you don’t ACTUALLY know if you’re going to end up with a 3.0 average. you seem to have already lost hope in yourself. don’t stress out right now about what your work opportunities will be and just try your best to get the best grades you can. i can’t really tell you what kind of work opportunities will be available when you graduate because we don’t even know what program you’ll be pursuing for grad school!

    a good place to start is the career learning network. it’s a great tool for current students and recent graduates. you can use it to find research positions (i hear the life science people like those) and postings by companies looking for recent U of T graduates. logging onto the career learning network website is definitely the first step you should take when looking for work opportunities for students like you!

    for now, focus on school and building up your resume with work and volunteer experiences. they can be relevant or irrelevant to your field, but having experience is definitely an asset when applying for any kind of job. volunteer at a hospital from time to time or make some money tutoring kids grade 10 science! whatever it is, just make sure you work hard and build up a good collection of references in case you need them for grad school.

    in all seriousness, i’m graduating later this year and i don’t even know what work opportunities will be available to me! i can’t even see into my own future, let alone yours!

    anyways, hope this was somewhat helpful!

    good luck, work hard, and try your best at everything you do.

    peace and love,

    aska

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  • biology,  life science,  sociology,  subject POST,  UTM

    majoring, minoring, and all that jazz

    October 6, 2016
    Hi Aska, I’m a first year at UTM and am currently majoring in Sociology. I have a couple of questions hope you will be able to answer them, it would mean a lot! I was wondering how double majors work? When do I have to say that I am double majoring? Or do I have to? Also if I want to make my 2nd major Life Science do I have to have all the prerequisites from high school and the average?
    ———————————————
    hey,
    the whole major minor conundrum is this thing we call subject POst or program of study. there are three different options you can pursue:
    1) a specialist
    2) 1 major + 2 minors
    3) 2 majors
    when you’re applying for a subject POst, you should go to this link to see the complete listings of every subject POst available.
    let’s say you want to do a double major in sociology and biology (this is just an example)
    you’ll see that both sociology and biology are type 2 subject POSTs.
    type 2 means that you will need to submit a request via ACORN, make sure you have taken the required courses and also make sure you have met the GPA/ grade requirement. the first request period will be from march 14th to may 1st. mark it down so you won’t forget like i did in first year. i made these mistakes so you could learn from them, my young padawan.
    still confused? here’s a guide to understanding the different types of enrolment.
    unless it is otherwise indicated, most life science programs won’t require any high school prereqs unless you’re thinking of pursuing psychology, which requires grade 12 biology or calculus.
    a good idea is to check out the calendar to see exactly what you need to take for each program. you can do that here.
    the calendar will tell you everything you need to know!
    hope this cleared some stuff up for you. enjoy your first year and remember that your registrar is the best place to go if you have any questions regarding academics
    cheers,
    aska
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  • life science,  psychology,  science,  UTM

    sorry they don’t care about you

    June 3, 2016

    Hello, with regards to priority enrolment at UTM I was wondering if a psychology major gets priority with classes such as Biology, Chemistry and Math. I know that Life Sci students are the main priority but do psychology majors also fall into that group since it is a Science?

    ———————————————

    hey!

    you are definitely right, students in life sciences will get priority if they are in majors such as chem, bio, or math. as a psych major, you’ll only be getting priority in psychology courses.

    the only kind of exception ish (cue paramore) to this rule i could find is that that there is one bio course listed in the psych major (pg. 325) that you could put towards your degree:

    BIO304H5: Integrative Animal Physiology (located in the Biological Bases of Behaviour Section)- but even this course has prerequisites that you have to take to which leads you to a seemingly endless loop of other courses with prerequisites. i’m assuming the biology department peeps will know that psych students can use this for their major and while still giving priority to actual bio students, they might take your major into consideration.

    if you are determined to take these courses, you can probably consider doing one of those subjects as subject posts.

    basically, psychology is in a completely different department than all of the other subjects that you mentioned and there would have to have a better excuse than “it’s also a science” to give you secondary priority.

    i hope this helped!

    cheers,

    aska

     

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  • admissions,  life science

    NEPOTISM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TROTONO

    February 24, 2015

    Hello there,
    I’d first off like to say that what you’re doing is great and I’d imagine it has helped many students relax.

    I’m currently in grade 11 and hope to get into the Life Sciences program on the St. George campus. I’m concerned with my marks as my average is currently an 82%. I know the cut off is listed at 85% but I’m sure I’ll have higher grades come grade 12. My first question is, what are the odds of acceptance with an 82% average?

    The second part to my question has to do with acceptance in a different regard. My mother went to UofT and my sister currently goes there, will that increase any chance of acceptance? I also do have pretty good extra curricular’s to add (Jr. A hockey, city championships), will the admissions board even take that into account?

    Thanks in advance

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    let’s go from the bottom to the top, because that’s how hercules did it.

    extra curriculars will not affect your admission to the faculty of arts & science. that’ll be purely marks-based. however, as a member of the faculty of arts & science, you’ll be required to join a college, and some colleges (*cough* trinity *cough* victoria) require you to fill out a student profile, where you can feel very free to brag about all the cool stuff you do outside of school.

    secondly: you accusing uoft of nepotism, son??? huh, punk??? no, acceptance is based only on marks – nothing else.

    HOWEVER, it’s super great that you have a legacy within your family that includes uoft! i’d recommend you ask them to show you around campus. listen to their stories about the university. ask questions. you never know what will be helpful to you, AND you’ll feel like you already have a connection to the university once you get here.

    an 82% is still within the range of anticipated admission averages for life science in fall 2015, so i’d say you’re doing fine. plus, you have a whole year to try and get your grade 12 courses to be the VERY BEST THEY CAN BE – final admissions decisions are based on your grade 12 marks, anyway.

    i can’t give you specific odds – and i doubt admissions can, either. it’s all very mysterious, and just depends on how good everyone else is in any given year. however, it’s within the average range for people starting in fall 2015, and that’s a good sign.

    finally: oh, no. i don’t help students relax. i send students iNTO THE STRATOSPHERE. PEOPLE ROCKET INTO SPACE WITH EXCITEMENT AFTER READING AN ASKA POST. YEAAAAHHHHHH!!!

    cheers,

    aska

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