• architecture,  first year,  residence

    when you’re at uoft and you’re blossoming like a flower

    April 19, 2016

    Heya Aska!

    So I’ve navigated successfully through the Daniels site and gotten myself an offer for Architectural Studies! Yay! Since I’m most likely going to accept, I got a few questions for you!

    1) How big is the Daniels faculty? Around how many undergraduates get accepted each year? I’ve tried looking but I can’t really find a solid number and I really want to know approximately how big my class sizes might be!

    2) Which residence is most popular for Arch students to live in? I don’t live in Canada so I can’t come to residence tours to see what it’s like and feel the vibe…

    3) (A more general question but) How can a super shy introvert like me get involved in dorm life, making friends, life around the campus etc. etc? I really want to work on improving myself as a person but at the same time it takes a lot of effort to shove me out of my shell :/

    Thank you so much! I always love reading your responses!

    – A smoll high schooler from across the globe

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    1.   the reason you won’t find any numbers on this is because it’s not reallypractical information in the way that you probably think it is. it’s true that Daniels is a faculty separate from the faculty of arts & science, but since the undergraduate division only offers one specialist (visual studies), most Daniels students are also taking a program (or two) in the faculty of arts & science. that means you’ll be taking courses with artsci kids, which means that the class size kind of just depends on the class.

    most first-year classes are pretty massive; i’m talking several hundred students, sometimes close to a thousand. if you take a more obscure class or a second-year course, it may whittle down to under a hundred. i don’t mean to imply that there isn’t a separate culture and hub of community and resources at Daniels – because there is. it’s just that there’ll be a lot more crossover than you think.

    2.   again, because architecture is so small, i don’t know that there’s a specific residence for architecture students. there is certainly a vibe, as you put it, to each college residence (plus Chestnut), which is very hard to articulate. since that vibe is so ephemeral, i think it makes the most sense to make a decision based on concrete things, especially if you can’t come to campus for a tour.

    bad vibes american horror story

    sometimes, a residence tour can help you get a feel of where you’d prefer to live

    some questions you may want to ask yourself include: do you prefer dorm- or suite-style? what’s your price range? where is the residence located in relation to your classes, libraries, and other amenities? would you rather live in a tall, modern building like Woodsworth, or an old, castle-esque building, like those at Victoria and St. Mike’s? do any of the residences or colleges run an activity or program that particularly interests you? these things can all help you make a decision.

    3.   i’ve used a handy little schematic (pictured below) to demonstrate this question. what it’s illustrating is that there is a good way to push yourself, and a bad way. if you can push yourself just a smidge past your comfort zone, you enter into your challenge zone. in the challenge zone, you gain skills and confidence by trying new things that are challenging but still doable. if you regularly enter your challenge zone, it starts to expand. those things that were previously found challenging become part of your comfort zone. and voila – growth!

    however, if you push yourself too hard and end up in situations where you’re very uncomfortable, you may find yourself in the panic zone. in the panic zone, you feel completely unequipped to handle the situation at hand, and you begin to panic. after getting yourself out of the situation, you feel nothing except a greater aversion to that type of situation.

    the key to getting out of your shell, i think, is engaging your challenge zone as much as possible, but not pushing yourself into your panic zone. maybe the thought of living with a roommate causes you to panic, but you can challenge yourself to meet everyone on your floor before the end of the first semester. baby steps, and you’ll get there.

    other general tips: get involved with extra-curriculars. not only can they lead to opportunities (even potential jobs!) but your network of friends will expand so, so quickly. on a similar note: get a job! you may get lucky and actually become friends with your colleagues. introduce yourself to the people sitting next to you in class. if your residence has a dining hall, sit with people. maybe you can start by sitting with your don, and then gradually add people to your group. finally, hang out in your common room. that’s just a general tip about residence. all you have to do is literally sit there and new potential friends will come TO YOU. it’s the LAY-Z-BOY of friend-making.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • admissions,  first year

    sharing life advice (or, giving old people a sense of purpose)

    March 4, 2016

    Hi aska, first off you are hilarious and I have spent the past hour just reading your answers to various questions.

    I have a few questions today to ask. I am a grade 11 student and i want to apply to the UTSC International Development Arts Co-Op program. However I have not taken any advanced levels of math apart from workplace to get my final required math credit. In grade 12 I will be taking 6 different social sciences courses. How do you think the lack of math will affect my application because from what i’ve heard it is quite a competitive program? Also, how does the year at U of T work, when do semesters start and end?

    Mostly, I am just worried that I won’t get accepted to this program and then if I do that the workload will quite literally kill me. Any advice for preparing myself for university and U of T would be nice.

    Thank You

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    ME? hilarious? in this economy??? as a taxpayer, i find that irresponsible and unacceptable.

    if your top 6 4U/M courses (including English) are strong, then i don’t think that the lack of math will affect your application, since IDS does not require calculus. as with this person, that only is my best guess, but i don’t know for sure because UNFORTUNATELY, i am not responsible for admitting students. if i was, punny stream-of-consciousness personal essays would probably determine whether or not people got into their programs. and i know rotman and computer science would have a problem with that.

    the one thing i will caution you, though, is that MGEA01H3 and MGEA05H3 are required for the IDS specialist. neither of these courses require calculus, but “algebra and graphs are used extensively,” and that kind of thing is not covered in workplace math. if i were you, i would consider taking grade 11 mixed math, or perhaps even functions, so you can have a basic understanding of this kind of mathematics before you’re thrown into it in first year.

    UTSC is a strictly semesterly campus. the fall semester goes from September-December (with exams in December), the winter semester goes from January-April (with exams in April), and the summer semester goes from May-August (with exams in June and August for half-credit courses, and August for courses worth 1.0 credit).

    my advice for preparation is that you 1) really do consider doing as much math as you can stomach. it will help you in the long run. 2) some people have good experiences at university and some people have not-so-good experiences, but i think that the following advice is helpful for pretty much anybody:

    • do not feel like you have to only do school while you’re in school. lots of first-years drop extra-curriculars, jobs, and hobbies in first year because they feel like they need more time to adjust to school and can’t do as much as they did in grade 12. it is true that you’ll need to use first year to adjust to university, but i’ve found that getting involved makes it easier to adjust, not more difficult. you can always drop things if you’ve taken on too much, but don’t hesitate to even try. getting involved helps you feel like you’re part of a community, which can make you feel more invested in your school work – and that’s good, not bad, for your academics.
    • sometimes you will fall asleep on your commute. don’t beat yourself up about it. you can’t always be doing readings on the train/bus.
    • ask questions!!!!! no one else knows what the heck they’re doing, either. you will not look stupid if you ask a question. this applies for classes but also just generally: if you have a question about university policy/procedure, ask it. do not just listen to what your friends are saying, because they are probably wrong. ask your registrar’s office. Google things. double check stuff.
    • take pride in your work. university is hard. you are doing a great job – even if sometimes it doesn’t feel like it.
    • plan ahead. listen, if you got through high school without an agenda or a calendar and you think you can pull the same thing in university, you are wrong. you will 100% for certain be more successful if you have some method by which to schedule your time, so find one that works for you, pronto.
    • let your plans change. medical school and law school are not the only options for your future. there are lots of challenging, fulfilling, well-paying, well-respected jobs that you’ve never heard of and that YOU CAN LOVE. and no one will think you are a failure for doing them. they will think you are an adult.
    • don’t give up. you will get a mark that you never got in high school. maybe you will get a lot of marks that you didn’t get in high school. firstly, that does not signal the end of your university career – first year does not have to foreshadow your second, third and fourth years. secondly: even if you do decide to leave, or transfer, or take a break from school, you are not giving up. as long as you are doing what’s right for you, you’re doing alright.
    • con hall classes suck, but they’re not forever.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • first year

    Quarter-Life Crisis TM, now available for only $40 000!

    December 15, 2015

    Hi. I?m a first year student at utm and i?m stuck. I?m in the commerce program and i?m doing terribly! not because i can?t do better but because I don?t feel the need to.

    So basically what is happening is that i?m an international student paying international fees which is enough to have me frustrated every single day on my life until i graduate but not like that?s not bad enough, I don?t even want to study bloody commerce. I?m doing it for my parents. They?re both accountants and commerce seems like the least painful way to give them what they want (y?know instead of like medicine or something else they deem important). I don?t see the point at working hard at something that is going to make me miserable in the end. I want my life to have purpose but commerce is definitely not it.

    Im into reading and writing and lots of other things that I actually do have a passion for. I have tried to talk to my parents about it but they shut me down everytime telling me that i?m not going to make any money there and won?t be able to support myself or they don?t have any connections with people in that field so i?ll be struggling to find a proper job or just one thing or the other. The hard part is that i get where they?re coming from and I know they?re thinking of what?s best for me but i?m so depressed now that sometimes I go to class and I can?t stop the tears from falling and I just abandon the class all together and go to my room and mindlessly watch movies or just do something, anything stupid to just focus on anything other than how completely sad i feel everyday. Sometimes I find myself getting easily incensed or crying over the simplest of things. I?m paranoid about everything all the time. I basically lock myself in my room all day, most times doing nothing.

    I honestly don?t know how long I can do this. I break down frequently and tirelessly. I?m just tired. Really very tired. I feel like I?m fighting a losing battle because even if i do end up doing well which I know I can do with more effort and focus, is there really a point if I?m going to spend the rest of my life doing something I absolutely don?t give a damn about. This isn?t me. Im so confused and frustrated. I don?t even know what to do or how to even begin talking to my parents about this. Sometimes I just feel so overwhelmingly sad. Im stuck and I honestly just fell like there?s nothing I can do about it. I can hardly study either because I feel so burnt out all the time. I mean I can but sometimes it?s hard to bring myself to do it. Im sure I sound like a lazy idiot right now and i?m sorry for how long this is and that i?m potentially wasting your time but if there is something, anything in the form of advice that you can give me it would be greatly appreciated.

    ???????????????

    hey there,

    first of all, you’re not wasting my time. i’d like you to know upfront that this is important and valid, and also that you are important and valid. don’t apologize for your struggles, because they’re a part of your life and your life is important.

    i’m going to go ahead and say that your first semester in university is typically your worst one. it’s the first time you’re having to do exams, manage your own schedule, etc. and so it’s going to seem overwhelming and insurmountable. and if you’re in a difficult program you don’t like, it can seem like a rug has been pulled out from under you and you’re hitting the floor over and over and over again.

    but it’s important to realize something, something that i didn’t realize in my first year: it’s better to have this happen to you?now. first year is?the time to make mistakes, change directions, do something different from what you’ve always said you’ll do. you still have lots of time to take your degree in a different direction.

    obviously, you’re ready to make that change, but your parents are not.?so how do you get them on board? well, the first thing you’ll have to think about is: you may not be able to. sometimes, we have to go a different way from what our parents expected, and that’s okay. besides, you don’t?need their permission to study what you want to study.

    of course, i understand that international fees cost a million trillion dollars and many people rely on their parents to pay for their schooling. however, sometimes obeying your parents simply isn’t the best thing for you, and when you’re an adult, obeying is sometimes more of a knee-jerk reaction than a thoughtful, healthy acquiescence.

    it would be nice for everyone involved, though, if you could all agree and had support from your parents. and i find the best way to do that is to beat them at their own game.

    their concerns are valid. they want to make sure that you’ll be able to support yourself after school. but?despite what they say, a business degree is not the only way to do that. prove to them that whatever else it is you want to do is viable. show them how you’ll earn a living doing whatever it is you want to do.

    come up with a plan. if you feel it would be helpful, you can even write out the plan. bookmark websites that you can show them. give them evidence that you’ve done your research and you know what you’re talking about.

    also, if you dislike your program so much that it’s making you tired, frustrated and “overwhelmingly sad,” then you are likely not going to do very well in the program. and if you don’t do very well, you’re not going to achieve that success and financial stability that your parents want you to achieve anyway. if you put it to them that way, it might be more compelling.

    this is a difficult thing to deal with, and i recommend that you seek out the support of people on campus who can help you. make an appointment with your college registrar’s office; they’ll be a great sounding board to bounce ideas off of. also, i’d recommend maybe speaking with someone at health & wellness (formerly CAPS) or counseline to discuss how you’re feeling. you?must take care of yourself if you plan on being successful at school, regardless of the program.

    and if you have any more questions, you can always let me know.

    best,

    aska

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  • first year,  frosh

    first week, burst leak

    August 6, 2015

    What’s the first week of uni going to be like? (incoming first year currently freaking out)

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    it’s almost certainly going to be great. i don’t want to invalidate your freak-out (by all means, get all the panicking out of your system now; better to do it in August than in December), but you will almost certainly have a great time and feel silly that you were so worried.

    that said, the look of your first week will depend largely on two factors: 1) whether you’ll be participating in frosh week and 2) whether you’ll be living in residence.

    if you’re doing frosh, your first week will be a whirlwind of group activities that will include lots of chanting, singing, dancing and running around campus. frosh activities will vary slightly depending on your college/faculty, but they have all been conceived of with the same idea: to make students feel more comfortable with each other and the campus, and to get excited students about school.

    here are the websites for each college’s (and the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering’s) orientation weeks, so you can take a further look: innis college, new college, st. michael’s college, trinity college, university college, victoria college, woodsworth college, engineering.

    if you’ll be living on residence, your first week will be a VERY INTENSE one filled with rapid friendship-making, get-to-know-you activities on your floor, and – obviously – moving in. it’s like this bizarre combination of frosh week and camp.

    if you’re participating in neither of those things, you will still have a VERY BUSY first week. here is a list of tasks every student should do before school starts:

    1. get your TCard, if you haven’t already.

    also, get any cards you may need for commuting, e.g. Presto card, GO Student ID, Metropass, TTC Student ID, tokens.

    2. buy your books (most will be available at the UofT bookstore, though you may have to resort to other options like Bob Miller).

    every September, the controversy over whether it’s worth it to actually buy course books flares up again, like a recurring rash.

    on the one hand, they cost an arm and a leg, and you will cry when you see your balance by the end of of your shopping spree. plus, everyone on Facebook and Twitter is promoting sites where you can find everything you need (maybe) for FREE!

    on the other hand, you’re not so sure about the free/cheap options because they might not be the right edition, you kind of want a physical copy, you want to be able to set these books on your bookshelf to make you look smart later on, etc. etc.

    if you’re unsure about any of your books, the best thing to do is wait until the first class. then you can ask how essential it is that you own a certain edition.

    you can also wait it out and only buy the books when it becomes apparent that you will actually need them. some courses will rely more heavily on books than others, and there’s nothing wrong with just waiting and feeling it out.

    3. practise the route between your classes.

    it’s one thing to be able to point out all your classes on a map. it’s another to actually make the trek between, say, Northrop Frye and New College, slogging across Queen’s Park, manoeuvring past the giant plant pots next to Sid Smith, and figuring out exactly how much time you need to get between those two places.

    most of your classes won’t be back-to-back, so you should also identify convenient food and washroom stops in your vicinity for times when you have a break between classes.

    again: make sure to do this before classes actually begin. that way, you’ll be confident about your route when school starts.

    4. if you’re thinking of getting involved on campus (and you really should, in one way or another), then you should stop by UTSU’s Clubs Fair on September 9th. find out what kind of stuff is out there, and maybe even sign up for one or two clubs that interest you!

    5. if you think you will need it, look into support services on campus.

    – Accessibility Services takes a notoriously long time to process applications, so sign up for them before classes start, if you can.

    – Drop by CAPS and see what they’re all about. familiarize yourself with the process of booking an appointment.

    – identify academic success tools: your registrar’s office, the UofT libraries that will be closest to you on campus, the Academic Success Centre, the math aid centres, and your college’s writing centre.

    and that’s aska’s guide to having a great first week! i really do hope you enjoy your initiation into the wild ride that is UofT. stop back in sometime and tell me how it went.

    cheers for now,

    aska

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  • first year,  seminars

    on feet

    July 30, 2015

    Another question: The first year seminar ON FOOT is on the 2015=2016 timetable description page but when I go to the timetable, the title is missing from the box next to the #L0212 and so it looks like The World of Heroes is offered twice, where I think On Foot is offered… can you confirm that the On Foot first year seminar (which sounds really interesting!) is indeed L0212 – Y – W2-4 – C. Anderson?? Thanks very much for your response! 🙂

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    seems like it’s up on the timetable now! i’m not sure what you mean by ‘timetable description page,’ but it’s definitely on the timetable, so the seminar should be offered as it is described on the timetable.

    hope you get in! enjoy your seminar on feet or…whatever it’s about. (sometimes it’s more fun to not read the course description and just imagine what the course will be about. though i wouldn’t recommend doing that for courses you’re actually interested in taking. taking a ‘blind dating’ approach to classes isn’t the smartest idea).

    cheers,

    aska

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  • first year,  french

    @ les mecs: je parle francais, hmu

    July 30, 2015

    hi aska! i took the language placement test for french and it told me to enrol in FSL221Y, however, I’m going into my first year of university and I’m a bit nervous about taking a higher level course. Any advice?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    if you took the test and you’ve been placed in FSL221Y, that’s the one you should probably take. language competency is a bit weird – it doesn’t fit neatly into the academic levels prescribed by the university. a first-year student who’s spoken french all their life is at a much higher level than a fourth year who’s only been speaking it for a couple of years.

    SO, if your language competency in french is at a second-year level and all your other courses are 100-levels, i wouldn’t be too concerned about it.

    however, keep the drop date for Y courses in mind. if you start the course and feel that it’s too difficult for you, you can always drop it before the deadline and enrol in another french course.

    you also may want to speak with the french department about how easy it is to downgrade from FSL221Y1 to a 100-level course, just so you know how the process works just in case you decide to go for it.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • first year,  GPA,  hard,  keeners

    200-level courses are tuff

    July 30, 2015

    Hi

    I’m a first year student in the faculty of arts science, i’ve received credits for most of the courses required to get in to my program of choice ( immunology and molecular genetics microbiology ) so i’ve taken mostly second year courses, being-MAT137Y, PHL100Y, BIO230H, BIO220, BCH210, CIN211H, MGY200H and IMM250. How difficult will these courses be and would it be difficult to get a 3.5+ GPA ?

    Thanks.

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    instead of just repeating my ramble about the ambiguity of the term “difficult,” i’ll just direct you to the “hard” tag. you can read my thoughts on your question about how difficult it is to get a 3.5+ GPA there.

    oh, but i will say this: only about 15% of students get on the dean’s list, which is a list of students whose CGPA is at 3.50 or higher. that number isn’t ultimately helpful or instructive, because how can you know where you’ll fall within the spectrum of students before you’re in it? but it is something to chew in, if you’re the kind of person who likes HARD DATA and FACTS.

    as for taking 200-level courses: if you have transfer credits for BIO120 and 130, CHM138 and 139, then, theoretically, you should be prepared for those 200-level courses.

    however, academic levels don’t take into account a lot of the things that could affect your academic performance in first year. making new friends, navigating a new campus, adjusting to a weekly schedule that is vastly different from that of most high schools, and getting used to the pace of university courses all takes energy. usually, it takes more energy than most first-year students anticipate – energy that, in other years, would be going towards your classes.

    so even if you are technically “prepared,” academically speaking, the 200-level courses may be more difficult than you expect. while some 200-level courses may build on knowledge that you already have, or even be introductory courses, they assume that students are already used to the pace of a university course, and that’s the trickiest part.

    university courses move a lot faster than high school level courses – even AP and IB courses. something that you spent a week on in a grade 12 calculus could be condensed to an hour-long lecture in a university class, for example.

    all that being said, i’m not saying you shouldn’t enrol in them. you can always enrol in the courses and give them a shot. if you find that they’re too difficult, you can always drop them before the deadline to drop courses.

    you may want to consider taking fewer 2nd-year courses than you are right now. you may, for example, want to start off with two or three half-credit 200-level courses. if you find you’re doing well with those, you can add a few more in your second semester. i find that it’s always easier to chew off a little and add more gradually, than to chew off too much and try to scale back later.

    so…do what you want, basically. but do it cautiously. and always feel free to have a chat with your college registrar’s office if you need more advice or want to mull it over with someone in person.

    good luck with it!

    aska

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  • courses,  first year

    an interesting course? in my program? it’s more likely than you think

    July 21, 2015

    hi aska, I was wondering if you had any recommendations on interesting first year courses for someone who wants to take a wide variety of courses? thanks

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    good for you for asking this question. so many first years are afraid of taking lots of different courses. most people want to feel like they already have a handle on things when they come in to university, and very often that translates to people being open to only a select number of courses – the “right” courses.

    problem is, there are no right” courses, and the sooner you get excited about exploring everything on offer, the better a chance you have of finding something you love at university.

    since i don’t know what stream you’re entering into and i don’t really know which areas of study i should be focusing on in terms of course recommendations, i’m just gonna give you aska’s GENERAL TIPS on how to enrol in courses as a first year:

    1. make sure that you’re completing the prerequisites for whatever program(s) you’re interested in.

    after first year, you’ll be required to sign up for a subject program of study (POSt). for that reason, it’s a good idea to take courses in first year which fill the requirements for the program(s) you’re interested in.

    i want to be clear about this: you don’t HAVE to know which programs exactly you want to get into coming into first year. that kind of defeats the whole purpose of having a general first year. however, it’s a good idea to have some kind of plan going in – if that plan eventually changes, that’s not a big deal, but you have to try something out before you can change your mind about it.

    if you’re thinking of a life science program, the requirements usually include: BIO120+130, CHM138+139, MAT135+136, and sometimes PHY131+132. if you’re thinking of doing a psychology program, you’ll want to take PSY100H1.

    if you’re thinking of econ, you’ll want to take MAT133Y1 and ECO100Y1.

    if you’re thinking of doing computer science, you’ll need CSC148H1 and CSC165H1.

    some popular, foundational first-year courses for a variety of humanities and social science programs include: POL101Y1, SOC101Y1, ANT100Y1, ENG140Y1, CIN105Y1, CLA160H1 and PHL100Y1 (make sure to double-check the specific program you have in mind to see what the prerequisites are).

    2. start thinking about breadth requirements

    you may have noticed that no matter which program you’re interested in, you’ll still have some space left over to take other courses. you may want to think about filling those spaces with courses that fill a breadth requirement or two.

    every course in the faculty of arts & science will fill at least one breadth requirement. depending on your program, it’ll be really easy for you to fill some breadth requirements, and tougher to fill others. science students will have no trouble filling breadth requirements 4 and 5, while humanities students will have a lot of courses in breadth requirement 1, and social science courses tend to be in breadth categories 2 and 3.

    if you’re a humanities/social science student looking to fill your 4th and 5th group of breadth requirements, take a look at some intro. science courses i recommended here.

    if you’re a science student, those intro. humanities/social science courses that i listed above are good places to start looking.

    finally, just take one lazy sunday off to get to know the timetable. go in with an open mind and explore anything that strikes your fancy. the faculty of arts & science has so many options available, including a whole bunch that have probably never crossed your mind.

    3. just do what you feel, man

    if you have any space left after taking into consideration your program requirements and breadth requirements, then just indulge yourself in some wish fulfilment. want to take a 200-level intro. to European Studies course? you got it. always wanted to learn Estonian? now you can.

    you never know – these intro. courses could lead to a minor or even a second major that will complement the program(s) you originally set your eyes on.

    i realize that i didn’t recommend that many specific courses in this post, but that’s because i don’t want to limit you – what you find interesting will depend on your personality and – duh – your interests. explore those. find weird and obscure courses on the timetable. take that leap of faith and sign up for the ones that surprise you. you may just end up enjoying one of them.

    good luck on July 30th!

    peace,

    aska

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  • first year,  Transferring

    so a chopstick and a Barbie-sized oar walk into a bar

    July 13, 2015

    Hey, so I have a few questions. I’m from Quebec, transferring in to my?second year with a Major in Religion and two minors in History and East?Asian Studies.

    Due to transfer credits, I have almost reached my limit of 100 level?classes I can take, and given it’s mandatory to take 2 100 level classes?for EAS and another for HIS, I hit my max. This is… troubling. Given I?still have breadth requirements to fulfill. So do you have any?recommendations for someone looking to fill the 4+5 Breadth requirement?that *isn’t *a 100 level? I’ve gone through probably 90% of the class?description lists and it’s all higgledypiggledy.

    Also! I have an interest in East Asian religions, but the Introduction to?Hinduism and the Introduction to Buddhism are both not offered this year. I?need one of those two to finish my degree in three years, and if they don’t?become available for next year, I’m pretty much down shit’s creek. With?like one little chopstick and maybe a Barbie sized oar. Do you know if?there’s any way to check when they’ll be offered?

    Also, what’s all this about ‘professor permission’ on so many classes in?the higher levels. Do you just go up to a professor you’ve potentially?never met and be like ‘hey, I wanna see your face for a semester, can I do?that?’/ What’s the process like?

    Thanks so much, this site is a lifesaver.

    ???????????????

    hey there,

    wow, those are some incredibly specific programs that you got into. good for you. you’re on top of stuff.

    just so you know, if you HAVE to, you?can go over the 6.0 100-level courses limit. if you do, those 100-levels you take will be designated “extra,” which means that they won’t count towards your degree or GPA, but they will count towards any program or breadth requirements that you need to fill.

    however, i understand the imperative to?not?take extra courses if you can at all avoid it. fortunately, there are also plenty of 200-level courses you can take. AST201H1 is a perennially popular breadth?5 course for the non-scientifically inclined.

    for category 4, i’m gonna recommend a few off-the-beaten-track courses:

    first off, we’ve got?EEB202H1: Plants and Society. now, just here me out for a sec before you start calling?a course about plants as “boring” and “irrelevant.” this course has BIO120 as an exclusion, which means the course content is probably pretty similar to an introductory, 100-level course. also, it has no prerequisites. ALSO, wouldn’t it be cool to just know an abnormal amount of stuff about plants? distinguishing between angiosperms and gymnosperms could?be your party trick.

    there’s also ESS205H1: Confront Global Change (no prereqs), ENV200H1: Assessing Global Change: Science and the Environment (also no prereqs), and?ENV221H1: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Environment (introductory-level course).

    re: the hinduism and buddhism courses: i’m gonna guess at least one of those will be offered next year. buddhism was offered in 2014-2015, and if they’ve made them program requirements, they can’t not offer them two years in a row. however, you can always contact the department of religion to get the scoop.

    re: instructor permission: weeeell, it depends on the course. a lot of 400-level courses are E-indicator?courses, which means you need to apply through the department to get into the course. that’s handled?in different ways, depending on the department. typically, the department will send out an e-mail inviting eligible students to apply and informing them of deadlines. no direct contact with actual instructors necessary.

    the other time instructor permission comes into the picture is when you get something like ‘to take this course you need prerequisite x or permission of the instructor.’

    in which case you can, again, just e-mail the prof, present your case as best you can, and hope for the best. it’s not a super big deal; you don’t have to know them at all before making the request. just make sure that, if you’re gonna do it, your only reason isn’t “i really wanna take this course and i don’t have the prereq or any equivalent experience but i really want it so just let me pls i will pay in n00dz.” that probably won’t work.

    best of luck!

    aska

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  • first year,  UTM

    go to your own campus, stay a while

    June 9, 2015

    Hi, I was wondering if you can clarify something for me, I’m going to be attending UTM this September (first year) and I was wondering if I could take a history/political science course at UTSG? When I checked it said “You are eligible to take courses at other U of T campuses only after you have successfully completed 4.0 U of T Mississauga credits.” Does this mean I can’t take courses at another campus until after first year?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    yes, that is correct. honestly, it’s probably a blessing in disguise. you don’t want to be hauling your exhausted flesh bag of a body to and from Mississauga on a bus twice a week. enjoy UTM, and then you can bugger off to Toronto, with its reckless pedestrians and confusing campus, after first year.

    by the way, it’s kind of irritating to me that i didn’t know that rule off the top of my head. hmph. i think this calls for another day of unnecessary pouting and too much takeout food.

    see you on the flip side,

    aska

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  • first year

    5 MORE ways to get involved with small community on campus

    June 5, 2015

    i liked writing the first one so much, i decided to do it again. besides, a list of ten sounds so much better than a list of five.

    here we go:

    6. COLLEGES

    kind of obvious. if you’re a faculty of arts & science student, you’ll be placed into one of seven colleges: innis, new, st. michael’s, trinity, university, victoria or woodsworth. automatic community, right? well, it’s not that simple.

    here’s the trick about colleges: they don’t have to affect your university experience. at all. you don’t?have to spend any time in your college, meet anyone in your college, take classes offered by your college, or use any of your college’s student services.

    HOWEVER, if you?do?get involved with your college, you probably won’t be one of the people complaining to this or that magazine (i’m looking at you, maclean’s) about the lack of a small community at uoft. whether or not you choose to live in residence, every college has a?unique and vibrant community.

    7. SMALL CLASSES

    yep, class-time counts as community time, too. it only takes one torturous?lecture in con hall to make you appreciate a small class.

    first-year courses tend to be particularly horrendous in terms of class size. for that reason, faculty of arts & science students have lots of opportunities to take small classes. victoria college students are even required to take at least one small class.

    examples of small classes include the 199 first-year seminar courses, the college one program?(innis, new, st. mike’s, trinity, university, victoria, woodsworth), and the vic 100 courses.

    not only are these classes smaller in size (which is amazing in itself) but they tend to have quirky or unusual course content. they provide an interesting complement to the standard first-year course fare, which can be very similar from university to university.

    8. FLCs

    FLCs (or first-year learning communities) are a sort of add-on to first-year classes. it’s the Class+ experience. first?class, you might say.

    if you’re in an FLC, you’ll be a part of a group of 25-30 students who are enrolled in some of the same first-year courses. your small group will meet regularly outside of class for “useful and fun activities.” these include social activities, degree-planning sessions and study strategy sessions.

    FLCs are led by upper year peer mentors, and they’re a truly great resource to help orient you to university in your first year. i honestly can’t recommend them enough. plus, the extra-curricular involvement is noted on your transcript, which is nice.

    9.?EXTRA-CURRICULARS

    another obvious one.?just try to avoid two COMMON TRAPS?when joining extra-curricular activities: being overwhelmed, or underwhelmed.

    there are so many clubs/teams/committees that the sheer amount can be intimidating. it can cause you to feel like you have to stick with the first club you tried, because venturing out into the rest of the impossibly large university seems scary and confusing. but don’t settle on doing something you don’t care about.

    on the other hand, if you don’t like one organization, don’t take that as a prompt to quit altogether. remember: a club is only as good as its members. just because you had one bad experience, doesn’t mean all organizations at the university will be the same. keep trying, and you’ll find the place for you.

    10. FROSH WEEK

    alright, here goes my very best pitch for frosh week:

    a lot of people don’t like frosh.?the extra cost on top of a frankly offensive?tuition invoice is enough to make a lot of students withdraw from orientation?without thinking twice about it.?which i understand. what are we, made of money? i can’t even afford soup.

    from the outside, it looks like a lot of unnecessary shouting and enthusiasm that can make a grade 12 think: “spare me the headache. i’ve been to enough pep rallies to know to steer clear of this.”

    here’s the thing: frosh is genuinely really, really fun. if you can afford it, it will be worth your while.

    it provides valuable academic orientation as well as opportunities to socialize with other members of your faculty/college. and – at least in my experience – it really does make a concerted effort to include?everyone, not just the people who are outgoing and like that kind of stuff anyway.

    plus, you’ll get, like, coupons and UofT-insignia’d Frisbees and stuff.

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  • courses,  enrollment,  first year

    you can’t really understand course enrolment until you’ve lived through it

    June 1, 2015

    Picking my first year courses and I was wondering do a lot of first years not get into the courses they want due to the amount of people signing up? I don’t really have backup courses….

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    as with everything at uoft, that question depends on a tangle of finicky little conditions. because why would things ever be simple at this university?

    i’m gonna try and give you a general sketch of how course enrolment tends to go down, and then you can make your game plan from there.

    the lowdown:

    the faculty of arts & science, in their infinite wisdom, knows very well what courses first year students need to get into subject POSts. there’s a group of regular suspects: BIO120+130, CHM138+139, MAT133/135+136, PHY131+132, PSY100, CSC108H1, SOC101, ENG140, CLA160, POL101. and i didn’t even have to look at the course calendar for that. come at me, faculty registrars.

    because everyone needs to take the same handful of classes, they try to set it up so that there’s enough space for you all. they do this by 1) making the classes MASSIVE, and 2) giving certain students priorities. a priority is basically a restriction on a course that lets some students enrol in it before others.

    let’s take CSC108H1 – introduction to computer programming – as an example to see how this works.

    if you take a look at CSC108 on the timetable (tip: bookmark the timetable now; it’ll by your absolute best friend for course planning), you’ll see that there is a ‘P’ under the column ‘Enrolment Indicator.’ that ‘P’ stands for priority.

    if you click on ‘See Details,’ you’ll see that first-year UTSG Computer Science students have priority for this course. that means they’ll be able to enrol in the course earlier than everyone else. this is called the ‘priority period.’

    on July 30th, when course enrolment opens for first-year students, first year computer science students ONLY will be able to enrol in CSC108H1. then, when the priority lifts on August 7th at 6am, everyone else will have the opportunity to sign up for the course.

    what this system boils down to is this: if you’re in the priority group for a big class, you should be fine. if you’re planning on taking any courses that are smaller, more obscure, or that you don’t have priority for, i would highly recommend you get yourself some backups, pronto.

    notice i said ‘backups,’ plural. the faculty does everything they can to stop course enrolment from spiralling into a hunger games-esque nightmare, but there’s only so much they can do.

    ALSO: make sure that you’re ready to start enrolling in courses the MINUTE YOUR START TIME HITS. have all the course codes of the classes you want to take (including backups) ready to go. if your start time is at 6am, you best be at your computer and ready to go at 5:55. too early? need to sleep? too bad. i promise you this won’t be the first time uoft forces you out of bed.

    keep in mind that first-years are the last people who get to sign up for courses, so you’re at a bit of a disadvantage already. don’t’make it worse by showing up late to the party.

    finally, remember that loads of people will drop out of classes after the first week, so it’s a good idea to enrol in place-holder courses while you wait for a class you absolutely NEED to become available again. waitlists are a great way to do this easily.

    as long as you unquestioningly follow all of aska’s advice, you should be able to get into most of the classes you want.

    do as i say not as i do

    cheers,

    aska

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  • colleges,  first year

    5 ways to get involved with ‘small community’ at uoft

    May 25, 2015

    “small community” is a term you hear a lot when talking about uoft. an institution that has hoarded so many resources has a lot to be proud of, but there is one thing it cannot get away from. with all its additions, faculties, departments, and colleges, uoft has gotten big. very big.

    no matter how much uoft trumpets its award-winning programs, brags about alumni, and pumps money into research, there is one thing it can’t get away from, and it’s the one thing prospective students have been asking for years now.

    “how can i be part of a small community on campus? how can i avoid being just a number in this massive institution?”

    fair question. uoft is notorious for lacking community. turnout at varsity games is a frequent target for people who’d like to kick the stuffing out of uoft. the sheer size of campus and the student body is more than enough to discourage folks. and it’s not something that’s escaped uoft’s notice.

    because it might be our biggest weakness, connecting with students has become something of an obsession at uoft, and the constant attention paid to this issue has actually resulted in a lot of small communities. more, paradoxically, than you might find at a lot of smaller universities.

    so here are just five ways to get involved with small community on campus:

    1. First Nations House

    i could spend all day talking about how great First Nations House is. located at 563 Spadina Ave. on the 3rd Floor, FNH provides “a positive environment for all students to engage with UofT’s vibrant and diverse Aboriginal community.”

    FNH connects aboriginal and Metis students with bursaries and scholarships, academic counselling and tutoring, and a fabulous resource centre with printed and audio materials specific to aboriginal culture. Elder in Residence Andrew Wesley and Traditional Teacher in Residence Lee Maracle are also available to provide students with guidance and support.

    in addition, FNH has its own orientation for new students, and there are multiple aboriginal student groups on campus.

    2. Chestnut Residence

    Chestnut Residence is the only UTSG residence not affiliated with any FAS college. if you’re not a part of the faculty of arts & science or you’re not interested in living in a college-specific residence, consider chestnut!

    as a converted hotel with 24 floors and a dining hall that looks like (and probably used to be) a ballroom, it’s a truly unique place to live. with three graduate floors, two single-sex floors and residents in all uoft faculties, it’s a diverse and robust community. check it out here.

    3. Hart House

    i sometimes wish Hart House was a college – except that would be totally unfair, since it has its own pool. however, the community atmosphere around Hart House is a very collegial one. with its own student spaces, creative and fitness classes, and student organizations, it has all the cogs of a collegial clock. and it’s the students who really make Hart House tick.

    Hart House hosts student musical groups, social justice/civic engagement groups and artistic/creative clubs and committees. they also have a gym, creative and fitness classes, and a library. they it’s a really, really cool place to be involved with.

    4. Multifaith Centre

    the multifaith centre is located at 569 spadina ave., and it’s a great resource for people of all faiths (the name kinda gave that away, huh?). the centre’s Campus Chaplains Organization has chaplains from a dizzying number of faiths, all available to help you.

    they also provide student spaces and grief support.

    5. Sexual & Gender Diversity Office

    located in Room 415 of 21 Sussex Ave. – also known as the Clubhouse – is uoft’s Sexual & Gender Diversity Office. i only have one complaint with the SGDO, and that is with the naming. to call it an ‘office’ is to limit it immensely; it’s so much more than that. the SGDO is a community hub, a hangout space, and a network of kind and supportive people.

    the office “work[s] towards equity and challenging discrimination.” they do this by providing a student study space, hosting a film series, and providing lots of opportunities for community-building between LGBTQ students and allies.

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