• admissions,  other schools (boo!),  stats

    live laugh love? in these conditions?

    June 5, 2024

    hi aksa!! i have had pretty terrible grades in 11th and somewhat better in 12th, do u think there is hope for me to get into a good uni for statistics ??

    hey there,

    aw, i’m sorry to hear that! good on you for improving, though! that takes commitment.

    ok, so you want to get into a good uni for statistics. i can’t really look into every single good uni out there cause i’m pretty sure they all work pretty differently. so for now, let’s look at a couple example to compare our options with: U of T, UBC, and mcgill. these are the top three statistics programs in canada, apparently.

    Kid GIF

    first, let’s cover U of T.

    1. getting into U of T statistics

    when applying to U of T, your admission is based on an average grade calculated using your top six grade 12 U/M courses. if you wanted to get into the statistics program, you would apply under the admission category “physical and mathematical sciences“. (this is because at U of T, you don’t enter your specific program of study until after first year).

    as you can see in general admission requirements, two pre-requisite courses are required for physical and mathematical sciences: english (ENG4U), and calculus (MCV4U). so these are the two courses that will have to be included in your top six. therefore, your admission will be based on your english grade, your calculus grade, plus your four top grades in academic grade 12 courses. that’s it.

    if you apply for early admissions, or if your final grade 12 marks aren’t out yet, U of T may also look at your corresponding grade 11 marks to give you a conditional offer. but if your grade 11 marks are low, they’ll wait to see your grade 12 marks. so really, don’t worry too much about your grade 11 marks. it’s your grade 12 marks that are the make or break factor.

    2. UBC

    according to this website, UBC looks at your grade 11 and grade 12 marks, paying extra attention to the courses that relate to the degree you’re applying to. this includes english 12 and pre-calc 12. overall though, UBC looks at a whole lot of things other than just the numbers on your transcript. they say they look at the range of courses you took and how challenging they were. infamously, they look at a whOle lot through your personal profile, where you have to write a lot about leadership skills, extracurriculars, and experiences. (maybe i’m just dramatic, but writing this sucked the life outta me.)

    Sad Slam GIF by Disney Channel

    so if your grades have been bad but you have a lot of leadership experience and you’re involved in your community, you might have a  chance at UBC! but if you have zero experience in that area, and you are throwing all your cards into the numbers on your transcript, U of T is the one to bet on.

    3. mcgill

    meanwhile, mcgill will look at your grades over the past three years — so grade 10, 11, and 12. and, um, the admission averages are INSANE for computational sciences? 97-98% is crazy high.

    but like U of T, they compute your top 6 grade 12 courses, so there is a little room for grace.

    ultimately, this just shows that it really depends on where your strengths lie. each university considers its applicants differently, so you’ll have a better chance in some places compared to others. whichever university you apply to, it’s great that you’re doing better in grade 12! i heard somewhere that universities like to see improvement. just do some research on how different place consider their applicants.

    so yeah. i think you do have hope to get into a good uni. reach out if you’ve got any other questions, wishing you the besttttt luck!

    over and out,

    aska

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  • economics,  stats,  subject POST,  UTM

    this whole enrolment/POSt thing does get confusing,,, sigh

    July 16, 2020

    Hi! I got into UTM last year for commerce, but didn’t make post. Instead of redoing courses and reapplying, I wanted to do a double major in Economics and Stats. I don’t have all the required courses for that though, so I need to take them next year. However you need to declare a major in order to be able to enrol. How do I go about that? Do I declare my major as Econ and Stats? Or do I just continue with commerce until I have the credits? I’m not sure what to do.

    ——————————————

    hey there,

    hopefully i’m getting to this question in time… the first time i read this i thought you were a second year, but now i’m not 100% sure. hopefully you’re a second year and today isn’t your enrolment date. anyway.

    these are my thoughts: you may need to continue with commerce or select other placeholder programs. from what i can tell, UTM’s econ major has a few required courses for admission, which i won’t go into here as they provide several options and i don’t want to confuse you. the statistics major also has required courses. in other words, enrolment in both your desired POSts is limited to people who’ve exceeded a certain grade threshold in the relevant intro courses. since you’ve said you don’t have the requirements yet, you wouldn’t be able to declare a double major in econ and stats at the moment.

    if i were you (which i am not, thankfully, econ is not my strong suit) this is what i would do: stay in commerce, register in the prereqs for econ and stats, get those done, and request the POSts next spring. wait to get into them before you drop your commerce program, and there you go. if you run into trouble anywhere along the way, i’d recommend that you get in touch with the utm registrar, who will be able to advise you!

    hope this helped,,, good luck.

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • admissions,  arts & sciences,  St. George,  stats,  UTM,  UTSC

    i will find you

    January 18, 2017

    Hello! I can’t seem to find the statistics on those that were accepted into the faculty of arts and science. Help would be appreciated!

    ———————————————

    yo,

    stats are hard to find. don’t feel bad. you have come to the right person.

    in addition to being ridiculously charming and hot (like my homeboy liam neeson), i also possess a very particular set of super ninja detective samurai skills. fear not, for i have found what you are looking for.

    there’s this super cool thing called Common University Data Ontario (CUDO) which can give you stats on:

    • Number of degrees awarded, student enrolment and entering averages – all by program;
    • Number of students living on campus and activities offered;
    • Student satisfaction;
    • First-year tuition and ancillary fees by program;
    • Number of teaching faculty;
    • Undergraduate class size, by year level;
    • Research awards granted; and
    • Graduation rates and employment rates by program.

    click on the year that you want to see and voila! you can even look at stats on UTM and UTSG.

    go crazy!

    peace and love,

    aska

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  • criminology,  sociology,  stats

    if statistics tests throw you a curveball with 98% frequency…

    June 7, 2016

    Hey!! So I wrote to you earlier and here I am again 🙂 so a little back ground info before I ask my question. Three years ago I hit a really rough spot and failed three courses, because of this I was academically suspended for a year. My CGPA was at a 1.07… Yeah, it was bad. However, last year was my first year back and after this past semester I am at a 1.46 🙂 which is obviously really low ahahah but I’m just proud of myself for turning things around. I brought myself up and by the end of this semester I should be above a 1.50 🙂 anyways, for anyone out there who asks if you can bounce back after a suspension, yes you can!! So here’s why I’m telling you this, I’m going into crim (I’m not in it yet but I’m bringing up my grades so once I reach 2.0 hopefully by next year I’m applying!)… And I’m calculating all my credits right now and I’m currently at 5.0 credits. However what I’ve noticed for BOTH crim and sociology you have to take stats. Me, being the idiot that I am, decided to look up some notes for it on ONEclass (a site for notes) and I pretty much just freaked myself out :/ I worked so hard to try and get into crim and graduate with what I’ve always wanted to pursue and I’m scared that I won’t pass the stats course. I haven’t taken math since grade 11 :/ that was five years ago…. Do you have any advice?? Should I hold off before taking it and maybe wait till my other courses are finished and take it last?? I’m sorry if this seems weird considering I’m not even in the program yet haha but sociology courses is what I’ve mostly taken so I don’t really have a choice and I don’t want to major in anything else. Help! Thanks 🙂

    To add a little more info, I suffer from anxiety so this is the norm for me! I freak out over stuff. I guess because I’m not good at math at all I’m scared I’ll fail and my grades will drop resulting me in never graduating. Hopefully you don’t think I’m crazy. 🙂

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    this is going to be such a let-down after i made you wait SO LONG for your answer (sorry about that – i wish you never have to deal with the kind of inbox aska’s tackling), but i feel like this is something you have to sort out for yourself.

    obviously, you’ve proven that you can improve and do well even after being suspended. you’ve gotten used to university, and worked on improving your study skills. you have a goal in mind. all of these things are good signs! if you are absolutely determined to do either or both of these POSts, then believe in yourself! you are gaining the skills you need to accomplish this stats course. you are – in colloquial parlance – killin’ it.

    some strategies to make it a bit easier on yourself might include taking the course in the summer (all by itself) so that you can focus on it fully, or take it in a semester with fewer credits than you would normally take. may i also recommend the Math and Statistics Aid Centre at new college, in case you need some help along the way.

    on the other hand, if you feel that this is too big of a task and will send your GPA (and motivation)back down the rabbit hole, then maybe you can consider some other POSts that are similar to soc and crim, but don’t require you to do any math. consider, for example, the ethics, society & law major.

    also, you can always test-drive the course by signing up for it, seeing how it goes, and, in the event that it’s too much, dropping it before the deadline to drop courses from your academic record.

    i hope that’s somewhat helpful. congrats on how well you’re doing so far!

    best,

    aska

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  • criminology,  stats

    which stats should i stan?

    January 13, 2016

    Hi,

    I have to take a statistics course to fulfill a Criminology major requirement. Im not a math person, so im really dreading it and wondering which course would be the easiest for non-math ppl: soc200, soc202, psy201 or cri350? Any advise?

    Thanks

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    unfortunately i haven’t taken any of these courses and so i can’t be too helpful in recommending one of these courses over the rest. CRI350H1 seems to be the obvious choice, since it’s for crim students, but since all of them are acceptable, you probably won’t be completely lost in any of them. since they are all exclusions of each other, the course material is probably pretty similar.

    at this point, your best bet is to get into whichever one is still available, to be honest.

    cheers,

    aska

    P.S. i apologize for how woefully late this answer was. i didn’t have a satisfactory answer so i kept putting it off until i did…i don’t think a better answer is coming, to be honest. but let us know what you ended up picking.

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  • psychology,  stats

    too many stats to keep track of

    September 1, 2014

    hey! i was just wondering if you know if it is acceptable to take STA215 (applied statistics) as the requirement for the a psych major, because on the degree explorer on ROSI it says that I can either only take STA220/ STA218 or STA219, however in the details of STA215 it says that the course qualifies for the program. So i am a confused on what I should take. Any thoughts?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    this is an student-sponsored PSA: pleaaaaase tell me what campus you’re on in your questions, y’all.

    you’re right, this is confusing. the listing for the psych major says the only stats courses you can take for that requirement are STA218H5 or 220H5. however, PSY215H1 lists 218H1 and 220H5 as exclusions, which might lead you to believe they’re equivalent.

    in this case, I’m inclined to say that you can’t take STA215 for the major (especially if degree explorer agrees with me). the course seems to be one in a list of intro. to stats courses which focus on a different field or difficulty level.

    just from the description, STA220 looks more involved than 215, while STA218 is obviously geared towards management students. each course is slightly different. while they may be exclusions of 215, they might cover things that 215 does not, and that could be why psych doesn’t include it in its list of acceptable stats courses.

    i mean, this is just my guess. i highly recommend you call the psych department to double-check, but generally, i would stick to what the academic calendar’s listing for the major says to be safe.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • failing,  math,  stats,  summer

    your status on summer stats

    May 1, 2014

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

    ———————————————

    hey there,

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

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

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

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

    cheers,

    aska

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  • economics,  stats

    one of these programs is not like the other one….

    August 15, 2013

    I’m trying to get into the neurobio course and I have to choose between Stats or Ecnomics. Now I have taken neither course and I just need to choose one of them, and then never take ever again. Which one of the two is the less intense.

    Thanks
    Alex

    ———————————————

    Alex,

    It sounds incredibly odd that a neurobio course would have some kind of economics prereq to it, so I’m assuming you’re talking about two STA and ECO courses that are exclusions of each other and both have to do with research methods or quantitative methods or something like that.

    If that’s the case, then they mostly deal with the same things so it won’t make a huge difference which one you take. I suppose check which one is most convenient for your schedule.

    HOWEVER, if that is NOT the case… theeeeen I say take stats.

    Cheers!

    aska

    Cheers!

    aska

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  • ROSI,  stats

    and for once, the fault does not fall on rosi

    April 15, 2013

    Hi, I just wondering how to delete the subject post. I entrolled Applied Statistics ,which is a specialist in 2012 summer. But, now I want to change the subject post. Every time I delete or change the subject post. It shows an error. Just like this:

    A problem was encountered and details are as follows:
    6703 – Subject POSt is not eligible for WEB enrolment

    So, how to delete this subject post?

    ———————————————

    Heyo!

    Okay so this whole stats not being particularly friendly on ROSI pickle has actually been a bit of a thing for the past few weeks. I had someone come in three times in utter confusion over why she couldn’t change her stats minor to a major, but apparently a lot of people have been having these sorts of problems.

    However, no fear, for a little birdie has told me that stats has resolved their problem, so you SHOULD be able to delete your POSt now.

    If you’re still stuck though, let me know!

    love the sunshine,
    aska

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  • stats

    so many stats!

    October 15, 2012

    I’m doing a major in psychology and took psy201 as a pre req for my major. Side note, I also took psy202. This summer I decided I wanted to pursue a major in statistics. One of the stats major requirements is sta220. But, psy201 is an exclusion for that course. Since, I’ve taken both psy201 and psy202, do you think the department will allow me to use those credits as a major requirement? I’m really at a loss here.

    Please get back to me as soon as you can. Thanks.

    ———————————————

    Hey there,

    More often than not, two courses are exclusions of each other because the course content is just so similar for the both of them. Naturally, The Practice of Statistics and Statistics I and II can’t all be taken. The best thing you can do right now is go to the Statistics Department and talk to them directly about your problem. In the end, they’re the ones that get the final say.

    Cheers!

    aska

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  • stats,  UTM

    struggling with stats

    October 3, 2012

    Hi aska,

    I’m a first year student at UTM who wants to get into commerce. As I was looking through the degree requirements for the Accounting Specialist, I noticed that there were some statistics classes I needed to take. However, I also noticed that STA220, which I am currently taking, is an exclusion to pretty much all of them.

    Is there a way I can just keep STA220 and still be able to work my way around the requirements or do I need to drop it (and only get 75% of my money back…which is a huge loss since I’m paying international fees) and just take one of the requirements? I just don’t know what to do anymore 🙁

    Thanks for your time!

    ———————————————

    Hey there!

    So I took a look at the requirements for UTM’s Accounting Specialist program in the course calendar and according to the list, you’re in a bit of a pickle.

    I take it that the part that’s troubling you is that second section of the requirements that seems to graciously allow such an array of courses (ECO220, ECO227, and all those lovely STA classes)? Since STA220 is an exclusion to nearly all of those courses, I would recommend speaking to Hugh Gunz, the Director of Undergraduate Programs for the Department of Management at UTM. In the end, the final say about program requirements lies with the department. Hopefully you can work something out in which STA220 counts for 0.5 of what’s needed and then you can take STA261 – the only part of that list that isn’t an exclusion – to finish up that section.

    But for now, don’t drop anything and don’t stress out. Try talking to an academic advisor and most definitely talk to the department director.

    Cheers!

    aska

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  • math,  PUMP,  stats

    Get your booty on the floor tonight…

    May 25, 2009

    Hi there,

    I have a question regarding major/minor requirement/admissions.
    I am a SOC major and a PHL minor student – hence needing another minor.

    I really want to take Statistics as my 2nd minor, which I’ve read has no minimum GPA requirement. I recently e-mailed the stats dept to double-check and received the following reply from a very helpful individual: “I am not aware of any restrictions on enrolment in the stat minor.” Not satisfied with such reply I did some more research and found out that I need some grade 12 high-school math for Stats(or something along those lines).
    The things is – I am a 3rd yr student, simply neeing another minor and really want to do STATs the only problem is that I never took math in gr. 12 high-school. I’m good at math I simply have not taken it in my last yr of high-school because I wanted to do Humanities in University. HELP! Can I even do a STATs minor now without some high-school gr 12 math? Or, does that matter?

    ———————————————

    Hi.

    That “very helpful individual” (not sure if you were implying sarcasm there) at the Statistics Department did NOT lie. Nor did they give you the whole truth given your high school circumstances. You do not need a Grade 12 math course to enroll in the Stats Minor. However, taking either MAT135 or MAT137 is required to complete that Minor (Calendar, page 493). On page 342 you will find that you need Gr.12 MCV4U (Calculus & Vectors) or MHF4U (Advanced Functions) as pre-requisites to enrol in either of those 100-level math courses.

    Whew! That was fun! It was kind of like a “choose your own adventure novel,” except that you don’t have to sell your soul to the bank to buy a paperback.

    So, the question becomes: how can I enroll in MAT135/7 without the Gr.12 math pre-requisite?

    There are a few options.

    • a) Enrol in a high-school summer course. I’m not sure where you are living during the summer, but this link from the Toronto DSB Continuing Education (esp. page 7) may be useful.

    http://www.tdsb.on.ca/wwwdocuments/programs/continuing_education/docs/SummerCredit.pdf

    • b) Enrol in the Preparing for University Math Program (P.U.M.P.) offered by the Department of Mathematics here at U of T: http://www.math.utoronto.ca/pump

    This is a preparatory course that students may take in order to ease the transition from high-school math to uni math, or as in your case, to catch students up on pre-requisite high-school coursework. They say that homework and assignments are minimal, and examination is based on tests and quizzes. It costs 600 bucks, and you can register right up until the course begins on 06 July 2009. It ends on 21 August.

    Now, your bizarre and masochistic desire to slap a Stats minor onto your plate suggests to me that you would see no problem with something like P.U.M.P. However, as a humanities student with an energetically critical view of the world, I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about P.U.M.P., the acronym.

    PUMP?!? Really Mathematics Department? PUMP?!

    I think I can swallow the intended connotation of “pumping up students’ math abilities for first year.” However, to reveal the dirty thoughts that flew through my mind when I first came across the website… let’s just say I would be straddling the already fuzzy threshold of professionalism.

    No, I won’t go there. Instead, I will leave you with my vote for PUMP’s new theme song.

    P.s. I hope it’s still stuck in your head when you wake up tomorrow morning.

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