• course conflicts

    the fault in our timetables

    December 2, 2021

    If a course has two tutorial sessions in a week, would I have to go to both? I am fine with going to one of them, but the other one overlaps with another lecture I have to attend…

    hi there,

    i apologize for the late reply and hope that at this point you’ve figured things out… but usually if there are multiple tutorial sessions for a course, you’d sign up for one time slot on acorn and that’s the one you go to. i’ve never heard of a course that requires you to attend more than one mandatory tutorial per week, so you should probably check the acorn thing or ask your instructor to see if you just need to attend one tutorial session.

    if it turns out that you do need to attend two tutorial sessions per week AND a lecture that takes place at the same time…

    well, that honestly sounds quite hectic, i’d say — but you might be able to pull it off if your lecture or tutorial is recorded, and attendance isn’t marked. you could also try fiddling around on acorn some more to see if there’s any way to switch your lecture section.

    hope things worked out and that you were able to get some reasonable arrangement of courses this semester, but if not, i wish you the best of luck getting into better time slots next semester/year~

    hope that helps,

    aska

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  • course conflicts,  subject POST

    you’re gonna skip class so much even without course conflicts

    October 9, 2015

    Hi aska,

    I am a first year undergraduate here at UTSG, and planning to major in immunology/microbiology. Since I got AP transfer credits, i’m currently enrolled in BIO230 for fall, and IMM250, BIO220, and MGY200 for winter. I’m just wondering that if ACORN (or, who or what ever would do this) hasn’t kick me out of the course by now, it means that I am eligible to take those 2nd-yr courses right?

    Also, I really want to get into biomedical communication program, but that’s in UTM. Is there any way I can take HSC courses without internal transfer? Like summer school or? idk, anything else? I know there’s HMB304 and HMB404 in UTSG, but it is getting me nervous that the course isn’t offered this year.

    Last question: is it a good idea to skip one MAT136 lecture a week in order to go to MGY200? I just don’t want to drop professor Lam’s class? Well, I took AP calculus but I’m still not sure will it become like super hard in 136.

    Sorry for asking so much questions. Btw your website is awesome!! Thanks for helping us out all the time.

    All the best,

    A Freezing-Cold First-Year Student

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    the official party line is that you can be removed from courses AT ANY TIME. and certainly, there are some departments (i won’t name them specifically) that only removed people from courses this week. so. you do want to be absolutely certain that you meet all the requirements for taking the course.

    just in case, here are those requirements for the courses you listed:

    BIO230Y1: you need to have taken (or have transfer credits for) BIO130 and CHM138+9/151 to be eligible for this course.

    IMM250: they won’t kick you out of this course if you don’t have BIO120 or 130, but they do recommend you take them (or, again, have transfer credit).

    BIO220: BIO120H1 (or equivalent transfer credit) is a prerequisite.

    MGY200: BIO130H1 and BIO230H1 (or equivalent transfer credits) are both prerequisites.

    you’re free to take HSC courses at UTM, either during summer or fall/winter, as long as you meet the prerequisites for those courses. you can’t add a subject POSt offered at UTM without transferring, so the biomedical communications POSt is out of the question unless you want to transfer.

    you can find prerequisites for HSC courses here and figure out if you have the appropriate transfer credits here. you can also use transfer explorer to see if there are equivalent courses on the downtown campus, so you don’t have to go to UTM.

    it is definitely not a good idea to skip a course on a regular basis that you will ALMOST CERTAINLY need for a subject POSt. like, MAYBE you’ll manage to pass both courses, but wouldn’t you rather actually do well in just one of them?

    at the end of the day, it’s up to you, but skipping class on a regular basis is never something i would advise – no matter how smart you are. you’ll be tempted enough to skip anyway.

    finally: you’re cold already? wait ’til we hit november, amigo. i’m still walking around in t-shirts.

    cheers,

    aska

    P.S. glad you like the site. sometimes the constant weight of cliched, 20-year-old existential angst i feel about my impact on the world is momentarily alleviated by those comments. so. thx.

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  • course conflicts,  wait list

    the wait list is a merciless, unpredictable deity

    August 13, 2015

    Me again, the one waiting to be accepted with a tutorial conflict. Do you have an idea of when I should expect to hear whether I’ve been accepted or not?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    accepted into the lecture, you mean? assuming you’re waiting because you’re on a wait list (as opposed to having applied for the course directly to the department) you’ll just have to keep checking back on ACORN; if you get in off the wait list, the course will move from the ‘Waitlisted’ header to the ‘Currently Enrolled’ header.

    you’ll only get in if enough people ahead of you drop out, so there’s no way of telling when that might happen. you just have to keep checking and pray to your gods of choice that you get in.

    if it’s not a wait list you’re talking about, and you’ve applied directly to the department to get into a class, then you should contact them to ask about the status of the course.

    cheers,

    aska

    P.S. this a follow-up question to a previous post which can be found here.

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  • course conflicts,  exams,  petition

    just don’t do it, man

    August 7, 2015

    if I have a course conflict and those two courses also have an exam conflict, can I be allowed to take the exams at different times or bc I scheduled in a conflict will I not be allowed to? thanx

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    nah. general rule is: if you knowingly put yourself in a conflict, you knowingly accept that there is a possibility that you will have test and exam conflicts. if you have a test conflict, you can always ask one of the professors if you can write their test at another time. if they’re merciful, they might accommodate you – but they’re under no obligation to do so.

    as for exams, an exam conflict can only be resolved with a petition. if you submit a petition to reschedule an exam because you’re in a course conflict, you can expect that the Faculty probably won’t be so understanding in your request.

    basically: if you can avoid the conflict, do it.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • course conflicts

    conflict, conflict, conflict

    February 2, 2015

    hey Aska,I’m a first year at UTM, and I have a small course conflict which I can’t avoid, cause there are no other slots available. One is a half class and the other is a year class. Also the two classes are not offered in summer school and I really need them in order to get into my Program of Study next year! I talked to the registrar and they say I have to drop one, but I have already did more than half of the work for the year class, so I’m confused as to what I should do. Can I have a schedule conflict if I seek permission of the instructor?
    thanks for any advice!

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    technically, you CAN have a conflict. you’re not obligated to drop it.

    however, if you can avoid it at all – maybe by dropping the half course and postponing entering that subject POSt by one year – that might be preferable. UTM strongly advises students against course conflicts, because it can result in some sticky situations.

    if it happens that you have two tests at the same time, or an exam conflict, or you’re forced to miss something super important in one lecture because you had to be at the other lecture, then there is nothing the instructors or the registrar’s office can or have to do to help you (see page 26 of this document).

    so you can keep the conflict as long as you’re willing to take on the risks attached to it, basically.

    it’s your call, and you can do it if you feel it’s your only option – but you may want to talk to your registrar again about some possible alternatives.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • course conflicts

    the commitment that comes with language-learning

    September 6, 2013

    Hi,

    I want to take EAS121, but until the interview, nobody said anything about having to attend a lecture, just tutorials. My schedule has space for me to attend HALF the EAS lecture, but in the second half is a class I really want to take. Are the Japanese language lectures mandatory? Is it possible to attend just the first half of the lecture?

    Thanks.

    ———————————————

    Hey hey

    I’m going to be very blunt with you.

    (You know, as if I’m one to beat around the bush…)

    Lectures aren’t really something that anyone needs to remind you of.

    Lectures are a given.

    Tutorials are basically always attached to a lecture. There is no tutorial without lecture.

    That being said, if you’re trying to learn Japanese for the first time in your life, then heck yeah are the Japanese language lectures mandatory. No one is going to stop you from leaving halfway through the lecture. You can. It’s frowned upon — especially when you’re being disruptive — but it’s possible. You’ll miss a lot, but, again, possible.

    But I really really don’t recommend going through with a timetable conflict. Technically, if you have one, no one is going to remove your from the two opposing courses. HOWEVER, if midterms come around and you conflicting midterms or something along those lines, neither professor is going to be particularly accommodating.

    So really this comes down a matter of priorities.

    What do you want more: to learn Japanese or to take that course you really want?

    Personally, once upon a second year, I reaaaaaally wanted to take Japanese but couldn’t fit all the lecture/tutorials into my schedule and gave up on the dream. If it comes down to having to pick between different courses, keep in mind that a language is something you can learn at any point, in many places, and probably for a lot cheaper.

    Cheers!

    aska

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