programs - askastudent

admissions, physiology, programs

today, your gpa doesn’t matter!! (rare sighting)

April 15, 2024
does u of t look at my first year gpa when I apply to programs for second year? i am looking at majoring in physiology and was wondering if my gpa affects my chances? i have satisfied the individual course requirements

hey there,

this is a good question. well, i can tell you that your cgpa will not affect your chances of getting into the physiology major. (however, it may be different for other programs).

according to the artsci calendar on the physiology major, they only look at your grades in these required courses:
- bio120 and bio130
- (chm135 and chm136) or chm151
- 1.0 credit from mat135, mat136, mat137, mat157, phy131, phy132, phy151, phy152
you just need to be above a certain minimum average in these courses to get into the program. this minimum apparently changes each year, which is common for program requirements. isn’t that just, like, so convenient for us?

sorry i can’t give an exact number, since i’m not in physiology. the academic calendar does say that if you have a grade lower than a 60% in each course or a grade average lower than 70% in these required courses, you won’t be considered for admission. but just because you have higher marks than this doesn’t guarantee admission.

if you wanted my personal (and very possibly straight up wrong!) opinion, you’re only really “guaranteed” to be fine if your course averages are above an 85. so i’d assume the minimum average is somewhere in the bounds of 70 and 80?? idk don’t hold me to that.

since you’re a first year, all the above applies to you. but if you were a second year and above applying for physiology, your whole record may be considered in your admission. this is specified on the same artsci page linked above, which says “applications from students lacking numerical grades in one or more of the specified prerequisites, or students applying in their second or later years, may be considered on the basis of their entire academic record and the availability of space in the program”.

i hope this clarified things, wishing you the best luck (and grades) in your application to physiology!

over and out,

aska

p.s. anyways guys, there have been a lot of questions coming in lately so thanks for everyone’s patience. ~~is it finals week or is it my final week? stay tuned to find out.~~ either way, answering your questions is a top tier way to procrastinate and i hope i am being useful. 😀 love y’all
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anthropology, major, minor, programs

if they don’t say no, it’s a yes

April 9, 2024

I’m from an Ontario high school, can I double major in Anthropology and Archeology and minor in Indigenous studies? Like is that a thing?

hey there,

well, have i got good news for you. *fishes in my pocket* here it is: to my understanding, yes, you can absolutely do a double major in anthropology and archaeology while also doing a minor in indigenous studies. i think that’s a really great combination, those programs compliment each other so well!

below is my explanation. there are a couple reasons why i think you might have asked this question, and i think i’ve got them covered.

1. are anthropology and archaeology too similar?

there is nothing i can find on the department of anthropology website or on the arts & science calendar that says you can’t take both anthropology and archaeology together. i get how it might be confusing because they’re both in the same department, and require several of the same courses. but if they don’t say otherwise, i’m pretty sure you can take them at the same time. because usually, if you can’t take two programs together, they’ll clearly say it on the program pages that i linked above.

and, it’s actually a good thing that archaeology and anthropology are similar. if you do choose to do a double major and a minor, you may be worried about fitting in all the courses into four years, since that minor adds on extra credits to fulfill. but you should know that you’re able to take courses that count towards both of these programs.

for example, if you took ANT100Y1, it would be counted towards both your archaeology and anthropology majors. hitting two credits with one class! that’s not the only one, too. there are many other courses i can see that overlap between these programs. work smarter, not harder.

2. can i take 2 majors and a minor?

another reason you might have asked the question is because it initially seems like you only have 3 program combinations to build your own degree with: one specialist, or two majors, or one major and two minors.

but these options are just the minimum that you need to graduate. some students choose to do more than this, and it’s great! the maximum number of programs you can take is 3, as long as one of them is a minor.

3. 12 distinct credit rule

keep in mind that there is a rule about having 12 distinct credits. this means you need at least 12 different credits that aren’t overlapped, and it kind of just makes sure that people don’t overlap their entire degree. like, there is a limit.

finally, i’d recommend checking out one of my recent answers to a similar question. and if you’re ever unsure about anything programs-wise, or need an Official Answer TM, literally just send an email to the department you’re looking at. they’re so helpful and will have answers, too. (it’s literally their job! take advantage of that!)

good luck with everything, hope this clears things up!

over and out,

aska

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major, programs, specialist

doin the most

March 26, 2024

hiiii!! I’m a high school student looking at uoft programs, do you know if it’s possible to do a specialist and a major at the same time as part of the build your degree? thank you!!

hey there,

great question! yes, it is possible to do a specialist and a major at the same time. you wouldn’t catch me trying that, considering i took too many electives in first year, but all the power to anyone who wants to!

as you can see on the “build your own degree” page, it’s true that the common program combinations are one specialist, or two majors, or one major and two minors. but those are just options that are the minimum needed to graduate. you can absolutely do more, up to a maximum of three programs. but if you do three, one of them has to be a minor.

if you’re doing a specialist, you won’t have to worry about the 12 distinct credit rule, according to the arts & sciences page on program requirements. the 12 distinct credit rule basically says you need 12 credits that don’t overlap and count towards multiple degrees. this rule only applies to majors and minors. so while taking a specialist and a major, it might seem overwhelming to complete all your credits, but you are able to take courses that will count towards both your specialist and major! assuming they’re somewhat related.

for example, if you were doing a specialist in psychology and a major in books & media studies, you could take PSY427 “media psychology” and it would count towards both programs! isn’t that super convenient? i was excited when i found out about that.

just make sure that your programs can be done together, since there are some exceptions where two programs can’t be done together. to my knowledge, this is the case with collaborative life science programs. you can check that out with this short list of program exclusions for the collaborative life science programs under the tab “acceptable combinations”.

and just to be safe, you should also check the specific pages on the arts & sciences calendar website for your programs to see if there are any other exceptions. these pages should be easy to find, but if not, just google “program name uoft” and click on the arts & sciences link.

finally, i’d encourage you to reach out to a recruitment officer if anything else is still confusing! it likely will be, because everything about uni is so confusing at this stage, and we’re just expected to know it all and have it all together? actually, scratch that. everything about life is confusing right now and we’re just expected to know it all.

lol sorry for that pessimistic ending. it’s finals season. but i hope this was helpful, good luck!!

over and out,

aska

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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.

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.

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!

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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choosing, programs, switching

this person’s got some major problems

November 9, 2023
hi aska,

I already changed up my major a few times (you might remember me based on some info, i settled on Cellular and Molecular Bio) and now im in 2nd year catching up on CHM135, 136, BIO130, and MAT135, and BIO270 (and i have no room for 136 this year, so I’ll either take it in the summer or another year). I was considering dropping my other major (PoliSci) down to a minor and picking up chemistry as another minor depending on how well I do in CHM135 (the registrar said I’d just have to apply for the PoliSci minor in the second session before march) and hopefully switching to a chemistry double major. The only problems are

1) I’ve already taken 2 credits worth of PoliSci classes and I’m currently enrolled in another credits worth.

2) My parents REALLY want me to graduate in 4 years.
So should I risk it for the Chemistry major (with the potential for wasted classes — my breadth is already complete) or just do a double minor, or keep everything the way it is?

hey there,

so it seems like your main problem here is figuring out if you can fit these programs into a four year degree, if you switch into them now. let’s start off with what seems like your ideal choice: to major in cellular and molecular bio, major in chem, and minor in poli sci. to graduate, you’ll choose a program combination from the following options (i’m sure you already know this, but just in case anyone doesn’t know this):
1. a specialist
2. a major and two minors
3. two majors
but these are just the minimum requirements, and some people choose to do more! so if you were to do two majors and a minor, the two majors will satisfy your graduation requirement, and the minor will just be an extra program.

when taking a double major and a minor, you’ll want to try taking courses that will count towards two of your majors. a poli sci minor requires 4.0 credits to complete, a chem major requires 8.0 credits to complete, and a cmb major requires 8.0 credits to complete. this means that you need to complete 20.0 credits over all your programs. cmb and chem have some overlapping courses, which will help. for you, most of the first year chm and mat courses are the same between a chem major and cmb major. for example, you can use mat 135 and chm 135 for both your chem and cmb majors.

however, keep in mind the 12 distinct credits requirement. this would only apply to your two majors, since the minor is extra. between your two majors, there are 16.0 credits, so you can overlap a maximum of 4.0 credits.

and then there’s your other option—to major in cmb, and have 2 minors in poli sci and chem. this would include a total of 16.0 credits to complete. again here, you can overlap a maximum of 4.0 credits. i think this kinda seems simpler, but if you want to major in chem, i say try your best to make it happen! you only have one chance at an undergrad degree ~~(and it’s kinda miserable~~), so you might as well come out of it with programs that you want to have.
if you have 2 years left after this one, it’s hard to tell what option will work. it honestly could be possible to do a double major and minor, but i literally can’t tell without knowing what courses you’ve already taken, and if taking summer school is possible for you. i really think you should take some time and plan out each option for yourself. i would recommend mapping things out on degree explorer, and counting exactly how many FCE’s you need, while making sure you have 12 distinct FCE’s. (this can be confusing, which is why i am gifting you a 12 distinct credits worksheet).

finally, in terms of your first problem, you say that you’ve already taken 2 credits of poli sci courses and are enrolled in 1 credit. tbh, i’m unsure what the problem is here? if you wanted to drop the poli sci major down to a minor, i don’t think you would be wasting courses, since it still would require 4.0 credits to complete? unless the courses you took aren’t counted for the minor.

again, i will always point y’all to your college registrar for these kinds of complicated, multiple pathway questions! i am unfortunately not a psychic or fortune teller. but man, i wish i was.

but for real, i hope this was helpful either way, and literally send another ask if it wasn’t.

over and out,

aska
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new kids, programs

when oh when does first year end?

August 10, 2023
hi, i was wondering: it says you have to apply to POSt after your first year. say i’m going into first year in september 2023. does that mean my first year is over after winter 2024 or after summer 2024?

hey there,

*in good witch glinda voice* when oh when does first year end? well, oh well, that just depends…

assuming you’re enrolled full-time and complete 4.0 FCEs (credits) this year, your first year will be over after the winter 2024 semester. so, in april. (your first year basically just ends when you complete 4 credits.)

when they say to apply to your POSt after first year, they’re referring to the two POSt application periods. if you’re applying for an open program, you can enrol anytime between march and september. for example, this year, open program enrolment is happening between march 1, 2023 and september 20, 2023.

if you’re applying for a limited program, there is a “first request period” between march and july, and a “second request period” between july and september. specifically, this year, limited program enrolment dates look like this:
- first request period:
  - apply from march 1, 2023 – april 28, 2023
  - check results between april 29, 2023 – june 9, 2023
  - enrol by july 7, 2023
- second request period:
  - apply from july 8, 2023 – august 22, 2023
  - check results between august 23, 2023 – september 6, 2023
  - enrol by september 20, 2023
generally, you would apply during the first period if you expect to complete prerequisite courses during the fall/winter session, and you would apply during the second period if you expect to complete prerequisite courses during the summer session. if you wanted to look into it, sidney smith commons has a great description of program enrolment need-to-knows!

best of luck this year. *hands you an ice cream sandwich*

over and out,

aska
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choosing, programs

hear me out what if we made no decisions ever

June 23, 2023

Hello so I am a first-year student, but I started in September 2020. So for the past two years, I was not doing well at U of T and I took a break for a year. So I am coming back in September, and I do not know still what to major in. To be honest, I started at U of T almost 3 years ago. I spent my entire life until last year just focusing on my studies and wanted to take a break. I want to continue my studies and finish what I started. I booked an appointment with an advisor. Any advice?

hi there,

good job, you’ve already done the best thing you can do right now — booking an appointment with an advisor! it’s also great that you took a break. breaks are important.

here is a bit of anecdotal advice from me (an all-knowing deity, ofc). first off, don’t worry, you are not alone. in my first year, every single person around me was very confused and unsure about their major, and it was pure chaos, people changing their minds back and forth between programs the whole year.

if you’re not sure what you want to do with your major yet, you can think about jobs you can picture yourself doing, areas of interest you have, and particular courses or subjects of study you enjoyed from your first year. or, you could think about what kind of job you want, and look up what majors those job postings are looking for on websites like indeed. it would also be smart to take advantage of the fact that you’re surrounded by successful and experienced professionals at u of t: if you end up in any classes that intrigue you, it’s worth trying to get to know your instructor to learn more about the field. finally, the people closest to you, who know you well, can give really valuable advice from an outside perspective.

once you come back to school, it’s worth looking into peer mentorship programs. plenty of people have been stuck on what they want to do, and fellow students who’ve figured it out may be able to help you navigate the confusion. there are several listed here (along with one that is academically focused). but the truth is that lots of people don’t know, and people switch their programs in third year, fourth year, and beyond. again, (i know this does not help but) it’s normal not to know!

choosing a major can feel really overwhelming and unsteady. it made me wish i never had to make any decisions. there are so many exercises meant to help with the decision, and so many points of advice coming from everyone around you, but at the end of the day no quiz or person can tell you what to major in, and you’re going to have to listen to your gut.

with all that said, in these big decisions, don’t freeze up out of fear of making the wrong decision. there’s this quote from sylvia plath’s “the bell jar” that i think about all the time, about how choosing one thing can feel like giving up on everything else. but then if you freeze up and choose nothing because you want everything, the options might pass you by. meanwhile, i am a strong supporter of having a wide range of dreams and not having a set box of what you want to be in the future. i think there’s a bit of excitement, beautiful possibility, and relief in not knowing what you want to do! you will do fine and be amazing, i believe in you.

i hope everything goes well, best of luck!

over and out,

aska

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commerce, current student, programs, subject POST

following your passion

March 25, 2023

I’m currently a first year and I’m planning on going into a commerce program. However, I don’t like math and I literally know nothing about commerce. They say follow your passion, but I don’t have one yet. Stability seems like the next best thing. I don’t know how I’ll survive another year of math, and I def do not know what I want to do with my university life. Would it be difficult to switch from commerce to media/cinima? Or maybe I should take those as minor while commerce is my major?

hello hello,

starting off with the heavy hitting questions, are we? seriously this one is a lil too real :’)

if you’re trying to figure out what to do with the rest of your schooling/life, i guess aska’s a good a place as any to start. but idk if there’s a good and final answer to all that, and even if there is, it probably won’t be coming from some random (albeit extremely wise and knowledgeable) uoft student on the internet, although i’m flattered that you’re asking. ultimately, the answer’s gotta come from you obviously, and it might take some time, but that’s okay. we all go through it. (still going through it.)

No One Knows What They’Re Doings.Gif GIFfrom No One Knows What They’Re Doings GIFs

luckily, uoft does give some leeway to us perpetually indecisive students. most arts and sciences programs let you combine different fields and switch things up if you decide to change your path for whatever reason. if you’re interested in media/cinema or another field, you could take one of their required first year courses to see if it’s something you’d like to pursue further. i think it’d be feasible to fit in a minor alongside commerce, but you’d have to plan carefully to fit in all the courses you need (don’t forget breadth requirements, too). degree explorer is pretty great for that.

it can be hard to completely switch programs in upper years because you’d have to take required courses for programs that might be entirely new to you. it’s technically possible and you could always extend your undergrad later on if needed, but if you feel really unsure about commerce (to the point where you might hate it enough to want to drop the program), it might be better to apply for the commerce program but also take some other electives you’re interested in during second year to fully explore your options. who knows, maybe you’ll find your passion, and if that’s the case, you’ll be set to pivot into it relatively early on. or maybe you’ll still feel unsure, in which case you could still take all the required commerce courses in your upper years and finish with a “useful” degree.

if you decide to switch out of commerce, it’d probably be easiest to do a major and double minor, or even a double major, depending on what programs/courses you prefer. unlike rotman commerce, for example, which just has three specialist streams and a bunch of focuses you could tack on, other artsci students basically have a paralyzing amount of choice in terms of program combinations (no really it’s great… i love it). if you’re still willing to tolerate some math courses, commerce-related minors like economics, math, or stats, have courses which overlap with commerce requirements that could help you complete your program faster rather than starting in something completely new.

honestly, your university path is still pretty wide open, so don’t feel like you have to decide everything now. the world is your oyster – a terrifying kind of oyster. and how do you really go about figuring it all out anyway? it’ll be different for everyone, but i’d recommend looking into mentorship programs or events like career nights or program Q&As with upper years or alumni. lots of student associations organize these, and you could also attend more general ones within your college, too. it’s a pretty low commitment way to learn about what these fields/programs are actually like. you can also get more personalized advice from your registrar.

best of luck!

aska

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computer science, programs, prospective student

where do all the cs rejects go

December 14, 2022

What happens if you don’t get accepted into the computer science program after first year. I’m asking this question for all three branches of uoft.

hello,

you get banished. forever. or what i’ve heard is that you go into math/cogsci/*insert cs-adjacent program*.

i’m just kidding. (don’t come for me, math/cogsci majors.) the reality is kind of like a mix of these i suppose, and it depends on the campus you’re at.

at utsg, if you don’t meet the requirements for first year cs stream students (cmp1), you can re-apply from the regular artsci stream, but it’s a lot more competitive. if you just haven’t had the chance to take certain required first year courses, you’ll get until the end of your first summer term to complete them. otherwise, they don’t really give you much leeway for the requirements.

at utsc, you’re allowed to retake all of the first year required cs courses once, except for MATA31, if you need to get a higher mark to pass the cs stream requirements. after that, if you still don’t meet the cutoffs, you’ll have to apply for a non-cs backup program to enter in second year. you may be able to apply for the cs post as a non-cs stream student but again, spots will be limited and it’ll be a lot more competitive.

with utm, you’d pretty much be banished, actually. utm only accepts cs majors and specialists that entered the stream straight out of high school and passed the first year cs requirements. if you don’t make it, you could still go for a cs minor, which seems to be open to any student regardless of stream. utm may rule with an iron fist, but they’re also kinda considerate in a way — they’ve put together a list of backup programs that are similar to cs or other competitive programs, which might be helpful. you can check them out on page 4 of this document.

anyway, hope that helps, and best of luck on your future cs endeavours.

Hacker Pupper Dog GIFfrom Hacker Pupper GIFs

aska

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cogsci, current student, programs

will the real cogsci major pls stand up

November 4, 2022

hey hey! first off, huge fan 🙂 i’m a first year, and i think i’m going to major in cogsci. however, there are like 7 different cogsci major options, some arts, some science, and all of them different streams. my question is, why are there so many options for the same degree, and does choosing one over the other (eg. arts degree vs. science degree, cognition vs language stream) disadvantage me in any way?

hello hello hello!

well thank you! and welcome — hope first year’s going well so far.

about cogsci, you’re right… there are in fact seven different programs when you look it up, and they definitely have their differences. the five “cognitive sciences majors” are offered by university college, but the other two aren’t really programs at all — they’re actually just part of the computer science major and specialist programs, where you can take 4.0 FCEs to complete a “focus in computational linguistics and natural language processing”. if that horrendously long name doesn’t have you running for the hills yet, the program admissions requirements just might, to be honest, because, well, it’s computer science.

i’m no cs major, but let’s just say i’ve heard… a lot things about how difficult it is to get into cs programs, especially if you’re not in the cs stream (CMP1) already. but hey, if that’s what you end up being interested in, you should definitely give it a shot — although from the looks of it, the “cogsci focus” isn’t really a cogsci program in and of itself. you’d be doing the cs major or specialist mainly, and just complete some of the more cogsci-related courses within the cs program requirements. another thing to look out for is the tuition, since computer science programs have deregulated fees, which are higher than other artsci programs.

so we’ve narrowed things down (somewhat) to the five cogsci major streams at uc, and luckily, it looks like CASA (the cogsci students’ association, basically) has put together a list of all the streams, which probably explains them better than i could, tbh.

Mind Blow Galaxy GIFfrom Mind Blow GIFs

but what i can tell you for sure is that the stream you choose could affect whether you graduate with an arts degree (HBA) or science degree (HBSc). basically, the arts streams would count towards an HBA, the science streams would count towards an HBSc, and ultimately the degree you get depends on that and the other arts/science programs you take. now does that really matter? i don’t know. depending on what your goals are, employers/grad schools/professional schools can be picky.

maybe four years from now, you’ll be cursing that decision you made, if only you’d chosen the HBA/HBSc, if only you’d chosen the other stream, maybe then, you wouldn’t have become an unemployed humanities major/cold insufferable stemlord… (ok jk but you get my point) i can’t claim to know all the industry secrets on arts vs science degrees, but if you have a future path in mind, you could start searching around to see if they have any strict requirements for bachelors degrees. on the flip side, i’ve also heard that employers often don’t really know/care much about the specifics of your degree title (specialist? major? same difference), so the courses you take could be way more important.

Who Knows Shrug GIFfrom Who Knows GIFs

speaking of courses, the other thing i can say for sure is that you should definitely check out some of the required courses for the different streams to see what you’re most interested in. after all, these are the courses you’ll actually have to sit through, so might as well make sure you’d actually want to take them! another thing you could look into is the possibility of switching streams later on in the program. i know this is offered for some other programs that also have different streams, kind of as an unwritten rule where it’s relatively easy to switch between different streams, and that could definitely give some peace of mind when it comes to choosing between all these options.

the last piece of advice i can give would be to look out for updates from CASA or other cogsci student organizations/events! i know sid smith does program exploration days in february but student associations sometimes also organize their own events to talk about their programs, and even mentorship events, where you could get advice from upper years already in the program.

hope that helps, and best of luck!

aska

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current student, management, programs, UTM

if at first you don’t get into post, try try again

September 22, 2022

Hi, I’m a UTM student and wasn’t able to make the management pOST or meet some requirements. Would it still be possible to redo the year and graduate within the four years? I’m going into second year with another program, just wondering if attaining that first choice would still be possible. I struggled with economics and math courses as they aren’t my strong suits but the second program doesn’t require them and is something I find more interesting rather than practical. What would you suggests?

hi there,

it’s technically possible to reapply to the POSt and graduate in four years, but honestly, it’ll probably be very difficult. it also depends on the number of courses you’ll need to retake to improve your grades for POSt. retakes to improve your marks for POSt are allowed, but they’ll be considered “extra” and won’t count towards the 20.0 FCEs you need to graduate. so, if you need to retake all 3.0 FCEs that are required to get into management, you’ll need to also squeeze in an extra 3.0 FCEs of other courses that are not retakes. that means taking up to 23.0 FCEs of courses total (since the 3.0 retakes don’t count… hope that makes sense :/)

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if you really want/need to graduate in four years, you’ll need to take courses in the summer or overload during the school year (take more than 5.0 FCEs) to finish all those courses on time. the other thing you might have to worry about is whether you can fit all the upper year management program courses in your third and fourth years. some courses might have prereqs or are only offered in certain semesters, which can be kind of annoying to plan around. i just gotta plug the degree explorer, as always, because it’s honestly just a great tool to plan out all the courses you need.

of course, graduating “on time” is totally subjective anyway and plenty of students take five or more years. if you’re dead set on doing management and it’s feasible for you to take an extra year, don’t feel like you have to finish in four.

btw, if you’re looking to do a “practical” major that’s related to management/business etc, you could look into applying to other related POSts too, which might increase your chances. for example, the utm commerce major or economics programs might cover similar things related to management, and they seem to have the same prereq courses as management, so it probably wouldn’t hurt to shoot your shot at a good handful of programs.

i’d also recommend meeting with your registrar — they could definitely give some more in depth advice based on your transcipt and personal experiences so far.

best of luck!

aska

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current student, major, programs

emailing the program director might make you feel like a karen but it’s ok… just be nice

August 10, 2022

hi there! I recently got declined from my major and wanted to try again in the second request period. I was wondering if it was worth emailing the program director to introduce myself and outline reasons to be in the program. Is it worth it and do you think it would help/hurt my chances? Thank youuu

hey there,

honestly, you beat me to this — usually i do recommend for people to try emailing their departments about stuff like program admissions or course waitlists, because they’ll be able to give the most accurate answer.

i really don’t think it’d hurt your chances, as long as you do it in a courteous way. in the best case scenario, it could get the department to take second look at your file and perhaps improve your chances, and in the worst case scenario, you’d get a no, as in, “this doesn’t count, we’re still gonna review your application the normal way”, or no response (fair enough, i’m sure they get a loooot of emails…) but from my experience no one would hold it against you for sending a brief friendly email.

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also, i’m assuming that the major you’re applying to doesn’t have a supplementary application already, so that your email is actually adding something above and beyond. but if it does, you should probably hold off on the email so that you’re not just bombarding the department with multiple versions of “reasons i should get into [insert competitive major]” because, well, they know, or will eventually after reading your application.

other than that, try to be respectful — and imo, that also includes being respectful of time. a straightforward email describing your interest in the program (you can back this up by mentioning a few relevant future goals/extracurricular involvement) and marks from prereqs will get the point across.

it might also help to end off on a specific question/concern you might have, like asking for feedback to improve your application, or if there were truly extenuating circumstances (cliche, i know… try “unprecedented times”? “never-before encountered conditions”?) that affected your application, this could be your chance to explain things — not in a guilt-trippy way of course, but more to show that despite all this, you’re still very interested, and would like to know if you still have a chance/what you could do to make up for it, etc.

anyway, i hope this post has had the effect of helping you in some way (besides making you overthink about email etiquette).

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.

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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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