hey there,

ok ok you’re gonna be fine! you’re going to be OKAY.

first of all, i know program selection and admission can be so overwhelming and stressful! when i was at that stage, i definitely did a lot of panicking too. but let’s not worst-case-scenario this situation. let’s look at where we are and see what options are available from where you are, alright?

so just to recap: the biology for health sciences program is a type 2 program. in order to get admitted into it, you need a minimum cgpa of 2.5. you also need to complete 4.0 credits, including the courses BIO152H5 and BIO153H5. you say your gpa does not reach that minimum, but you’ve completed 4.0 credits including BIO152 and BIO153. you’re taking courses this summer to raise your gpa, but you don’t think you’ll reach the minimum regardless.

ok.

let’s answer some of your questions.

1. when is POSt admission?

i’m assuming you’ve already requested enrolment to your program during round 1 of program application, which runs between march 5 and april 30. the deadline to accept your offer for round 1 is may 30, so i’m assuming offers will go out sometime during may. however, if you haven’t done this yet, round 2 runs between june 3 and august 23, and the deadline to accept offers is september 15. so offers for round two will probably go out late august or early september.

2. should you take summer courses to boost your gpa?

i think you could definitely take more courses during the summer and absolutely lock tf in in order to raise your cgpa. and when you ask whether you should take a third course, i think that would be fine! as long as you’re staying under the maximum of 2.0 credits for the whole summer and maximum of 1.0 credits per sub-session.

i would say though, that taking less courses at a time increases your chances of doing better/getting better grades. if you spread yourself too thin, you might not do as well as you hoped. so just make sure you can handle the course load you give yourself!

if you do want to take multiple summer courses in order to boost your gpa, i would also recommend taking elective bird courses. this would give you a much higher chance of skyrocketing that gpa rather than if you were to take your required courses. taking courses in summer is also known to be “easier”, since the course moves faster and grading is “nicer”. in my experience, i’ve found this to be quite true.

3. should you take a psych course for the summer? 

it depends which psych course you’re talking about. according to the timetable builder, there’s only one first-year psych course offered during the summer at utm: PSY100. but you said you’ve already taken it.

if you are taking a course purely just to raise your gpa, i wouldn’t take some of the second year courses i see, like PSY201 since that is required courses in the psych program. (red flag to watch out for are large, required courses. these tend to be harder!)

4. do they round your gpa?

i don’t think they round your cgpa for program admissions. but if you mean “round” as in scale your grade in courses, that really depends on the course. some do, and those tend to be hard courses that have low averages.

my thoughts on the situation.

in the case that you don’t get into your program this year, it is most certainly not the end of the world nor is it the end of your bio dreams. you have several options here.

1. option one: apply to the biology major instead. the minimum cgpa for this is 2.0, and it has the exact same two required courses, BIO152 and BIO153.

2. option two: apply to an open POSt for now.

it is not a worst-case scenario if you apply to an open POSt to automatically go into second year, then reapply to your POSt next year. many people i know applied for a POSt in first year AND second year! drawing from my own experiences, the main consequence of not getting into your first-choice POSt would simply be later course enrolment times going into your second year.

for some context, in my first year, i applied to two type 1 arts POSts. but like literally two months after, i changed my mind and decided i wanted to switch one of them to a type 2 life sci POSt. so it wasn’t exactly that i didn’t get my first choice POSt. i’m just an Indecisive Person. 😀

anyways, what i did that summer—after deciding i was going to switch programs—was enrol in the required first-year courses for my new program. however, because i was not in my life sci program OR a first year, i had to wait until the general course enrolment period just for certain courses, which was maybe 2 weeks later. this was the main inconvenience i faced for not being in my desired second-year program right off the bat.

my main message is that enrolling in a type 1 program is absolutely fine. you just might have to deal with a few early morning classes or second choice tutorial times, as a result of your course enrolment time! then, you’ll lock in AGAIN and get those grades up to apply again after second year! yeah, you will!

and look at me! i’m fine. i applied to my desired program after second year, and got in. now, it’s all smooth sailing from here (aside from the weekly what-am-doing-with-my-life crises i have haha…). while i wasn’t in your exact same situation, i did go through some similar steps! and am i a great student? well, if i do say so myself, yEs.

i hope i provided sufficient inspiration.

but anyways, it is SO normal to apply to a program after second year, you’re all good!

and finally, there’s a whole powerpoint presentation that u of t made on navigating your exact situation, so again—you are most definitely not alone! i highly recommend taking a look at it, it gives different scenarios with specific academic plans and next steps. i also am on my knees begging you to please connect with an academic counsellor at your registrar. they’ll be able to direct you much more specifically, with access to your transcript. that’s the best thing you can do for yourself right now.

wishing you so much luck rn. shoot me any more of your concerns/questions/qualms/quibbles if they come up!

over and out,

aska