UTM - askastudent

admissions, applying for U of T, UTM

chronically confused

August 14, 2024
Hi I want to apply to study Communication, Culture, Information & Technology at University of Toronto Missisigua And I am quite confused on their website I am seeing the deadline for early admission is June 27th but sometimes I see January 15th I am pretty confused when does early admission and regular admission open and what day do they end?

hey there,

ok yeah, i took a look at the CCIT and UTM websites and it is a bit confusing as to what the dates and deadlines are.

well, here is my summary of the admissions deadlines according to this UTM dates and deadlines page:
- november 7 is the “recommended application deadine for early consideration”
  - december 15 is the “recommended document deadline for early consideration”
- january 15 is the “application deadline for all applicants on OUAC”
  - february 1 is the “document deadline for all applicants”
as you can see, it might be confusing because there are different deadlines for your application and getting all your documents in. the gist of it is that november 7 is the early admission deadline and january 15 is the general admission deadline. apply for the early deadline if you want to be considered in the first round of offers, but apply before the general deadline if you want more time to get everything together. but keep in mind, some spots may already be filled by early applicants by then.

meanwhile, later on in the spring, you’ll have acceptance deadlines (for you to accept U of T’s offer):
- may 1 is the acceptance deadline for canadian and international applicants
- june 3 is the acceptance deadline for ontario applicants
however, the website says that with these acceptance deadlines, you might have a different, specific date as stated in your offer letter.

it seems to me like there is no deadline on june 27. i searched that date up on google with the “must include” function and nothing relevant came up for CCIT admissions. but, i do see a july 12th date on the same dates and deadlines page i’ve been talking about. it says that the “application deadline dates for september 2024 entry” was closed on july 12, 2024.

soooo yeah. that is super confusing. personally, i think the july 12 date seems way too late to be an application deadline. when i applied to U of T st. george campus, the deadlines for me were also november 7 and january 15. so my honest student-to-student advice is to just stick to that and ignore the july 12 date.

HOWEVER, i am not involved in the admissions process and before following what i say, you might want to confirm it. the easiest thing to do in this situation is to just send in a quick question through this page.

anyhoo, good luck with your application!

over and out,

aska
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biology, GPA, programs, UTM

no need to panic (i did it already)

May 8, 2024
hey aska, i really need your help. i’m panicking.

I’m a utm student and i just finished my first year in life science. i’m trying to go into one of the bio programs but i’m scared about my gpa. it currently does not reach the minimum as stated in the academic calendar and i’m really worried about not entering into my dream program (bio for health sci). i’m taking a couple of courses this summer to hopefully boost my gpa but when i checked the gpa calculator, i don’t think it would help :(. i do have 4.0 credits and the necessary courses, it’s just my gpa i’m worried about.

someone told me that if i don’t have a POSt by the end of this summer, I wouldn’t be able to enter into second year of uni and will need to redo first year all over again (which i cannot do). they said that, worst case scenario, i can just apply to type 1 programs and i’ll be automatically going into second year. not sure if this is true, but i want to avoid the worst-case scenario and get into the programs i want.

the POSt i’m applying to: major in bio for health science or just biology,

my ideal future POSt is: major in bio for health science, major computer science.

my backup POSt is: bio for health science, minor in computer science, minor in psychology. however, i didn’t get the minimum grade for psy100. i also haven’t taken computer science courses yet because i’m in life science. idk what to do.

should i take a third course this summer to boost my gpa, like a psych course? or is that a bad idea? do they round the gpa? and when will the university accept POSt requests?

please tell me someone was in the same position and ended up being a great student. i need to be inspired.

sorry, this is very long but thank you so much!

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
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admissions, commerce, repeating course, UTM

a grand total of one fact

March 16, 2024

Hello!

I applied for UTM Commerce but the problem is that I retook one of my grade 12 courses. I checked the program details and it says that they use the higher of the two marks when calculating my average but reserve the right to treat applicants who did the course in one go with preference. I was just wondering how much retaking a course will weigh against me and what the chances of getting into the course are (My average currently is in the range that they look for)

hey there,

i don’t blame you for being confused (this implies i sometimes blame people for being confused). if i was in your situation, i would have the same question. but honestly, it’s really hard to say. u of t doesn’t have a specific statement on this, and i hate to say it, but it makes sense. things change every year, since the chances of getting in all depends on the number of applicants and how brutal the competition is. there’s really no way to make an exact projection of your chances.

i think that it would depend on which of your grade 12 courses you repeated. according to utm’s admissions page, you need six grade 12 courses, including english, advanced functions, and calculus & vectors. if it was one of those three courses, i’m sure they would matter more than if you repeated a random grade 12 course. if a repeated course even matters for admissions. it is so unclear.

i know my answer is not much better than what u of t websites officially say, but that’s because i honestly just don’t have insider knowledge on utm commerce first-year admissions. i’m a student, not a recruitment officer. but i do have an identity crisis about this every time i answer an admissions question!

i did find some info about upper-year program admissions, which might give you a feel for the competitiveness. on the undergrad programs FAQ page, they say that they receive about 600 applications for the commerce program and accept around 300 students. i’d say those are pretty good odds, at a 50% acceptance rate! for reference, the management program accepts 60 students out of 300 applications. the competition is pretty bad in that one.

keep in mind that i’m talking about the acceptance process that happens when everyone applies to their POSt (program of study) after first year. so this is not about first-year admissions, where you are at right now. it’s just meant to give us an idea of the numbers. overall, we’ve learned that commerce is less competitive than management, and that many more students get accepted into commerce.

i’m working with crumbs here, guys. it’s just that the 3D world is holding me back from unleashing my omniscient powers today, or something.

then we finally come to the one and only concrete fact we’ve really got about your chances. the admissions site says that the approximate competitive average for first-year commerce admissions is in the mid 80s. so if your average is in that range, i think you should be fine. but keep in mind the site says “meeting these minimum requirements does not guarantee you admission to the university”. again, this is because “admission is subject to space availability and competition”.

anyways, sorry i couldn’t be more helpful. i recommend checking out my previous answer about retaking grade 12 courses, and reaching out to a utm recruiter. if you want to know specific details, definitely please reach out to a recruiter. good luck with everything! i think you will do great.

over and out,

aska

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Transferring, UTM

seeya sauga

October 12, 2022

Hello, I got refused from uoft art and science. And got admitted to UTM physical and chemical science. But the major I want do is not offer at UTM. Is there any chance that I transfer to uoft art and science. If yes what should I do, like would it matter the courses I’ll take in my first year at UTM? Please help. And thanks ?

hey there,

yup, you can definitely transfer to uoft artsci after first year. you’ll have to apply as an internal applicant on ouac. just so you know, the application deadline for early consideration is november 7th and the final deadline is january 12th next year.

it looks like the main criteria for transferring is your gpa (what else is new) and you should aim for at least a 2.7 cgpa, which is around a B average. you’ll also need the high school and university (first year) prerequisites for the program you’re interested in.

one possibly good thing is that as an internal transfer, you can carry over some of the courses you’ve completed at utm so that they go towards your uoft artsci degree — these are called “retained credits”. the confusing part of all this is that there isn’t actually any firm guideline out there on which utm courses correspond to uoft artsci courses, so you’ll have to do some guesswork.

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i’d recommend looking up the uoft artsci major(s) that you’re interested in and checking out the required first year courses. if you see any utm courses in the “exclusions” section of the course description, that usually means that they have similar content or overlaps with the course you’re looking at, and there’s a good chance that they’ll count as a retained credit for your transfer. you can also try to pick courses that match the timeframes of the utsg courses you’re interested in, like picking full year Y courses versus semestered S or F courses.

of course, you don’t have to load up on all the courses for your future major in order to transfer, the most important thing is probably keeping a good gpa and taking the prerequisites you need for POSt.

anyways, i hope that helps. 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 :/)

Its Gonna Be A Tough Deal Cuatro Houston GIFfrom Its Gonna Be A Tough Deal GIFs

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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courses, current student, UTM

an imposter among us (sorry, i had to)

May 12, 2022

Hello! I’m a st george student and just realized a course I’ve been taking online is from the mississauga campus. Does it matter? will the mark count toward my grade do I have to tell anyone about this?

hey there!

generally the course would count towards your gpa and degree requirements, as long as it’s not an exclusion for a course that you’ve already taken. exclusions would be marked as extra courses and won’t count towards your gpa or degree.

you should also double check with your registrar’s office to see if the course would count towards your degree requirements. if you’re hoping to take the course for your program requirements (major, minor, specialist, etc.) then you’d also need to ask your department.

there’s some more info on taking courses at other colleges on this page, under “Courses in Other Divisions”, but that pretty much covers the main points!

so rest assured, as long as you have a chat with your registrar to clear things up, it’ll likely be fine… just act natural and channel your inner utm student.

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all the best,

aska

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one programs, UTM

do it!!!

April 19, 2021

Hello! I have been invited to apply to utmOne Scholars. Do you have any experience in these type of courses? Do you know if they are more difficult in grading? Thank you 🙂

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hey there,

i’ve never been in the utmONE scholars program, but i was in a similar first year seminar program at st. george. based on my own experience with courses like the ones utmONE offers, i’d really recommend that you apply.

small first-year seminars are the best investment you can make in your transition from high school to university. because of the class size, you get to know your profs and classmates much better, and have far more meaningful support in your learning. your coursework is more likely to be experiential or creative, too, which is always a plus given the heavy academic workload of first-year. the first-year seminars i took absolutely changed the course of my degree and i owe so much to having taken them.

however, i can’t say whether utmONE classes are graded harder than other utm courses. when i took special first-year seminars at st. george, i found that they were graded much easier than my large first-year introductory lectures. it looks like utmONE has more of an intentional research focus than the seminars i took, though, so i’m not sure how that’d affect the grading system. if you have specific concerns, this webpage lists an email address that you can contact with further questions. you can try sending them a message!

be Boundless,

aska

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breadth requirements, UTM

i, too, avoid math

January 12, 2021

Hi there! I’m currently taking psy100 to fulfill half of the science breadth requirement but honestly I am not a science student and was wondering if you had any courses you would recommend that will still fill the requirement but is less science/math heavy. Thanks! 🙂

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hey there,

you didn’t specify what campus you go to, but i’m guessing you’re a utm student because that’s the only campus with a science breadth requirement. i could be wrong, though, because it looks like utm is the only campus still referring to their breadth requirements as distribution requirements.

it’s hard for me to recommend courses for this breadth requirement at utm, because my personal experience is limited to st. george. but from my experience and from what i’ve heard from my friends, beginner astronomy courses are great for breadth requirements because they don’t require a ton of math and are mostly memorization. obviously that’ll vary based on professors, so don’t take my word as a guarantee! geology courses might also be good for you, since i believe they won’t be as math-heavy as something like physics.

this utm page recommends some science distribution requirement courses that generally look like solid options to me. you might try one of the anthropology options—”Fantasies, Hoaxes and Misrepresentations of the Ancient World” looks fun—since anthropology is often offered by the faculty of arts at other universities.

to sum all this up, in order, i think your best options by subject are anthropology, astronomy, and then geology.

i don’t know about recommending specific courses, though, since i haven’t taken any at utm. if you know any more advanced students at your campus that you can ask for specific course recommendations, do that! most people at u of t are happy to help younger students and answer quick questions.

be Boundless,

aska

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prospective student, studying, UTM

you all want impossible answers

January 12, 2021
hello! i am a grade 12 student at an ontario highschool. my average at the moment is around 93-95%. i’ve applied for social sciences at utm/ustg. i’m hoping to major in political science or criminology, and then apply to uoft law.

from your experience in social sciences, 1) do you think i will be able to achieve a 3.5-3.8 gpa in my undergrad? 2) do you have any tips/advice on how to do so? 3) what are the pros/cons between utm/ustg…will i have more difficulty achieving a high gpa at ustg? ty!!

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hey there,

that’s a pretty dang good high school average!

i’ll answer your questions in order.

do i think you’ll be able to achieve a 3.5-3.8 gpa in your undergrad? that’s hard to say. different high schools have different levels of grade inflation, and i know literally nothing about your study habits, so i don’t really feel like i can make a prediction. however, what i can tell you is that there are certainly people with high school averages like that that manage to maintain your target GPA at u of t.

i know u of t has a reputation for being really tough, and it is challenging. there are certainly high achieving students who have a very difficult time adjusting to first-year university, but i wouldn’t say everyone needs to be super scared of failure. there are student supports at u of t to help you achieve your goals.

do i have any tips on getting a good GPA? sure. here are a few:
- use your resources.
achieving and maintaining a high GPA is a lot easier when you’ve got help.

here are some things that have helped my friends and i with our studies: going to office hours, making use of the writing centres and math learning centres, participating in club or college mentorship programs, visiting a learning strategist, and checking out the academic help workshops on the clnx calendar. visits to your registrar’s office will prove invaluable whenever you need advice, and tapping into u of t’s mental health resources can help you deal with the stress of academics.
- build a support network
studying is a lot easier if you’re not also dealing with isolation and loneliness. a lot of uni students i know have struggled more with their studies when they haven’t been surrounded by supportive peers. pulling a long-haul study session is less painful if you’ve got someone with you keeping you accountable (even if just over Zoom).

plus, it’s important to remember that academics won’t be all you’re dealing with in university—you also need people to help you endure your personal lows and celebrate your highs.

i really do think that the better you’re doing as a person and the more you’re plugged in to some kind of likeminded community or friend group, the better equipped you are to achieve your academic goals.
- get organized
i’ve spent a solid amount of time at u of t now, and something that seems to happen every semester for me is that a few balls get dropped. unless you’re gifted with impeccable organizational and time management skills, the endeavour of managing classes, clubs, a job, your health, and your personal life does get tough.

find a system that works for you to keep track of all your responsibilities and deadlines. it always feels really bad when you find out about an assignment last-minute or after the deadline—you lose marks unnecessarily, and your grades don’t reflect your abilities.

i currently use a monthly planner that i got from muji, which allows me to see all my deadlines several weeks ahead of time. i colour-code it (green for assignment deadlines, pink for tests, purple for shifts at work etc) so that, at a glance, i have a good grasp of what i’ll be busy with in any given week. and then at the beginning of each week, i dump everything into a google spreadsheet schedule broken down into half-hour increments, so i have a sort of weekly timetable. that’s what works for me. virtual calendars are also a good option if you prefer!

to touch on your last question, i’ve only ever been a student at st. george, so i don’t feel like i can say whether it’s harder than utm. i don’t really feel that qualified making a pro-con list either, since i’m probably quite biased towards st. george. this might surprise you, but i’ve never even been to utm in person!

i’d recommend that you do some research yourself and make a pros-cons list that reflects your own priorities. you can consider things like what extracurriculars each campus offers, living costs (if those are applicable), program offerings, campus aesthetics (if that even matters to you), and location.

if you’re extensive in your considerations, you’ll probably find that you end up with one option that’s clearly better than the other. i chose my campus because i was interested in specific st. george extracurriculars, as well as programs that were only offered at st. george. it just seemed like the right call.

hope this helped! wishing you all the best of luck with your application.

be Boundless,

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.

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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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chem, prereqs, UTM

check yourself before you (pre)req yourself

June 29, 2020

Hi, I am a first year going into the chemical and physical sciences program at UTM. I am looking to take a specialist in Biological Chemistry after the first year so I looked at the classes I should take. The problem is that many of the math courses require a minimum of 70% in Advanced functions and this past year I had an awful teacher and received my worse high school mark of 66% in her class. I also took Calculus and got an 83%. Will I be able to take the math courses?

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hey there!

congrats on committing to u of t and starting the lil adventure that is university!

for a question like this, i’d recommend reaching out to the UTM chemistry department (probably the undergrad program administrator, specifically) and asking about your case. i’m not sure how they deal with situations like this, and it would be best to go directly to the source. there’s a chance you might need to take an online high-school level advanced functions course and get a higher grade in order to meet the prerequisite? but they’d be the ones to confirm that.

i wouldn’t recommend registering in the course without the prerequisite, because departments will usually go into your records to check that you’ve met the requirements. if they find out that you don’t, you’ll be removed from the course with no warning, which will cause you a lot of unnecessary stress. 10/10 would not recommend.

i hope the chem department is able to shed some light on what you should do! good luck with this.

be Boundless,

aska

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computer science, internal transfer, UTM, UTSC

ThEy WiLL nOt Be AcCePtEd As EquiVALeNts

June 2, 2020

Hello there,I was wondering if I could transfer from UTSC CS to UTM. However, the POSt requirements for CS at UTM it says “Note that only CSC148H5, taken at the UTM campus, will be accepted. Please do not take CSC148H1(UTSG) or CSCA48H3(UTSC); they will not be accepted as equivalent for the purposes of program enrolment. “According to that, Can I still transfer?TNX

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hey there,

it sounds like you’d be able to transfer to the UTM campus, but possibly not directly into UTM’s compsci program. if you’re determined to be a UTM kiddo, you could probably try doing your internal transfer first, taking CSC148H5, and then applying to the compsci POSt at UTM. that’s what the situation seems like to me, anyway.

to be 100% sure, i’d check this over with your registrar, or with someone at the UTM compsci department. maybe both. i’m sure they’ve seen this situation before. good luck!

be Boundless,

aska

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choosing, co-op, co-op management, UTM, UTSC

i’m the goat

April 23, 2020
Hi there! Sorry for bothering you but I am really struggling between UTSC and UTM right now. Little bit of background info: I was accepted to the Co-op Management program at UTSC and the Management program at UTM (did not apply to UTSG). I am also an international student who has received a 65% scholarship for my studies in UToronto, and an additional 19000CAD scholarship from UTM.

Pros for UTSC:
-Can do Co-op which I believe is really good for a student’s future career
-Better sports facilities (especially for my sport) which are really ideal for me

Cons for UTSC:
-Don’t really like the campus, looks pretty sketchy and people don’t seem to like it on Reddit
-More expensive as I will be losing my 19000cad from UTM and Co-op costs more I believe
-The campus just really doesn’t look as nice as UTM but I am not sure because I have really only looked at pictures online
-No free shuttle bus to downtown:(

Pros for UTM:
-nicer campus, more green area which I will feel more comfortable being around
-Lower tuition fee (which is kind of a big deal for me)
-Free shuttle bus!!
-The community just look nicer and suit me better, idk…

Cons for UTM:
-no co-op which I’m not sure if its really that big of a deal (Coz I really need job experience but can I even get any at UTM…)
-might have to travel to downtown/UTSC 3-4 times a week to practice
-isolated area? So hard to find jobs/internships around campus? I am really not sure because I am just so lost:(

I guess UTSC can prepare me for a better career which is truly ideal, but UTM is what I prefer for my 4 years of college life. Would be great if I can get the same amount of work experience at UTSC by attending UTM (is there a way to secure that the school can help me find jobs if I don’t do co-op or am I really going to be on my own:( )

I might even do UTM Commerce in my second year if I study at UTM, but I will probably stick with Co-op management if I study at UTSC. Which one do you think I should choose? Is Co-op really that big of a deal? Is it worth sacrificing part of my college experience/preference for it?

Sorry that I am all over the place, there’s just too much going on in my head and I’m just so worried that I’m going to regret it. Thank you so much for your precious time and help!

——————————————

hey there,

congrats on making it into both programs, and with scholarships, too!

quick psa: it would be v cool if people stop sending questions to every single ask box i advertise! this seems to be an international student thing, so you’re not alone in it, but rest assured that i will see your question even if you only send it once.

but you never need to apologize for bothering me, this is what i do. let’s get to it. for anyone who hasn’t been following this epic saga, this post is a part two, it seems, to this one. thank you for taking my suggestion to shorten your question! that’s cool. we love readability.

so you did the epic pros and cons list, i can see. a few notes on that list:
- don’t believe everything you see on u of t’s reddit! from my experience, it’s where the angry people go to congregate.
- finances are definitely something to consider! you’ve been offered a huge scholarship to UTM, and imo that’s hard to turn down.
- it can often be quite difficult to make a judgement about a campus based solely on pictures. here is a webpage offering virtual tours of utsc, and here are some virtual tours of utm residence buildings. you can also try looking video tours up on youtube, which is something i did when i was making my admissions decision!
- utsc has a lot of green space too!
- it’s hard to tell what a school’s community is like until you’re there. i’m curious as to why you think the utm community will suit you better. rest assured you will be able to make friends, find mentors, and study under great profs regardless of whether you choose utm or utsc!
it’s still really hard for me to give you a definitive answer re: which school you should choose, because even if i know what factors you’re considering, i don’t know the weight of each one. for example: if you give up the utm scholarship, will you be taking on that same amount in student loans? or do you have sufficient parental support to not need those loans in the first place? i feel like depending on your situation, the importance of certain things you’re considering can change.

keep in mind that you will (presumably) be spending four entire years of your life as a student at whatever campus you choose. so if you feel like you’d be happier at UTM, that’s not insignificant. four years is a solid chunk of your life. university isn’t just a stepping stone to a future career– it’s an experience, and one that has so far been really precious to me.

that being said, i’m not sure that there’s a way to ensure that u of t helps you get a job without a guaranteed co-op. that isn’t to say there aren’t any student supports to help you find jobs at utm– utm has a fantastic career centre, and like i told you in the last post, the utm management program has programming that will help you get work placements and hands-on experience. ie. MGT480H5 and the certificate in effective business practices and leadership skills. if you end up choosing utm commerce, you’ll have access to the Personal Experience Year (PEY), which is a 12 to 16 month internship also done by students at utsg.

basically, i wouldn’t say you’ll ever be fully on your own. there’s programming at both schools to help ensure that you get hands-on work experience while pursuing your degree. at the very least, your registrar’s office (both at utm and utsc) will be able to provide you with guidance and refer you to career resources.

ultimately, you’re gonna need to take ownership for your decision. there’s no easy formula to success in life. co-ops are important, yes, but you can do great even without one. students at st. george don’t have access to the co-op program that utsc runs, but they tend to be fine. i have full faith in you to make the best decision for yourself. you got this.

i actually think it’s pretty clear which school you want to go to, so…

be Boundless,

aska
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