• colleges,  prospective student

    words of wisdom? from me?

    August 18, 2021

    Do social science students have to choose a college like life sci students? Also, any words of wisdom for the incoming high school seniors?

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    hi there,

    i hope you’re enjoying the last of the summer, and thank you for your patience with this answer.

    yes, social science students do need to choose a college! all students under the faculty of arts and science get sorted into colleges — u of t is so big that it only makes sense, administration-wise.

    as for words of advice, it’s been a quick minute since i’ve been in high school. honestly, the piece of advice that most readily comes to mind is this: in most people’s cases, your senior year of high school is your last chance to be a kid, so enjoy the heck out of it. life comes at you fast during university, and most of my friends needed to grow up real quick to deal with the realities of rental housing, international student immigration hoops, and student loans.

    i know there are a lot of stressors attached to university applications and figuring out your future when you’re in the 12th grade, but personally, i wish i had slowed down a bit and savored where i was a little more.

    i don’t know if that’s the kind of wisdom you’re looking for, but that’s all i’ve got for ya today. best of luck completing high school, and you know where to go if you have more questions!

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • prospective student

    what’s a pep rally?

    January 16, 2021

    Hi 🙂 I’m deciding wether to attend UBC or UofT. (Provided I get in, of course. HA) One of the biggest pros about UBC for me is the sense of community. Since everyone lives in a university town separate from the city, it seems like there is a much larger “school spirit” as opposed to UofT. UBC ppl seem to like going to pep rallies, varsity games, etc. Does UofT have that as well? I would love to attend UofT but I’m moving very, very far from home & want a school with a strong sense of community.

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    hello hello,

    thank you so much for your patience waiting for this post!

    i wanted to give you a good answer, so i got in touch with someone who actually goes to UBC and asked a few questions to get some clarity.

    first, it wouldn’t necessarily be accurate to say that everyone at UBC “lives in a university town separate from the city”— the campus is on a peninsula a bit farther from downtown, yes, but it’s still definitely part of vancouver. plus, many students commute in from vancouver and its suburbs.

    in that sense, life at UBC would certainly be what you make of it–there are some students that head home right after class, and there are others that stick around on campus to attend social events or hang out with their friends. it’s possible that you’re from the UBC area and already know these details, but you didn’t specify so i’ve included it anyway.

    to my surprise, it is apparently true that UBC students like to go to pep rallies and varsity games!

    i don’t think u of t has any pep rallies outside of orientation week, when we’ve got the very large, very fun tri-campus parade that students of all years can participate in. varsity games exist at u of t, but i don’t think people go to them unless they know someone playing or are otherwise involved in that world.

    if you’re looking for a strong sense of overall school spirit, u of t might not be the school for you. however, i wouldn’t say that that means u of t has no sense of community. u of t is a really big, academically-focused school (as is UBC, to be fair), so it kind of makes sense that we don’t build community around pep rallies and sports.

    i was really shy when i moved to toronto to attend u of t and had lived in the same city my whole life before that, meaning that i didn’t have a lot of practice making new friends. still, i’ve managed to find my crowd at u of t just fine.

    part of that has been thanks to first-year foundation courses, which are fun, first-year-only classes with a lighter workload that cap around 20-30 people. i met some of my favourite people in those classes. i also joined extracurriculars i enjoy, and lived in residence for some time, which certainly helped me meet people.

    if you applied to the faculty of arts and science at st. george, you probably selected a college, which is where school spirit might come into play a little more. u of t students in artsci tend to identify with their college community, since their college determines what residences they can live in, as well as what college student union serves them.

    there’s stronger college spirit at smaller colleges like victoria, trinity, and innis, but a lot of people i know have made their closest friends by going to their college’s social events and getting involved with college clubs. colleges hold formals and semiformals, arts and craft sessions, open mics, pub nights, movie nights, and sometimes even clothing swaps. there’s a ton of fun stuff happening if you’ve got the time to go.

    plus, there’s a lot of appeal to u of t, location-wise. you’ve got the whole city on your doorstep. on a day off, you can go to the art gallery of ontario for free, go to a festival in kensington market, grocery shop in chinatown, or browse for books in the annex—all within walking distance of campus. if nightlife is your thing, i’d say it’s better in downtown toronto than it is in UBC’s immediate area. if you’ve made a new friend or two and want to hang out with them, you have so many options and i love that.

    moving away from home is certainly a challenge, and u of t can be an isolating school for some students. as you make this decision, i hope that you consider the strength of your support system and your mental health. if you have a difficult time adjusting, will you be all right?

    you’ll be the best judge of whether it’s a good fit for you. if you’re willing to put yourself out there, say hi to new people, and get involved outside the classroom, i think you’ll be able to build a community of your own at u of t. but if you’re drawn to the scene of pep rallies and sports games, you won’t find that kind of energy at u of t. the school’s too big for us to all get together in one stadium and yell fun things.

    tbh if you want a sense of community, i’d recommend the university of alberta. i don’t know if you even applied there, but i know some people who were in residence there, and they made the school sound like a… summer camp, or something. so many games, outings, sports leagues, movie nights, pretty much every day of the week. wow. cannot relate.

    Squidward Looking Out the Window | Know Your Meme

    i hope this helped in some way and thanks again for your patience. wishing you the best of luck with your university applications!

    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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  • prospective student,  subject POST,  switching

    it’s too early in the year for clever post titles

    January 5, 2021

    hi! i’m a prospective student and i was wondering how hard/easy it is to switch between programs (specifically in the arts and science fac)

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    hey there,

    just kidding, this is a good question! compared to what i’ve heard from friends at other canadian universities, it’s relatively easy to switch between programs within arts and science.

    how the whole system works is that usually, after first year, you’ll apply to a program of study (POSt), or two, or three, or more. there’s a program selection period during which these applications occur, and there are several program categories that determine what you’ll need to apply.

    if you think that switching programs could be in your future, you should familiarize yourself with those program categories and make sure you know what boxes your prospective programs fall into. the general rule is that the larger the number, the more intense the admissions process is. it would therefore make sense that it’s easier to switch into a type 1 program than a type 3 program, because a type 1 program will require almost nothing of you whereas some type 3s will look at your GPA, your grades in specific prerequisite courses, AND a supplemental application .

    so, to sum that all up: there’s a specific time of year during which you can apply to programs (and therefore switch into a new program), and there are specific requirements to get into some programs. it’s easy enough to switch as long as you (1) time your switch well or plan for it ahead of time, and (2) have the required prerequisites and grades to be admitted into a program. if you have a specific program in mind and want to find out what those prerequisites/required grades are, look that program up in the calendar! 

    if you’re a prospective student, though, try not to worry too extensively about POSts right now! once you’re admitted and join u of t as a student, you’ll have access to academic advisors who will be able to talk you through all things program-related. you’ll be able to get much better advice through a phone conversation with them—advice tailored to your specific interests and situation. if you’re particularly keen on getting things sorted out, you can even schedule an appointment with them the summer before you begin your studies.

    good luck with your application! happy new year.

    be Boundless,

    aska

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