• enrollment,  subject POST

    getting around those pesky enrolment controls

    May 30, 2014

    Hi,
    Unfortunately, I missed the deadline for enrolling in a subject post and am a little worried that this will hurt my course selection come August. I am aware of the second enrollment window, but it seems that you wouldn’t be informed of your acceptance until September. Any ideas on what I can do to ensure I can enroll in my preferred classes for the first semester next year?
    Thanks for the help! It’s greatly appreciated.

    ???????????????

    hey there,

    i’m assuming by the fact that you’re referring to the first and second windows that you’re talking about a type 2 or 3 POSt. look at me, inferring stuff. what a lil genius. *pats self on back*

    unfortunately, there’s not much you can do at this point. if some of the courses that are relevant to that POSt?don’t have a priority or restricted enrolment control, then you can definitely enrol in them while your subject POSt is still requested. as for P-controlled courses, you can wait until the priority period ends and then try your best to get in. with restricted courses, you just gotta for when/if you make it into the POSt.

    you can swing by the department that administers the POSt and see if there’s anything else they might be able to do for you, but that’s about it for aska’s arsenal of tips & tricks.

    best of luck,

    aska

     

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  • prereqs,  subject POST

    Quick question about minors (In terms of majors/minors, not little children haha!)

    May 28, 2014

    Hello aska! I just have a really quick question about the Minor in Professional Writing (sorry if that’s a bit too specific). It states that “4.0 credits are required including at least 1.0 at the 300/400 level”. Now I did the only course in second year ( Which was also a prerequisite, WRI203H5), but then the “Upper Years” section states that I need 1.5 to 3.5 credits. Wouldn’t I NEED 3.5 credits to fulfill the 4 credit criteria, or am I missing something? Sorry to bother you! and THANK YOU 🙂

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    “sorry if that’s too specific”; honey, i LIVE for specific questions. any questions where i have to do as little work as possible are questions i love. i’m pretty sure i was a male lion in a past life, sleeping for 22 hours a day.

    also, you’re not bothering me. this is my job. and answering questions is a much better use of my time than rewatching BBC sherlock with worrying frequency and falling asleep on my couch.

    what happened here is that the people writing the calendar tried to be as specific as possible, but instead of clearing things up, it just got more confusing. so let’s try to detangle it:

    let’s say you took WRI203H5 and the required 1.0 FCE 300- or 400-level WRI course (“4.0 credits are required including at least 1.0 at the 300/400 level“). then you started thinking to yourself, “i’m DONE with these WRI courses. they are silly and a WASTE OF MY TIME.” why you’d think that when you’re in the minor, i don’t know, but hey, maybe some other, non-WRI courses struck your fancy.

    well, in that case, you are allowed to use “[a]?maximum of 2.0 credits of approved writing-intensive courses or writing-related elective courses” to fulfil the requirement for the minor – that is, non-WRI courses. as you’ll notice, if you take WRI203H5, WRI3**Y5/WRI4**Y5, and 2.0 “approved writing-intensive or writing-related elective courses,” you get 4.0 FCEs, which meets the requirements for the minor! so there you have it. that’s how you can only take 1.5 upper-year WRI FCEs?and still get a minor in professional writing and communication.

    however, if you really do like your program, you can just take WRI203H5 plus 3.5 WRI FCEs, for a total of 4.0 FCEs, and also fulfil the requirements for the minor.

    and of course, you can take only 0.5 non-WRI courses, and 3.0 upper-year WRI courses, or 1.0 non-WRI and 2.0 upper-year WRI…etc. etc. etc.

    wow, that was a lot longer than i anticipated. i really hope it made sense.

    cheers,

    aska

    P.S. i’m sorry, i had to use your e-mail subject line as the title of this post, because it is just too good. i hope you don’t mind. i just love it.

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  • admissions,  subject POST,  UTM

    UTM biz

    May 27, 2014

    So I applied to the commerce program at UTM and instead, I got the “first year studies in business” alternate program. I read on the UTM website that this is an alternate program where students take the same courses as Commerce program students in the first year. Moreover, they needed to maintain a cumulative GPA of 2.5 minimum in order to transfer and reapply into the original commerce program after the first year. So basically what happens if I do not meet the 2.5 GPA (although I feel like if I try hard, I can easily do it.) Do you drop out and waste all the tuition money? Or what exactly happens and is it worth it? Btw I’m still in high school so a little confused about this.

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    nononoOOOOnO N O NoO ON ONO you do not drop out if you don’t meet those requirements.

    basically what has happened here is that UTM has given you a very generous opportunity: you didn’t get into commerce straight from high school, so they’re giving you a second chance. after first year, if you complete those requirements you listed, you can reapply to commerce to try and get into the program for second year.

    if you DON’T get into commerce though, it’s no big deal! no need to drop out, or waste money, or any of that. you can just apply to get into a different program of study (subject POSt). take a look at all of UTM’s management programs here, and all UTM programs here.

    once you finish first year, you’ll have the opportunity to enrol into/apply to any subject POSt you want. after a year, you may realize that commerce isn’t for you, and decide to enrol in something completely different. as long as you meet the prerequisites for whichever subject POSt that is, then you can go ahead and enrol in/apply to it. the reason i say enrol or apply is because some POSts have unlimited enrolment, while some are a bit more competitive, and you can read about that here, under “Add or Change a Program.”

    that’s a really quick-and-dirty explanation of all of this, but the bottom line is this: first year is definitely worth it. it’s an opportunity to test-drive your program, so that by the time you get to second year, you know which program is really right for you.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • ROSI,  subject POST

    ROSI has your mental health in mind

    May 16, 2014

    so far I’ve applied for two 2L majors, two type 1 majors, and one type 1 minor. rosi wont let me add any more majors or minors. whyy!?

    thanks

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    because ROSI limits you to three subject POSTs, of which only two can be majors or specialists. if you’re currently enrolled in three type 1 POSts, then that’s it! no more POSts for you. when/if the time comes to accept an invitation to a 2L major – or two – you’ll have to drop the equivalent number of type 1 majors to be within the limit.

    i know you probably want to learn about so many things in the world, and your dedication to the pursuit of knowledge is inspiring, but at a certain point, you just gotta read about some things on wikipedia. it’s great fun, trust me.

    have fun exploring the information mines of the internet!

    aska

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  • business,  science,  subject POST

    mystery business program. mystery career. mystery life.

    April 22, 2014

    Hey, so I’m a first year life sci student first year, and ended with a GPA of 3.33 ish first semester (Got a 3.7, 3.0, 3.3, CR and a Y course). Then I decided to take business courses 2nd sem because I found that I didn’t really want to take the science route anymore. Well, the 2nd sem went pretty bad, I only took 3 courses and I’m pretty sure I failed one of them, and am expecting a 3.7 (at best) on the other one and a 2.0 on the Y course. Anyways, what should I do in the summer semester? Do I have a chance at getting into a business program that has a cutoff of like 3.2? Should I go back to science?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    i’m not aware of any business program at the downtown campus of uoft that has a 3.2 cutoff average, so i can’t really comment on that. if you are interested in business, i’d recommend you take a look at utsc‘s, utm‘s and ryerson‘s business programs (maybe one of those was the program you were talking about? who can say…)

    as for choosing between commerce and science, that’s a pretty big decision – and unfortunately, while i’d really like to be an omnipotent deity who controls the academic fates of all uoft students, i’m not. luckily for you, this means that the choice is pretty much in your hands. if you need a little bit of advice about the direction of your university career, the best place to go would be to your college registrar’s office.

    while you’re there, you can also ask them about whether enrolling in a summer course is a good idea! without your specific academic information, all i can say is that 1) the summer term is a good opportunity to catch up on credits, but 2) it moves twice as quickly and so it can be challenging/hurt your GPA. i’m guessing that didn’t really help much, did it? but the registrar’s office can take a look at ALL your records and help you make an informed decision about whether or not to enrol. and those are the best kind of decisions, you know – informed ones.

    xoxo,

    aska

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  • career choice,  failing,  subject POST

    ask what uni can give to YOU.

    April 22, 2014

    Dear Aska,

    I’m supposed to be going into my third year at UofT next fall but I fudged up really bad and will be going into my second year (credit wise). Last year I decided to take only political science and international relations courses. I realized as much as I loved International Relations I could not do it in a classroom setting so I had to drop all those courses (LWD). I also failed astronomy by like 5%. So this year I decided to double up on my courses and took 6 per semester to “catch up”, that backed fired. I’m about to fail a political science course (pol200) and I did awful in my other courses. Last year I was on academic probation but I got out of it after summer school, but I’m pretty sure I’m headed right back or even academic suspension. I figured out that I want to major in Equity , that’s so far a definite because there’s a variety of courses I can take which I like. I was told to do a minor in sociology by my registrar because it was the one class I did well in, and I do like sociology but again I screwed up and will just get a passing mark (50%). I’m undecided if I should stay in political science. I love it but the classroom setting isn’t working for me. I tend to fall asleep in my classes because my professors are too dry as are my readings. But most of the opportunities I want, require a BA in political science. I was also thinking about doing a major in Urban Studies but I despise economics in a classroom settings. I have really bad luck when it comes to economic teachers, it all started in high-school. And for urban studies I have to take an intro to eco course. Another problem I have is that I’m almost all out of my LWD and CR/NO CR and have probably used up most of my first year course allowance figuring out what I don’t like. So I can’t screw up anymore. I’m going to make an appointment with the academic success centre later this week to see if they have any helpful advice. But I just don’t know what to do anymore. I’m just so burnt out from school, I have no motivation. The problem is I don’t like any other university other then UofT (in Canada). Also no course sounds interesting to me anymore. Any advice? I know I didn’t really ask any specific questions, but just any input would be greatly appreciated 🙂

    OH P.S. I forgot to mention, I eventually do want to get into law school (Idk if i’m gnna stay in Canada or go abroad for that) But at this rate I
    do not have the grades.
    P.P.S. All the opportunities I find for work or volunteering or internships require a GPA that I don’t have. And these experiences are amazing and will help me discover what I like and dislike, and if it’s for me.

    Sincerely,
    Need a Spark

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    you’ve got a lot of stuff going on here. i’m gonna be honest, i don’t know how much help i can be. like you said, you haven’t asked any specific questions, and since what you are asking seems to fall under the category of General School Life Advice, i’m just going to go that route, and let academic success handle the nitty-gritty details of your next steps at school (subject POSt stuff, LWDs, etc.), since they’ll probably be better at that than i will, anyway.

    it seems to me that you’re interested in a lot of things, but a lot of them you don’t like in a “classroom setting.” you said that more than once about different programs in your question, so i get the feeling that the issue here is not you finding a major that you like, but the actual atmosphere of school. if a lot of these things interest you, but not necessarily in a university context, then maybe the university’s the problem. i think maybe it would be helpful to think about what you really want out of your education, and whether uni can really provide it.

    keep in mind that i’m just making suggestions; i’m not going to tell you to drop out of school or make any drastic decisions, and of course you should definitely talk to your registrar’s office before making your decision, whatever it may be. however, i do think that every step of your education should be chosen by you, and for your own benefit. maybe sociology’s the best choice for you (just make sure you take a look at the program requirements before committing yourself to that route), maybe you need to take a year off, or maybe you now’s the time to move on from uoft.

    ask yourself why you “like UofT”; if it’s just for the prestige or the pretty buildings, then you’re in it for the wrong reasons. additionally, i’d say your academic probation is definitely a cue from the university to take a good look at your school career, and make a serious decision about where you want to proceed from here.

    finally, there are plenty of exciting, real-world volunteer opportunities that don’t have a GPA requirement at all. i’ve done my fair share of educational, rewarding, productive volunteering, and not once have i had to provide my GPA. university is definitely not the only path towards being a successful, productive member of society, and doing some volunteer work could be your entryway into a career you actually, y’know, enjoy. so take a look around!

    best,

    aska

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  • subject POST

    from POSt to POSt

    April 15, 2014

    I want to change from Health studies to Sociology which is still under social sciences. Do i just have to change my Subject post? To add any other majors and minors that are not under social sciences, do i just change the subject post? Thanks.

    ???????????????

    hey there,

    well, the process is different depending on what type of subject POSt you enrol in, but since the Sociology specialist, major and minor are all type 2L subject POSts, I’m going to talk about the process of enrolling in a 2L subject POSt.

    so what you’ve gotta do is go into ROSI, enter the code related to your desired POSt, and request the POSt. then your status will be ‘requested’ for a long while – until decisions are made about who’s in the POSt and who’s not. that happens around late june/early july. at that point, your POSt status on ROSI will change from ‘requested’ to either ‘invited’ (an invitation which you can then accept) or ‘refused.’ you can take a look at the criteria they use to determine acceptance into the program here.

    if you are refused, you may have a chance to apply again during the second request period, which is between july 2nd and august 31st.

    also, if you want to get out of Health Studies, you’ll have to drop it on ROSI, same way you added it.

    peace out,

    aska

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  • subject POST

    oh you kids and your ultimately detrimental, high standards

    April 4, 2014

    Hi aska!

    I’m a first-year student at UT and planning to do a specialist in actuarial science. (“Students must take MAT137Y? and obtain a minimum grade of 65 and ECO100Y and obtain a minimum grade of 70 in order enrol in the specialist or major program in actuarial science. Enrolment in the actuarial program generally occurs between 1st and 2nd year after the two required courses have been completed with the minimum required marks.”)

    Including one course i took last summer(MAT138H1S), if I pass all the course this year, I will have 4.0 in total( PHY131H1F, MAT137Y, ECO100Y, MAT223H1S, CSC108H1S).

    I totally screwed my first-year, I feel depressed every day and night. I m not making excuses, i should have handled it better.? I might not able to obtain the minimum grades, both mat137 and eco100,? i only have a 63 for MAT137, and a 59 for Eco100.

    The worst scenario: I failed my eco100, am i gonna get kicked out?

    The second worst scenario, I passed my eco100 and mat137 with poorly grades, am i allowed to retake them next year in order to get in the actuarial science program?

    Thanks.

    ???????????????

    hey there,

    firstly, don’t be so hard on yourself. you don’t know how many e-mails i get from first year students in variations of your position. whether the program/university wasn’t what they were expecting, they weren’t ready academically, or they just couldn’t put their heart into it, it’s all legitimate. so don’t beat yourself up about it, k? i mean, calculus almost sent me off a tower in first year, so.*

    if you fail ECO100, you won’t get kicked out of school, if that’s what you’re asking (is that what you’re asking?). you won’t even get put on probation unless you finish first year with under a 1.50 GPA, so don’t stress about it.

    since ECO100 and MAT137 are requirements for the actuarial science subject POSt, you can retake them next year – they’ll be designated ‘extra’ courses and won’t count towards your degree or CGPA, but they’ll be considered for admission to the POSt when you apply (go to 2. under “Extra” Courses: 100-series, Repeating and Excluded Courses).

    good luck my friend,

    aska

    *fun story about my calc 2 prof: he was the most beautiful man i’ve ever seen in real life. he was in his mid-thirties, he had a penchant for wearing plaid shirts with his sleeves rolled up halfway and – get this – he had tattoo sleeves on both arms. and they didn’t look stupid, either, if you get what i mean. he also had studs in his ears and beautiful, brown eyes. he taught calculus at 8:30 in the morning three times a week, but guess what? i always went. those tat sleeves were probably a big part of why i got a good mark in that class.

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  • subject POST

    uoft webpages like the moving staircases in hogwarts

    April 4, 2014

    Hi,
    I was hoping you could help me figure out why I can?t enrol into the “Creative Expression and Society Minor? offered at Vic. I can?t find the course code for it and it?s not listed within the options of Subject POSt codes.
    Thank you!

    ???????????????

    hey there,

    i have a strong suspicion that they’ve changed the page that all the subject POSts and codes are listed on, but in any case this is the code:?ASMIN2741. i went onto ROSI myself and tried adding it as a subject POSt, and it worked as it should, so give it a go!

    cheers,

    aska

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  • engineering,  subject POST

    let the record state that i love engineers and think they are fab

    March 28, 2014

    Dear aska,

    I’ve noticed that engineers can take an arts and science minor, does that work both ways? I’m almost done my 2nd year and I double major in chemistry and physics but I’ve been thinking to switch into engineering, but that seems to be a painful process so minoring seems like the next best thing.

    Sincerely D

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    it looks like only people pursuing a BASc can take engineering minors. sorry, man. curse those engineers!* maybe you could take a minor in math or computer science? i know they’re not exactly the same, but beggars can’t be choosers, y’know.

    cheers,

    aska

    *If there are any engineering students reading this: i’m kidding. please don’t ruin the structural integrity of my house.

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  • subject POST

    rock-hard 6.0 100-series rule?

    March 24, 2014

    Hey so I’m currently a second year student, and I really need help deciding?what my next moves will be, since registrar is totally useless and never?help.?SO here’s my story:
    First year – got accepted into business management.. yada yada.. did NOT?get accepted into my subject post for that. But, I took an elective to go?with earth science and I loved it!?Second Year – Absolutely love earth sciences, taken every second year?course for it currently offered, and completely excel in it. I now want to?specialize in earth sciences.?My problem however, is that I have already taken the maximum number of?first year credits, but I have never taken first year math, chem, or?physics, and I NEED those.?Where do I go from here? I don’t quite understand the whole limitation on?how many first year credits you can have.

    Please help! 🙁

    ???????????????

    hey there,

    well, first of all, congratulations on figuring out what you love. that’s incredible difficult, and you got it all sorted out by second year.?secondly, you can’t have more than 6.0 100-level credits for your degree, but if you need them for a subject POSt, then you can still take them.

    i can almost hear you blinking in confusion from over here.

    basically, if you’ve already taken 6.0 100-level credits and you take more, they won’t count towards the 20.0 credits you need to get your degree, but they will count towards any program that you may need them for. you can take all the first-year math/chem/physics that you need for earth science, but they won’t increase your overall credit count for your degree. does that make sense? you can read about it here?under “Extra Courses: 100-series, Repeating and Excluded Courses.”

    so feel free to take the courses you need over the summer and/or next year. all the specialists for earth science are unlimited enrolment/type 1’s, so you should be able to enrol in the subject POSt no problem, even before you complete those first year courses. as long as you complete them before graduation (and in time for any courses you want to take for which they’re prereqs), you’ll be all set.

    best,

    aska

    P.S. the title of this post looks like it’s written in an alien code that only uoft students can decipher, and that makes me chuckle. if the complexity of your school’s rules are ever getting you down, take comfort in the fact that you are an expert in the complex and specific dialect of Uoftian, and highly-trained scholars will probably have to specialize in it in future generations in order to understand it.

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  • subject POST,  UTM

    and throw polly gee

    March 21, 2014

    Hi,

    I’m minoring in Anthropology (Arts) which requires a 1.0 credit prerequisite from a selection of 2nd year social science or science ANT courses. Currently, I’m taking ANT206 this semester, which will hopefully leave me with 0.5 credits to complete. I’m considering summer school, but there is only one SSc course being offered (ANT204) and the rest are all SCI (which I loath). ANT207 is a SSc course I would prefer to take over ANT204, but it’s not offered in the summer and is only available in the next school year. What happens if I don’t take summer school and complete the rest of this prerequisite in 3rd instead? Will it have any affect on my subject POSts? Thanks!?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    the answer lies in rethinking the question, padawan. by and large, the school doesn’t look at when you take courses, unless it has to do with prerequisites. so it’s not about whether you take 1.0 of those courses in your second year of university, it’s about whether you complete 1.0 ANT2** courses by graduation. so you should be able to take them whenever, really, as long as you fulfil all the requirements by graduation. I get that your POSt description is like, super ambiguous (smh utm), but that is generally the rule.

    now doesn’t that make you feel better? the sun came out and is shining just for you, m’dear.*

    best,

    aska

    *although i’ve heard that there is supposed to be a snowstorm tonight, so maybe the weather doesn’t care at all about your life and is just being the moody, inconsiderate teenager it always has been.

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  • courses,  subject POST

    of COURSE, calendar!

    March 14, 2014

    Hello Aska,

    It’s me again. It’s really good to ask any kinds of questions, and you can always always answer them clearly. (Don’t mind me paraphrasing a little bit from a previous post),? you must be my guidance angel in u of t!

    Okay, here is my question. We have new course calendar every year, and I think there may be slightly chances among those calendars. So I am wondering I should focus on the calendar of the my first year, or my graduating year? You know, I depend on those calendars to decide my subject post and stuff.

    Thanks! 🙂

    ???????????????

    ARE YOU KIDDIN? ME?? Two people think I?m an angel! I think that makes it official. I should call up the Church and ask them about the process of being declared a saint. Saint Aska; I think that has a nice ring to it.

    Well, I hate to sully your impression about me as someone who gives clear answers, but the deal with course calendars is a little tricky. When you?re choosing courses, obviously, you should look at the calendar for the year you?re taking them in.

    However, if there are changes made in subject POSt requirements in subsequent course calendars, if you?re already in the subject POSt, those changes don?t usually apply to you. They?ll typically say something like ?if you enrolled after 2010,? or whatever the year they made the changes is, “then xyz.” So if you?re looking at subject POSt stuff, look at the calendar for the year you enrolled. Or, if you want to be really safe about it, you can just look on the website of the department your subject POSt is administered from.

    I hope that makes some sense.

    Best,

    aska

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