• management,  ROSI,  subject POST

    the Beats, Aristotle, and some pontificating on BBAs

    July 21, 2016

    hey,

    I am a 2nd year student at UTM. I was accepted into “intro to social sciences” when i got admitted into UTM. I applied and got into management specialist  (bba) post this year.

    1. My acorn still says intro into social science but my subject post is management specialist.

    Even on the degree explorer it says degree is social science and subject post is management specialist.

    Does it matter what my degree post says?

    Will i still be getting a bba degree?

    2. I also applied to a minor in environment management and a minor in earth science (planning to drop one soon).

    I saw the requirements for earth science minor and its a piece of cake, but i feel its useless to compliment a management specialist with a earth science minor.

    Same goes for environmental management minor, a bit more work but does it go with a BBA degree?

    How will the minor show up on my transcript?

    Will adding the minor still get me a BBA degree?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    i like the spacing of the sentences in these e-mail. it reads kind of like an anxious poem. maybe you’re the next ginsberg. the next Big Beat Auteur.*

    1. yeah, that’s nothing to worry about. at some point in the summer, your POSt code (that’s fancy ROSI talk, feel free to ignore it completely) will change from Year 1 to Year 2. that’ll just be a superficial change, however; as long as you’ve completed at least 4.0 credits and you’re enrolled in your specialist, you are a second year student.

    a good way to tell if the SWS is recognizing your year of study properly is by your start time. if you had a second year start time, then you have nothing to worry about. and yes, you will get your BBA and become a wonderful businessperson with several snazzy suits, i’m sure. not to fear.

    2. i feel like you’re going at your degree from a different perspective than i did, so i don’t know if i’ll be able to answer this question to your satisfaction.

    my philosophy is: if you want to do it, then do it. anything can go with anything. are you doing them both? are you the same person? if yes, then congrats! you made the things go together.

    don’t be so worried about what will make you look appealing in the vacuum-packed version of yourself that you present to employers. packaging can come after; your passion comes first. did you know that aristotle wrote on everything from physics to biology to ethics to metaphysics? a lot of the stuff he said was wrong, but he did it because he had an interest and that made an impact.

    technically, if you’re already doing a specialist, you don’t NEED another minor. but if you have a real interest in one of them and you’re willing to put in the extra work, then go with the one you’re more excited about! you’re saying earth science is “a piece of cake.” is that the only reason you’re considering it? do you prefer it over environmental management? if so, then you should do it.

    alright, i’m off my soapbox now. next question.

    the minors will show up on your transcript exactly as they do now – listed along with your specialist and any other programs you may add, near the top of your transcript.

    finally: yes, as long as you are in a management specialist, you will be graduating with a BBA.

    cheers,

    aska

    * get it? because it’s B.B.A.? which is your degree? anyways…

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  • fees,  ROSI

    pls i must buy Many Cheez-Its

    June 16, 2016

    I accidentally transferred an extra 70 dollars into my rosi account how do I get it back?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    what a catastrophe! how terrible for you – there’s so much that you can buy for $70! a nice pair of jeans. a kobo eReader. a really crappy, secondhand TV. many, many cheez-its.

    fortunately for you, you CAN get that money back. all you have to do is call Student Accounts and request that the $70 be sent to you as a cheque instead of rolling over to the next session on ACORN. just make sure that your mailing address is correct and up-to-date on ACORN, because you don’t want them sending your hard-earned cheez-it money to some undeserving shmo at an old address.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • enrollment,  ROSI

    y’all better remember this when the time comes

    June 16, 2016

    I am adding courses to my enrollment cart on acorn but it says enrollment is blocked for one of the courses I want. Is it because I am a second year student and it is a 100 level course? Will this go away once enrollment for first year students opens?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    the most likely reason is that you don’t currently meet an enrolment control that applies to that course. if you’d told me what course you’re having difficulty with, this could’ve been a lot easier, but now i guess we’ll have to do this *cracks knuckles* the hard way.

    enrolment controls restrict who can sign up for courses, and when. sometimes, a course will have a priority for certain students, which means that students who don’t fit the priority have to wait until a later date (usually in the first week of August) to sign up for the course. sometimes, courses are restricted, which means that only certain students can enrol in it, ever. sometimes courses have an ‘E’ indicator, which means that you have to apply through the department that offers the course in order to take it.

    how are people prioritised and restricted, you might ask? well, it’s usually based on subject POSts, though it can also be based on year of study. if you’re not in the right year or program, then you won’t be able to enrol in the course – or indeed, put it in your enrolment cart.

    now for the final piece of the puzzle: how can you tell whether a course has an enrolment control? what you have to do is find your course on the timetable and look under the column called ‘enrolment indicator.’ see if there’s a letter there. if there’s not, then you have no problem!

    if there is a ‘P’ (priority) or ‘R’ (restriction) (or some other letter, though those are less common), then you need to click on the ‘See Details’ in the column to the right. that will tell you who the course is prioritised for or restricted to. it will either say something like ‘1st year life science students’ or list subject POSts. if you’re not in the listed category/-ies, then you’re fresh outta luck, my man. play again next time.

    cheers,

    aska

    P.S. i’d only like to explain this once this year, so if y’all could remember this for when course enrolment time comes around instead of freaking out for a solid three hours after your start time, that would be RADICAL.

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  • ROSI,  subject POST

    ACORN is just nutty sometimes

    April 12, 2016

    When I tried to apply for my post for second year (fall 2016) is said requirement session: summer 2016. what does this mean?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    i had to stare at my ACORN screen for an entire minute before cluing in to what ‘requirement session’ means, but it’s actually pretty simple. all it’s saying is that, in the course of?your degree, you’ll need to?meet the requirements for your program?that correspond to the time that you entered that program (i.e. signed up for it on ACORN).

    that means that if next year, or somewhere down the line, the program requirements change, you don’t have to worry. no matter what the new course calendars say, you only have to fulfil the requirements in the calendar?when you entered the program.

    now the obvious question becomes: do you go by the 2015-2016 calendar, or the 2016-2017 calendar? the summer doesn’t have its own calendar, so it’s important to know which one to follow should there be any differences between the two. according to my HIGHER-UP SOURCE, subject POSts that are added in summer 2016 follow the 2015-2016 calendar.

    hope that helps!

    aska

    P.S. i had to pretend-add a subject POSt for this question, and since i’m graduating this June, i tiptoed on the very edge of messing up my entire transcript just to find out what you were talking about in this question. i hope you appreciate that.

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  • Portal,  ROSI,  tutorials

    tool-torials

    August 25, 2015

    So courses such as HIS103Y1: Statecraft and Strategy: An Introduction to the History of International Relations[48L/20T] and POL101Y1: Democracy, Dictatorship, War, and Peace: An Introduction[48L/24T]indicate they have tutorials, yet neither the timetables or acorn/rosi have them listed. How am I supposed to choose my tutorial times?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    at uoft, no rule comes without an exception – except for the ones where you really hope that an exception can be made. then there are no exceptions. it’s really great for everyone’s blood pressure.

    in this case, there IS an exception. typically, you sign up for lectures, tutorials and labs on ACORN (or ROSI, if you’re stuck in YE OLDEN TIMES).

    however, despite the fact that both POL101Y1 and HIS103Y1 indicate that there is a tutorial component to the course, you won’t find the tutorials on ACORN. the history and political science departments require that you sign up for tutorials after classes start, typically via Portal/Blackboard.

    which, yes, means that you will have to fit two hours of tutorial (one for each class) around an already-made schedule once school starts. and, yes, it may be hard to find times that fit.

    i will say, though, that there are typically so many tutorial sections in those massive first-year courses that you can usually find SOMETHING that works. it may be on a friday morning, a monday evening, or some other equally inconvenient time, but sometimes life is rough, and you’ve just gotta bear these things with a brave face.

    it’s not easy, i’ll give you that. just when you think you’ve got the hang of uoft, it throws a wrench in the system. i guess you can say we’re all a bunch of TOOLS, here. huh huh

    cheers,

    aska

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  • enrollment,  ROSI

    your enrolment’s blocked. my enrolment’s blocked. EVERYONE’S ENROLME –

    July 14, 2015

    Hey there! The courses I actually need for first year all have ‘enrolment blocked’ for classes at like, say, 9-10 on Monday mornings, but they’re available on Thurdsays at 6-7 at night… What’s up with that? Is there a time when the a.m. courses will be available, or am I screwed?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    some courses have different lecture sections for students in different programs. i’ll bet that one of those lecture sections is restricted to a group of students that doesn’t include you.

    for example, CLA204H1 has three lecture sections. L2001 is restricted for Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering students, while the other two lecture sections are available to all students.

    you can find all this information (and more!) on the timetable. i guarantee that this document will answer 90% of the questions you have about courses. so, y’know, use it.

    just click on the “See Details” portion of the timetable for whatever course it is that’s giving you trouble, and you can find out which lecture section is restricted, and why.

    happy course enrolling! try not to let the mayhem of ACORN tip you over the breaking point. we can do this – together.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • ROSI

    i love ACORN but it is testing my patience.

    July 9, 2015

    I’m a first year using ACORN right now, and every course I am trying to, and should be able to, has prerequisite exclusions, or enrolment is blocked? I don’t understand.

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    i wonder how many times i’m going to get this question. will this become the new “what college should i join?” only time will tell.

    the fact of the matter is that none of these terms are prescriptive – that is, they don’t tell you to do anything. instead, they’re all descriptive– they give you information about the course. basically, they just remind you of things which you should already know from having looked at the timetable.

    so really, they’re meant to be helpful, though they’ve seemed to cause more alarm than anything else.

    enrolment blocked: to quote ACORN, all this means is that “[y]ou are currently blocked from enrolling in at least one section of this course.” however, as previously noted in this post, this message is nearly useless, since whatever section you added to your enrolment cart will be a section you CAN enrol in, because ACORN blocks you from adding sections to your cart which you are not eligible to enrol in.

    prerequisite: literally just tells you what the prerequisites are. make sure you’ve completed them, otherwise the department will remove you once classes start.

    ordered exclusions: tells you know what courses are exclusions for the course in question. make sure you’re not enrolled in two courses which are exclusions of each other.

    as long as you make sure that you’re eligible to enrol in your courses, you’ve completed (or will complete by the end of the summer) any and all prerequisites, and you’re not planning on enrolling in any courses that are exclusions, you’re all good.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • ROSI

    ACORN is driving me NUTS

    July 7, 2015

    Hi aska! I’ve been accepted into the social science department at utsg, and I was putting courses into the enrolment cart on acorn, but soc101 & psy100 have “enrolment blocked” and “ordered exclusions” under them. What does this mean?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    now, ACORN is new ’round these parts, so i’m not gonna be too harsh on it while it’s just getting its sea legs. it’s so new, in fact, that i don’t even have a tag for it yet on this website (eventually, i’ll get around to changing it from ‘ROSI’ to ‘ACORN.’ eventually).

    however, i’ve gotta admit that in its initial stages, ACORN does have a few buggy little things about it that are making it a bit confusing. and the FIRST of these buggy things is this: a lot of the stuff related to the enrolment cart makes it LOOK like you’re not allowed to enrol in a course, when you actually are.

    first up: “enrolment blocked.” “what the everliving f$&* does that mean?” you might ask.

    well, if you hover over the words “enrolment blocked” on ACORN, a message will pop up that says: “you are currently blocked from enrolling in at least one section of this course.”

    why they put this message up really puzzles me, because ACORN won’t allow you to enrol in a section that you’re blocked from, so whatever section is already in your cart, is a section that you ARE allowed to enrol in. obviously. because you just added it to your cart.

    SO i guess it’s just letting you know that if you want to try enrolling in a different section, you might not be able to.

    next: “ordered exclusions.” hovering over this tab will give you the definition of an exclusion (“Courses with content too similar to each other to be taken for credit”), AND it will handily list every exclusion for that course. which is super helpful.

    in sum, you don’t have anything to worry about. they’re just messages that are meant to make course enrolment easier to understand (whether they were entirely successful on that front is…debatable).

    happy acorning!

    aska

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  • ROSI

    ROSI is CHANGING

    June 17, 2015

    alright fools, listen up: something is HAPPENING on june 22nd. something BIG. something BESIDES you skipping work “because it’s a monday and what is even the point of it all?”

    our beloved ROSI is being phased out and replaced by a newer, better system! *blows party blower*

    how does it feel, huh, ROSI? to be the old, abandoned gal? how does it feel that you’re leaving and half of us still don’t know how to pronounce your name properly? how does it feel knowing that your limited capabilities won’t be missed?

    sorry, ROSI. i didn’t mean to make you cry. tuck your head into my lapel. there, there.

    so who’s ROSI going to be replaced by? well, it’s the new, the shiny, the everyone-is-going-crazy-about-her ACORN! ACORN is more functional (and easier to pronounce). she’s the hottest babe?in town.

    you’ll be able to login to ACORN on june 22nd – and we urge you to take her for a spin – but it’ll still be a little while since ROSI is phased out completely, so not to worry. you’ll still have time to say your goodbyes.

    and try not to be too torn up about it – at its core, the system will remain the same SWS (student web service) that it was before. ACORN will be like the new casing for the same old stuff. in other words, it’ll still?do all the same things – show you your fees, let you enrol in courses, etc. – but it’ll just let you do it better.

    if you’d like to know MORE about ACORN, you can take a look here, and keep an eye on FAStanswers for more information.

    xoxo,

    aska

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  • enrollment,  prereqs,  ROSI

    ROSI isn’t magic

    July 8, 2014

    Hey there!

    So I’m planning out my courses for Fall 2015, trying to prepare for the impending bloodbath of Course Enrolment. There is a course I don’t meet all the prerequisites for that I wish to enrol in, and I have obtained permission from the professor to take it. His only concern was that when enrolment comes around I might be automatically be flagged by ROSI as not having the prerequisites and therefore not allowed to add the course, he wasn’t sure but wanted me to find out in case he needed to do anything on his end to let me in. Do you know if I will be automatically blocked by ROSI? Does it have some kind of self-monitoring system?

    Thanks 🙂

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    you already talked with a prof about a course you’re taking in Fall 2015? can’t you just…take the prerequisites…this year?

    i’m gonna trust that you just made a typo and meant Fall 2014, but otherwise, this is an entirely different question. anticipating the bloodbath pretty far ahead, you know?

    ROSI isn’t like, a sentient creature, though it seems to have enough hang-ups and tantrums to qualify as one. it doesn’t know automatically if you meet the prereqs for a course. so you’ll be able to enrol in the course, but the department that administers it has total discretion to kick you to the curb at any time if you don’t meet the prereqs – usually near the beginning of the semester.

    since the department’s staff are the ones who pull people from courses, they need to know who gets a free pass. i would go talk to the department that runs the course as soon as possible, preferably with a letter from the prof explaining why you’ve been allowed into the course. if they approve it, then you should be able to enrol in and stay enrolled in the course, no problem.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • enrollment,  ROSI,  subject POST

    learning the ancient tongue of ROSI

    June 23, 2014

    Im entering my second year at uoft and I applied for criminology and equity studies. On ROSI it shows that I have requested to be in criminology but on the home page it says I’m invited so Im confused about how do I accept the invitation when it does show me where. And for equity studies its open but it says the session date is summer 2014 and I have been financially cancelled. Also my course enrolment is open but won’t let me enter courses.

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    in a rare and surprising turn of events, your concern is actually not a concern at all! ROSI uses pretty confusing terminology at times, but for you – lucky you – everything is going as it should be.

    if it says invited on the home page under Registration – Fall 2014 (and Winter 2015), that means you’re invited to continue your degree in the Fall, which is good. you do wanna keep going in the Fall, right?

    being invited to a subject POSt is a separate thing. the results for type 2 and 3 POSts shouldn’t be out until july 2nd, so it should still say requested for criminology. go back and check again under the ‘subject POSts’ tag on july 2nd – if you’re invited, there’ll be a button to accept. easy-peasy!

    the current session is Summer 2014, so if you’re financially cancelled, that just means you don’t have to pay any registration fees and whatnot for the summer. if you’re not taking any summer courses, that’s what it should say.

    since equity studies is a type 1 POSt, you should have been just automatically enrolled in the subject POSt. it should say ‘active’ for equity studies under the ‘subject POSts’ tab on your ROSI.

    and course enrollment for Fall 2014/Winter 2015 hasn’t started yet, so that would make sense. while you wait, take this opportunity to rest up and gather your strength before the bloodthirsty warfare that is course enrolment begins.

    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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  • ROSI

    ROSI shenanigans

    May 1, 2014

    Hi,
    I’m a full-time student who just finished my first year and I noticed that on ROSI, where it says that I am invited for the 2014 Fall/2015 Winter session, it says part-time even though I was full-time over this school year and I’m registered full-time right now for the summer. Should I be worried or is ROSI just being silly?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    there could literally be so many reasons for this that i don’t even know where to begin. i’m answering this a little late, so if it’s still showing that you’re part-time, i’d just go to…yep, you guessed it…your college registrar’s office! ask them about it and they can go onto your ROSI and see exactly what the issue is.

    *whistles quietly* if there’s something strange in your student account *whistling increases in volume* who you gonna call (your college registrar!) *begins singing at full volume* if it’s something weird and it don’t look good *yells at the TOP OF MY LUNGS* WHO YOU GONNA CALL?? (YOUR COLLEGE REGISTRAR!!!11!1!)

    pop culture references, yeah. being relevant and down with the kids. whoo. awesome. hippity-hop.

    cheers,

    aska

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