• ROSI

    no dating ROSI yet :]

    April 28, 2010

    Hey Aska,

    I have a question about the TCards and ROSI. When are we supposed to pick up our student cards? I know where to get them from, but I don’t know when. And about ROSI .. I tried to log in,?and as a first time user, I used?my date of birth as?PIN. It didn’t work the?first time, nor the second and I’m afraid to try a third time?as?it said that?my account will be blocked because I’ve given a wrong PIN.?Are we allowed to start using?ROSI only when we’ve activated?our U of T mail, or?after we’ve got our TCards, or after a?certain date?

    Thanks a lot :]

    —————————————————————-

    According to my registrar, you can pick up your student card any time after you’ve been accepted to UofT :[.

    I don’t think you can access ROSI until you’ve gotten your TCard. After you receive your TCard though, ROSI will probably finally accept your date. :{

    In any case, ROSI isn’t usually up for incoming students until mid-summer, so you might as well wait. :/ There’s no point of logging onto ROSI yet anyway… what are you going to do on ROSI? :S You can’t enroll in courses yet, you can’t add your POSts, and you can’t pay your fees. You are literally going to be browsing blank screens. I’m all for getting to know ROSI better, but don’t you have better things to do?

    In keeping with the emoticon theme: (>’-‘)>? <(‘-‘<)? ^(‘-‘)^? v(‘-‘)v? <(‘-‘<)? ^(‘-‘)^? (>’-‘)>? ^(^-^)>

    Read More
  • ROSI

    there’s a black hole where ROSI’s heart is

    April 23, 2010

    Hi there,
    I’m a first year student. I was wondering, if I pass a course and receive a credit for it but don’t get the minimum mark to take a 2nd year course, can I retake it? Will my first mark go away? How does it work?

    ——————————————————————-

    Your transcript is like a black hole. Things can come in, but not out. You can retake it, but the mark won?t go away. In fact, only your FIRST mark will count towards your cCPA, unless you failed the course ? in that case, BOTH marks will count towards your cGPA. However, the department WILL look at your second mark to determine whether or not they will admit you into their program.

    Also, the second time you take the course, you will have to take it as “extra credit”. This means that you cannot use it as one of the of the 20 courses that you will need to graduate from UofT.

    Got that? Good.

    Read More
  • ROSI

    heads up people: write down your student number when you graduate

    February 16, 2010
    to whom it may concern, I graduated from Woodsworth College in 2002. Since then I have moved to Beijing. I would like to get my transcripts sent somewhere but have lost both my student number and rosi password. Is there any way I could obtain this information from over here?

    —————————————————-

    I’m laughing pretty hard right now. Okay, get over yourself.

    …seriously though. I can still remember my student number from elementary school, of all things.

    Anyway, you should contact the Woodsworth registrar, since the people there are really the ones who hold your student information. I suggest you email them ASAP, and follow up with a phone call if you’re able to do so. You may have to fax/mail them photocopies of your ID and so on, so you should be prepared to do so.

    Read More
  • art,  courses,  first year,  important dates,  ROSI,  wait list

    Wait watchers.

    August 4, 2009

    Hi aska!
    i just enrolled in courses today, and i am waitlisted for art history second term. what are the chances of my actually getting in? Or, should i switch around my courses now, cuz there is a different course i would like to take in the fall term if (FAH is winter) i cant get in. thanks!!!

    ———————————————

    Tis true. FAH102H1-S: The Practice of Art History is full. Quite full. There are currently 106 students on the waitlist, beyond the 188 spaces in the class.

     

    Your chances of getting in are dependent on a few things: a) your karma, and b) where you are on that wait list. A general rule of thumb is that if your waitlist ranking is within 10% of the total enrollment capacity then your chances are okay. “Okay” is situated somewhere in the middle of the spectrum of chances; above bad, and below pretty good. Okay is close friends with “decent.” A.k.a. – you have a chance.

     

    So, if you are waitlisted, like, 100th – I hate to break it to you – but you probably ain’t getting in.

    What should you do now? There are several possible courses of action:

     

    a) Drop the course and add something else that has room; OR

     

    b) wait until 6:00am on August 7th (when your course load limit increases to 6.0) and add an additional course as a backup in case you never get in to FAH102; OR

     

    c) wait until the waitlist is removed (on January 3rd), and try to grab a spot that opens up. You have until January 10th to add courses. This will require you to be obnoxiously persistent in checking ROSI to see if a spot becomes available. Depending on how much of a life you have, I would check it at least 5 times per day (I am a ROSI junkie, mind you). This is only a 7 day window… that is not a lot of time. Do not get your hopes up about this option. Also, think about attending this class in the first week, so that you aren’t behind if you do eventually get enrolled.

     

    I did some snooping in the archives of ROSI, and it turns out that last year FAH102 offered two meeting sections with capacity of 188 – neither of which was full, but the net enrollment was 275. This year there is a single meeting section that accommodates 188 students. I also noticed that FAH102 was offered in the summer of 2007 and 2008, but not this past summer.

     

    So, Art History, why offer half of the spaces in a course that obviously has a greater demand?? Beats me. This bizarre/frustrating observation suggests one of two things. One, that Art History is sick of first-year students, and is trying to wean them off; or two, Art History is struggling to staff that course. Perhaps an issue of limited social or economic capital?

     

    In any case, I concur with what you are all thinking right now – it is super annoying.

     

    Now I did a Minor in Art History, and I have taken FAH102, so let me give you some advice, from the school of hard knocks. I can’t believe I just said that. If you are NOT enrolled in FAH102 this year, consider these two things:

     

    a) In all likelihood, you WILL be able to take this course next summer, when enrollment never meets capacity.

     

    b) You can always take this course in an upper-year, when you will have an earlier course enrollment start date, and therefore will stand a better chance of getting in. This works because you will find that none of the upper-year FAH courses actually list FAH102 as a pre-requisite. Sure the content of 102 may be useful preparation for 200-levels courses, but it is far from mandatory.

     

    c) Based on this, you could go ahead and enroll in a 200-level FAH course in your first year. They have “P” enrollment indicators, which means that you will be eligible to enroll on August 7th (at 6:00am SHARP). Let me give you a breakdown of these potentials…

     

    Although you might not ever be able to spell/fit her name on your test booklet, Prof. Katsougiannopoulou is a lovely lady who is teaching FAH207: Greek & Roman Art/Architecture. FAH246: Modernism is a little heavy for first-year, unless you have a good modern art background and/or interest. I’m totally biased, but I found FAH272: Modern Architecture to be a blast, and VERY doable in your first-year. FAH230: Renaissance Art/Arch is somewhere in between. The content is straightforward, but a little dry – depending on how much you can handle starting at triptychs of “virgin and child.” Annnd… I’ve never taken the Later Medieval Art course. Did they even create art in the Dark Ages? Watching The Sword in the Stone will probably suffice for knowledge on that time period, anyway. Ah ah ah Merlin! (If you got that reference you are a loser, and I love you).

     

    Should you (wo)man up, and take a 200-level course, I suggest limiting yourself to one per semester. They ARE 200-level so they will jump into things quicker. But, as I said, there is no reason why you can’t do well in these courses in your first-year.

    Think about what a breeze FAH102 will be when you finally take it in 4th year! Such a treat!! It’ll be like finding a curly fry in your regular fries from Arby’s.

    Read More
  • new kids,  ROSI,  tcard

    997630one4354among36the4553herd66

    July 10, 2009

    Dear Aska,
    I just graduated high school and am headed to St. Mike’s in the fall. I was just wondering, since I’ll need to pick my courses soon, where do I get my student number and pin? Is it the same one I’ve been using to apple and send in my PSE? or do I need my Tcard to get all my info to enrol? thanks alot

    ———————————————

    I don’t know what numbers you’ve been using to “apple” – but you can keep your fetishes to yourself. (McIntosh or Granny Smith?? No no, I don’t want to know!)

    Grab your Offer of Admission letter. Look at the top right. Find your “applicant number.” As soon as you accepted your offer of admission to U of T online, this 9-digit number instantly became your “student number.” If you lost this letter or threw it out… then you’re an idiot. Kidding. Mistakes happen. You’ll have to go to your College Registrar’s office to fill out a TCard form.

    I assume that you are asking about your PIN because you want to log-in to the Student Web Service (who goes by the name ROSI – pronounced “Rosey”) for the first time. By default, your PIN is your year/month/day of birth in YYMMDD fashion. Get it? The first time you’re in you’ll get to change the password to whatever you want. You will also have to create some questions as backups if you ever forget your PIN.

    Third, you not need your TCard to enroll in courses. In fact, most students won’t pick up their TCards until September – when an ever-growing queue will snake across the entire second floor of Robarts Library. Try to avoid that. Go here if you can to pick it up. Bring your Offer letter and photo ID with you (or the completed TCard form). You will then be able to get your utoronto.ca webmail going. Woo!

    Always keep your TCard on you, don’t ever lend it to someone, and don’t lose it or you’ll have to pay to get another. Same goes for retaking the photo if you think your hair looks like crap in it – seriously though – it won’t get any better.

    Well, that was all pretty dull – let’s make this interesting.

    The student number is a funny thing. In more than one way it will dominate your identity while you’re at U of T.

    Considering that there are over 70 000 students at U of T – a good 90% of whom share the names Mike, Chris, Matt, Jessica, Ashley and Amanda – it just make administrative sense to assign you an individual identifier. Many U of T students complain that their student numbers totally supplant their actual names. I won’t entirely disagree, but I will argue that it’s not ALL that bad.

    For one, your student number is all yours. It = you, and you alone. It’s like your fingerprint, and don’t we all get excited about our fingerprints?!? You will memorize your number by October (if you haven’t already), and will retain it throughout your prunes and your depends years.

    Also, the student numbers of each annual cohort typically have a common 3rd number (right now it’s 997…….). This is a subtle means of generating solidarity amongst you and your peers. It also becomes grounds to assert your superiority over newer students. Don’t believe me? Listen carefully around campus and you’ll hear this patronizing comment: “Oh how cuuute!! Your student number is 997! Mine’s 994.” But, can you blame us?! That is the U of T equivalent of war wounds, really.

    Caution: if you see any 989’s around – tread lightly. A decade under U of T pressure can invoke permanent damage.

    Seriously though, if you are ever corresponding with U of T admin, provide BOTH your names and your student number. I swear that some Registrar’s Offices do care to match a face to a name. Also, don’t advertise your student number around town. It is a pretty private identifier (e.g. used for grade postings on random Sid Smith walls).

    Who wants to kill a couple hours???? Check out this site. I’m dying over here!! Make sure you read the oldies (circa 1900) – it’s great for naming pets. And what’s with all the recent names that have slight variations on standard spelling. Why put a boring old “i” when it could be a “y,” right? Annoying.

    Read More
  • ROSI,  sex/romance

    lower your ambitions and start shouting

    May 8, 2009

    Dear Aska,

    Two things: Say there is this beautiful guy– so beautiful and down to earth, in fact, that I’ve stared and almost wanted to stalk him on several occasions– who is in one of my classes, he’s in his final year I think, and I’d love nothing more than for him to notice me (and maybe marry me? We’d have Brangelina-like children) in our 300+ student lecture without actually having to approach him. How should one do this?

    The second thing; why does it seem to me that most NICE guys go after loud, unambitious, and party type of girls? I just don’t understand their appeal.

    Read More
  • enrollment,  ROSI

    …Just like every night has its dawn

    July 23, 2008

    What up aska,So I’m currently thoroughly confused about ROSI. I attended an info session on how to sign up for courses and everything yesterday and they told us to go home and sign in and find out what our ‘start times’ are. So I signed in today (July 10) to check out what my start time is (I’m a first year) and I clicked on the course link and it told me to enter the course code. Does that mean that course selection has already started? Or does it just always say that?Thanks for any help

    Read More
  • probation,  ROSI

    the hit of the summer: click and refresh

    July 27, 2007

    Hi,
    I am currently number 25 out of 59 people on a waitlist for fah313..a third yr
    art history class. the class size is supposed to be 90 student. Do u think I’ll
    somehow manage to get into the course? do profs ever increase the class size if
    it is in high demand?

    Please I really need the course and i dont know if it will be offered in 4th
    yr..what can I do?

    p.s I already emailed the department and they said they wont be offering
    another lecture section of the course 🙁 what should I do???

    Read More
  • failing,  ROSI

    master probation

    September 26, 2006

    i don’t get it. i’m suspended for a year however ROSI still shows me registered for the next school year w/ my courses and everything??
    o i forgot to mention in the confusion w/ ROSI over one year suspension that i paid my tuition ahead of time. could that be y??

    Read More