• courses,  enrollment,  tutorials

    don’t take any more classes than absolutely necessary

    Hey there! I am a soon-to-be student and extremely organized becauseIwillgetsuperstressedotherwise. *nervous laughter* So I am already looking at the courses and organizing. This is probably hinted elsewhere, or you’ve answered it somehow, but I just need clarification… We only enroll in one tutorial per course, correct?

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    hey there,

    yup! you should only ever be signing up for one tutorial per class, which is good, because there’s only so much awkward small-class interaction a person can take in a week.

    and just so you know, ROSI will tell you when you sign up for courses whether there are any lab/tutorial sections you need to sign up for – so it’ll all be laid out for you nice and easy when enrolment time comes along.

    try not to be too stressed about school starting. it’s great to organize and plan and stuff, but there’s no reason to be nervous. everything’s gonna work out fine. you’re going to have a great time, and it’ll be a lot better than the cafeteria drama and “did-you-hear-what-stacey-did-at-the-birthday-party” gossip nonsense of high school.

    see you in september!

    aska

  • courses

    what do i gotta do to take 2nd year courses?

    Can I sign up for second year courses with only 3.0 credits? Sorry if this a dumb question, but I only earned 3.0 credits throughout this year. I can’t go to summer school, but I plan on signing up for one more first year credit for the fall, along with second year courses if that’s allowed. So, how does that work with the subject posts and everything? Thank you.

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    hey there,

    unless a course states in its course calendar listing that you need to have completed 4.0 courses already, then it’s not an issue.

    as for POSts, you don’t have to be in a subject POSt to enrol in second year courses, though some courses do prioritize or are completely restricted to certain students via these things called ‘enrolment indicators.’ you can see which courses have these enrolment indicators on the timetable.*

    other than that, you should be able to sign up for second-year courses without any problem! (in fact, i know a few screwball first-years who took a few second-year courses in their first year…kids these days! but hey – if you can do it, then why not?)

    all the best,

    aska

    * just to clarify: once you?have completed 4.0 credits, you are absolutely required to enrol in an acceptable combination of subject POSts. if you?don’t enrol in a POSt after completing 4.0 credits, THEN you wouldn’t be able to sign up for courses.

  • biology,  courses

    BIO120

    Can I take first year bio120 without having taken grade 12 bio?

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    hey there,

    Grade 12 Biology is a prerequisite for BIO120H1, but you can contact their office at bio120 ( at ) utoronto ( . ) ca if you’d like to discuss the possibility of taking it without the prerequisite.

    cheers,

    aska

  • courses,  repeating course

    doing math a second time *shudder*

    Hi 🙂 I was wondering if you know exactly how they calculate repeated courses? I mean I didn’t receive the required mark for math and I am allowed to repeat it however, their procedure for calculating is averaging it out or do they just count both as is?

    Thanks so much!

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    hey there,

    in a rare and heartening case of reading the university website, i can answer this question with words straight from the horse’s mouth:

    When students need to achieve a minimum mark in a course for entry to a limited-enrolment program or for meeting a prerequisite to take another course in their program, they may repeat such a course once. The repeated course will be designated “extra”: it will appear on the academic record but it will not be included in GPA calculations or in the degree credit count.

    so it’ll show up show up on your academic record, but it won’t count towards your degree, or your GPA.

    good luck with taking math again (yeesh!),

    aska

  • courses

    timing your courses

    if i plan on getting my fourth credit at the end of the summer session, do i get to sign up for my second year courses in june, or do i have to wait until july? thanks.

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    hey there,

    i’m not sure when you plan on starting your second year courses – summer or september – so i’m just going to say it like this:

    whatever courses you plan on taking in the summer, you should sign up for them all right away. as long as you’ve completed the prereqs for a course by the time you actually start taking the course, you’re fine.

    you should also plan on enrolling in all your courses for fall/winter 2015-2016 as soon as your start date/time hits in august. again, as long as your prereqs are done by the time classes actually start, you should be okay.

    cheers,

    aska

  • courses,  enrollment

    sign up now, meet requirements later

    So, I’m a first year UTM, student and long story short I pulled a complete 180 on what I want to major in, so I’m taking the first year courses for it this summer and I won’t be done until the 2nd half of summer session. My question is, can I sign up for 2nd year courses in June before I’ve finished the prerequisite courses, just so the ones I want to get into don’t reach max enrollment? Or will ROSI deny me come sign up time? Thanks.

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    hey there,

    you can totally sign up for courses before you’ve completed the prerequisites! if you think about it, that’s what happens every time a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed first-year signs up for PHY131H1 and PHY132H2 in August (and then regrets it. for a long, long time. or maybe that was just me).

    as long as you’ve completed all prerequisites for a course by the time you start the course, you’re good.

    cheers,

    aska

  • courses

    evening classes i.e. imagining the fun your friends are having out

    Hi,

    I was wondering when exactly is an evening course? I’m assuming 6-8 or 6-9, but i’m not 100% sure. I’ve looked online but can’t seem to find anything.

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    hey there,

    it could be either one of those. a class that starts at 6pm is an evening class, whether it’s one, two or three hours long. the unifying factor, of course, is that they all suck equally.

    alas, i digress. point is: if you’re looking on a timetable and it says ‘evening,’ that’s not referring to one, specific time frame. you’ll have to take a look and see what exact time the course is being offered.

    cheers,

    aska

  • courses,  TAs

    turnitin is a machine

    So I kind of feel silly for asking this, but I’m panicking and my TA is, of course, on strike so I can’t ask him… But will I be penalized for submitting an assignment on Turnitin at 12:00am if is due at 11:59 pm? t’s a second-year history course, so I’m not convinced I’ll be cut any slack, but I really don’t want to be penalized for a single minute, anf apparently any late submissions are marked as “late”, so my TA might not not even notice that it was just a single minute due to frustrating password problems, and even if he does, he might not take it into consideration.

    Thanks!

    A panicked first year

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    hey there,

    unfortunately, turnitin has no way of judging how late you were. if something comes in after the deadline, then it’s late – that’s all the program knows. which, yes, is frustrating, but i think i’d be more concerned if turnitin were sophisticated enough to feel human sympathy for lateness. like, first comes sympathy, then comes questioning why it’s servicing humans, then – BAM! robot war.

    fortunately, your TA is human. if you missed the deadline by just a minute or something, feel free to e-mail your TA about it and explain what happened. they won’t be able to respond because of the strike, but whenever it ends, they’ll have that explanation there and may be able to cut you some slack.

    cheers,

    aska

  • courses

    only acronyms can make us feel legitimate

    Hey! First, I love your blog, it’s a great help to me! Second, I want to take a summer course but it says to have either a credit in an English course or any 4.0 FCE…I’m just wondering if FCE means just any 4 credits, like any courses I’ve done?

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    hey there,

    joke’s on you: we don’t write askastudent to be helpful. we write it because we are BITTER and WIZENED old students who only derive pleasure from being annoying know-it-alls online. ha.

    ‘FCE’ stands for ‘full credit equivalent’ and is basically synonymous with the word credit. so one FCE, or 1.0 credits, is either one year-long course or two half-year courses.

    meaning that if you have 4.0 credits, you have 4.0 FCEs.

    cheers,

    aska

  • courses

    how dead is the deadline

    Hi askastudent!

    So it is my fault that I have not been keeping up with all of the dates and deadlines but it’s approximately 3 and a half weeks after January 18th, the last day to add courses on ROSI. I’ve never heard of students at UofT being allowed to add a course after the add deadline. I know its possible for other schools with the permission of professors to let students into a course after the deadline. Is this available at here at UofT???

    Thanks!

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    hey there,

    well…it’s definitely too late to add courses now. i wonder if it worked out.

    just for future reference: the deadline to add courses is pretty much a hard and fast deadline. SOMETIMES the department can get you in, like, the day after the deadline, if you’re lucky – but it all depends on the course, and the department.

    the only other possibility is the dean’s promise, but that’s pretty limiting. it only applies if you’re graduating this year, and if the course you’re trying to get into is the only course you can take to fill a certain POSt requirement.

    bill nye now you know

    cheers,

    aska

  • courses

    the foetal position, or: Should I Drop This Course?

    Hi. I don’t know whether I should drop calculus and then retake it next year. Should I select it as no credit? Is 3 courses too few? I don’t think I have a hope of passing the course (I failed both the first two midterms). I can’t afford another F on my transcript, (I already got one from first-year physics which I should have dropped when I had the chance). How does not taking the required courses for your program affect the future? What should I do about this besides cry in fetal position?

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    hey there,

    firstly: don’t cry in the foetal position. not only will it not make you feel any better (if anything, it will put even more stress on your body that is trying to cry and breathe while having its lungs all crumpled), but there is absolutely no practical place at uoft to go into the foetal position. we don’t even have spots to nap in (not officially), let alone spots to settle down on the ground.

    just so you know, the deadline to make a Y course credit/no-credit is february 16th. that is also the deadline to drop a Y course from your academic record and GPA. SO don’t panic – you’ve still got some time to sort all this out.

    if you do drop it, make sure to do it before the deadline. and it’s better to drop it and take it again than to fail and take it again.

    HOWEVER, it is important to keep in mind that if you don’t get the credit and it’s a requirement for a program you’re interested in, you will not get into the program. you just won’t. it’s called a requirement for a reason.

    so if you DON’T get the credit, you can do one of two things: take the course again in the summer, and hopefully not get too behind on getting into your program of choice, OR:

    look into a different program. if you had your heart dead-set on a specialist in mathematics and it turns out that you hate calculus – maybe math isn’t right for you. (BUT make sure you don’t let your grades make this decision for you. disliking something and struggling with it are two different things. if you are still really passionate about whatever it was you need calculus for, there are ways to get there).

    if you need some help figuring out your next step, i would recommend making an appointment with the registrar’s office. as AMAZING and HELPFUL as askastudent undoubtedly is, your registrar has a bit more context about who you are and your specific situation.

    to me, you’re just a couple of paragraphs on a screen. some cute, paragraphs, for sure. very charming. but a bit limiting in terms of information.

    good luck with your journey, my friend,

    aska

  • courses

    we go together

    hi aska, i’m a second yr student at uoft st george and i’m currently enrolled in a course for next semester called uni250 , which is health research methods.how ever i just looked at the course calendar and realized that uni250 is a corequisite for a course i have to take next yr for my major. do i have to drop uni250 or can i take it and still take the other course next semester, or will i be kicked out?

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    hey there,

    it depends. best thing to do is to e-mail the department that that offers the course that uni250 is a corequisite for*, and ask if they HAVE to be taken together, or if it would be okay if you took them sequentially.

    the departments are ultimately the people who will drop you like a hot potato from any course you don’t meet the requirements for, so they’re the people you should ask about it.

    just make sure you e-mail instead of call them , because if you get their permission, you’ll want that in writing. you don’t want to get permission from one person, get dropped from the course by another person, and then have NO PROOF that you got permission in the first place. so get it in writing, always. that’s just good life advice, actually.

    cheers,

    aska

    * that is the most hellish sentence structure i’ve ever seen or written, but it actually makes sense. i think.

  • courses

    mosey on downtown for some courses

    Im currently at utsc and got into computer science from high school. I have changed my mind and have decided to go towards a life science related degree. I have taken all the required courses except for BIOA01 and BIOA02 since they are restricted and I get this, http://i.imgur.com/PJ2UgGX.jpg . I would like to take the equivalent courses at utsg during the summer.
    My questions are:1. Is this possible 2. What courses are equivalent? 3. What process do I have to go through (i.e is there anything I have to fill in/ do specifically)?
    Thanks for the help.

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    hey there,

    1) it is possible for a utsc student to take utsg courses, summer or not. however, you’ll have to enrol a little bit later than the utsg students, so it’s not totally guaranteed that you’ll get a spot, even if you meet prereqs, pay your fees on time, etc. it’s an EXCITING GAMBLE you play when you try to enrol in courses on other campuses.

    also, just a note: enrolment controls might get in the way of your enrolment in UTSG bio courses as well, so i would read up on them before enrolment time comes.

    make sure you don’t have any exclusions for the courses you want, that you’re eligible to take them, etc. etc. if you run into a problem, talk to your registrar’s office about it now, before the absolute mania of summer happens.

    2) according to transfer explorer, your BIOAO1 is our BIO130, and your BIOaO2 is our BIO120.

    (p.s. y’all should really use transfer explorer more, like half the questions i get about transfer credit stuff can be answered with transfer explorer. jsyk).

    3) no process. just enrol in the courses you want when the time comes.

    cheers,

    aska