If I took an extra course at one point in time and later switched into a program that requires this course for credit, will this course still be considered as an extra course on my transcript or will it be changed?

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hey there,

it will still show up as an extra on your transcript, but that doesn’t really matter. extra courses can be used to count towards program prerequisites, so if you need it for a program, it’ll count (they just can’t be used to fulfil degree requirements).

huzzah!

cheers,

aska

What are special topics courses? I’m taking RLG389H1 “Museums and material religion” but I dont know what to expect of it since there is no course summary posted. Will I receive a religion credit from it despite it being a special topics course?

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hey there,

this is an oddball because usually these kinds of courses only appear in fourth year (for example, see RLG410Y1). however, RLG389H1 seems to follow the same general pattern as any other fourth-year ‘advanced topics’ course.

basically, special/advanced topics courses are taught in a general area (in this case, a “topic of central interest to students of religion“), and the prof/department get to decide which specific topic will be the focus of the class in any given year.

what you can expect is likely a prof who’s super excited by what they’re teaching, because it’s usually pertinent to their academic interests. you can also expect a really unique coverage of a topic not many other students will get.

the lack of a course description is actually pretty exciting. think of it as walking into ms. frizzle’s class every morning – you never know what kind of adventure you’re likely to get into.

and it will count as a religion credit, since it has the ‘RLG’ prefix.

hope you like the course!

aska

i know it may seem like buying books is a simple enough business, but, as with everything in life, it’s much more complex than you initially assume it to be (see: anyone who’s ever tried to wire something up in their house ever).

so listen up, bub, ’cause i’m about to save you a lot of time.

1) should i even bother getting?my books?

fair question. textbooks cost several hundred dollars a year, and if you can avoid buying some books at all, that’s awesome.

there are some classes for which you will never even open the textbook/readings, and some for which you’ll carry your?book with you all year. for that reason, some students like to?attend a couple of classes to see how essential the course materials are.

2) okay, fiiiiine…i’ll buy the books. some of them, at least. but where do i buy them?

most books can be found at the uoft bookstore. you can also use the uoft bookstore’s website to find out exactly which books you need for each of your courses. just click the ‘Find Textbooks’ tab on the homepage, and log in using your UTORID.

some profs will upload?their book lists onto the bookstore site sooner than others, so if you’re trying to see what materials you need for a certain course, and you get this error message:

don’t worry. that just means the prof hasn’t uploaded the course list yet. some profs don’t publish the required course materials on the uoft bookstore site at all, and that’s fine, too. in that case, they’ll let you know what you need during the first class.

but wait, there’s more!

some course materials won’t be available at the uoft bookstore.?you may also have to buy course materials from the bob miller book room, from alicos printing,?or from other stores/copy centres around the city. and how do you know where in the seemingly endless number of holes-in-the-wall you need to get your incredibly specific edition of Spencer’s?The Faerie Queen or Stewart’s Early?Transcendentals?

well, it won’t be listed on the uoft bookstore website if it’s not available there, so just sit tight and wait for your prof to tell you where to find it.

you can also buy books through the discount textbooks store across from the main uoft bookstore. the uoft bookstore itself also occasionally offers used books, and has??textbook rental and textbook buy-back services.

3) wow, that all sounds horribly complicated. when should i go to all these places to avoid a crowd?

a few days before or after the first week of class, but?never during. it’s positively apocalyptic.

and with that, i wish you good luck!

cheers,

aska

P.S. a tip: if you know you’re going to be buying a lot of books, a little wagon or trolley may be a good idea if you don’t have the luxury of a car to bring your books from the bookstore to your house/residence.

how do you know the level of the course?

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hey there,

wow, i wish the campuses all synchronized the way that they marked course levels, but noPE. one of ’em had to go another way.

st. george/UTM

1**: first year

2**: second year

3**: third year

4**: fourth year

UTSC

A**: first year

B**: second year

C**: third year

D**: fourth year

note that the “level” of a course does not necessarily correspond with the year in which you have to take it. as long as you meet all prerequisites for any given course and you’re not breaking any rules (for example UTSG’s rule on how many 100-series credits you can put towards your degree, you are allowed to take the courses in any year you like).

best,

aska

Hi, I’m a first year student and I’m just wondering if I would be able to attend lectures for a course at one campus and the tut at another.

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hey there,

nah. a tutorial on one campus will be completely different from a tutorial on another, so you’ll need to sign up for the tutorial that’s associated with the specific lecture section you’re enrolled in, on your campus.

honestly, it’s probably a good thing. not doing that commute will save you valuable time and money (not to mention a large chunk of your sanity)- so there’s your silver lining.

cheers,

aska

Hey Aska! I was wondering, is there anywhere where we can see breakdowns of course workloads? e.g. “In Course A, students will write 2 analyses, make 1 presentation, and complete a final exam”. I’d just like to have an idea of how busy I will be next year (and if I could pull off taking 5.5 credits). Also your answers have been super helpful and I am learning lots, so thank you for running this blog! 🙂

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hey there,

there is! what you’re looking for is a syllabus. you’ll be provided with a syllabus for each course you take during the first week of classes, either electronically or in person, and usually, the course instructor will go over it with the class and explain everything. you can see the kind of information the instructor will provide on their syllabus here.

however, if you want to see all that stuff now, it may be tricky. some departments provide syllabi from previous terms (for example, here’s the Fall 2013 syllabus for ENV333H1). you can go snooping around google/the websites of the departments offering your courses to see if they have some up, but unfortunately it’s kind of a hit and miss, depending on the department.

as for whether you can pull off 5.5 credits, it may be a good idea to make an appointment with your college registrar’s office to discuss it. they have a pretty good idea of the workload in each course, and how much students can handle before they crack.

good luck!

aska

opinion on taking consecutive 2 hour lecture classes? Do you think it will be too much for me? It’s CCT109 and MAT102.

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hey there,

hmm. it depends. are the classes early in the day? are they your only two classes, or do they round off the end of a long slog that starts at 9am? are you the kind of person who gets restless really easily, or are you pretty sedentary? and are the classes far away from each other, necessitating a mad sprint you from one building to the other, or relatively close?

all these factors and probably more that i haven’t thought of will affect how unpleasant it’ll be. try answering those questions, and it might help you make a decision.

however, even if the classes are really far away and are too late or too early or whatever – if you really need to take them and there are no other available times, there are ways to make it work. you can take breaks during one or both of the lectures if you need to, and if you’re uncomfortable about leaving the lecture hall in the middle of lecture, you can always speak with the professor directly and clear it with them at the beginning of term. you CAN pull through it.

or at least, that’s what i’m telling myself because i have a 3-hour lecture directly following a 2-hour lecture this coming Fall.

hoping for the best for both of us,

aska

Hi Aska, I was wondering if the U of T St George campus and/or U of T M end up mailing out course catalogs/brochures and things like that if you end up requesting it. I know they have .pdf files of admission requirements/what you can major or minor in etc, but is there something that gives you detailed descriptions about programs and such? I’d like to have a physical copy instead of printing out 20 pages off of the computer. Thanks!———————————————

unfortunately, uoft has made the transition to exclusively online information. all the same stuff is out there – admission req’s, program details, etc. – but it’s on this new-fangled contraption called the INTERNET. i don’t know if you’ve heard of it. it was kind of a big deal in the ’90s.

for st. george, these are all the pages you’re gonna want to look at (all pdf-free, don’t worry):

1. course calendar

2. timetable

3. complete list of programs offered by the Faculty of Arts & Science

here are the equivalent pages at UTM:

1. list of programs

2. list of courses

hoping you don’t strain your eyes reading from a screen,

aska