• courses

    should i take this course: the new “which college should i go to”

    May 20, 2014

    Hi,
    I’m at UTM in the CCIT program, going into 3rd year starting September 2014, and looking at different courses I can take. There is a course that I’m interested in, but it has two 200 level prerequisites, one of which I have already completed, but one remaining. What can I do to take this course? (Like are we expected to plan out our 3rd year while planning out the 2nd year? Had I had the prerequisites in mind last year while picking courses, I would’ve enrolled in it earlier) So what can I do now? Am I supposed to take the 200-level course while in 3rd year? Or should I just Let it Go and pick something else?? Please help, thanks.
    Fyi:The course I want to take is CCT310H Mass Communication and Popular CultureIt’s prerequisites are; CCT204H5, CCT210H5

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    first of all, i just wanna indulge myself for a moment and say that this is a lovely question because it’s so clear. you gave me all the relevant information. go you! i guess that’s what happens when you’re in a communication program*.

    secondly…well, obviously you can’t anticipate everything, but yeah, i’d say it’s generally a good idea to have a running plan of your four years at school, right from the very beginning. i, for example, have a snazzy word document on my laptop full of highlighted and linked information that sketches out what i’m planning to do for the rest of my academic future. but, you know. maybe i just have too much time on my hands.*

    i understand that these things happen. new courses pop up, or you change interests and focuses, and all of a sudden you realize you can’t take this or that class because of prereqs. what do you do now? well, i’d suggest taking the course you’re missing in the summer session, but it’s too late to register now.

    the next option would be taking the prereq in fall and 310 in winter, since they’re both half-courses, but unfortunately, the 310 course is only offered in the fall term. however, i don’t think there’s any great harm in taking the 200-course this year, and 310 in your fourth year. if you really want it, that is.

    otherwise, you can just find another course. it’s really up to you, man. i can’t tell you what courses to take. and that’s probably a good thing. if i could, i’d probably just make everyone take courses in my department so it’d get more funding, or something equally sinister and conniving.

    all the best,

    aska

    *scratch the maybe. i definitely do. it’s a problem.

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  • courses,  odds are that won't be asked again

    picking on the little guy (course)

    April 15, 2014

    Hi there,

    I was just wondering how many students have to be enrolled in a course in order for it not to be cancelled. For example, one of the 300-level summer courses I want to take has space for 45 students but there are only 17 students enrolled. If it reaches, say, 20 students will it still be cancelled because not enough people are taking it?

    Thanks in advance!

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    the likelihood of a course being cancelled because of low enrolment is very small. enrolment numbers might affect whether the course runs next year, but if it’s up on ROSI and you can enrol in it now, chances are, it’s going to run. I wouldn’t worry about it.

    so just remember the large, friendly letters on the front of the hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy:

    don't panic

    best,

    aska

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  • courses

    silly pigeon

    April 15, 2014

    Hi,

    I was just wondering if you knew when the Fall 2014-Winter 2015 timetable for UTSG is going to be released? It probably sounds kind of impatient to be asking this early, but when the Summer 2014 timetable was released I think one of the pages said something about the Fall schedule being released at the end of March…

    Thanks for your help =D

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

    hey there,

    it’s up!

    best,

    aska

    P.S. i initially linked to the course calendar instead of the timetable; i’ve just changed it. i guess I’M the silly pigeon now.

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  • courses

    missing an interview

    April 8, 2014

    Hi,
    Okay I’m going to be honest I’m pretty sure I messed up. I wanted to take?Chinese and you have to go to an interview, but a last minute home
    emergency thing happened, I had to skip out on the rest of the day,?including the interview and couldn’t get anywhere near an internet?connection or a keyboard until a good 6 hours later. I emailed the?coordinator and said I was sorry and it was all my fault, but I still want?to be able to take Chinese even if it means next next year, how fucked am I?in terms of, “the coordinator thinks you’re a douche”. I don’t know how to?navigate this situation, I don’t know if this will affect me badly, or if?it will seriously hurt my chance of getting into the class. I’m dumb I?know, but HOW dumb and HOW much trouble am I in. I really needed this class?for my EAS major and now I’m panicked and dejected and I’m afraid I should?never go near the department again and learn Chinese from the internet.
    – please i need some advice/help

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

    hey there,

    ok, firstly – calm down. e-mailing the coordinator was the best possible thing you could do. i don’t know how the coordinator will handle the situation, and i don’t know enough about the program to even begin to speculate, so i’m not going to. the one solid piece of information i could find about these interviews is this:

    “Those who are enrolled for a course or waitlist on ROSI who fail to follow the instructions and attend the interview/placement test for their course (if applicable) will be automatically removed by the department. Alternative interview or test times are not available.”

    however, don’t take that as gospel. if the coordinator e-mails you back, you may be able to work something out. if not, hey, there’s always the next enrolment period.

    i hope it works out,

    aska

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  • courses,  psychology,  UTM

    admissions psychles

    April 1, 2014

    Dear Friend,

    I hope you don’t mind, this will be half ranting along with the question.

    I was accepted into the Commerce program at UTSG. I was unable to fulfill the first year requirements for the program, hence I was declined my place in the program. I unfortunately did not have a backup plan, I ended up making last minute decisions and end up in the Mathematics specialists program. After taking mathematics courses, I realized it was not my field. In the meanwhile, I took electives in anthropology, religion and psychology. I soon realized I was very into the psychology program, hence decided to get into psychology.

    Currently, I’m taking Psychology courses at UTM, even though I am not officially in the program. I am with high hopes of getting my transfer approved (touchwood). So far, I have 12 credits at the end of this year, as in April 2014.

    I know I need 20 credits for graduation in my program. I was wondering, I wanted to take extra courses in psychology, would I still be able to Do you know if I go pass my 20 credits by taking psychology, will they accept my grades?

    I would ask my registrar, however every time I come out of there, I always feel gloom for some reason.

    Thank you for taking out time to read out my rant. I appreciate any sort of help you can give me.

    Sincerely,

    ~ A student attempting to regain control in her life.

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    i haven’t been able to find any concrete information about this online. the fact is that each campus and department does things a little bit differently with respect to this issue, and osap also may become implicated if you take more than 20.0 credits as part of your degree, so it’s best that you speak to…yeah, i’m gonna say it…

    …the registrar’s office. it might be time to get over that feeling of gloom, buddy, ’cause the registrar is hella helpful. they should know exactly how your school/program handles going above 20.0 credits. and just so you know, i work in a registrar’s office. and we have an absolute WHALE OF A TIME*.

    if it’s really stressful for you in there, just bring a sippy cup of warm milk in with you or something, idk.

    sorry friend,

    aska

    *that may be because i always bring an inflatable whale to work with me. but you know. i can’t be sure.

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  • courses,  enrollment

    kin you do it?

    March 28, 2014

    Could you tell me a little about the kinesiology program at u of t? ive heard that if you want to become a PT it can be difficult bc kin students have low priority when it comes to choosing classes and they dont get to take the classes they need as prereqs. im kind of worried as I want to study PT in the states after u of t

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

    hey there,

    i certainly can! now, i don’t know if you’re planning on transferring or you’re still in high school, but you seem not to be familiar with the different faculties at uoft, so i’m just gonna quickly explain how they work over here. basically, most undergrad programs are administered by the faculty of arts & science. ignoring prereqs and enrolment controls, courses in artsci are kind of a free-for-all: you can take any course within the faculty.

    however, kin is administered by the faculty of kinesiology, and according to page 8 of their course calendar, most of the courses you take will be ‘KPE’ courses – that is, courses administered by the faculty of kinesiology. students in artsci must “petition for permission to register in the course for degree credit” if it’s outside of their faculty. meaning that when you’re in kin, the courses you’re required to take are the ones you’ll be taking, basically, since kin students are the only ones who have easy access to those courses.

    when you graduate, you’ll be graduating with a B.KIN. from the faculty, which will have included courses almost exclusively about kinesiology and work placements. if you want to study pt in the states, i’d say this is a great degree to start with, though of course, i encourage you to see for yourself whether the degree is for you.*

    best,

    aska

    *I wanted to test for myself how suitable the B.KIN. is for someone interested in a Doctor in Phyical Therapy (which I’m presuming is what you’re interested in?) so I picked a school at random from the wikipedia list of schools that offer that degree, and took a look at their entry requirements; the B.KIN. provides all those courses as part of its degree, as far as i can tell.

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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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  • courses,  enrollment

    the criminal elite

    March 11, 2014

    Hi Aska
    I think I am kind of interested in Criminology. But I checked that intro to Criminology has a R code and its prerequisite is: Open to students in the Criminology program. Does that mean I have no chance to enroll this course at all?

    Thanks:)

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

    Hey there,

    Ahh, I?m sorry my friend. Unfortunately, the R enrolment control is pretty inflexible. If a course has an R enrolment code, then it is ?restricted to a specific group of students at all times,”?which basically means that if you are not in criminology, you can kiss that course goodbye.

    Sorry. You could always just hang around shady street corners at night and observe knife crime. I?m kidding. Please don?t do that. Always walk with a buddy at night.

    Cheers,

    aska

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  • courses,  rotman,  summer

    doing RSM100Y1 again oh man oh man

    January 10, 2014

    If I retake management 100 in the summer time, can I still apply for a commerce major in September? Or do I have to wait until the Winter session to apply or next year?

    Thanks!

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    so, the summer course schedule hasn’t come out yet, but if you’re talking about RSM100, it seems to be available in the summer (this is a preliminary timetable and so they could change it around a bit, but RSM100 is a fairly essential course AND it was offered in 2013 and 2012 over the summer, so i’d say it’s probably gonna stick around). You can enrol for that starting April 7th.

    as for applying for a commerce major, it depends on whether you’re already a commerce student. if you are, you can still complete the RSM100 requirement in the summer. if you’re not already in commerce (i.e. you didn’t apply for and get accepted to rotman in grade 12), it may not work out. applications for second-year applicants are due in april/may, so you need to have met the requirements by that time, which you couldn’t do if you took it in the summer. you could contact rotman about it in case they’re willing to make a special exception, but it’ll probably be an uphill battle if i’m being real.

    i hope that helps! have a bomb-diggity* day,

    aska

    *the hyperlink for this is the first image that shows up on google images when you search ‘bomb-diggity gif.’ so. there’s your social commentary for the day.

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  • courses,  enrollment

    this title about adding courses in the Winter term is going to be just as long if not longer than the actual answer itself

    January 7, 2014

    Hi,

    I know that you are allowed to drop courses before the deadlines but am I allowed to add a new course in the beginning of the winter semester? Thank you.

    ?????????

    hey there,

    the last day to add courses or otherwise make changes with your S courses is January 19th in the Faculty of Arts & Science. So go on, quick! Add!

    aska

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  • courses

    how to successfully ignore seating issues

    September 18, 2013

    Hi, there;

    There is a course I would really, really like to get into but I was number 2 and then 1?on the waiting list for over a month, and have now been removed. I’ve spoken to the?instructor, who says that she wouldn’t mind if I joined the course at all. Is there some?way to enrol, now that I have the instructor’s permission? Is there something for her to?sign, or something like that?

    ?????????

    Hey there!

    Your choices:

    So at this point in time, you have to basically go on ROSI every five minutes and check out the registration for the class.

    If there’s a spot, snatch it.

    Aside from that… well, the registrar’s office can only put you on a waitlist (which is now irrelevant), so the next stop would be the department where maaaaybe they’ll help you get into the class somehow. As for as I know, there’s not quite a form so much as there’s a lot of sighing and grunting and eventual relenting.

    But for the most part, the only thing that would really be barring you from the course is, well, fire hazards! Or space issues. Whatever.

    Like there LITERALLY isn’t room in the class for you. As in if your class is in one of those unfortunate classrooms with x number of individualized desks and the department kindly made you number 41 out of 40, there might not be a spot for you.

    And then if that doesn’t work, there’s always petitioning, but if this course is just something that you would “really, really like” as opposed to something you need because you’re graduating, I don’t think that’ll help.

    out of other options,
    aska

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  • courses

    ask101h1: how courses work

    September 5, 2013

    Hello,

    So I signed up for my classes as successfully as I could. All of them are lectures. What is the difference between lecture and tutorial? And should I change all my classes to tutorials if that’s better? Also, I have heard that signing up for both is mandatory sometimes. Is that true? If so, how do I know if it is for that class?

    Thanks!
    Newbie

    ?????????

    Newbie,

    A lecture is the typical way of going about classes at UofT. These can be classes as big as 1800ish (whatever the capacity of Con Hall is), or as small as 40 or so. These kinds of classes involve a professor or lecturer talking at you and, occasionally, asking questions.

    A tutorial on the other hand is a lot more intimate and hands on. Those classes are usually around 20 people or less — or, at least, they SHOULD be, and if there are more people than that, then that’s just friggin annoying. Tutorials will have you really discussing what you learned in lecture for more courses, or say if you’re in a language course, doing a lot of practice work.

    Also, your classes are almost always lectures (unless they’re seminars), but not every lecture comes with a tutorial.

    Here’s an older post dealing with the same stuff if you need more explanation!

    Now the rule of thumb is yes, the lecture and tutorial are necessary. Unless otherwise indicated, they are always necessary.

    Always.

    Cheers!

    aska

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  • courses,  first year,  UTM

    bad habits — to begin or to break…

    August 19, 2013

    Hi,

    I was wondering if it would be better to take full year electives or 2 half credit electives. Im currently a first year student in social sciences and planning to switch to either management or commerce second year. Are there any courses you recommend to boost my mark?

    The courses im taking are:

    ECO100Y5 Y – Introduction to Economics

    ERS103H5 F – Geol & Public Issues?(Although i dont know if i want to switch this to something else or not.. Some people told me its not as easy)

    LIN200H5 F – Intro to Language

    MAT135Y5 Y – Calculus

    PHL245H5 F – Mod Symbolic Logic

    SOC100H5 S – Introduction to Sociology

    And i also have a conflict in my timetable.. both of them are lectures.. so is that okay? or….. Iknow its bad to skip classes but i have no choice. The conflict is between one of the MAT135 lectures and LIN200 lecture.

    ———————————————

    Hey hey

    Personally, I prefer taking two half courses instead of a year-long course mostly because when exam time comes around in April, I can barely recall what the heck I learned back in October. Granted, at the same time, I do enjoy that that Y course wouldn’t plague me too much in the December exam period…

    As for courses that might boost your mark, take a look at a few of our “bird course” posts.

    Though take those lists with a grain of salt because what makes something a “bird course” to one person can very well make it the hardest thing on earth to another person.

    And timetable conflicts?

    Don’t do them.

    Like don’t.

    You have lectures for a reason. Go learn! I mean you’re paying for them.

    While you can certainly go about your conflict if that’s what you want, note that your professor(s) won’t be very forgiving if you have any clashing midterms or whatnot. And who knows whether or not attendance is mandatory?

    Now judging by your courses, you’re a first year, right? If your conflict is between a 100-level course and a 200-level course, I say lean toward the former. That one’s probably a prereq for something you’ll need in the future.

    You always have a choice, so try to make the smarter one.

    Cheers!

    aska

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