psychology - askastudent

admissions, applying for U of T, campus, psychology

where.

July 14, 2024
Hello, I am interested in applying to the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto. I would like to know which campus offers the best program for that. Additionally, I would like to inquire if it is possible to apply for admission immediately after completing Grade 11, with the potential for a conditional offer based on an average score above 95% in Grade 11 (through Tvo ILC), without having started Grade 12. And what will be the admission steps?

hey there,
1. which campus is best
first of all, great question. it can be really hard to choose which uni and campus to attend, because that’s where you’ll live your life for the next four+ years. when i was at that stage, i felt a lot like this:

i can tell you that psychology at U of T is going to be really good no matter which campus you choose. but if you wanted to know which one was best for that program, it really depends on what you’re looking for.

st. george is the biggest campus and it’s downtown. so that will mean it has more research opportunities in more areas, because of how connected the st. george campus is. like, there are a lot of U of T affiliated companies in different sectors that will take U of T undergrads looking for experience. the psychology has a great page where you can check out research opportunities here.

as for the other two campuses, i don’t know much about UTM, but UTSC in scarborough is known for being the co-op campus. so if you’re looking for co-op opportunities, that’s the place to be. for example, at UTSC you can take the co-op program in psychology, which is a work integrated program that combines your studies with paid work. this can also be great if you want to earn some money while being a student.

i’d say both co-op opportunities and research opportunities are really important for psychology because it’s difficult to get job experience as an undergrad when you’re a psychology student. so it just depends on what you prefer.

meanwhile, you should also choose the campus based on its environment and how it would work for you, as each campus has different pros and cons. like, do you want to live in the downtown core? do you want to live in a smaller campus? do you like nature? noise? etc.

if you’re curious, you can check out this page that goes over what makes each campus unique.

2. can you apply for admission now?

so unfortunately, it is not possible to apply for admission immediately after completing grade 11. this is because you need to be at least enrolled in grade 12 courses before you can be considered for admission.

according to the admission dates page, the early application date is november 7 while the deadline is january 15. so you’ll have to wait for the fall of your senior year to apply, around late september or october. you can apply for early admissions even if your grade 12 marks are not out yet, but you do need to be in grade 12. there’s not really a way around that.

finally, if you’re still undecided on which campus to choose, i’d encourage you to reach out to a recruitment officer, as they can probably tell you more psychology-specific things about each campus and help you make your decision.

anyways, hope this was helpful, good luck!!

over and out,

aska
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admissions, programs, psychology

confusing uoft websites, couldn’t be me

May 22, 2024
Hi! I’m currently in year 12, I study IB and my Higher Levels are Psychology, Sports Exercise and Health Science, and Art. I’m planning to apply to uoft to study clinical psychology in the future but then found out BIO is required after some research. Now I’m confused about this because the websites gave me different answers, one telling me that the only requirements are Calculus and English, and another saying that biology is required too. (if that’s the case would SEHS still be acceptable?)

hey there,

yeah, several people have asked this question before. those admission websites can be so confusing, they’ve got to fix that!

the tldr is that you don’t need bio 12 for admissions, but you’ll need it to go into second year.

admissions

let me explain. when you apply to u of t, you don’t actually apply to a specific program, like biochemistry or immunology, or psychology. instead, you apply to a general “admission category“. basically, all 300ish undergrad programs at the UTSG campus are categorized into 6 admission categories:
you can follow these links to see a list of programs under each admission category. your admission category is what you’ll actually put into your OUAC application, so admission category requirements are the only requirements you’ll need to worry about for now.

if you want to get in to the u of t psychology program, you’ll be applying under the “admission category” of life science. although the psychology requirements website says that you need biology, calculus, and english, the life science requirements website says you only need calculus and english. so for admissions, you only need calculus and english.

program enrolment

HOWEVER, you will need to complete biology 12 to enrol in your psychology program after first year. this is because everyone at u of t actually enrols in their POSt (program of study) when they go into second year. for some POSts, you automatically get in, but many others require pre-requisites or grade minimums. psychology is unfortunately the latter.

assuming you’re hoping to take the psychology major, this means you’ll need to first take PSY100 (the first year psych class at u of t) and get above 75%. you’ll also need to have passed grade 12 calculus and grade 12 biology.

biology equivalents

i recommend you read through the bottom of this page, where it covers biology equivalents and other options. here, it says that they accept IB biology courses, including standard and higher level classes. since i didn’t take IB myself, i’m not sure if SEHS would be counted. you said it’s a higher level IB course, but my question is — is it specifically a biology course?

you can figure that out. but if not, you are able to directly check by sending an email to psy.ug-assistant@utoronto.ca .

anyways, i hope this cleared things up, good luck with everything!

over and out,

aska
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admissions, psychology

throwback thursday: a stressed high school student

November 9, 2023

helloo, i’m a gr 11 highschool student and i’m so stressed out abt uni applications 🙁 my question is, if i apply for early admissions (they only review gr11 marks for this i think) at uoft and don’t get in, will i still be able to reapply during general admissions that’ll include my gr 12 midterm marks? also, how likely is it for me to get accepted into uoft’s psych program if i do bad in gr 11 math and perhaps english? like around low to mid 80s. but my other grades are in the 90s (T^T)

hey there,

another prospective psych student? if i had a nickel for every psych student i got on here this month, i would… have two nickels.

i can almost feel the gr 11 student stress emanating off my screen. i was definitely there once, so don’t worry, i can help!

to answer your question, if you don’t make early admissions, you actually don’t have to do anything else to be reconsidered as your new grades become available. so long as you keep your application up to date as grades come out, there’s no need for you to reapply. and by “keep it up to date”, i remember having to upload my most recent transcript to OUAC as new grades came out (i think you’ll have to do this for early admissions, too).

so don’t worry, you have more than one chance! uoft will wait for additional results to become available from your grade 12 courses, and will make decisions based on that.

i see you mentioned your english and math marks. something to keep in mind is that psych requirements vary across the three campuses — UTM and UTSC will look at your grades in biology 12, calculus 12, and english 12, but the st. george campus only looks at the grades of calculus 12 and english 12. you can see an explanation of this in my previous post.

if you’re really worried about your grade 11 results, i can tell you that uoft puts more emphasis on grade 12 results when they look at your application. and honestly, if you only have two grades in the 80s, with the rest in the 90s, i think you’ll be fine! especially since these are grade 11 courses. however, i know it’s hard to not stress over your grades, no matter how well you’re doing, and especially at this stage of your life.

i hope this was helpful and that it relieved a bit of your stress! but if you’re still feeling nervous about this, i would tell you to reach out to a recruitment officer—they know everything about admissions (not that i don’t know everything, i swear i do).

over and out,

aska

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admissions, applying for U of T, psychology

don’t psych yourself out, you’re okay

October 30, 2023

Hi! I’m currently a grade 12 student who is about to apply to university. I was looking at the St. George campus for psychology requirements and it says that Grade 12 Biology is one of them. The thing is…my current biology mark is in the 60s. So I was wondering whether the requirement means that it’ll be included in my top 6? Or whether they are just looking or it? Or how does it really work…

hey there,

ah, a senior doing college admissions. i hope you’re taking care of yourself, that can be a stressful time. but i come delivering good news! your biology mark does not necessarily have to be included in the top 6 grades that are used to calculate your admission average.

here is why:

when applying to uoft, you’re really just applying to admission streams rather than a specific program. basically all the programs are categorized into these six admission streams, and that will be what you select on OUAC when you fill out your application. these streams are: computer science, humanities, life sciences, mathematical & physical sciences, rotman commerce, and social sciences.

here is a chart that breaks down the required high school courses by stream. you’ll see that psychology falls into the life science stream, which only requires english and calculus. i know that it’s a bit confusing because this site says psychology requires english, calculus, and bio. but in this case, bio is not required for entry to the stream. therefore, it does not need to be one of the six marks used in your grade calculation.

so if you have a seventh course that has a better mark, then that would be used to calculate your admission average instead of your biology mark. i hope this helps and that everything goes well for you!

over and out,

aska

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CR/NCR, current student, psychology, St. George

those pesky program requirements

April 15, 2023

Hi! Hope you’re doing well. For my psy major one requirement is 1.0 credits in cluster A and 1.0 credits from cluster B in 200 level classes. I did really bad in one of my cluster B credits (think 50-60s range). I was thinking of using cr/ncr since it would be bad for my gpa which is already pretty mid. Since it’s technically a program requirement I know it’s not allowed but couldn’t I just remedy that by taking a different cluster B class in a different semester? Thanks in advance

hey there,

so sorry for the late reply, i don’t think you can do cr/ncr anymore but hopefully this is still somewhat helpful. i think you’ve got it right, it should be fine to cr/ncr that course as long as you can take a different one for your program requirements (which seems to be the case for the psy major). the cr/ncr course just won’t count towards your major/program, obviously.

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best of luck!

aska

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prereqs, prospective student, psychology, subject POST

throwback to the psych major era

February 20, 2023

hi aska, i’m a grade 12 hs student who got accepted into uoftstg for social science. i’m looking to major in psych, and i failed to realize that uoft doesn’t offer a psych BA. my problem is is that i don’t have the gr 12 prerequisites of calc or bio. my question is: uoft’s social science page they state, “at the end of your first year, you can combine programs outside of your own admission category” does this mean i can double major and enrol in the psych program despite of my missing prerecs?

hello there young one,

congrats on your acceptance! so after the barrage of psych major questions we got last semester, i’m prepared — this post from december is all about high school prereqs for psych at uoft and pretty much answers your question i think… (done. that’s it. that’s the post. do i just… go now?)

but in the spirit of recycling, lemme hash out some of the main things about high school prereqs here… and some other things. basically, after first year, you’ll have to apply for your POSt, which is just uoft’s fancy name for your specific program, which doesn’t have to be within your admissions stream. you can definitely mix and match and jump around different majors/minors/specialists in all different areas of uoft arts and science. but preqrequisites are prerequisites, and the psych programs all list gr. 12 calc and bio as prereqs so chances are you’ll have to get those credits in order to be accepted. you should definitely email the psych department just to check (psy.undergrad@utoronto.ca) with them first, though.

if you do have to complete those prerequisites, you could try to take them in the summer before university, or through night school/online options if they’re offered by your school board.

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they should be completed by the end of your first year at the latest, because that’s around the time you typically apply for POSt — although you should also confirm that with the department just in case they ask for the prereqs following a different timeline. hope that helps!

best of luck,

aska

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current student, prereqs, psychology

psych major questions make a comeback (ft. high school prereqs)

September 15, 2022

I have been trying to find an answer to this question everywhere, but it seems like not alot of people have been in this situation. Long story short, I have yet to be accepted into the PSY major (intend to graduate with a double major in PSY + SOC); however, I will complete all the required courses for both programs by December 2022. The issue is, I do not have the HS courses required for the PSY program. Will I still need to complete those to be accepted into program?

hey there,

so you’re right, i don’t have experience with this personally — but my guess is that you probably do need to get those hs prereqs. for example, the utm psychology website says, quite emphatically, that hs prereqs are “NEVER waived for any reason”. utsg psychology hasn’t put up any info about waiving hs prerequistes for their programs but seem rather strict about not waiving psy course prerequisites. i haven’t seen much about utsc, but… you get the idea. i’d definitely recommend emailing the psychology department to ask directly and make sure, but the general vibe that i’m getting is that they probably won’t accept you without those prereqs.

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luckily, missing hs prereqs aren’t all that uncommon (i’m lowkey drawing stuff from this other post with a very similar issue) and if you do need the hs courses, you can take them in summer school or night school with the tdsb, or any other school board that offers it. maybe not the most fun times, but at least you won’t be stuck with that missing prereq forever.

hope that helps and good luck!

aska

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current student, psychology, St. George, subject POST

utsg psych major: the saga continues

June 17, 2022

i didn’t make the psych major at uoft sg and that was my main goal. i don’t know what to do now. i have to retry but not sure how that process works. and i don’t have financial means to take an extra year so i’m worried i’m off track. what are my next steps…

hi there,

ok hooold up. i gotta say this sounds… awfully familiar.

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since it looks like everybody and their mother is applying to the utsg psych major, let me just rehash some of the important stuff from that previous post which might help.

1. you didn’t get in. sucks, but it’s not the end of the world. from my experience, there are lots of chances to apply later on — as long as you makes some real solid changes to your studying and academics going forward.

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2. to reapply in second year and above (9.0 FCEs or more completed), you’ll need marks from psy100, grade 12 calc and bio, as well as psy201 and 1.0 FCEs of the 200-level psy courses listed. retaking psy100 could certainly help your grades for POSt, but it’s up to you to decide if/when/how to do it. lucky you, i happen to be a bit of a degree explorer aficionado, so let’s just walk through how you could plan this stuff out.

since the grade cutoff is listed at around 77-79%, if your current psy100 and grade 12 calc/bio marks are lower than that then it might be safer to retake psy100 next year. if you need to graduate in four years, the most straightforward ways to do that would be to either take psy100 in the summer (still $$, but at least it’s not $$$$…) or take more than 5.0 FCEs in one academic year (likely 2nd year, if you want to have the best chances of getting into the psych major right after). you can take 4.0 – 6.0 FCEs in the fall/winter semesters for the same program fee, so there won’t be any extra costs (finanically, at least) but it could be more difficult to balance things and get the marks you need. taking a summer course isn’t a walk in the park either, since things are going at 2x speed, but (hopefully) you won’t be taking other courses at the same time too.

3. if you do end up taking psy100 next year, i’d suggest first prioritizing your 200-level psy courses and courses needed for other majors/minors you want to complete (unless you’re ready to risk it all for the utsg psych major, it’s probably best to still keep up on your other programs). try to pick courses that you’re really interested in, where you can likely do well. the utsg artsci course evals are a handy way to ~~stalk~~ check out potential courses, including ratings by instuctor and year/session. remember to prepare backups too — course enrolment is already finnicky, and if you’re not a psych student it might be hard to get your first choice psy courses since you won’t have priority.

once you’ve got your required courses down, i’d recommend adding psy100 in your lighter semester so that even if you’re taking 6 courses, it’ll still be manageable. another tip is to enroll in multiple courses if you’re not sure which ones would be a good fit, and just make sure to drop the extra ones by the deadline.

4. i’d also recommend speaking with your college registrar to get support with planning, academics, or anything else you might need help with. they’ll be able to help with your study strategies, provide resources, and a whole lot of other things to get you on track.

5. if you haven’t already, try applying to the psych minor next year too as a backup. it’ll allow you to enroll in courses as a psych student and could be a good alternative if getting into the major is still a challenge.

now, follow these trusty steps and i guarantee you’ll… wait, what’s that? no guarantees? oh. okay. well unfortunately, i can’t say for sure that you will get into the utsg psych major even if you follow all these handy tips, but hopefully this gives you a better idea of what your next steps might look like.

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best of luck,

aska

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current student, psychology, subject POST

all roads lead to the utsg psych major

May 26, 2022

I had a rough semester and ended up with a 75 is PSY100. Hoping to get into the psych major at utsg but I’m right at the cutoff. Do you think there’s a chance for me to get in still? If not, should I retake the class next year?

hello there young grasshopper,

ah yes, the agony of waiting for POSt offers… unfortunately, it’s quite hard to tell in your case as you’re literally right at the cutoff. to be honest, it could really go either way, and also depends on the number of spots compared to the number of people applying for the program, as well as their marks.

if you haven’t heard back about your application yet, the best thing (well, also kind of the only thing) you can do is probably just to chill and wait it out! it’s good to prepare ahead but there’s also no need to stress out when the results aren’t even out yet!

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i will say, psych and most artsci programs are quite good with giving multiple chances to enter the POSt and switch in/out of things even in upper years, so even if you aren’t accepted after first year, you can definitely still get in later on.

so, as for plan b… if you don’t get in, you should definitely consider taking some second year psych courses, such as PSY201. these are usually required if you are applying for the psych major again after second year or above, as you may have already completed 9.0+ FCEs.

doing really well in your second year psych courses would improve your chances of getting into POSt, as 1.5 FCEs of second year psych courses (specific ones listed in the POSt requirements) will be considered in addition to your PSY100 marks. you can try to pick courses that are also part of the psych major requirements so that if you get in, you’d be on track to completing your program requirements, while also being well equipped for upper year courses in psych.

you could repeat PSY100 as an extra course too, although it could potentially change how you schedule your courses later on, e.g. you may have to take summer courses, an extra semester, or an increased courseload to fit in that extra course. it’s up to you to decide if it’d be worth it to repeat PSY100 right away next year or do it later on if things don’t pan out after your second year psych courses.

although POSt might be a bit of a pain during course enrollment, chances are you’d still be able to get into at least some, if not all of the second year psych courses you need even as a non-major. another tip is to apply for the psych minor, if you haven’t already! the cutoff for that is at 73%, which may not be a guarantee, but does give you better chances of getting in — and psych minors will also have priority enrollment in psych courses, to make your life a little easier. 🙂

hopefully that gives some reassurance on the process! POSt offers are tricky and there’s really no way to fully predict your results until they come out, but just know that no matter the outcome, there’ll be plenty of ways to get to the program you want. in the meantime, good luck, and enjoy the summer!

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aska

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psychology

psych, you thought you didn’t need calc

March 12, 2021

hello, i applied to utsg under humanities but just realized i would like to declare major for a life sci that requires you take calc (psych). the issue is i already have my gr12 schedule and didnt take calc. i really don’t want to, and honestly don’t think i can change my schedule for quad 4 now. if i take calc during summer school in july/aug after the june 2021 grad, will that credit count towards completion of gr12 calculus?

——————————————

hi there,

this is a pretty common problem! i went into our archives and dug up a post that explains what you can do. i thought about explaining the process anew for you, but it’s a crazy time of the semester and my time might be best spent answering more questions, so you can check that out here. tl:dr not the end of the world, you do have options! summer school is definitely one of them.

(just kidding, there’s no shame in doing what you gotta do!!)

if you have any concerns about your plans, you can also contact the department of psychology directly.

good luck!

be Boundless,

aska

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admissions, english, psychology, subject POST

you’re doing amazing!

December 3, 2019
Hello! I am applying for U of T soon and I was wondering about the degree combinations. If I complete two majors (I believe you pick your two programs/majors after the first year on ACORN? Please feel free to correct me) how long does it take? Is it the standard 4 years as a double major? I’m planning on taking English and Psychology, if that helps 🙂 Sorry if this is a dumb question! I’m a very confused high school student

——————————————

hey friendo,

it’s all right to be confused, and this isn’t a dumb question at all! some students get to this school not even knowing program selection after first year is a thing. trust me, you’re ahead of the curve on this one, and it’s super great that you’re taking this into account now.

u of t basically only offers honours degrees. what this means is that to graduate with a bachelor’s here, you need to undertake one of the following program combinations:
- a specialist
- two majors
- a major and two minors
what you ultimately decide on, among these three options, won’t affect how long it’ll take you to graduate. u of t has set this system up so that all three can be completed within 20.0 credits. each course you take for a semester counts as half a credit, so if you take five courses in fall and five in winter, that adds up to four school years. in fact, you can even add a minor to a double major and still finish in four years, if there’s enough overlap between those programs. keep in mind that there is a limit of three programs total, though.

tl:dr a double major in english and psychology is fully doable in 4 years, if that’s how long you’re planning to take to complete your undergrad! an english major is a type 1 program, which basically means anyone can enrol in it– a psych major is a type 2L, which indicates that there’s a specific grade threshold you need to meet in order to be considered for enrolment. type 2L programs have a cap on how many students they can accept, so it would be best to aim for a grade higher than that threshold to make your chances of getting in better. in fact, the department recommends that you come up with a backup program, just in case admission doesn’t work out for you.

since you’re looking at two different program types, you should be aware of two different program enrolment periods. typically, you can begin requesting programs at the end of winter semester– the dates vary a lil every year. i’m linking you here to last year’s program request periods, just so you have an idea of what they might look like. this year’s have yet to be posted, but i’m sure if you check again later on, they should be up by february at the latest.

best of luck with your application! you know where to find me if you have any other questions.

be Boundless,

aska
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psychology, rotman

bcom whatever you want to be

June 17, 2019

Hi! I just have a short question. I am interested in various areas in business and psychology. Is it possible to do majors in both subjects at the same time? I can’t really find a clear answer anywhere.

——————————————

hi there,

if by business you mean a bachelor’s of commerce, then yeah, taking both business and psych should technically be possible! in fact u of t is pretty great for this very reason– i find it has fewer barriers to mixing and matching totally different programs than other schools do. even though sometimes, that mixing and matching can feel a little like this:

if you do want to graduate with a bcom, you’ll be required to take a specialist at rotman, not just a major. you’ll be choosing from either accounting, finance & econ, or management for that specialist. how much room you’ll have to complete a psych program (in other words, how much elective space you have) will depend on which rotman program you select. accounting leaves you 5.0 full-course equivalents (FCEs) while fin&econ will leave 2.5 and management 4.0-5.0.

a psych major will ask you for 7.0 credits. how, you ask, is it possible in such a limited universe, that you’ll be able to fit that into your 5.0 or fewer credits of elective allotment? there’s a chance some of your requirements in each program will be able to overlap– you’ll need to figure out for yourself how likely this is, as it’ll vary based on what you choose at rotman. you can also schedule an appointment with an advisor at your registrar, and have them talk you through your options.

if not enough overlap is possible, you’ll still be able to take both programs, but might not be able to finish in 20 FCEs. this’ll mean either loading up on extra classes during the school year, taking summer school, or extending your time at u of t for a semester or so.

if you’re super keen on doing both business and psych, but don’t want to take that extra load on, you can always consider doing a psych minor instead– it’ll be easier to manage, at just 4.0 FCEs. when considering this, keep in mind you’ll also need your elective space to complete your breadth requirement courses.

hope this helped! go for it if it’s what you want. aska believes in you.

over n out,

aska

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exclusions, psychology, sociology

hooray for program conflicts we love being confused

May 30, 2019

Hi, I am planning on majoring in sociology and minoring in psychology at utsg. Psych requires psy201 (statistics) and soc requires soc202, but the problem is that psy201 lists soc202 as an exclusion. Is there a way to get around this? Thanks

——————————————

hey there,

it actually seems like you may be able to get away with only taking SOC202, and having that satisfy the requirement for both your programs. i checked out the psych requirements on the calendar, and where it lists PSY201 there’s an allowance for ‘or equivalent course in statistics.’ i’m not 100% sure, but as an exclusion is considered to be a course too similar to the course in question, i’d imagine that the two would be considered equivalent. i would contact the department just to make sure, because they’re the ones making these kinds of decisions, but i’d say chances are good that this is your best workaround.

in case it doesn’t work out, you do have another option. according to the university’s rules, you’re able to get special permission (probably from your registrar) to enrol in the second course. it’ll just be designated as ‘extra’ and not count towards your gpa, but my guess is that it’d be okay for your program’s purposes. i wouldn’t recommend registering without talking to your registrar, because if you get discovered they’re allowed (and supposed) to remove you without warning.

psych and soc seem to be too common of a combination for there to be no way around your exclusion problem. so i hope at least one of these routes works out for you!

over n out,

aska

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