Aska,

Where are the top 5 best places to study on campus EXCLUDING Robarts!

Thanks!

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Yo yo

Am I right to assume that somebody has exams coming up?

Anyhow, thanks for the question. I quite like this question. 😀

So here are aska’s five favourite places to study on campus in no particular order.

5) St. Mike’s, the coop — I wrote like four essays here and studied for a couple of exams. Now what I like about the coop is the lack of total silence. So if you’re a person who needs a liiiiittle bit of buzz around them to study, this place works. It’s essentially a large empty room with giant windows for two of the walls so there’s a lot of natural light. I suppose that can be a little distracting though if you’re the kind of person who needs to raise their head every time someone walks by…

Also, there’s a Tims just down the street on Bay, and a sushi place I like to frequent just on Charles St. But yeah since it’s not exactly a “legit” study space, there aren’t many tables/chairs. I’d say that’s the only drawback. I mean there’s a sweet vending machine right outside to fulfill your Frito fix.

4) Gerstein — I have a special place in my heart for Gerstein. It was the first library I ever sat around in while waiting to pass that boring one hour between Narrative and Intro to Sociology at con hall. I always liked the spot towards the end where there are bunch of windows so you can look out at the trees. (As an aside, this post is making me realize my weird love of windows.) Granted, I think something was wonky with my laptop at the time because then, for whatever reason, I just could noooot get wifi — or like, it kept going in and out until I got fed up and went to medsci.

But aside from that spot, there’s also the room on the left-hand side. Um I think it was called the “reading room” or something like that, but yeah, it’s really pretty. Basically, it’s in the older part of the building. I like the quiet and the wide desks for my many disorganized papers.

3) Pratt Library, where the heck ever — This is the place to go if you want utmost silence. Seriously. If you go to Pratt and like… cough, prepare to be on the receiving end of some dirty looks unless you’re in that open area on the bottom floor. But once you pass through the glass doors, it’s nice and quiet, assuming that’s what you’re looking for.

For starters, there’s the bottom floor. As you know from the past two places, I like giant walls of windows to fulfill my daily quota for people creeping. You can get a nice individual carrel here to sit quietly and work your butt off.

But if you’re too lazy to venture down the stairs, you can always stay on the main floor and go to that big room on the right-hand side. You can either use on the of the tables and spread your stuff all over even though you won’t use half of it (that’s how I get comfortable haha) or you can head past the shelves and hope there’s an empty little nook in the wall. I’d say the only downside of those spots is that sweet baby Jesus, the lights there are reaaaaaally bright. Granted, I tend to go to the library like first thing in the morning… hm.

2) Munk Centre — It’s just so pretty. And serene. And pretty. Did I mention pretty? Now it’s soooort of gated off so I’m not particularly sure who gets access to it, but I know I did for the past semester because I had a class there. Granted, said class required me “signing in,” but for the most part… if you must “sneak in,” just don’t look sketchy and all should be fine. But yeah, it’s just so lovely.

This particular place is an outdoors one. So if it’s a warm April — which I suppose we haven’t had in a while — or you just want to do some reading in September, or heck, you just have summer classes, this place is nice. I like the sound of the water from the fountains just drowning out the zooming cars on Hoskin and the construction on Devonshire.

But yeah, like I said, this place’s perfection totally just relies on the weather sooooo.

1) Innis College, third floor carrels — This would have to be my favourite place if I had to pick anything on the west end of campus. I’ve spent the past three years heading here between classes just because I find it to be incredibly overlooked!

Now it’s a liiiiittle quiet, but for the most part, I tend to listen music anyway. You get a large carrel all to yourself, a nicely padded spinny wheely chair, and best of all, diiim liiiights. I think my favourite part of the place has to be the dim lights. It’s just such a cozy place. I suppose its downside is the fact that said coziness also makes you want to fall asleep. Then downstairs, there’s the Innis Cafe with its delicious chicken kebabs and fresh orange juice.

And there you have it — aska’s five favourite study nooks on campus. Or well, some of them.

There are a lot more like the little roomie things around the staircase at the Bahen Centre, the fifth floor of Robarts (granted, you said no Robarts), the grass outside of Robarts by Sussex and Huron, second floor of Kelly Library, Wymilwood Cafe at not-lunch hours, and so on.

It’s kind of hard to tell YOU where to study since finding that perfect spot comes with soooo many factors.

Where is the nearest bathroom? How quiet is it there on a scale of Pratt lower level to Kelly Cafe in the day time? Can I eat there? Is there any coffee shop/machine/whatever around? Are we allowed to talk? What are the chairs like? How big are the desks? Outlets? Good wifi connection? Lighting? Temperature? What part of campus? Blah blah blah.

There’s just so much to consider!

But or some other ideas, take a look at this three part post by Life @ UofT on “the best quiet spots on campus“! They have a loooot to look at so I’m sure that’ll be helpful too.

hoping you find the perfect spot,
aska