• frosh,  new kids,  student groups

    If a tree falls in the forest, and no one reads the flyer…?

    May 29, 2009

    What campus club/organization is in charge of Frosh week?? I need to contact them for frosh kit questions…any possible contact would help. Thank you in advance.

    A simple question. A less simple answer.

    Much like Canadian Federalism, Frosh Week responsibilities are divided amongst U.T.S.U. and the individual Colleges.

    UTSU (the metaphorical federal gov) will do the concert, parade, and clubs fair – typically on the last day. They will also amass the basic “frosh kit” (e.g. laundry bag, XXL t-shirt, random flyers that you’ll never look at).

    It is your College’s Student Society (‘provincial gov’) that will conduct registration, and organize the itinerary for the majority of Frosh Week. They will also supplement the frosh kits with another t-shirt (probably just an XL this time), some college paraphernalia, and some more useless papers.

    Sometimes college residences will host Orientation activities too (…they’re like municipal gov’s!).

    The International Student Centre will also host activities (…yep, my metaphor just ran dry).

    I’m going to take this pro-active opportunity to say (from experience) that you must participate in the Frosh Week of your OWN College. So, if your high school friend goes to Trin, and you’re at Innis… it looks like you’re gonna have to make a new friend. Bahahaha!

    Seriously though, participating in Frosh Week is a critical way to socially transition to the university and the city. It WILL be awkward and tiring at times, but if you are a good sport I promise you’ll have a blast.

    You can expect a registration form in the mail from your Student Society/Union/Council in June or July, or sometimes you can just register on the website:

    Innis New St. Mikes Trin U.C. Vic Woodsworth UTSC UTM

    P.s. I’m sorry UTSU. You were a casualty of my metaphor. I would never suggest that you resemble Steve Harper & Co.

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  • commerce,  psychology,  subject POST,  UTSC

    To market, to market, to buy a fat irritation.

    May 28, 2009

    Just wondering, can i double major in commerce (marketing) and? psychology in 4 years? Or would it take longer? If it works, would I be attending UofT or UofT Scarborough ? Because it says nothing about double majors on the UofT website, but it does on the UofTS one. Last but not least, if I do double major, am I getting 2 degrees or just one?

    ———————————————

    I won’t lie, it took me a while to decipher this query my friend. And I still haven’t really figured it out.

    First, what is the Major in “Commerce (Marketing)” that you are referring to?

    Scarborough offers a Specialist in Management & Marketing. St. George offers a Major in Commerce.

    I guess I’ll just answer your question for both scenarios… (sigh).

     

    Scenario 1: Specialist in Management & Marketing, UTSC

    A 13.0-credit program that leads to a B.B.A. degree.

    If you were enrolled in this program, you would strictly be a UTSC student. Sadly, you CANNOT enrol in 2 programs on 2 different campuses at the same time. The best you could do is to take all of your remaining electives (and no more than 10.0) as St. George Psychology courses – but those would never manifest as a Program on your transcript.

    Of course, you could just take the Management & Marketing Specialist at Scarborough, and pair it with a Major or Minor in Psychology from Scarborough as well. This would be much cleaner, and you would receive recognition for both Programs. Since the Major requires 7.0 credits, it would be a tight squeeze to finish those alongside the 13.0 Marketing credits in 20.0 credits over 4 years. I’m not saying it can’t be done, and you can always take more than 20.0 courses doing summer school and whatnot. The Minor is much more reasonable.

     

    Scenario 2: Major in Commerce, St. George

    A 7.5-credit program that leads to a Hon.B.A. degree. It must be paired with at least 1 more major or 2 minors. If the other Major is a science program (e.g. Psych), you will by default get an Hon.B.Sc. degree.

    In this case, you CAN complete both a Major in Rotman Commerce and a Major in Psychology, as a St. George student. Commerce requires 7.5 credits. Psych requires 6.5 credits. You need 20.0 credits to graduate. This still leaves you with 6.0 credits to blow on whatever tickles your fancy. (…did someone say “The Sun and its Neighbours??”)??

    But listen up! The Commerce Major does not have an explicit concentration in Marketing. You may elect to take a bunch of marketing courses (e.g. RSM250, 350, 452, 458), but in the end it will still be the more general Major in Commerce.

    Sound decent? Here’s the kicker. Rotman Commerce courses are hella expensive. Whether you are in the Major or one of the Specialists, beginning in your 2nd year you will pay a yearly “program fee” ($10,481 right now). This flat fee will cover all of the courses you take between 3.0-6.0 credits.

    Compare that to the brand new Arts & Science flat fee, which covers 4.0-6.0 credit courseloads, of $5300-ish. And for all of this moola you would spend for Commerce, the Major still only entitles you to a B.A. degree not the B.Com that the Specialist will yield.

     

     

    Scenario 3: Rotman Commerce Specialist (Accounting, Finance & Economics, or Management), St. George

    I’ve added an additional scenario for your consideration. It is my suggested alternative to Scenario 2. You will still pay the high Commerce flat fees, but you will get a B.Com degree (wooooo). You can pair this with a Major or Minor in Psychology downtown. Which Commerce Specialist is best for you? Well, none of them really. You’ll notice that there isn’t a Marketing option per se.

    I’m thinking that the Major or Minor programs in Semiotics offered through Victoria College, downtown, may have relevance to the field of Marketing. Maybe some Sociology courses as well?? I’m reaching now.

     

    Okay finally. In response to your last question (and it should be obvious by now), you do not get 2 degrees for having a double major. You get one degree that will say something more generic like Hon.BA., Hon.BSc, B.Com, or B.B.A. To achieve that degree you must complete a minimum combination of Programs: 1 Specialist, 2 Majors, and 1 Major + 2 Minors. ?

     

    Ps. The U of T Arts & Science website explains double Majors, and the like, in the 2009-10 Calendar, see “Program Requirements.” But I can’t blame you for not finding it. U of T websites are notoriously bloated with text and they navigate like a labyrinth, but without the prospect of discovering David Bowie’s bulge.

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  • math,  PUMP,  stats

    Get your booty on the floor tonight…

    May 25, 2009

    Hi there,

    I have a question regarding major/minor requirement/admissions.
    I am a SOC major and a PHL minor student – hence needing another minor.

    I really want to take Statistics as my 2nd minor, which I’ve read has no minimum GPA requirement. I recently e-mailed the stats dept to double-check and received the following reply from a very helpful individual: “I am not aware of any restrictions on enrolment in the stat minor.” Not satisfied with such reply I did some more research and found out that I need some grade 12 high-school math for Stats(or something along those lines).
    The things is – I am a 3rd yr student, simply neeing another minor and really want to do STATs the only problem is that I never took math in gr. 12 high-school. I’m good at math I simply have not taken it in my last yr of high-school because I wanted to do Humanities in University. HELP! Can I even do a STATs minor now without some high-school gr 12 math? Or, does that matter?

    ———————————————

    Hi.

    That “very helpful individual” (not sure if you were implying sarcasm there) at the Statistics Department did NOT lie. Nor did they give you the whole truth given your high school circumstances. You do not need a Grade 12 math course to enroll in the Stats Minor. However, taking either MAT135 or MAT137 is required to complete that Minor (Calendar, page 493). On page 342 you will find that you need Gr.12 MCV4U (Calculus & Vectors) or MHF4U (Advanced Functions) as pre-requisites to enrol in either of those 100-level math courses.

    Whew! That was fun! It was kind of like a “choose your own adventure novel,” except that you don’t have to sell your soul to the bank to buy a paperback.

    So, the question becomes: how can I enroll in MAT135/7 without the Gr.12 math pre-requisite?

    There are a few options.

    • a) Enrol in a high-school summer course. I’m not sure where you are living during the summer, but this link from the Toronto DSB Continuing Education (esp. page 7) may be useful.

    http://www.tdsb.on.ca/wwwdocuments/programs/continuing_education/docs/SummerCredit.pdf

    • b) Enrol in the Preparing for University Math Program (P.U.M.P.) offered by the Department of Mathematics here at U of T: http://www.math.utoronto.ca/pump

    This is a preparatory course that students may take in order to ease the transition from high-school math to uni math, or as in your case, to catch students up on pre-requisite high-school coursework. They say that homework and assignments are minimal, and examination is based on tests and quizzes. It costs 600 bucks, and you can register right up until the course begins on 06 July 2009. It ends on 21 August.

    Now, your bizarre and masochistic desire to slap a Stats minor onto your plate suggests to me that you would see no problem with something like P.U.M.P. However, as a humanities student with an energetically critical view of the world, I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about P.U.M.P., the acronym.

    PUMP?!? Really Mathematics Department? PUMP?!

    I think I can swallow the intended connotation of “pumping up students’ math abilities for first year.” However, to reveal the dirty thoughts that flew through my mind when I first came across the website… let’s just say I would be straddling the already fuzzy threshold of professionalism.

    No, I won’t go there. Instead, I will leave you with my vote for PUMP’s new theme song.

    P.s. I hope it’s still stuck in your head when you wake up tomorrow morning.

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  • international exchange,  languages

    Putting your mouth where your money is.

    May 22, 2009

    Ok so I got accepted to the Italian studies program, and I know I will do well given my Italian background and all. 3rd year I absolutely HAVE to go study abroad for a year exchange. I wanna know if anyone has done it (not summer exchange) and if the process is hard and the marks you need to have to be considered. Thanks!!

    ———————————————

    I have no personal experience with the exchange program, but I do like Giada de Laurentiis and ricotta (…what can’t you do with it?!). So, I hope that some of our Askastudent voyeurs step out of the shadows to help you get to Siena.

    I am assuming that you have scoured every pixel of the ISXO website, right?

    Here you’ll find that a CGPA of 2.25, and an annual GPA of 2.5, are required to be considered for an exchange.

    The other requirements are generally straight-forward (statement, resume, etc.). The 2 reference letters are significant, because one must be academic – and that ain’t easy in U of T undergrad. Be proactive. Suck up to your Italian teacher’s NOW!! Bring them i dolci e un espresso. Conspicuously complain about the thickness of American pizza crust, and brag about the 2 lion statues you just bought for your front lawn.

    I did notice that the courses at this university are not offered in English. So, I hope that your Italian background is more than just an obnoxious inclination to pronounce Italian word with a thick accent. You know what I’m talking about… like when you’re third-generation Italian-Canadian friend orders bruschetta at a restaurant.

    “Hi, I’d like a coke with no ice and an order of broo-skett-tah please.”

    The actual application form is available online, and it does a good job of summarizing the requirements:

    http://www.utoronto.ca/student.exchange/application/ISXO_app_checklist.pdf

     

    Buona fortuna!!

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  • friends,  fun & places,  other schools (boo!)

    Friends AND school?!? Not in this recession.

    May 22, 2009

    Hey Aska!
    I will be graduating from high school this year and am very keen on attending UofT for life sciences. However, i have been getting mixed reviews from people regarding the social life there as apposed to the social life at say queens or mac.

    I live around 45 mins (on subway) from UofT but i am planning on living in residence nonetheless so that i don’t have to sacrifice my social life because i want the uni experience to be so much more than just studying and commuting.

    Is this a stupid decision? am i simply wasting mine and my parent’s money here by wasting an extra $9000 here? or is it worth it?

    Also which college has the best social life? I applied to UC college… does it have a good community feel to it? or would u recommend some other college for residence?

    Thanks a lot!

     

     

    Besides the fact that you are “very keen” I don’t know anything about you that could inform what you may value in a social life at U of T. In fact, I’m having trouble defining the incredibly ambiguous phrase “social life” in the first place. My working definition involves time, enjoyment, an activity, yourself, and other humans. I will refer to these other humans as cool, in the most relative sense.

     

    You’re in Life Science, so you should appreciate my effort to use sciencey things like numbers:

    67 000 students at U of T

    21 000 students at Queen’s

    At a liberal estimate of 40% “cool people” at Queen’s, that equals 8 400 potential friends (PFs). At the same rate, U of T would offer 26 800 PFs. To provide the same number of PFs as Queen’s, U of T only needs a 13% cool-people-rate.

    Now, I did a 3 week stint in MAT135, so I can tell you that that looks pretty good for Toronto.

     

    Perhaps you are thinking that the 8 400 PFs at Queen’s are more concentrated than those at UofT; that cool kids in Toronto are diluted amidst the sea of geeks, nerds, dorks and hermits. NOT TRUE. Coolness tends to cluster, and finding the clusters is just like Where’s Waldo.

     

    To push this metaphor, finding friends at U of T is like finding those coloured books that Waldo drops – more discreet, but more diverse. Finding friends at Queen’s is like finding Waldo himself – more obvious, but totally homogenous.

     

    You may find, however, that the social life at U of T is quite embedded in the city of Toronto itself, and Torontonian culture. The identity of Kingston, inversely, is formed more around the school. These patterns are both good and bad, but neither is definitively better. In Toronto you can take advantage of rich culture (e.g. festivals, concerts, museums, ethnic neighbourhoods). At the same time, the places you go out to will be filled with all sorts of age groups, unlike the 18-25 range you’re bound to find around Queen’s.

     

    I can attest that living in residence may increase the likelihood of a university-based social life, by virtue of sharing the same space as others. It can be a lot like high school in this sense (for better or for worse). Whereas residence enables more passive friend-making, commuting requires more active engagement (e.g. clubs, sports, events, talking to classmates). No matter where you live, a social life won’t just fall on your lap. Now that you’re all grown up, you need to get out and explore to find all the cool kids.

     

    I wouldn’t get too worked up about how social each College is. The range of opinions is really diverse across the student population. University College is big, and they have an active student society, so I would guess that your prospects look good there, but then again, maybe your ideal social life lies elsewhere.

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  • subject POST,  switching

    The little engine that could.

    May 22, 2009

    I was wondering if it is possible to switch POSts after second year; perhaps to a POSt that had rejected me previously.

    The required courses would still be fairly similar as I’m not planning to switch out of lifesci and most of the courses overlap.

    ———————————————

    Do you have commitment issues?

    Are you afraid of being type-cast??

    Were you refused by the POSt of your dreams, and won’t settle for a NO?!

     

    I’m here to tell you, friends, that YES you may change your subject POSts (right up until you graduate). Understood?

     

    And if that Department refuses you again in the second round of POSt enrolment, try again in the following Spring… and again… and again… until they let you in. If that doesn’t work, make yourself a permanent fixture in the Departmental Office. Visit the secretary. Inquire about last year’s cGPA cut-off. Ask irritating questions like “What are my chances?” (ooh, they’ll hate that!!!). If they still say no… tell them Aska sent you.

     

    The general rule for changing subject POSts is: once you have completed 4.0 FCEs you can enjoy almost unrestrained addition and removal of Type 1 POSts, and more restrictive access to Type 2 & 3 (Timetable pp.17-21).

     

    Much like heroine, or ebay, modifying your POSts can be terribly addictive. So, be prepared to harness all of your self-restraint. Luckily, ROSI limits POSt activity. Subject POSts can only be changed until Sept 22. After that, you’ll have to go to your Registrar’s to take care of it, or just wait until the following Spring.

     

    During the permissible periods, you can add up to 3 POSts at one time, but they can’t all be the same kind (e.g. can’t take just 3 minors or 3 specialists). Whenever you’re done altering the course of your life on ROSI, make sure that you are ACTIVE in the minimum combos of POSts (1 specialist, 2 majors, 1 major + 2 minors). When you can, use the “CHANGE” feature on ROSI, rather than “DELETE” then “ADD,” just to be on the safe side.???? ?

     

    Also, all of the courses you take to satisfy your POSts must represent 12 distinct courses. That just limits how inbred your brain gets.

     

    First-year LifeSci courses are basically universal, so you shouldn’t run into problems with pre-req’s when you cross over.

     

    Go nuts!

     

    *a note of caution: while ROSI may enable you to erase that Physiology major, the emotional scarring of mammalian endocrinal secretion will haunt you every night.

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  • askastudent announcement

    Britney, shoulder pads, vampires, Askastudent… (we’re back)

    May 22, 2009

    Dear askers, commenters, and occasional voyeurs,

     

    While askastudent may be criticized (by idiots) for being insensitive, offensive, and self-indulgent, no one has ever questioned its honesty. In keeping with this reputation, I am letting everyone know that the beloved Aska that you have grown to love/hate over the past year has gone into retirement, and a new incarnation (me) has been born. Well, that’s sort of a lie, I have been re-born. Plucked, once again, from the cesspool of mortals, and elevated to demi-god status to help you.

     

    Now, besides that lie about wanting to be honest with you, I am primarily letting you know about Aska’s rebirth so that I can lay down a few ground rules. ?

     

    a) There are literally 71 unanswered queries staring Aska in the face. Do you have any idea what that feels like? So, while my fingers are carpel-tunnelling, PLEASE do not resend formerly asked questions. And don’t try to be tricky and reword the beginning to dupe me into reading it all. Just be patient.

     

    b) I cannot think of ANY reason for someone (i.e. grade eleven students) to send me their high school grades. Aska has addressed this on multiple occasions. It’s creepy, it’s obnoxious, and it’s pointless. Next time it happens, I will take sick pleasure in ignoring your question and making fun of everything I can glean from your submission. Sound fun?

     

    c) Before asking something that is potentially universal, try searching the archives for existing posts. At the very least it will help you to better articulate your question.

     

    d) I’ve actually read all 71 questions, and let me tell you askers: these submissions are seriously lacking character. Anonymity does not preclude personality. So, spice it up!!! If the content of your question is a little dull, try these tricks.

     

    -insert ?fun’ punctuation ?- but those ridiculous sideways smiley face combos won’t win me over

    -capitalize LOUD words – like HELP or ?ECSTATIC or PREREQUISITE?

    -use descriptive adjectives and adverbs- esp. to describe your dire emotional state – like shameless weeping

    -use similes and metaphors – like cool as a cucumber, or quiet as a church mouse ??

    -give us some back story

    -compliment me

     

    Alright, dear readers. Stay tuned. This keyboard is about to get ugly…

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  • CR/NCR,  summer

    YES!

    May 8, 2009

    Hi Aska,

    I was wondering about the 1 FCE we can take as a CR/NCR course (where we’ll get the credit as long as we get 60% or more in the course.)

    Can I use it in the summer also? I don’t see why not… I just could not find any info about this on the site. I just wanna be sure.

    Thanks!

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  • bad times,  courses,  grades,  registration

    acting your get together

    May 8, 2009

    I’ve had a rough two years in terms of personal life and only passed 2.5 credits in my first year. Now, in my second year, problems at home have continued to build up and stress me out. I tried taking a lighter course load this year but it was still too much. I dropped my last course of the school year in time for the S-course drop date. Now that I have no credits for this year, will I be able to take courses in the summer and fall?

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