• awkwardness,  first year,  friends,  new kids,  residence

    All the ladies who truly feel me (throw your hands up at me).

    August 21, 2009

    hard to admit, but being a mama’s girl my mom is coming with me to toronto for few weeks during frosh week to settle me into my residence etc (teaching me how to use the laundry machine to avoid ‘everything is pink because of one red sock’ situation, etc etc)
    but through sept 3rd and 18th there seems to be no hotel rooms available for booking
    would it be possible for her to stay with me in my residence during her stay? I have a single room so maybe?

     

    Listen, I am a proud Mama’s boy who couldn’t even recognize a washer/dryer upon entrance to residence – so I can understand where you are coming from. It is BECAUSE I can relate to you that I’m about to serve up some tough love.

     

    Are you honestly considering having your Mom stay with you for the first 15 days of university?! Really? I think this is a bad idea for reasons three.

     

    One. These are two of the most socially decisive weeks of your uni experience. You will seriously limit your ability to make friends and engage in (planned or impromptu) activities. Unless you have one of those vicarious mothers who’ll wear tubes tops while serving up strawberry daiquiris to your girlfriends – you cannot argue that you will be undermining your?social life before it has the chance to develop.

     

    You’ve signed up for Frosh week right? If not go sign up now! Seriously. Go.

     

    Okay, you’re back. Now, that you’re doing Frosh, what is your poor mother going to do with herself while you are pre-occupied with all of these exciting events? Water fights and face paint? No.

     

    Two. You have a single room? Is it part of a suite? Do you share common spaces like a living room or bathroom? Think about the situation that you will be putting your neighbours in? The presence of a parental figure would certainly be a damper on the local scene. In fact it would just be awkward for everyone involved. ????

     

    Does your residence have a limit on the number of consecutive nights a guest can stay? Find out.

     

    Three. I GET that your Mom loves you, and wants to ease your transition. I really do.

    I GET that you want your Mom around to teach you the in and outs of domesticity, and to be a familiar face when you are entering a new environment. BUT you should know that there is something to be said for learning independence… independently from your parents.

     

    University is so much more than memorizing crap in class. It is about stepping out from under the protective parental umbrella, and tackling the challenges and nuances of daily living – face on. And you won’t be alone. Everyone shares these uncertainties.

     

    I had a friend who poured bowls of cookies for breakfast, and put liquid detergent in the dryer. Did we judge her? No, we helped her and became better friends because of it.

     

    Why don’t you be proactive and help your Mom with laundry and cooking now, before you leave? She’ll love it for more than one reason, and you’ll have a head start when you get to school.

     

    Perhaps your Mom could visit for a couple days in the second or third week of class (when you’ve actually accumulated enough laundry to do a load). I would plan it tentatively, as you may very well find that you aren’t as incompetent as you once thought.

     

     

    Sound reasonable? I really hope so, because I am not kidding around.

     

     

    Hmmm… this one felt a little heavy for a Friday afternoon. How about we lighten the mood with a little spice a la 1997?

     

    Oooh, that actually just made things even heavier, didn’t it? My bad.

    Read More
  • courses,  new kids,  TAs,  tutorials

    Two Toe Rye Al.

    August 12, 2009

    With each course that I want to take comes a tutorial. Now I’m reading about them but it’s just not clicking. Are they classes (after the lecture) that further the students understanding of the lecture?

    ———————————————

    Every time I send a new question, I think of a new one! So this one is:

    I understand that beside courses it says [_L] and [_T]
    But under Vic college, I’m looking at a bunch of humanities courses and instead of L and T it says [_S] [_P]

    So whats S and P?

    Two questions. Same student. Same day. Normally I wouldn’t indulge such a desperate plea for aska’s attention. BUT, your first question is irresistibly basic – yet important, and I actually didn’t know the answer to the second. So, here goes…

    “With each course… comes a tutorial.” In my head I read that like a cheesy, white, male voice actor excitedly announcing on an infomercial. Like a tutorial is some sort of bonus if you “enroll within the next 30 minutes!!” I’ve never heard a tutorial sound more exciting! With that attitude, I suspect you will do quite well in school, my dear.

    So, what IS a tutorial?? To an upper-year student this question is almost amusingly obvious – but then I realized… I had NO IDEA what they were when I came to U of T. In fact, I think I was scared of them ( “Will I have to speak…. out loud?!”). A great question, asker.

    A tutorial can takes many different forms, but is more or less “a class.”

    A tutorial intends to supplement the lecture material. It may be a re-iteration of the Prof’s discussion. It may be an in-depth debriefing of required readings. It is always a chance to seek clarification.

    A tutorial is facilitated by a T.A. (teaching assistant), who is more often than not a grad student. If you have an undergrad as a T.A. you know that they are either a) a big deal, or b) so far up the Prof’s @#% that you don’t know where one ends and the other begins. In upper years, it’s not uncommon for the Profs themselves to conduct the tutorial.

    A tutorial may require passive or active participation. The T.A. might give a mini-lecture while you sit, write, and ask questions. The T.A. might facilitate a dialogue between the students. The T.A. may also administer quizzes. It is really common for students to have to prepare a five-minute presentation or lead a group discussion as well.

    A tutorial is smaller than the general class. 15-30 students is the usual range.

    A tutorial is almost always 1-hour long.

    A tutorial may be enrolled in on ROSI, or be signed up for in the first week of class. Once the Prof announces, “Okay, come to the front and sign up for your tutorial” – your bland, sterile, Sid Smith classroom will transform into a warm summer’s morning on the cobbled streets of Pamplona. Except the bull horn that trails inches from your thoracic vertebra is actually the ballpoint pen of a Polish girl who commutes daily from Mississauga.

    A tutorial is usually mandatory. That is to say, they take attendance for 5% of your grade. If no grade is assigned you should still go. That’s right… should. But I’ll leave the guilt trip up to your own superego. Besides the obvious, one benefit of going is that your T.A. will begin to recognize you, and dare I say like you. Don’t tell me that won’t help when they come across your essay at the bottom of a pile of 200. A second plus is that you can meet friends in tutorials. It happens all the time, I swear. A tutorial is just small, conversational and informal enough to lay the foundation for some lasting bondage.

    A tutorial is almost never held in the first week of class, especially if the timeslot precedes the lecture (don’t go, no one will be there).

    A tutorial may occur weekly, or less frequently. The total tutorial hours are indicated in the Calendar Listing.

    E.g. HIS104Y1 -Ten Days That Shook The World [48L, 24T] (pg. 262). The “24T” means that there are 24 tutorial hours across both Fall and Winter terms. This is approximately once per week.

    That was THE perfect segue, to answering your next question.

    [__S] = Seminar: essentially a hybrid of lecture and tutorial. It will be a smaller class with the expectation that you speak now and then. Like high school. With less melodrama. Probably.

    [__P] = Practical, aka laboratory, aka lab. In first year, these are usually held every other week.

    P.s. Speaking of Salt and Pepper. Did you hear that all of a sudden salt is healthy for us now?! What’s next, poutine and cigarettes?!?

    Read More
  • fees,  first year,  money,  new kids,  textbooks

    Read it and weep.

    August 11, 2009

    Hi,

    I’m doing a budget for the coming school year (aka figuring out how much money I can spend on Thai takeout/going to shows/clothes/other fun stuff whilst still having enough to feed myself) and have general figures for all my expenses except books. Could you give me a ball-park estimate of what a first-year Humanities student should expect to spend on books? I’m taking an economics course, a german course, and three social sciences courses, if that helps.

    Thanks!

    ———————————————

    Before I answer your question, I want to say that… in the first week of class you will receive a course syllabus from your Prof. This will list the exact required readings for the course, and where you can pick them up – officially. Generally, it is not a good idea to buy your books before attending your first class. It’s common for students to switch up courses in the first week. You don’t want to have spent a billion dollars on books for courses that you ain’t takin’. Then again, you could avoid bookstore lineups by going early for courses that you know you MUST take.

    But for now, for you… an estimate of book costs… yes. Let’s get down to business.

    There are two ways to answer your question:

    The standard response is… one thousand dollars. This is a very rough estimation, based on an equally approximate average of $200 per full course, or $100 per half course. Again, this is rough math (the only kind a humanities student like you really knows). Also, Humanities course books will certainly be cheaper than Science courses, namely because there are no goggles or lab coat required to read Shakespeare. What I am basing these numbers on? The word of a financial aid advisor, costs of books at the U of T bookstore, personal experience, and the positioning of the moon in the seventh house.

    If you want a more accurate estimate of your course book costs, you can try to find out the prices for each course. I did some investigative work based on what you said you’re taking.

    ECO100Y: Intro to Economics: for the Summer offering of this course, the U of T bookstore sold the course pack for $145.50.

    GER100Y: Intro to German I: the German Department actually publishes its 2009-10 course syllabi online (amazing). The required textbook is listed there, and costs $45 on amazon.com. If it is sold at the Bookstore it will cost more. I promise.

    POL103Y: Canada in Comparative Perspective: the Bookstore sold this book for $100 for the Summer offering of the course. Amazon.com is selling it for $95. Wooo. There is also a course reader (a bound collection of journal articles) that is required and typically costs around $100.

    POL108Y1: Global Networks: last year’s course had three required readings that are available at the U of T Women’s Bookstore (where all the cool books are). Online they cost $10 + $10 + $15. Weekly readings are actually posted (for free) on the course website. Double wooo.

    SOC101Y: Intro to Sociology: Prof. Brym actually designated a series of his OWN books as required readings. This is a moderately irritating cash grab, but then again, if you ain’t a Rotman Prof you ain’t exactly ballin’. The costs on the publisher’s website are: $104 + $60 + $23 = $187. You also need to buy an “iClicker” from the Bookstore for $35 – which is all the rage in Con Hall these days.

    Okay! I’m exhausted. The point in doing all of this research is less about giving you exact monetary sums, and more about showing you the different ways of finding out what + how much your books are. Got it Watson?

    Now, that was an “official” response to the issue of buying books… but the starving student response is… considerably cheaper. Below is a list of alternative methods/tips for getting your course books without succumbing to the inflated prices of the man.

    a) Check out the library system: U of T’s library collection is friggin huge (the plus side of being at a massive university). Depending on how large your course is and how frequently the readings are required, you may be able to get by signing them out. Typically, Profs will put a few copies of a course reader in the “course reserves” section of the library. This limits your sign-out period to a day or two, or maybe the books can’t leave library. You can photocopy select readings from these if you want too.

    b) Differentiate between required and recommended readings: when you’re poor… the word “recommended” takes on a new meaning – if you catch my drift. Usually these books are only useful if you are totally struggling, you are an ultra-keener, or for when you are writing essays.

    c) Locate second hand bookstores. There is one across from the bookstore on College St. They have new and used books, and they are cheaper. Just find out if the editions are the same (they change very minimally every other year or so… just to milk us for more money). The Prof will tell you if an older edition will suffice.

    d) Buy books directly from students who have taken the course last year. You will often find advertisements in res bulletin boards. Check these out even if you don’t live there.

    e) As suggested before, ordering from amazon.com, or directly from the publisher may be cheaper… depending on the shipping cost.

    f) This may or may not be illegal… buuuut you can possibly photocopy a library’s copy of the entire textbook. Here’s what you do: get your hands on a copy of the textbook from the library, gather up a bunch of friends/acquaintances in your course, take the book to a local copy centre (the less mainstream, the better), and order as many copies as required. Why is this awesome? It’s waaay cheaper. Your fellow copyright infringers and you will become instant fugitives… I mean friends. And your version will come in a coiled binding that you won’t feel bad about defacing with highlighting and scribbles.

    If I had even half of a moral in my body I would NOT suggest this on a University-sponsored forum, like askastudent. Lucky for you I don’t. So do it, but don’t go telling people I told you to. Do we understand each other?! I thought so.

    The flipside to buying cheap books is selling old books. Post ads in residences or sell them back to the bookstore. This is actually quite a viable option. Apparently you can get back up to 50% of the original cost.

    Will all the money that you save on books might I suggest spending it this way….

    Indian takeout from Banjara

    Muchos nachos at the Green Room (beware of funky draught beer)

    Performances by the Drama Program at the Helen Garpheghasdfhgeklfns Playhouse

    Streetcar + ferry ride + bike rental + picnic on Toronto Island

    Get fancy and have one drink at Panorama (a better view than the CN tower will offer… because you can actually see the CN tower)

    Classic/Alternative/Delayed movies at the Bloor Cinema (get a membership)

    Read More
  • art,  courses,  first year,  important dates,  ROSI,  wait list

    Wait watchers.

    August 4, 2009

    Hi aska!
    i just enrolled in courses today, and i am waitlisted for art history second term. what are the chances of my actually getting in? Or, should i switch around my courses now, cuz there is a different course i would like to take in the fall term if (FAH is winter) i cant get in. thanks!!!

    ———————————————

    Tis true. FAH102H1-S: The Practice of Art History is full. Quite full. There are currently 106 students on the waitlist, beyond the 188 spaces in the class.

     

    Your chances of getting in are dependent on a few things: a) your karma, and b) where you are on that wait list. A general rule of thumb is that if your waitlist ranking is within 10% of the total enrollment capacity then your chances are okay. “Okay” is situated somewhere in the middle of the spectrum of chances; above bad, and below pretty good. Okay is close friends with “decent.” A.k.a. – you have a chance.

     

    So, if you are waitlisted, like, 100th – I hate to break it to you – but you probably ain’t getting in.

    What should you do now? There are several possible courses of action:

     

    a) Drop the course and add something else that has room; OR

     

    b) wait until 6:00am on August 7th (when your course load limit increases to 6.0) and add an additional course as a backup in case you never get in to FAH102; OR

     

    c) wait until the waitlist is removed (on January 3rd), and try to grab a spot that opens up. You have until January 10th to add courses. This will require you to be obnoxiously persistent in checking ROSI to see if a spot becomes available. Depending on how much of a life you have, I would check it at least 5 times per day (I am a ROSI junkie, mind you). This is only a 7 day window… that is not a lot of time. Do not get your hopes up about this option. Also, think about attending this class in the first week, so that you aren’t behind if you do eventually get enrolled.

     

    I did some snooping in the archives of ROSI, and it turns out that last year FAH102 offered two meeting sections with capacity of 188 – neither of which was full, but the net enrollment was 275. This year there is a single meeting section that accommodates 188 students. I also noticed that FAH102 was offered in the summer of 2007 and 2008, but not this past summer.

     

    So, Art History, why offer half of the spaces in a course that obviously has a greater demand?? Beats me. This bizarre/frustrating observation suggests one of two things. One, that Art History is sick of first-year students, and is trying to wean them off; or two, Art History is struggling to staff that course. Perhaps an issue of limited social or economic capital?

     

    In any case, I concur with what you are all thinking right now – it is super annoying.

     

    Now I did a Minor in Art History, and I have taken FAH102, so let me give you some advice, from the school of hard knocks. I can’t believe I just said that. If you are NOT enrolled in FAH102 this year, consider these two things:

     

    a) In all likelihood, you WILL be able to take this course next summer, when enrollment never meets capacity.

     

    b) You can always take this course in an upper-year, when you will have an earlier course enrollment start date, and therefore will stand a better chance of getting in. This works because you will find that none of the upper-year FAH courses actually list FAH102 as a pre-requisite. Sure the content of 102 may be useful preparation for 200-levels courses, but it is far from mandatory.

     

    c) Based on this, you could go ahead and enroll in a 200-level FAH course in your first year. They have “P” enrollment indicators, which means that you will be eligible to enroll on August 7th (at 6:00am SHARP). Let me give you a breakdown of these potentials…

     

    Although you might not ever be able to spell/fit her name on your test booklet, Prof. Katsougiannopoulou is a lovely lady who is teaching FAH207: Greek & Roman Art/Architecture. FAH246: Modernism is a little heavy for first-year, unless you have a good modern art background and/or interest. I’m totally biased, but I found FAH272: Modern Architecture to be a blast, and VERY doable in your first-year. FAH230: Renaissance Art/Arch is somewhere in between. The content is straightforward, but a little dry – depending on how much you can handle starting at triptychs of “virgin and child.” Annnd… I’ve never taken the Later Medieval Art course. Did they even create art in the Dark Ages? Watching The Sword in the Stone will probably suffice for knowledge on that time period, anyway. Ah ah ah Merlin! (If you got that reference you are a loser, and I love you).

     

    Should you (wo)man up, and take a 200-level course, I suggest limiting yourself to one per semester. They ARE 200-level so they will jump into things quicker. But, as I said, there is no reason why you can’t do well in these courses in your first-year.

    Think about what a breeze FAH102 will be when you finally take it in 4th year! Such a treat!! It’ll be like finding a curly fry in your regular fries from Arby’s.

    Read More