Hi, how many years can a student stay in school? Will they kick me out after like 6 years?
I’m asking because I am thinking about becoming a part-time student.
Thank you.
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hey there,
nah, they won’t kick you out. once you’re enrolled in a degree, you’re enrolled. you go at your own pace.
or…just six years. six years sounds better than forever. also, like, financially plausible.
cheers,
aska
Hi! I was filling out the vic residence application and came across as question asking if I was a victoria university student. What does this mean?
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hey there,
if you’re a faculty of arts & science student who’s been accepted to the university of toronto, you will also be accepted into one of seven colleges. victoria is one of those colleges – so that’s what the question is referring to. (if you’re still confused – which i would understand – you can read more about the college system here).
if you’ve been admitted to a faculty OTHER than the faculty of arts & science (kinesiology, music, applied science & engineering), you won’t have been admitted to a college, so your answer would be no, you’re not a victoria student.
hope you get into vic res! save me a sandwich from upper burwash dining hall.
all the best,
aska
if i plan on getting my fourth credit at the end of the summer session, do i get to sign up for my second year courses in june, or do i have to wait until july? thanks.
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hey there,
i’m not sure when you plan on starting your second year courses – summer or september – so i’m just going to say it like this:
whatever courses you plan on taking in the summer, you should sign up for them all right away. as long as you’ve completed the prereqs for a course by the time you actually start taking the course, you’re fine.
you should also plan on enrolling in all your courses for fall/winter 2015-2016 as soon as your start date/time hits in august. again, as long as your prereqs are done by the time classes actually start, you should be okay.
cheers,
aska
Hi, I would just like to ask something about UofT, I’ve heard from many people how difficult it is, I was wondering whether or not you feel that this is true? Furthermore I was wondering whether or not you feel I would be able to handle the workload, right now I am an IB student, and have roughly an 83 average, looking into their forensic science program. I do a good amount of work as is, and was wondering whether or not I would be even able to pass at UofT. Thank you!
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hey there,
these kinds of questions are tricky to answer, because everyone has a different experience of what’s hard.
i know people in every program – even the mythically difficult ones – who manage to have social lives and do well without breaking themselves studying. i also know people who feel like they’re drowning in a workload that i would find easy.
when it comes down to it, in my experience, difficulty is a result of two things: aptitude and interest.* you can’t really affect the aptitude stuff too much, so the biggest advice i can give you is to take things you’re interested in. yes, in first year, you’re going to test the waters a bit, and you’ll probably take courses that it turns out you don’t like that much.
the important thing is that you?are experimenting and finding out what you really enjoy studying. then you have to actually have the guts to study that thing. it’s not easy, and it could take you a long time to figure out.
maybe you’ll be interested in everything, or maybe it’ll feel like nothing is really holding your attention. those feelings are fine, too – follow them wherever they take you. just don’t try to squish yourself into a box you’re not comfortable with. there’s a fine line between being?challenged and hating what you’re doing. try to feel out that line.
i don’t know that much specifically about forensic science, but my general advice in: go in with an open mind, and you’ll have the shortest route to figuring out how you really want to be spending your time.
obviously, people vary widely in how their marks change when they come to university, but i’ve encountered a lot of people who follow the 10% rule: that is, their average drops about 10% from what it was in high school. i know mine dropped exactly 10% between grade 12 and first year – the gap has since narrowed a little bit, probably since i’ve instituted my “at least 4 hours of sleep every?night” rule. (it’s done wonders for me, really. try it sometime.)
if you work hard and remain relatively engaged with what you’re studying, it’ll be tough not to pass your courses. first year is tough because there are a lot of courses out there designed to weed people out, but even so, most people don’t fail them.
all in all, i wouldn’t worry too much. just focus on finding out how to make university work for you (or how to find something else if it turns out uni is NOT for you), and you’ll be alright.
i mean, none of us are gonna have jobs when we get out of this anyways, so. what is even the point of stressing, tbh.
cheers,
aska
* i mean, i guess it’s also a result of, like, how good your profs are and stuff, but i’m talking about things INTRINSIC to YOU. because we’re all NARCISSISTS here at aska and also we don’t want to offend people who are tenured.
Hey Aska,
Is it impossible to get into grad school with below 3.0 CGPA? Cuz I’ve been hearing people say that in grad school, they only look at your 3rd and 4th year courses as the basis for your qualifications. What about CR/NCRs? LWDs?
Thanks!
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hey there,
you’re right, most grad schools only look at your last year or last two years to determine admission. however, it all depends on the grad school, and you should definitely look into that for the grad school(s) you’re interested in.
CR/NCRs don’t tend to be too much of a big deal. they tend to be more of a problem if you CR/NCR’d courses that are relevant to the grad program you’re interested in, but the fact that you’re not allowed to CR/NCR program requirements usually takes care of that.
LWDs are a little bit more tricky. one LWD won’t make a whole lot of difference, but more than one will probably impact your application. again, this also depends on what course(s) you LWD’d, how many, and which graduate school you’re applying to.
all in all, if you want specifics about this kinda information, it’s always a good bet to ask the specific grad school you’re applying to. what i’ve told you are just general guidelines.
best of luck on your grad school journey!
aska
Hey, I know you probably get emails like this constantly. As you probably know how overwhelming university can be 1st year, well i realized that after a month. I basically worked for the whole year before i started uni, and i cant stop now. it gets quite overwhelming, especially not realizing how competitive criminology is.
I almost lost my mind because thanks to my friend i took almost all 2nd year courses not realizing i did until later. So I messed up my first year pretty bad. my question is what happens next? If i failed all 3 courses that i took including my major what happens?
thank you ????
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hey there,
ok, i’m not sure what’s happening here (standard procedure here on askastudent). two things are confusing me:
1) i don’t understand what the phrase “all 3 courses including my major” means, for a couple of reasons. the first is that at uoft, you need to take four courses at least in your first year to even?enter a major, and the second is that majors aren’t courses, they’re programs. you can’t fail them.
2) you titled your e-mail?”york student struggles,” which is either a really mean-spirited joke about how york students always fail stuff, or you’re actually just from york university and you’ve gotten very lost on the internet.
if it’s the latter case, then hello, nice to meet you – i’m aska. this website has a .utoronto.ca URL, which might clue you in to the fact that i only answer questions about the university of toronto. if you’d like to ask questions about york university, may i direct you to this very excellent tumblr blog that does just that.
if you’re a uoft student, then the next step after failing the majority of your courses is, likely, that you’ll go on academic probation?for the next semester that you’re in school. you will have that one semester?to get your CGPA above a 1.50. i’d recommend you make an appointment with your college registrar’s office to come up with strategies about how best to do that.
cheers,
aska
I was admitted to the social sciences program, does that mean i can only take classes that fall under the social science category? Or am I able to try out a class/subject that falls under humanities as well?
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hey there,
you can take ANY COURSE in the faculty of arts & science you desire, as long as you meet any listed prerequisites. crazy, right?
only thing is, some courses are restricted so that certain students are allowed to sign up for the courses first, and some courses are completely restricted to certain students.
if you look at the fall/winter 2015-2016 course calendar, courses that have these kinds of restrictions are marked with either a ‘P’ (priority) or ‘R’ (restriction). these are called ‘enrolment controls’ and you can read more about them here.
see you around in the fall, chum,
aska
UTM SUBJECT POST CR/NCR WHY YOU DO DAT???!! So with the recent strike i heard that in order to cr/ncr a course you need to be enrolled in that subject post/program? I am in second year and i plan to enrol in the psy subject post later this year. I already met the first year req. just took a break to figure out if psy was for me. However i am taking one of the courses required 270 even though i am not in the subject post yet. Can i still cr/ncr it.. my gpa will suffer from my not so great grade
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hi there,
i think you misunderstood something along the way, amigo. you were able to credit/no-credit ANY S COURSE affected by the strike in the winter semester (including courses that count towards a subject POSt) until april 6th.
that deadline has already passed, so…i hope you selected it cr/ncr already.
cheers,
aska
Can conditional offers become final offers before the end of the grade 12 year?
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hey there,
as long as you maintain the conditions of your offer of admission, the offer will not be retracted.
so i guess technically, no, because the offers are only final once you actually get your high school diploma, but if you got an offer and you maintain the conditions of your acceptance, you’re in!
cheers,
aska
Dear aska,
I would like to ask some personal questions. (Feel free to skip any of these questions if you feel too anxious about them.)
What inspired you to create this blog sometime 20 years ago?Before you were aska, what were you (other than being in Innis)? What are you doing when you’re not being aska?How does it feel to become a popular blog for UofT?What are your overall expectations/future aspirations for this blog and for life in general?If you could give one piece of advice to every UofT student (based on your experiences and your blog), what would it be?
Many thanks!
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hey there,
thanks for the questions! they kinda made me feel like a celebrity. *puts on shades* *gives paparazzi the finger* *strokes the Italian Greyhound poking out of my Louis Vuitton bag*
1) i didn’t create askastudent, much as i’d like to be able to take the credit for it. (also, i’m really trying not to get offended that you thought i was like, what…40 years old? at least? please, trust me…i’m still young and hip…you gotta believe me, man).
askastudent has gone through a lot of askas – we tend to rotate in and out on a yearly basis (with some exceptions). askas are always students at uoft, so once an aska graduates, they are OFF to BIGGER and BETTER THINGS.
all the askas are unified by our INCREDIBLE WIT AND CHARM, so people usually can’t tell when there’s a new aska, which can make it seem like there’s been one person writing the same blog for twenty years. but i feel like that would be kind of excessive, so…we don’t do that.
2) before i was aska, i was just another student, like you! after i became aska, i remained another student, like you, with the exception that now i’m allowed to prattle on without restraint on this blog. goodness knows why they let me do it.
3) when i’m not being aska, i’m usually either avoiding schoolwork by binge-watching old Disney movies, being slightly late to class, and complaining about school to friends in various diner spots on campus. i can also be found in a number of other positions/roles at the university, but in the interest of not being too identifiable, i won’t tell you exactly what those are.
just trust that the other things i do are COOL and FUN.
4)/5) *sweeps back platinum blonde hair* well, i never thought i would end up here…so famous…i owe it all to my fans, really…
honestly, i’m just happy i’ve been given the opportunity to be a part of askastudent. a lot of really talented people have written for this website, and i just hope to be able to live up to the example they’ve set. i really care about this blog. i care about keeping an open and honest dialogue between students, and i believe in students helping students, so i guess my future hopes for the blog are that it continues to exist and improve and help out students.
6) my future aspirations for life in general are that i can find a job. just…any job that will let me pay rent and buy food. that would be so ideal.
7) my advice for any uoft student would be: try to experience your time here as deeply as possible. get involved, talk to people, do the things you’re excited about and see where they’ll lead you.
this is the time to try new things and get outside your comfort zone a bit, because the consequences to not conforming are going to be relatively light compared to later on in life.
so stay out with your friends until 4am, join that club you’ve been eyeing, say the controversial thing in class, and put your heart and soul into the things and people you care about.
also: none of the colleges are better than any of the others. so stop asking.
thanks for the Q’s!
xoxo,
aska
If I take 3.0 FCE in 2015-2016, would I still be considered a full-time student even though I would be charged per-course based on the new changes regarding flat fees? Thanks in advance, Aska!
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hey there,
yes, you would still be full-time.
i’m not 100% what the context is for this question, but just in case you’re wondering, what your full-time status means in practical terms is that 1) your incidental fees will be a little bit higher than for part-time students and 2) you will still be considered full-time under OSAP.
all the best,
aska
P.S. sorry for the wait on this question. these new-fangled fees rules are really THROWING ME FOR A LOOP, y’know?
Hi,1) I am second year student at the UTM campus and I plan on applying to the psychology major in the coming weeks. I already meet the psy100 grade(completed in first year) and the first year entry psy requirements. i just decided to pursue a major in psychology this January. I know there is a requirement that second year students need to meet in order to apply to the subject post. with a combination of grades. I am currently completing psy210 . what do i need to get into the program now
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hey there,
alright, the website is a bit confusing, so i double-checked this info with the lovely lovely people at the UTM psych department, and this is what you need:
1. PSY201H5
2. at least 1.0 additional FCE’s of the upper-year requirements for the psych major
3. at least a 63% average in the above courses
4. an AGPA of at least 2.0
5. BONUS: and yes, just in case you were worried, it is a type 2 program (see page 12), which means that as long as you meet the requirements, you should be admitted to the program.
and voila! just mix your ingredients together in a large bowl, leave to cool for 2 hours, and you’ll have a DELICIOUS psychology major (serves four). then just add tuition to taste (the university’s taste, obviously. not yours).
best of luck with your application bro,
aska
Hi,
I was able to enroll in all my desired summer courses (and even an extra)?for the S session in the summer!? I need to take 2 half courses during the?S session, but I enrolled in 3 so I have a back up in case one seems?terrible when I get there.? The plan is to drop one during the first week?of classes. Will ROSI / the university let this stand, given that the most?you can take during one session is 2 half courses?? Will I get booted out?of one?? Will there be any financial costs for this?? I was surprised they?even let me sign up for the third.
Thanks!
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hey there,
i like how dramatically you said “Will the university let this stand.” i can just imagine some big hotshot at the very top of the administrative food chain banging his mug on his desk and shouting, “THIS ABSOLUTELY CANNOT STAND. JIM. MAKE A NOTE OF THIS. AND THEN BRING ME MY DRY-CLEANING.”
much as i’d hope that’s how it goes down, it’s unlikely. what i?do know is that they will drop you from the course you last added probably within the first week of classes, if you don’t drop one yourself. whether jim running hurriedly back and forth from dry-cleaning is a part of that process, i guess we’ll never know.
your faculty will send you an e-mail letting you know that you have until whatever date to drop a course before they do it for you, so make sure you keep an eye on your utoronto e-mail account for that.
cheers,
aska