• enrollment,  exclusions

    managing a management tangle

    June 29, 2015

    Hello, i know im a bother but i really dont get this. While i was adding courses to my enrollment cart, I read that i should not take any courses that say extension exclusive, however they ARE my required courses.. I am taking management and it is telling me that i am not allowed to take mgm101, mgm102, mgt120, and soc100(as an elective). How can i not take my required courses and i want to study management? I cant avoid theses courses when they are what i need to get my credits. Please help me. Apparently my program is the specialist which only needs ECO. Can i still take the courses for the major ( add MGM and MGT) if i want to switch to the major program, even when it us said they are ordered exclusive?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    do you want to study management, or have you been admitted to management? because those are two very different things, my friend.

    every course you’re trying to add to your enrolment cart has an enrolment control, so if you’re not in management yet, that’s probably why you can’t add those courses to your cart.*

    • MGM101H5 and MGM102H5 have a restriction for management, business, commerce, biotechnology and digital enterprise management students.
    • MGT120H5 is restricted to management, business and commerce students.
    • SOC100H5 is restricted to first-year UTM students.

    so that leaves me with a couple of guesses regarding your situation. it would be easier if you’d told me this information and i didn’t have to guess, but hey, life isn’t always a chairful of bowlies, now is it? (but for future askees: PLEASE, info like your campus, year and program would be awesome to know. i might actually be able to answer your question).

    if you can’t get into any of those courses, then that tells me that you are neither a management student nor a first-year student. i don’t know what specialist you’re talking about, so i can’t help with that.

    but the bottom line is this: you need to be enrolled in a management, commerce or business degree program to be able to take those MGM and MGT courses.

    if you ARE already in the management program and you still can’t take those courses, then it could be because you have an exclusion that is preventing you from taking them. if that’s not the case, then you need to take to your registrar’s office about it, because i am out of ideas.

    best of luck,

    aska

    * man, ‘add to cart’ sounds so amazon, doesn’t it? acorn is weird.

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  • gap year

    you take as looooong as you need

    June 26, 2015

    hiya,
    i just finished a gap year, and while i do plan to go back i’ve decided i want to take another gap year. can i pull off a grand total of two gap years in a row or am i in trouble? there doesn’t seem to be too much info on this, it seems like people come back after a gap year or don’t but i do want to go back just in another year. help?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    don’t worry – once you’re in the university, you can take as long as you need to complete their degree. people sometimes come back decades later wanting to finish their degree.

    all you have to do when you come back is go to your college/faculty registrar’s office, fill out a re-registration form, pay 25 bucks, and then you’re eligible to enrol in courses again!

    have fun pretending like austen and fractals are relevant to the real world again!

    cheers,

    aska

    P.S. keep in mind that if your “gap year” is the result of a deferral of admission, then you only have one year off. so that would be the only case where you could take ONLY one year off.

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  • criminology,  subject POST

    Ethics & Society & Law & Criminology

    June 25, 2015

    Hey! I am invited for the Criminology and Ethics, Society and Law major. I have not applied for any minors other than just majors. What do you think about a double major in Crim and ES&L. Is it doable? Are there any resources where I can get more information on these majors. Do you know any other students who are doing the same thing as me? Thank you so much for your help 🙂

    ———————————————
    hey there,

    sounds totally doable to me! criminology and ethics, society & law are both areas in social science which complement each other nicely. i can’t think of anyone off the top of my head who’s done it, but i’m sure it’s a common combination.

    both POSts have broad requirements including courses POL, PHL and/or ECO, so you’ll probably be able to use some of the same courses to fulfil requirements in both POSts – which is a bonus. gives you more space to take obscure interest-based courses like basket-weaving and visual arts.

    ethics, society & law requires 7.0 FCEs, and crim requires 8.0. assuming no overlap, that’s only 15.0 required courses, which is pretty typical for a double major. keep in mind that you would’ve completed some requirements in first year already, so doing the rest in three years is 100% feasible.

    as for the level of difficulty, you’ll either like it or you won’t. both POSts deal with similar subject matter, so if you enjoyed/did reasonably well in your first-year POL, SOC, or PHL courses, then you’re likely on the right track.

    and hey, it’s better than signing up for a philosophy specialist, right? at least you might actually get a job with these POSts.*

    all the best,

    aska

    * i’m just KIDDING. none of us will have jobs. we’re all screwed. thanks a lot for this wonderful economy, baby boomers.

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  • OSAP

    we’re all just numbers on a spreadsheet. it’s chill tho.

    June 25, 2015

    Do we need any ID when submitting OSAP documents to the office of registrar?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    d’you mean, like, your signature pages and stuff? if you’re on the downtown campus, you won’t be submitting those documents to your registrar’s office. downtown, the office you want is enrolment services.

    only UTM and UTSC’s registrar’s offices double as their financial aid offices. so make sure you’ve got the right place.

    as far as i know, you don’t need to bring any ID when submitting OSAP stuff to enrolment services. i have no idea about UTM and UTSC. this PDF (see page 36) seems to imply that you only need ID when submitting your MSFAA to a designated Canada Post outlet. but if you want to call them to make sure, that might be the best idea. here’s UTM’s number and here’s UTSC’s.

    generally, it’s a great idea to bring ID with you anywhere you go on campus. your TCard will usually be enough in the way of ID, especially at registrar’s offices, ’cause it has your student number on it, and that’s basically the key to your entire life while you’re at this university.

    ………………but we’re all so much more than just a number here, right? yeah.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • petition

    go now!!!!!

    June 24, 2015

    Hi Aska,

    I am contemplating a second degree a couple of years from now but the calendar says the deadline to petition is June 30 . Is that June 2015? Also can St George student petition to do a second degree at utsc? Thanks

    Hoping that the deadline isn’t June 2015

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    if you want to start your degree in september, then yeah, it’s this June. so in six days.

    your college may give you some wiggle room, but it’s best not to push it. if i were you, i’d hightail to my college registrar’s office ASAP and get the process started. if you can’t go in person, e-mail them – i know you’ve got access to e-mail. in any case, petitions take at least a couple of weeks to process, so the earlier you get in touch with your registrar, the better.

    andale!!!

    aska

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  • architecture

    O H MY GO D MAJOR GoT SPOILER BELOW

    June 24, 2015

    Hey there, thank you for keeping up with these questions.
    Architecture requires you to take a double major or a major and two minors from art and science. Now if I take a double architecture major, in architectural design and history, art and criticism, will I still be able to enroll in different courses from art and science majors? Do I get to choose whatever course I want to enrol into? and can I take engineering courses or are my choices limited to art and science programs?
    Your old dead pal, John Snow
    ^spoiler

    ???????????????

    hey there,

    RUDE. didn’t you spare a thought for those poor souls who are behind in their TV viewing before posting a merciless spoiler like that? how dare you. how. DARE. you.

    i’m gonna try to move on from my moral indignation to answer this question. because aska is nothing if not professional. oh – and beautiful. i’m also very beautiful.

    ok, so i haven’t been able to find much on that accURSED DANIELS WEBSITE that?explicitly?states that?you’re able to take FAS courses, but everything points to it. if you can enrol in FAS subject POSts, you have to?be able to enrol in FAS courses (ROSI’s really not smart enough to discriminate between people enrolled in a FAS POSt or not). also, it would be impossible?for you to fulfil your breadth requirements without access to non-architecture courses.

    the ONLY explicit reference i could find to the fact that daniels students can take FAS courses is this one little sentence on the faculty’s credit/no-credit page:

    “Due to the unique relationship between the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design (Daniels Faculty) and the Faculty of Arts & Science, and because Daniels Faculty students are eligible to pursue Faculty of Arts & Science courses and programs of study (Subject POSts), the Daniels Faculty will be following the Faculty of Arts & Science academic practices and procedures in relation to the CUPE strike.”

    there you go. found it in writing. Daniels Faculty students are eligible to pursue Faculty of Arts & Science courses. i should be a detective.

    as for engineering – nah. you’re stuck with artsci, dude.

    xoxo to you, John Snow,

    aska

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  • probation

    well, we can’t both be wrong

    June 23, 2015

    So, things went kinda bad for me last year, I ended up dropping a couple?courses and landed on academic probation. I know you’re only allowed to?take 3.0 credits on probation, but my question is, will there be any?consequence if I don’t stick to the 1.5 each semester suggestion? I know?the suggestion is to ease stress and make it easier to do well in the?courses so you can get off probation, but three of the 0.5 credit courses I?want to take are only available in first semester, along with the one 1.0?credit course I would be taking all year and one 0.5 credit course in?second semester. Will I be blocked from doing that? Or will me academic?adviser just discourage it? Because I really see no other way.

    Thanks so much.

    ???????????????

    hey there,

    either i’ve missed something major, or you?have, because i can’t find any rule – on any of the three campuses – that says you can only take 3.0 credits/year while on probation.

    on the downtown campus, the maximum number of courses you can take per semester is five (see “Academic Standing“). at UTSC, the limit is four per semester.

    i can’t figure out what the limit is at UTM – it seems like it’s 5.0 per year but they’ve got some finicky wording going on that’s confusing me. in any case, i don’t see anywhere that the limit is 3.0.

    so either you’re just MAKING STUFF UP, or you’re WRONG, OR this is a special circumstance that falls outside the regular rules.

    i’m gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and assume the latter: if?your course restrictions are part of a special limitation from your?faculty that is specific to you, then there’s not much advice i can give you. your college/faculty registrar’s office has gotta be much more dialled in about your situation?than i am – so you’d better talk to them about it.?and if they do advise you against a lopsided?course load, then?listen to them, for goodness’ sake.

    if you DON’T have any special limitations,?then you’re just wrong. haha. (but seriously, double-check the probation course regulations on your faculty/campus).

    good luck with it,

    aska

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  • tcard

    not everything has to be at UTSG

    June 23, 2015

    Hola!
    I’m going to be a first year student at St George come September. I just wanted to know if I could get my tcard at the UTM campus since I live closer to it? Or do I have to lug my butt to downtown?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    looks like there is a UTM location! no Toronto traffic for you. lucky duck.

    cheers,

    aska

    P.S. for some unknowable, godforsaken reason, they’ve wildly narrowed the number and combination of documents that can be used to obtain your TCard, so make sure to read this page carefully to make sure you’ve got everything you need.

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  • probation

    no one wants to hear about first year, including grad schools

    June 22, 2015

    I’m thinking of returning to U of T now that my three-year suspension has ended, but as I did so poorly before, I’m trying to figure out how far I’ll be able to progress in the future! I’m a second year student (8 credits) with a 1.22 cumulative GPA, and while I believe I can bring it up, I fiddled around with this calculator (http://gpacalculator.net/how-to-raise-gpa/) and it seems that even if I were to average a 4.0 from now on (positive thinking!), it would be difficult to raise my CGPA just to 3.0 (and that’s the best case scenario).

    How important is your CGPA (at least your early CGPA) down the road? Does U of T’s grad school typically look at your entire academic history, or are the last two years their main focus? I’m thinking ahead and wondering if I might want to go to U of T’s cinema studies grad programme for an M.A., but the page (http://sites.utoronto.ca/cinema/MAprogram.html) says “Minimum” *B+* standing, demonstrated by an average grade in the final year, or over senior courses”. Does this mean B+/3.33ish as an annual GPA or as a CGPA? And even if I do meet the minimum requirements, will they take one look at my terrible early academic history and run away screaming???

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    it’s not often i get to give out good news on this website, you know. some say it’s turned me into a bitter, hateful old witch, but i think it’s spawned my own special brand of offbeat charm.

    regardless, it’s times like this, when i actually get to give good news, that i particularly cherish. they’re little gems of hope in a river of let-downs and disappointments.

    that quote you pulled means that cinema studies will only be looking at your ‘senior courses’ i.e. mainly 400-level courses to make admissions decisions for the M.A. program. for most people, that translates strictly to your final year (and maybe parts of your third year). which is great news! finally!

    yes, after a 3-year suspension, it must be daunting to get back up on your feet and once more tackle the beast that is academia. however, if you can muster a really exceptional average for your last year, then you’ve got a real chance for that master’s program. i doubt they will look at your first two years, but even if they do, they will be encouraged by the massive improvement that you’ve made.

    so don’t worry about your first year. it will not be the death knell of your grad school application. as long as you work hard and strive to do better in your senior years, that’s all you need.

    remember to take advantage of the writing centre and your TAs’/profs’ office hours to make the very best of your courses. your registrar’s office is also always available for any bumps in the road.

    in sum: YOU CAN DO THIS! JUST DO IT! I BELIEVE IN YOU! ANY OTHER CLICHED (BUT GENUINE AND HEARTFELT) ENCOURAGEMENT YOU CAN THINK OF!

    cheers,

    aska

    P.S. GPA scales work slightly differently from university to university, so if you’re going to be using a GPA calculator, you may as well use the one actually created by uoft itself.

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  • OSAP,  UTAPS

    all that $$$ going straight to The Man

    June 22, 2015

    Due to some unfortunate circumstances with OSAP, I had to pay for school on my own last year. It was really painful because every paycheck I got (till the end of the school) went straight to my tuition. This year (15/16), I would like to get assistance from OSAP. I have just finished submitting my application.

    Would OSAP not give me money if my estimated financial amounts are too high?

    They are high because, when I estimated my amounts, I assumed I would be working full-time till the end of the summer. (So far, I have been working full-time since May.) If something changes.. like maybe I get fired tomorrow and can’t find a job for the rest of the summer.. how would they know?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    that sucks, man. don’t you love how the UofT Corporation Inc. continues to demand money in exchange for its services? despicable.

    i’m assuming you used this aid estimator to see how much funding (if any) you’ll likely receive based on your current circumstance. (if you didn’t use that…you may want to try it).

    if the estimator says you’re not eligible for funding, then that is probably an accurate reflection of what actual OSAP will say. however, just because OSAP says no dice, doesn’t mean you’re out of luck in terms of funding. you can always talk about your situation with your registrar’s office.

    every college has some amount of emergency grant funding for their students, in case you suddenly lose a job, gain an unexpected expense, or your trust fund runs out because you bought one too many yachts (again. Dammit, Wilbert Charles Samuel the Third, when will you learn?).

    also, students whose costs aren’t completely covered by OSAP for whatever reason can receive extra assistance from UTAPS.

    finally, if you were to suddenly lose your job or have some other financial calamity, you can and should definitely report that to OSAP by altering your application online. that way, OSAP will know your situation and might bump up your funding. which is always nice.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • architecture

    architecture doesn’t mind if you have a POSt on the side

    June 18, 2015

    hey yo aska. wondering if you could answer thing question for me: i’m currently an artsci student wanting to transfer to the architecture faculty. i plan on doing a double major (archi + artsci). now i know i’ll have to apply to transfer later this year an then will probably get a reply next spring/summer so i was wondering if i finish my artsci major this year, will the credits transfer over when im hopefully in architecture? hope this makes sense. ty.

    ???????????????

    hey there,

    man, this would’ve been like twenty times easier if you’d just told me what year you were in. but i get it. y’all wanna stay mysterious, ask your questions anonymously, not provide any identifying information that would make your question easier to answer. that’s cool. i don’t need details to answer your questions. i’ll just READ YOUR MIND through the screen.

    ross fine by me

    aska is totally fine with general and obscure questions

    here’s your blanket answer: if you’ve completed more than 10.0 FCEs already, you won’t be eligible to transfer?to architecture. so if you’re going to have more than 10.0 by the time you want?to apply, you may want to change your course plans around a little bit.

    however, if you’re under the 10.0 mark, then you’re eligible to have all of your credits transferred over! note that i said eligible – they may not all carry over, but they’ll all be assessed.

    also, you don’t even have to finish your major before transferring – as long as you complete at least one daniels subject POSt?during your degree, you can do both.?isn’t that just?archi-tastic?

    keep an eye out for deadlines to transfer so you don’t miss it when the time comes. hope you get in ~

    aska

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  • failing,  grad school

    …another clever idea to get us killed – or worse, EXPELLED

    June 17, 2015

    Hi.

    I’m an international student at uoft. I finished two semesters. In first sem I failed 2 courses and was told by my graduate coordinator that I’ll be expelled if I fail one more course. But in second semester I ended up failing one course. Will I be expelled?? Is there a rule that permits that?

    Being an international student, is there anyway I can drop out and get a job in Canada? I have a complete masters with distinction from India.

    Thank you.

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    without much context about your program or academic history, it’s hard for me to predict how your academic standing will be affected. however, it’s definitely possible for you to face consequences for failing a course (or courses) in graduate school.

    the School of Graduate Studies states that “[i]f a student fails to complete a graduate course in a satisfactory manner (i.e., receives a grade report of FZ or NCR in a course or receives a grade report below the minimum acceptable by the graduate unit), then the graduate unit in which the student is registered may recommend to the School of Graduate Studies the termination of registration and eligibility of that student.”

    so right off the bat, i’d say the school does permit it. HOWEVER, i’d recommend you talk to a student services officer ASAP to see if there’s anything you can do to avoid it.

    if you have the appropriate work permit, it’s possible for you to work in Canada (speak to someone at CIE if you have any questions about work permits).

    however, i have no idea how easy it will be for you to get a job. that all depends on what your master’s degree from India is in, and on what kind of job you’re looking for.

    it’s hard for everyone to land a job these days, and what’s even harder is to land one with a liveable salary. but it’s possible, if you do everything right and you’re lucky. if you need help with the job search, you can always find it at the career centre.

    a lot of this is way over my head, to be honest. i’d really recommend that you talk to a student services officer at the school of graduate studies about next steps, whether you want to try to stay on at school or start looking for a job.

    all the best,

    aska

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  • colleges

    i hear they stuff frosh kits with rhodes scholarships at trin

    June 17, 2015

    hello! I finished my first year (I’ll be a third year in the fall due to transfer credits, though) as a Woodsworth student but want to switch colleges (ie Trin or Vic). I fared okay academically (3.8 cgpa) and hold some leadership positions in some extracurrics. Is it too late to try to switch colleges? would it just be an unnecessary administrative hassle? do grad schools even care about what college I’m in? I want in on a more academically reputed college now that I know the differences D:

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    i’m a little baffled as to how you made it through a year here and you’re still clinging to this whole college elitism business. surely you know by now that colleges mean diddly squat when it comes to your academics?

    well anyway, it’s never too late to learn.

    graduate schools absolutely DO NOT care what college you’re coming from. most universities in Canada (and the States, for that matter) don’t even have colleges, so whether you’re coming from woodsworth or trin won’t mean anything to them, as long as you’re uoft.

    also, a 3.8 is more than okay, keenerino. sheesh.

    BUUUT if you still want to transfer to another college and you have a valid reason, like: you spend so much time there anyway because of your classes/program/extra-curriculars, you’re interested in their scholarships or residence or some other service they provide, or you just really want to be a part of High Table, then go for it, dude. just e-mail your registrar’s office to get the ball rolling.

    tl;dr: transferring colleges is not that much of an administrative hassle at all, but it’s not worth it if it’s just because of the “prestige” or whatever.

    cheers,

    aska

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