• enrollment,  enrolment,  first year

    real q tho: is it enrolment or enrollment

    May 30, 2019

    Hey, is there anyway to know when course registration is open? Like do they send you an email or is there anyway to check on the site?

    ——————————————

    hello hello,

    course registration! still a couple months away– what a keener. that’s okay, i was one too.

    i went through my inbox to see if i ever got an email from the school regarding this. what i found was that sometime in the middle of july, my registrar emailed me with a reminder that course enrolment was about to open. last year, enrolment for first-years actually began on july 26– i’m not sure yet when this year’s date is, but hopefully that gives you some idea as to the timeline.

    a few days before enrolment starts (july 20, last year) you can check ACORN for your ‘start-time.’ if you’re not familiar, this is basically when course enrolment opens to YOU– it’s a staggered opening, i guess because the system can’t handle thousands of frantic log-ins at once. i’d recommend that you prep your enrolment cart sometime before your start time, so you can just check-out and save yourself the stress of adding courses then.

    anyway, the artsci website is still messed, but if you wanna read up more on this you can check out this link. innis college, that lovely mythical place, also has an academic orientation up on youtube if you need help figuring out the calendar and course selection.

    in short– keep an eye on your inbox in july for an email from your registrar! or you can stick to obsessively checking ACORN for changes like lil first year me did. your call, my dude.

    over n out,

    aska

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  • continuing studies,  suspension

    i’ll see you all in therapy

    May 30, 2019

    Hi, I am a second year student and at the end of it I was just suspended for a year.
    I had a rough first year where I was alone here and commuting as well, I got through it but ended up failing 2 courses which put me on probation.
    I came back in my second year with a much better mind set to get the grades and also meet my requirements for my program. My fall 2018 semester was going well but I had some major set backs where I had to cope with a death of a close family member, and being far away from home and as well as anxiety and some mental health issues. I never gave mental health a big importance but it affected my grades this year and I was suspended. It has really got me down but I want to get back on my feet and work towards a better come back.
    I want advice in regards that, I will take really long to finish my degree coz of this suspension, do you know if there are any circumstances where they reduce suspension to a semester? Because I’ve already let my parents down and I don’t even know how to face them with this information.
    Other than that I am planning to take courses to help me during suspension at the School or Continuing Studies at Uoft, do you think this is a good idea?
    Pls advise me if there is something else I can do or look at, because I want to try do my degree as soon as possible.

    I hope you reply soon, I really need advice on this.

    ——————————————

    hi there,

    the only people who would know about the possibility of shortening your year of suspension would be your registrar, or possibly your faculty if it’s beyond your registrar. usually if there’s some kind of loophole or exception, the rules and regulations will mention it and detail how it works. i’ve never seen one for shortening suspension, and still haven’t been able to find anything of the sort. so i highly doubt it’ll be possible to take your suspension down to a term, but if you do want to give it a try you’ll need to check with your registrar.

    i do think it’s a good idea to keep taking classes during your year of suspension– it should be easy enough to do so with u of t’s continuing studies, as they’ve got open enrolment. unless money is an issue for you and you need to be working, it’s best to use your year preparing to return to regular classes.

    as for other options, i’m not sure you have that many. u of t’s standpoint on suspension is that taking a break will be a useful time for you to get support, re-evaluate your commitments, or recuperate from anything impeding your academic success. as a result, i’m not aware of anything the school will let you do to speed up your degree. even after you come back from suspension, as i’m sure you’re aware, you’ll still be on probation. that means, until you’ve achieved regular academic standing again, you’ll be unable to take more than 5 classes each sem in fall/winter.

    all the advice i can offer you, then, is to use your year of suspension the best you can. this is more or less a situation out of your control– what you’ll be able to affect is how well you do once you’re back on probation. so i would focus on that, and on your mental health. i wrote a post a while ago on mental health resources for students, some of which you should still be able to access when you’re on suspension. take the time to take care of yourself! doing school with anxiety etc can be so, so hard– speaking from experience– and it’s always better to get it checked out the same way you would a physical illness. obviously it’s ultimately your call, but there’s no shame in talking to someone about the place you’re in (or have been in).

    i’m sorry you’ve gone through what you have, and it’s perfectly understandable that you are where you are now because of it. that would have been rough on anyone, but i admire your resilience and drive to get up and keep going. you got this.

    over n out,

    aska

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  • exclusions,  psychology,  sociology

    hooray for program conflicts we love being confused

    May 30, 2019

    Hi, I am planning on majoring in sociology and minoring in psychology at utsg. Psych requires psy201 (statistics) and soc requires soc202, but the problem is that psy201 lists soc202 as an exclusion. Is there a way to get around this? Thanks

    ——————————————

    hey there,

    it actually seems like you may be able to get away with only taking SOC202, and having that satisfy the requirement for both your programs. i checked out the psych requirements on the calendar, and where it lists PSY201 there’s an allowance for ‘or equivalent course in statistics.’ i’m not 100% sure, but as an exclusion is considered to be a course too similar to the course in question, i’d imagine that the two would be considered equivalent. i would contact the department just to make sure, because they’re the ones making these kinds of decisions, but i’d say chances are good that this is your best workaround.

    in case it doesn’t work out, you do have another option. according to the university’s rules, you’re able to get special permission (probably from your registrar) to enrol in the second course. it’ll just be designated as ‘extra’ and not count towards your gpa, but my guess is that it’d be okay for your program’s purposes. i wouldn’t recommend registering without talking to your registrar, because if you get discovered they’re allowed (and supposed) to remove you without warning.

    psych and soc seem to be too common of a combination for there to be no way around your exclusion problem. so i hope at least one of these routes works out for you!

    over n out,

    aska

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  • probation,  suspension,  Transferring

    a rough patch

    May 30, 2019

    Hey!

    I go to UTM for the commerce program. This upcoming school year (Fall/Winter 2019) I am supposed to be going into fourth year. However, due to life I did really bad in school first year (failed all of my courses) and halfway through second year I dropped my courses. This lead to me being put on probation and suspended for 3rd year. I currently have a 0 CGPA & I have 3.5 credits on my record.

    I spoke to academic advising and they told me that to pass 1st year again and eventually get accepted into second year for UTM’s commerce program, and major in finance (what I aim to do), it would be really difficult (I would need  90s in all my courses for the next 2 years, with 8 credits each year, just to get accepted into the program because the cut off is now a 3.0 minimum CGPA). This would make me behind 6 years, with just a chance of being admitted into the program. I’m not sure if the courses I would take for the next 2 years would even count towards my degree properly.

    I really only see myself doing a bachelors in business with a finance major. I took the year of probation to actually study the content and prep myself for the upcoming school year so I can do well. I also started my career in the field as well.

    I really don’t know what I should do and what would be the most effective path.

    Academic advising also told me that even if I applied to other institutions, my transcript would definitely minimize my chance of getting in.

    I wanted to know if there’s anyway for me to get into a different school for example, Ryerson’s accounting and finance program, by just showing my marks high school, if I didn’t want to transfer in, but rather join in as a first year student.

    Or are there any other options within UofT, at any campus, to get the degree I want. I feel like all my doors have closed again, just because of a rough patch I went through when I was younger and just got into Uoft.

    Please help! And thank you so much in advance!!

    ——————————————

    hello friend,

    thanks for waiting for this response. your circumstances stumped me, though i’m sure not as much as they’ve frustrated you.

    this is what i want to say:

    regarding the ‘starting over’ option at ryerson or elsewhere, unfortunately the extent of my domain is the university of toronto. i would have loved to help you look into other places and such, but i would recommend you contact those schools directly and find out what their policies are regarding re-starting your degree. you can give ryerson a call here, and if you’d like to at least check out york i’ve linked that too. i feel better sending you directly to their admissions offices just cause i don’t actually have the answers to your question– i’d only be acting as an intermediary, which isn’t the most effective or foolproof way to do things. if you have any specific circumstances you think might affect their decision, you’d also be able to present those to them better yourself.

    i doubt you’d be able to apply to any university, though, with a totally fresh start using just your high school marks. they’d require you to provide your entire academic history upon application– if you omit your university marks, this could be considered fraud. there’s a chance you could submit some sort of supplemental statement along with your transcript to explain what went wrong. it may not help you as much as i wish it would, though, given your record and suspension.

    also– from what i remember, when you apply through OUAC, one of the sections of the application will ask you to account for what you’ve recently spent your time on if you’re not entering directly out of high school. for example, those who took a gap year to travel would indicate that there. you’d be obligated, then, to let any potential institution know about the time you spent at u of t.

    for the path of least resistance, so to speak, you could look into doing college programs, where admissions may be more forgiving as opposed to a university. i’m not sure, but i’m pretty sure colleges like george brown have business programs. i’ve done some research into this, but at the moment i’m not aware of any options you have to get your degree at u of t without taking the path you already know about.

    i know you’ve already visited an advisor, but my gut says to send you back to your registrar. these are the kinds of conversations that are best to have in-person, which is something i’m neither qualified nor allowed to carry out. my hope is that, even though they delivered bad news to you last time, they’ll be able to help you more if you continue to have these conversations with them. 

    i do have a question for you– when meeting with your advisor, how open were you regarding the “life stuff” you struggled with? if you went through something particularly compelling and can show how you’ve grown and overcome your difficulties, maybe there’s a chance they might be able to make some kind of exception for you? for example, you can talk about how you’ve used your probation year well. good on you, for that– i hope it does something for your circumstances overall.

    if you choose to go the route of pulling your GPA up with the eventual goal of making it into business, i’d also ask them what’ll happen if you take those commerce courses but ultimately don’t make POSt. they might know more about what your options look like, eg. if they’re usable for another program.

    this is a tough one, dude, i feel you. all my best and i wish i could be of more help. i’m sorry the system is as unforgiving as it is– that it’s so difficult to pull yourself out of a place you were in at a single time in your life. but i have faith in your ability to get where you need to be, even if that path doesn’t look the way you hoped it would.

    over n out,

    aska

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  • computer science,  grad school,  non degree

    compSIGH

    May 28, 2019
    Hello! I’m a mechancial engineering graduate from Queen’s university. I realized my passion for computer science and want to pursue a career in computer science. The masters of computer science at UofT requires CSC343H: Introduction to Databases CSC369H: Operating Systems; and CSC373H: Algorithm Design, Analysis & Complexity or their equivalents. Would it be possible/feasible for me to apply and get into these courses as a non-degree student?
    yes, from what i know it should be possible to do that! u of t easily allows recently graduated students to enrol as a non-degree student for the purpose of getting those grad school prereqs down. this is true even if you completed your studies elsewhere– you’ll just need to apply. compsci as a program is considered to be under the faculty of arts and science, which makes it much easier to get into those courses as a non-degree student (with faculties like music and engineering, you’d have to contact them).
    the only thing i can think of that might be a barrier to you is if those three courses are particularly in-demand. i looked them up on the timetable and they’ve all got priority enrolment controls, which essentially means only compsci degree students can get seats until a certain date. then, artsci students and utm/utsc students have second and third priority respectively. i’m not sure where non-degree students would fall in this priority order– possibly with utm/utsc, or after?
    if you’d like to know for certain what the likelihood is that you can get in, i’d suggest you contact the department directly. even though i can see the class sizes and enrolment controls, it’s pretty hard for me to give you a concrete answer as a fellow student myself.
    hope this was helpful though! all the best with your possible future at u of t.
    over n out,
    aska
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  • suspension

    is that normal or should i be worried?

    May 27, 2019

    Hello, I’ve been suspended from utm for the summer, but today, I tried booking a study room in the library and it could not find my name in the database. I just want to know, Is that normal or should i be worried?

    ——————————————

    hey,

    i’ve never heard of this happening, but it kind of makes sense to me that it would. i did what i could to see if the university had any explanations for this on the internet, but wasn’t actually able to find anything specifically on this.

    my best guess is that this is what’s happening: when you’re suspended, the university doesn’t consider you to be enrolled as a student. this u of t libraries site indicates that only currently registered u of t students are able to book group study spaces at the uni, key word being current. so it’s probably not like the system totally wiped its memory clean of you– it’s more likely that, since you’re not paying fees while on suspension, you’re not able to use the facilities as a paying student would. unfortunately, that means you’re gonna have to find some new study spots for the time being.

    tl:dr i wouldn’t worry about it! seems pretty normal to me.

    over n out,

    aska

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  • biology

    i glove my job

    May 25, 2019

    Hello !
    do i need to buy gloves if i want to continue taking biology? in first year my labs all provided gloves. thank you!

    ——————————————

    hey there,

    this isn’t something i would know from experience, but i asked a friend who’s taken higher level bio for ya. apparently if you’re taking BIO230 it’s a no on buying gloves, but they weren’t sure about BIO220. if you’re not taking 230 i would say just… wait til the course starts, then figure out whether you need to get them?

    or if you really really REALLY have a burning desire to know i guess you could contact whichever bio department you’re hoping to take courses in. i figure they’re the only ones who would know, since my guess is it varies per course– if you do choose to contact them, please remember to be polite and respectful because i’m sure they’re quite busy people who deal with a lot of stuff! although this is probably an unnecessary reminder and i’m sure you would be anyway.

    i would suggest you wait and see, though, if it’s all the same to you! if you need the gloves, you’ll find out come the start of classes. again, i wouldn’t know, but i’m guessing gloves don’t break the bank.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • courses,  timetable

    patience, my child

    May 25, 2019

    when will course listings on griddy/acorn/course search be up to date? every listing i’ve found gives different courses that are or aren’t there!

    ——————————————

    hi!

    as far as i’m aware, there’s no exact date out as to when the listings will be updated– i’ve noticed the same thing, that course finder is only showing summer session stuff right now. generally the update happens sometime in june, both on ACORN and the artsci timetable. the university’s still in the process of working out what the listings are gonna look like, which is why you’ve probably had trouble finding accurate info so far.

    at least the timetables are up to date, according to my friend at the office of student life, so if you do wanna be a keener and start working on your schedule you can start there. in fact, i’d actually recommend you use the official artsci timetable as opposed to griddy. that is, if you’re in artsci.

    griddy isn’t run by the university, which means that while it can totally be helpful, it isn’t necessarily foolproof. a previous aska did a quick rundown on their experience with this, which you can check out here. i’d recommend giving it a read. even then, i prefer the timetable for a few reasons. the timetable will use different colours for lectures, tutorials, labs, etc., which can help break up your schedule and make it easier to read. i’m not sure if there’s a way to do this in griddy, but i wasn’t able to find one. the timetable can be helpful for slotting tutorials in, too, because it’ll show you all the potential times in one page rather than you having to click on each section to see it.

    the timetable also offers you a more complete set of information! with course listings, it will show you space availability, enrolment restrictions, and location/waitlist info. you’ll also be able to click on a tab that shows you prereqs, breadth reqs, exclusions, and the course description. maybe i’m just looking in the wrong place, but I’ve never been able to find anything other than section, time, and instructor on griddy.

    in short, this has been a large plug for the timetable! use it use it use it. apart from the ical feature griddy has, i can’t really think of a reason why the timetable might not be a preferable option. it’s safer and more informative. what’s not to love?
    anyway, yknow what would be killer, especially for first years? a site you could plug your course codes into and have your classes mapped out across campus. could be game-changing. i 10/10 could have avoided trekking the MILES from con hall to bader with queen’s park closed and a full-on blizzard in my face. i guess i know better now. class location is important, people, don’t gloss over it. i make mistakes so you don’t have to.

    over n out,

    aska

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  • law school

    what, like it’s hard?

    May 24, 2019

    I am considering law school after I finish my undergraduate degree. What would admissions look for specifically? Would they look into what courses I had taken and what level they are in (2nd year versus 4th year)? Does it matter on who writes the recommendation letters (such as a university professor versus a teacher I had known for years)? When do people prepare to take the LSAT? Are there any tips to make my admission chances better? I wanna be prepared as law school is competitive as heck.

    ——————————————

    hi there,

    as someone who’s never gone to law school (or has yet to, my parents are still hoping lol) i wasn’t really sure how to answer this question without making stuff up.

    so i reached out to someone who worked in grad school admissions, and this is pretty much what they had to say:

    there isn’t really a set standard for law school admissions– nothing they’ll specifically look for across the board. depending on what program and what school you’re looking into, the things they require and take into consideration will vary. even the person reviewing the application can influence the answers to each of those questions you asked. this is true for all grad schools, not just law, apparently.

    because of this, any concrete answer i might be able to provide you with probably won’t be consistently useful, and might even be misleading. i was told it’s best to specifically check each program or school you’re considering. often, there’s a lot of stuff you can find just floating on the web. you can also look into attending info sessions, as schools typically send student or faculty representatives that’ll be able to tell you about their program’s criteria.

    you can also take a shot at emailing or phoning schools’ admission offices directly. this is a recommendation that comes with a (hopefully unnecessary) friendly reminder to be polite when you do so! i feel like a lot of students forget this when talking to administration. these are the people that may have your law school future in their hands, and anyway it’s just the decent thing to do. this also means you’ll want to avoid emailing multiple people the same question at the same time– if you feel it’s necessary to do so, cc (not bcc) them. this way, they’ll be able to tell that you’ve asked someone else too, and can then check whether you’ve received a response yet.

    so that covers admissions– as for the LSAT, life @ u of t has done a pretty good piece with some relevant advice. according to them, it only takes about 2-3 months to prep for the exam. this other random law school site i pulled up recommended 3-4, so i’d say 3 is probably a good bet.

    closing this post off with this iconic moment, because no post about law school is complete without a lil elle woods.

    you got this. law school may be competitive as heck, but i believe in your ability to compete. best of luck with it all, and hope this helped even if it wasn’t as specific as you hoped!

    over n out,

    aska

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  • exchange

    but the flat earthers said australia was a hoax…?

    May 23, 2019

    Hi, I’m a psychology student at The University of Sydney. I’m thinking about going on exchange to UofT in the fall of 2020. Is UofT a good uni to go on exchange to or do you think there are better options in Canada? Also what should I know about UofT and going to uni in Canada in general? Thanks!

    ——————————————

    hello from the other hemisphere!

    hope you’re ready for a long post– i always try to cover my bases, and i as an aska tend to be chattier than my predecessors. that probably says something about me. let’s skip thinking about that and head straight to the point, shall we?

    going on exchange can be such a cool experience and i think it’s fantastic that you’re thinking of coming here. for what it’s worth, i’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time at this school so far, and would choose it again as my home institution.

    however (and i say this every time) not everyone feels this way. this last year, i made a friend who was on exchange from the university of edinburgh. lovely person and i’m grateful to have gotten to know her, but it seemed like she kind of regretted coming here for her year of exchange. she told me about how at her school, a full courseload was three courses, and she spent most of her time engaged in extracurriculars and leadership activities.

    before showing up at u of t, she didn’t realize the sheer amount of time she would be spending just studying here. to put it into perspective, a standard courseload here is five courses a semester, and apparently we’ve got a lot more small assignments and such than she did back home. what she told me is that they do a midterm and a final there, and that’s pretty much… it. here, depending on the course you’re in but as a general rule, that’s not the case.

    i don’t really know how this compares to your situation, as i realize the uk and australia are totally different countries and their school systems likely differ. but i thought this might be a useful way to give you a sense of perspective.

    from what i know, the five-courseload, many small assignments thing is pretty normal across canada, so i don’t think you’d be able to avoid it by going elsewhere in the country. i can give you a quick run-down on what i’ve heard about some of your other options, though. i’ve chosen bigger universities in major cities, just because those tend to be the better-known ones. these are also the only three i’ve attended lectures in, so i feel more confident speaking to them.

    mcgill, in montreal, is a top-tier institution also in a major city’s downtown core. although the province it’s in, quebec, is mostly french, the campus functions in english. you may still need some french in the city, bear in mind.

    it’s canada’s most european urban centre for sure, and is rough academically but apparently toronto is worse. of the three unis, i know the least about mcgill, but what i do know is that it’s super international. if making a bunch of connections with people from around the world appeals to you, it may be a good place to consider exchanging to. mcgill makes a big deal about how their biggest classroom size is 600 and how not ideal it is, but it doesn’t really compare to u of t’s con hall at around 1500.

    the university of british columbia, in vancouver, is a really solid research institution too. the campus is beautiful– it’s next to the ocean, has the most gorgeous sunsets, and the buildings were designed to let in a bunch of natural light. academics are quite strong there as well. when i was visiting, i went to a few first-year lectures– the class sizes are definitely way smaller than u of t, but i feel like our profs are overall better quality. which obviously is just based on my personal experience at both institutions.

    how does u of t compare to the others? well, it’s known to have the heaviest workload out of all canadian universities. we’ve got the most opportunities on campus as well as the city around us– the largest number of clubs and student papers, for example. probably has something to do with our huge student body– we’re about double the size of mcgill. in terms of our campus, we’ve got a ton of really beautiful old buildings and libraries. food trucks are scattered on the main streets (the brown one is the best), and we’ve got close proximity to the chinatown, yorkdale, and annex neighbourhoods. it’s a tradeoff– you might suffer a little academically, but toronto is where it’s at.

    along that line of thought, it’s important to consider how you feel regarding each city, and what it might be like to live there for a semester. which i guess i covered a bit already. i can tell you that rent close to campus will be the highest at u of t, followed by vancouver and montreal as far as i know. but toronto is also canada’s biggest city, and has the most going on. if major artists make a tour stop in canada, it’s often the only place they’ll do a show. a friend of mine at mcgill says after a while, the only thing left to do there is go out dancing– it’s mostly about the nightlife there.

    but people in montreal seem… happier, somehow– i’ve seen people my age dancing in thrift stores and talked to panhandlers with jazzy attitudes. meanwhile, vancity is a mountains-ocean-forests city that gets pretty sleepy compared to the other two. and it has the slowest pace of the three and the best sushi.

    on top of that, if safety is a concern for you, i’d order them toronto-montreal-vancouver in terms of least to most safe. toronto can get pretty scary sometimes.

    what should you know about going to uni in canada in general? it’s cold. toronto and montreal more so than the west coast, but all parts of canada usually get at least a bit of snow. this past year in toronto, we had one day of -40 wind chill and about two months when it averaged -20 wind chill outside. however, if you’re coming during the fall semester, you’ll probably get the best of the school year’s weather. it can still feel like summer til mid-october, and the autumn leaves on campus are absolutely gorgeous. the worst of the weather really is january onwards, and you’ll likely be gone by then– but the climate is definitely something you should consider, especially if you experience seasonal affective disorder.

    what’s great about canada? we multicultural out here. toronto has a ton of ethnic enclaves, and canadian student bodies are pretty diverse, meaning you get a pretty legit cultural education too. beyond that, we have bagged milk, poutine, and tim horton’s. win win win.

    kudos to you if you made it to the end of this. hope this was helpful and if you have any more specific questions about u of t/canada that i didn’t cover, feel free to send in another ask!

    over n out,

    aska

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  • breadth requirements,  first year

    pmu199 plug plug plug

    May 23, 2019

    do you have updated suggestions for the math/science breadth requirement courses for first years who aren’t good at math or science? i think the offered courses have changed a lot this year, because i can’t find some of the old suggestions on the course list!

    ——————————————

    hey there and warm welcome to u of t!

    not entirely sure where you’re looking, but it is quite possible that course offerings have changed from previous years. i can definitely run you through what i know about your options, though! because you didn’t specify, for the purposes of this post i’m gonna assume you’re a st. george kid.

    the math/science breadth requirement, or breadth 5, can be one of those tough ones to get down if you’re not numerically inclined– which is something i totally sympathize with and had to navigate my first year as well. it’s good that you’re looking to get your breadth reqs out of the way early, because your freshman year really is the best time to do so. not only are there special courses you can only take during that one year, but you’ll also just not have to worry about them later on, particularly when you’re looking to graduate.

    the one breadth 5 course i took that i ended up really liking was one of the 199s, specifically the one called “astronomy at the frontier.” from what i can find, it’s still being offered. i took it with drs. drout and reid. they were both super supportive but also just really good teachers, as in they managed to get ME pretty into a SCIENCE. the class mostly revolves around learning how to operate and use this online telescope software to take pictures of the galaxy. then, you’re graded on a final ‘observing project’ where you develop a research question and use photos you took to illustrate your results. if you stay on top of your work and stick to the (pretty detailed) rubrics, it’s reasonably possible to do well in this course with no science background whatsoever.

    i’m not sure how much they’ll have changed the format based on the feedback my year gave, but when i took the course participation was worth 10 percent, and there was no final exam, just a three-minute oral interview worth another 10. the best part, at least where you’re concerned? absolutely no math involved. we were expected to familiarize ourselves with a good number of astronomical concepts, but not to the level of actual in-depth memorization, and never to the extent of learning any formulas or calculations. could not plug that course more.

    can’t fit it into your schedule, or does it still not sound like something you wanna take? for more, you can go to the timetable https://timetable.iit.artsci.utoronto.ca/ and search “pmu199” in the course codes box. you’ll get a bunch of listings for similarly oriented first-year-exclusive courses. these small seminars are your best bet for fulfilling your breadth requirements, as they’re just plain less likely to screw you over. they also have more interesting content than typical first year lectures: there’s a video game writing one that sounds kinda cool, and a biosensory tech course geared towards arts kids.

    another option you have is to take a regular first year science and credit/no credit it. that way, you fulfill your breadth requirement but only need to pass to do so. once again, astronomy! i’d recommend AST101 as i’ve heard it’s not too hard. i’ve heard good things about the ‘magic of physics’ first year course too. it’s on the small size for a lecture, and supposedly a breeze if you took high school physics, which i dunno if you did.

    it may be useful for you to know that you can’t cr/ncr any of those small first year seminars, because they’re considered ‘too easy’ for that. i didn’t really realize that before going into mine, but luckily it turned out fine.

    sorry for the novel. i have fun writing these and get a bit carried away sometimes, but i do hope my unnecessary levels of detail are helpful at some level. as always, keep in mind that anything i put forward here is just my personal experience and someone else’s take could be totally different.

    hope your first year is fantastic and you crush that breadth five req!

    over n out,

    aska

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  • economics

    would make a pun but i don’t know enough econ

    May 21, 2019

    Hi! First of all before I ask my question, thank you for being super informative in answering the questions in a personal and friendly manner. It has helped so much since I start my first year soon! Okay, so I would love to take some economic courses but on the website it says the prerequisite is high school calculus. I only took advanced functions and an economics course so far, do I have to take calculus to enrol? Thank you and have a lovely day!!!

    ——————————————

    hi there,

    no worries at all– it’s what i’m here for, but i really appreciate your appreciation. writing an anonymous blog can feel a bit like shouting into the void, so it’s always good to hear that the stuff i’m putting out is useful!

    i’m not entirely sure which website you’re referencing, because u of t being u of t there are a ton of places you could be getting your info. regardless, i’m pretty sure what you’re seeing is the program prerequisite, and not the prerequisite for courses specifically.  as far as i can tell, you don’t actually need high school calc to enrol in first-year econ courses. the artsci calendar lists secondary school calc/advanced functions as recommended preparation for ECO100, key word being recommended.

    ECO100 is quite tough from what i’ve heard, so i would be cautious going into it with absolutely no calculus background. but i guess the point is if you wanted to you could. and if you take ECO105, the intro course for non-specialists, nothing is mentioned with regards to recommended preparation. if you’re not planning to be an econ major, i’d recommend you give this one a try. while i’ve never taken the course myself, i have several friends who say it’s pretty easy to do well as long as you put the work in. meanwhile, i have one or two humanities friends that took 100 to prove to themselves they could do it, and…  kind of just regret it now. there is a strong argument, though, for taking 100: if you’ll be doing higher-level econ later on, it’ll prepare you better for that more advanced study. your call, you know yourself best.

    if you do want to be registered in the econ major later on (you’ll choose your programs of study at the end of first year) i would look into getting that high school calculus credit. perhaps from an online course provider, as long as you can make sure you get credit. you’ll need it for admission into the program– i believe even if it’s a high school prereq, it will be enforced. so just keep that in mind.

    hope this helped! welcome to u of t and best of luck with your first year.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • probation,  summer

    a tomorrow problem

    May 21, 2019

    im in a stressful place right now – im on academic probation, but im already enrolled in summer school with osap already given. the 2 0.5 courses im taking interest me a lot and im sure i can do well in them, but there’s still a voice in the back of my head that gets me really nervous about my academic standing come the end of my term. do u think its possible to pass and secure at least a 1.7 gpa in the 1st summer term, given my terrible academic standing last year? ????

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    hey friend,

    it’s hard to know too much about your situation. but from what i can guess from the numbers, you’re trying to dodge suspension, yeah? or at least that’s usually what it is when someone on probation is concerned with making a summer GPA of 1.7.

    if the courses interest you and you’re optimistic about doing well, then by all means i think a 1.7 is possible. it’s hard to really tell because i don’t know what your academic record’s been like, nor do i know if there are non-academic factors you think will heap extra struggle on your studies. but at least it’s just the one summer term you’ve got to worry about for now. since the school’s not requiring you to pull your entire CGPA up to stay registered at the school (which would be much harder), it may be healthier to shelve your past grades for the moment.

    i don’t blame you for being nervous. it’s only natural to feel overwhelmed when you’re contending with a whole academic record looming over you. but ultimately, all you have control over right now is how well you do in these two classes. i’d encourage you to focus on just that, then. you don’t have control over your gpa so much as you have control over how smart/hard you study, and how well you keep up. you feel? remember that it’s also okay to ask for help– in fact, you should. clarification from profs/TAs on assignments can actually make quite a big difference with how well you do.

    i know the summer term’s been on for a few weeks now, but if you think it might help, i’d recommend that you contact your registrar or student life and see if you can get an appointment with a learning strategist. especially if you’ve been struggling for academic and not personal reasons, this might help you out. they’ll be able to walk you through smarter study strategies, give you exam prep tips, and sling you pointers on writing and presenting. they also help you address issues like procrastination, which tbh we all need at least bit of help with.

    as much as i’d love to (and totally could, if you want) write up a post chock-full of study tips, i always feel better knowing yall are talking to someone in person, who’s better able to familiarize themselves with your specific situation. i love the anonymous aska format, but it can make it a bit difficult to give super personalized advice, which you certainly deserve.

    thanks for waiting on this answer, and sorry for the delay in getting it up. wishing you loads and loads of good luck and strong work ethic to get you through the summer sem. i believe in you and your ability to push through and pass those courses, even if it doesn’t end up being easy. i’m here cheering for you and hoping for your success!

    over n out,

    aska

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