December, 2023 - askastudent

failing, prereqs, repeating course

prereqs do be wrecking

December 19, 2023

desperately need some help. i kinda did really bad in 3/5 of my courses. i passed my bird courses but the 3/5 that I’m pretty sure I failed….kinda need them. I’m taking the part 2 of those classes next quarter. and I’m taking extra required courses in the summer….what do I do…

i saw this thing on reddit that the part 2 of classes, I might be kicked out if I did bad first semester. do I take those courses again second semester? can’t I take those in the summer…or do I take my part two classes next year. I’m scared for my life I’m sorry for the long question

hey there,

first of all, do not be sorry, my dude. this is not a long question at all.

just to be clear on the situation: you may have failed courses that you need as prerequisites for your classes next quarter and over the summer?

what i’d do is double-check if there’s a certain grade threshold you need to meet in these courses to fulfill your prerequisite requirements. if there isn’t a grade threshold, you don’t need to worry about being kicked out for doing poorly in those prerequisite classes. you just need to make sure you pass the courses.

if there is a grade threshold you need to meet and you don’t meet it, or if you fail the courses, then you unfortunately won’t be able to take the “part 2” courses you have scheduled, nor will you be able to take anything else that has the same prerequisites. the likelihood is that someone in the department will check whether you have the prereqs at some point in the semester, and if they find out that you don’t have them, you can be removed from those courses at any time.

so if you don’t fill your prerequisites this semester, it may be best to focus on filling them next semester, and taking your “part 2” courses in the summer instead.

also, remember not to trust everything on reddit! it’s a good starting point but we see well-meaning misinformation on there all the time. the best thing to do is usually to hit up your registrar. it’s definitely best to ask them what to do since they help people in your exact situation all the time.

i hope everything turns out okay, sending love and encouragement! this sounds really stressful too, so if you ever need extra support, here is a resource that might be helpful.

over and out,

aska

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CR/NCR, grad school

here are the 2 crumbs i found while searching for grad school policies

December 19, 2023

hi, i have 4 courses right now and i really want to CR a course (i will pass thankfully). however, i don’t know how a CR will be considered by law schools, med schools and grad schools. if i don’t CR, i end with a C and while i know uoft med school drops your lowest 2 FCEs and uoft law school only looks at your best overall 3 years of undergraduate study, i don’t know their policy on CR on a transcript. i’d really like to avoid keeping the C if i can. please let me know. thank you.

hey there,

so it seems like you’re asking whether a CR on your transcript will impact your admission into grad schools. the thing is, each law school, med school, and grad school program may have a separate policy on this. so i think the best thing you can do is just reach out to the places you’re interested in and see what they say.

this is such a valid question, by the way. you probably scoured the internet trying to find an answer and came up empty handed, because so did i.

i did however, find a couple crumbs:

some places have FAQs where they may or may not answer this question. first, uoft med school and uoft law school FAQs both do mention CR/NCR grades, though only in the context of covid-19’s impacts in 2020. second, the law school has a page last updated in 2021 that says they consider a CR grade to be a successfully completed course, and that they “will not hold CR grades against an applicant”. but, keep in mind this in regards to academic grades during 2019-2020, so it might not be relevant anymore.

so you could absolutely contact admissions directly about this, and follow up about whether this is still true. their email is on that page, and i don’t think it would hurt to ask!

i’m sorry i don’t have a better answer, but i do think it’s best if you contact the grad schools directly. programs do change their policies, so i don’t want to tell you something wrong, especially with decisions that impact your future.

anyways, i hope everything works out for you, sending lots of encouragement!!

over and out,

aska

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admissions, applying for U of T, extracurricular

everyone is always doing too much. like, do less pls?

December 6, 2023

Hiii! Out of curiosity, does UofT value extracurricular during their undergraduate admission? Here’s the thing, my consular told us that extracurricular is super important so I believed him and really focused on that. After doing some research UofT become dream school of my life but I heard UofT don’t ask for extracurricular. This makes me super stressful since I devoted so much time into those things & Im a BC student, not a Ontario. With an avg of mid 80 is there anything I can do to+the odd

hey there,

so, it kind of depends on what admission category you’re applying for. for general arts and sciences, uoft does not look at your extracurriculars during undergrad admissions. you pretty much just send in your transcript through OUAC when you apply, so that’s all they look at when considering your admission. but if you’re applying to rotman, they require a supplemental application that goes beyond your grades. (rotman is always doing so much).

on that topic, sometimes i feel like everyone is always doing too much. like, please. no. what do you mean you’re involved in clubs and councils and intramurals and have a 20hr job and are taking 5 courses and are still sleeping at night? did you steal hermione’s time-turner? where are you hiding the room full of people getting your work done for you?

anyways, ignore my exam-week-induced rant. if you’re from BC, i think your consular was telling you that extracurriculars are very important because they are, at least for most schools in BC. ubc admissions rest very heavily on extracurriculars, because of a personal profile that some say is more important than your grade average.

every school prioritizes grades and extracurriculars differently, so your consular wasn’t lying. their advice just wasn’t universally applicable. because while extracurriculars are make-or-break for ubc admissions, they aren’t like that at uoft. here, extracurriculars are mostly just important when filling our your awards profile, which is how you would apply for scholarships going into your first year.

something to note is that uoft will mostly just look at your top 6 academic grade 12 grades to compute your admission average. and with an average of mid 80s, i honestly think your odds are pretty fine. most art and sciences programs require top 6 averages of mid to high 80s.

good luck with admissions, shoot another question if you’re still confused!

over and out,

aska

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bored, computer science, economics

condolences to everyone taking eco101

December 6, 2023
Hey, I’m a first year in the CS stream but I’m also taking ECO101 and ECO102 with the goal of double majoring in computer science and economics. My CS classes are going well and I’m really enjoying them, but I find ECO101 mind-numbingly boring. I enjoyed my macroeconomics class in high school, but this class feels like a dull yet somehow confusing version of basic algebra. Will the econ experience get more interesting after first year, or should I give it up now and find something else?

hey there,

well, i don’t think you’re alone in this. ‘mind-numbingly boring’ definitely fits into the genre of things i’ve heard about eco101. you’re not a uoft student if you haven’t overheard people complaining about econ courses or had to listen to a friend complain all term.

but fr that course is difficult so you have all my sympathy.

i’m sorry that i’m not an econ student (this apology is directed both to you and my mom), so i can’t really tell you anything from my own experience with econ courses. but
1. i’ve heard that eco101 is not representative of the econ you learn in the future, and
2. i can tell you that pretty much every single program gets more interesting after first year!
because in general, courses that are required as a prerequisite for a program are going to be on the more boring and/or difficult side of the spectrum. like those huge courses upwards of a few hundred people that people have to take. these tend to cover really broad material and foundational stuff, which is always going to be boring, especially if a course is a requirement for multiple different competitive programs—like eco101.

and when i say boring/difficult, i mean this in comparison to smaller, more specialized courses that you’ll be able to take farther down the road. a good tip someone once gave me is that the more specific and niche the description of a course is, the more enjoyable and interesting it will be — and the opposite is also true! just to be completely transparent though, there won’t be a huge change from first to second year, since you’ll still have to take required courses. but once you hit third year, you’ll be given room to choose between a list of possible courses to count towards your major, and these tend to be much more interesting!

it’s also hard to tell you whether you’ll find upper year econ courses interesting simply because everyone finds different topics interesting. even if i was an econ student in fourth year with all the econ wisdom i’ve acquired, i’m not sure i would be that helpful. like, there are so many econ students out there who probably did find that the courses got more interesting after first year! but then there are also others who didn’t.

i think the best i can do for now is direct you towards econ students who might be able to give you their own answers! the only way i can think to do this is through econ student groups, so here is what i found:

the uoft economics club can be found at econuoft (at) gmail (dot) com, or @econ_uoft on instagram. i’m sure they’ll answer an email or dm, most student groups are really friendly and responsive on their various social media accounts! i think peer mentorship programs could also be a great resource for getting advice on this. i couldn’t find one at uoft specifically for econ students, but there are college specific mentorship programs in clnx’s mentorship catalogue, which you can look into.

anyways, despite all this, i’m glad you’re enjoying your cs classes, and i hope everything works out for you!

(if any econ students happen to read this post, it would be great if you could drop some tidbits of your advice)

over and out,

aska
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