Hi aska,
I’ve had this question for a long time now, but everyone else seems not at all bothered by it so I guess it must be a silly one.
So here it goes,
Since we won’t apply for POSTs (or a major if I understood correctly) until the end of first year, as a frosh, when someone asks you “what do you study?” what should I say? Some of family friends have asked me the same thing, and I was like.. “uh, I’m an art&science student?” which sounds incredibly vague & I-don’t- know-what-I’m -talking- about. I did get accepted in Life science, but if I were to say that I give the impression I want to be a med student or something, which is not the case at all. The thing is I haven’t decided what I want to study for major, I thought first year was for explore, is it just me? Does everybody else already know what they want?
I hope you can understand my dilemma and weirdness.
Sincerely confused..
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hey there confused,
i completely understand the question, actually. from aska’s extensive research (i.e. chatting with friends who go to school elsewhere), most universities don’t lump arts and science together in one faculty. it’s usually more logical than that. alas, you chose uoft. get ready for lots of people to be confused about the way we do things (see the ever-popular: “college??? you’re in a coLLeGe? but i thought you went to universitY???”)
usually, people just say which stream they’re in, so “i’m in life sci.” in my experience, med school students tend to say “i’m in med school/i’m studying medicine,” so i don’t think there should be too much confusion. or you could try “i’m a general science student.” or “i go to lizard skateboarding school.”
as for using first year to explore, you’ve got it exactly right. if everyone around you is saying “i’m in such and such program,” then they’re all wrong, and you’re right. too many first-year students come in with a subject POSt already in mind, and then if they don’t get into it after first year, they panic, because they’ve got no idea what else to do. or even worse, they think they’re already in a program, and don’t know they have to sign up for one after first year. take note: you do have to.
there’s enough flexibility in first year that you can take the typical prereqs for most science POSts (CHEM138+139, BIO120+130, MATH135+136), and have credits left over to take some general interest courses.
so take your time, explore, and don’t rush into a decision about programs. that way, when you actually make your decision after a year of thoughtful exploration, it’s more likely to be the right one for you.
finally, just FYI, a major is not the only kind of subject POSt. uoft students are accepted to enrol in either one specialist, two majors, or a major and two minors (you can get ambitious like a specialist and a major or two majors and a minor, but those are the standard ones).
cheers,
aska
