Dear Aska,
I just graduated high school and am headed to St. Mike’s in the fall. I was just wondering, since I’ll need to pick my courses soon, where do I get my student number and pin? Is it the same one I’ve been using to apple and send in my PSE? or do I need my Tcard to get all my info to enrol? thanks alot
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I don’t know what numbers you’ve been using to “apple” – but you can keep your fetishes to yourself. (McIntosh or Granny Smith?? No no, I don’t want to know!)
Grab your Offer of Admission letter. Look at the top right. Find your “applicant number.” As soon as you accepted your offer of admission to U of T online, this 9-digit number instantly became your “student number.” If you lost this letter or threw it out… then you’re an idiot. Kidding. Mistakes happen. You’ll have to go to your College Registrar’s office to fill out a TCard form.
I assume that you are asking about your PIN because you want to log-in to the Student Web Service (who goes by the name ROSI – pronounced “Rosey”) for the first time. By default, your PIN is your year/month/day of birth in YYMMDD fashion. Get it? The first time you’re in you’ll get to change the password to whatever you want. You will also have to create some questions as backups if you ever forget your PIN.
Third, you not need your TCard to enroll in courses. In fact, most students won’t pick up their TCards until September – when an ever-growing queue will snake across the entire second floor of Robarts Library. Try to avoid that. Go here if you can to pick it up. Bring your Offer letter and photo ID with you (or the completed TCard form). You will then be able to get your utoronto.ca webmail going. Woo!
Always keep your TCard on you, don’t ever lend it to someone, and don’t lose it or you’ll have to pay to get another. Same goes for retaking the photo if you think your hair looks like crap in it – seriously though – it won’t get any better.
Well, that was all pretty dull – let’s make this interesting.
The student number is a funny thing. In more than one way it will dominate your identity while you’re at U of T.
Considering that there are over 70 000 students at U of T – a good 90% of whom share the names Mike, Chris, Matt, Jessica, Ashley and Amanda – it just make administrative sense to assign you an individual identifier. Many U of T students complain that their student numbers totally supplant their actual names. I won’t entirely disagree, but I will argue that it’s not ALL that bad.
For one, your student number is all yours. It = you, and you alone. It’s like your fingerprint, and don’t we all get excited about our fingerprints?!? You will memorize your number by October (if you haven’t already), and will retain it throughout your prunes and your depends years.
Also, the student numbers of each annual cohort typically have a common 3rd number (right now it’s 997…….). This is a subtle means of generating solidarity amongst you and your peers. It also becomes grounds to assert your superiority over newer students. Don’t believe me? Listen carefully around campus and you’ll hear this patronizing comment: “Oh how cuuute!! Your student number is 997! Mine’s 994.” But, can you blame us?! That is the U of T equivalent of war wounds, really.
Caution: if you see any 989’s around – tread lightly. A decade under U of T pressure can invoke permanent damage.
Seriously though, if you are ever corresponding with U of T admin, provide BOTH your names and your student number. I swear that some Registrar’s Offices do care to match a face to a name. Also, don’t advertise your student number around town. It is a pretty private identifier (e.g. used for grade postings on random Sid Smith walls).
Who wants to kill a couple hours???? Check out this site. I’m dying over here!! Make sure you read the oldies (circa 1900) – it’s great for naming pets. And what’s with all the recent names that have slight variations on standard spelling. Why put a boring old “i” when it could be a “y,” right? Annoying.