make your decisions without considering stereotypes

Heyo aska,

I’ve just applied for the Frye stream at Vic One and am wondering if the whole affair is actually worthwhile/fantastic vs. pretentious. I’m quite sure it will be at least a little pretentious, but the small class sizes and interesting seminars could make it absolutely marvellous. What is the general reception towards the program at U of T? Is there a “Vic One is smelly” stigma attached to it?

Also, I’m hoping to keep my options for my major at least a little flexible. I hope to do a double major in Art History/to be decided…And have recently become interested in perhaps doing some intro architecture courses in my first year. Otherwise, I would be leaning towards human geography or history. Something along the lines of urban theory… So I guess the question is, if I take Vic One will some of these options be totally thrown out the window in exchange for a survey of Baudellaire and Derrida?

Thanks a bunch.

Your website is pretty much the bomb.

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Let me tell you right now that the affair won’t be worthwhile – not with that attitude.

One thing I think you really have to train yourself to do is to detach yourself from the stigmas attached to your program(s). For instance, I’m in physics, and I’m sure that when I tell other people what program I’m in, a lot of them automatically label me geek or nerd (or whatever). Stereotypes like these really annoy me – sometimes, they make me question my decisions. But I do my best to ignore them, because I feel that studying physics, personally, a worthwhile pursuit.

You have to decide yourself whether or not Vic One is personally worthwhile for you. Try hard to ignore the stereotypes (whether real or imagined). If you’re already starting to stereotype Vic One as being smelly/pretentious, there’s a good chance that you won’t enjoy the program at all. But if you instead look at Vic One as a unique opportunity to learn in a multidisciplinary environment, you may find that you enjoy it.

A major program in Art History only requires 6 full course equivalents, and you only need a half-course in first year. For Architecture, you only need two half-courses (one credit). Even if you factor in your other distribution requirements (one science credit and one social science credit), that’s still only 3.5 credits. You can easily take your Vic One course, and still have another free half-credit you could use as an elective — or more, if you decide that you want to take more than 5 credits. If you’ve found that you’ve made a mistake and would like to add a major in math or something, you can always take a 100-level course in your second year.

Another thing first-year students can feel disorienting to a lot of people because they are so huge (try sitting in a BIO151 lecture). A seminar-style course could be an opportunity to learn in a more personal setting in which the professor is able to pay a lot more attention to his/her individual students.

That said, many students don’t take Vic One or TrinOne, and they’re still getting along just fine. So it’s not like Vic One is something that I think you MUST or DEFINITELY SHOULD do. If there’s a course that interests you more than Vic One – be it geology or Japanese or religious studies – then by all means, take that course. But I really advise you to make your decision without the influence of outside opinions/stereotypes – and most importantly, no matter what you choose, to keep an open mind.

…so this post wasn’t funny at all, but eh… I’m running low on funny these days. In the meantime, go play this game and see if you can beat my score of 10840 (and leave a comment if you do!).