Hey i was wondering if you could help me out,
I am really confused about this college stuff. I mean i have applied to u of t and then of course a college. Now what i don’t understand is what it means to be a member of this college. For example, does it mean that each college teaches its own chemsitry course for example and you can only attend the chemistry course at that campus, or is it that you have access to their campuses computers and other facilities only.
Thanks for your time.
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Your confusion is understandable. Let’s see if I can help.
Every student who is part of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at UofT belongs to one of seven colleges. There are a few main reasons for this.
The first is to build a sense of community. There are more than 20000 students enrolled in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, so separating the students into smaller groups helps foster a better sense of “home on campus”.
The colleges also exist to provide you with quicker and more effective counseling. Your college registrar will probably be your first stop for any questions that you may have about UofT. If you’re thinking about changing majors, dropping a course, or petitioning an exam, your college registrar will help you. If you’re a first year student who doesn’t understand how to enroll in your courses, your college registrar will help you. If you just want some advice, your college registrar will help you. Each college has their own registrar – which means that staff members get to know their students better and help them make the best out of their University life. Each college also has their own writing centres, libraries, student societies, newspaper groups, and so on.
Lastly, each college offers their own set of interdisciplinary programs. For instance, Innis College offers Urban Studies, Writing and Rhetoric, and Cinema Studies. University College offers Sexual Diversity Studies, Drama, and Health Studies. Woodsworth College offers Criminology… etc. However, enrollment in these programs is not restricted to students in any particular college. For example, you could be a New College student and you could still be part of the Cinema Studies program through Innis College. Most of the traditional programs (examples: anthropology, English, physics, sociology) are NOT offered through colleges, but through specific departments. For example, the chemistry program is offered by the Department of Chemistry, and the Department of Chemistry teaches their own courses. Students in any college can take chemistry courses, and there is no “specific” chemistry course for students in any college.
I hope this clears things up. Feel free to ask me more if there’s something about the colleges you still want to know. If you need some advice on choosing colleges, I once again recommend Cynthia’s College Series on UpbeaT.