Do U of T profs mark harder than other schools?
UofT profs hold up a longstanding academic tradition of rarely marking their students’ work. usually it’s the t.a. and as my t.a. put it, they are all suffering in the stale air of the robarts cubicles and want everyone else to suffer too. miserable bunch. they tend to mark harder. harder than other schools? who’s to say. is UofT harder or does it just mark harder? the eternal question. in my experience, it’s easier to get a b than an a. it’s easier to get an a at lakehead than an a at UofT. at least that’s what they’ll have you believe. i don’t believe in generalizations, all i know is that it’s damn hard to get a’s here but people do it. i don’t think it’s a matter of brains; it’s a matter of self-fucking-discipline. damn i hate essay time.
cheers,
askastudent
3 Comments
Megan
I’d like to put in a little insight to this question from my own personal experience. I spent my first year at St Mary’s University in Nova Scotia making a’s and b’s. It was wonderful. My campus was contained in a one block radius, and most buildings were conveniently connected by pedways (saved money on umbrellas). After moving to Toronto, I have been plagued with a curse of c’s with an occasional b thrown in. But I am at the best, learning from the best, and working my ass off. It’s a proverbial big fish/small pond scenario, but as long as I stick with courses according to my strengths, I have found myself slowly but surely bringing up my GPA. I would much rather go into a job interview with a degree from U of T than from a great, but not as highly rated school. Yup, “self-fucking-discipline” it is…. it’s only me who can make the grades.
Gloria
Show up for classes, pay attention, do the work. Destiny takes care of the rest.
(Damn, Aska! You’re burning up the internet today.)
Lalami
It’s quite simple: Money.
Money makes the world go around. Or this case, keeps U of T alive.
U of T gets most of its money through its students. Now if everything were nice and easy (or barely tolerable, which U of T rarely is), then people wouldn’t fail, drop out, and whatnot, so there would be no extra money from people’s “academic errors” to keep the machine going.
It’s very sad, but that’s what happens to a school that has to keep up its reputation that it excavated with its own ego. Yes, there are people who do well, regardless of the evil marking scheme that seeks to downgrade you rather than support you. You may feel even inadequate, or stupid sometimes- Something which U of T is a master at. But if you realize that most of the tests boil down to memorization skills, you realize that you are not so different from that student who aces every class. You just happen to be in the wrong environment- like trying to fit a cube into a circular opening. Then you ask yourself “Should I stay or should I go?”
My advice? GO. Unless you absolutely love everything, why stay somewhere that makes you feel anxious and stressed? Of course we prioritize ideals to overcome our fears and pains. Essentially U of T is a dungeon- you are being punished the moment you enter.
Yes, discipline is the key. Discipline is the key to overcome anything- especially pain. But if are going to hate life for the next four years- will that shiny U of T degree really be worth it?