environment,  geography

When Politics and Speaking German Are Not Your Thing Try Saving The Planet

Hi Aska,

So I have a couple of questions for you…

I’m currently a first year student at UTSG. Originally, I came into U of T with the intention of majoring in political science and/or German, so all
of my courses now are in the humanities/arts field. However after a few months, I realize that I’m more interested in Geography/Environmental
Studies, which was something I considered seriously in high school. So I am concerned because I’m not sure if I would need to transfer into the Life Sciences Department. What’s the deal with this?

I also just realized that in order for me to major in this, I would need to have taken Chemistry 12 in high school in order to take the first year
Biology and Chemistry courses, and I failed my Chem 12 AP course….Does this mean I can’t take the Chemistry and Biology first year courses? Who can I talk to about this?

I have one last question regarding degree requirements. I read somewhere that only 6.0 FCES from 1st year courses are counted towards your degree. Considering how I will probably have 5.5 FCES already from 1st year courses in the HUMANITIES/ARTS field, how will this fare for me since I will be taking biology/chemistry/math first year courses next year for my new intended major?

Sorry for the rant….

MajorChange

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Hey Major Change,

Political Science … phew who needs that when we have people like Rob Ford in control. He seems to have things under control <insert obvious eye roll here>

This switch shouldn’t be all that horrifying. Life Science is apart of the Arts and Science department so switching around is mainly just having the requirements and applying to the subject POSt.

Saying that, I don’t actually think Life Sci is the best place to share your enviro/geography love.

They do have a couple of programs but the Centre for Environment or Geography department might be suiting.

Unfortunately most of the science streams in both Environment and Geography do require Grade 12 Chem and Bio. Meaning that you would have to look into doing some highschool nightschool or an equivalent to take even the first year courses. I have heard that sooooome math courses don’t check the highschool requirment, but I haven’t heard anything about chem or bio. You can call the departments and see if they will make an exception but I wouldn’t rely on that.

But in the spirit of Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa and any others that I have forgotten, I have an alternate solution for you. Well actually a couple of possible solutions (I know, I can feel your excitment radiating through the screen).

1) Take a stream of Env or Geo that’s an Arts program over a science. These bad boys do not have highschool science requirements.
2) There is a specialist and major program called “Environmental Geography” which just might combine all your interests.
Any first year coures that exceed the 6.0 credits are considered “extra credits”. Meaning that the marks are not calculated into your CGPA and do not count towards your graduation requirement of 20 credits. BUT they can count towards your programs requirements.
Rants are always more intersting then calm speaking.
snuggles and warm apple cider,
aska

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