Hey, I just finished my first year at UofT and I’m in a bit of a pickle. I calculated my GPA and, thanks to a few personal setbacks and a failing grade (half credit), I’m at a 1.8625. Now I’ve been told that first year doesn’t matter in the long run, that by the time I’m graduating and applying for jobs or a Master’s programme, no one will care about first year. However, I’m not sure if that’s true and I’m freaking out a little (a lot). Am I going to suffer as a result of this year? Also, thanks to the failing grade, I’m at 3.5 FCES and I know in order to enrol into my subject POSts, I need 4. Will not being able to enrol until next year hurt me in some way? I have all the prerequisites I need to enrol into my classes but I’m just not sure what’s going to happen with the subject POSts. Sorry if you get asked stuff like this all the time, I’m just beyond confused and worried.
Thanks!
Supes Confused Second Year
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hey there,
don’t worry, man, i get it: just because other people have asked the question before, doesn’t mean that it’s unimportant. if anything, you should feel better about the fact that lots of people have been in your situation. if they were able to pull through it, so can you. well i mean, probably. the odds are good, anyway. i’ve gotta be a rational optimist, y’know.
most master’s programs don’t look at the CGPA of all four years. some do, but i’d say it’s not a majority. so you can take comfort in that.
as to subject POSts, you can enrol in a summer course to close that gap between 3.5 and 4.0, but the deadline to register and enrol is coming up REAL SOON, so if you decide to do that, get yourself to your college registrar as soon as possible. otherwise, you can wait until the next subject POSt enrolment period; lots of POSts allow you to enrol after second year. there are some courses that are restricted to people in certain POSts, so there may be some courses you’re interested in that you won’t be able to take, but other than that, it shouldn’t affect your second year too severely.
all practical talk aside, if you’ve finished a GPA with a 1.86, that’s not great. i understand that personal setbacks can impact school pretty severely (and first year is never easy, no matter which way you spin it), but if you are experiencing setbacks*, then support is often just the thing you need to help you along. the best people i know at this university who can provide that kind of support are the ones in the registrar’s offices. so consider making an appointment with them to talk about this past year, and make plans for improving next year.
finally, don’t freak out about this. this is just a thing that happened, and now it’s up to you to make a decision about how to proceed. whatever happens, you’ll move past this, and as long as you’re making choices that you’re happy with, that’s all that matters.
best,
aska
*that makes you sound like a computer or something. i’m sorry. i didn’t mean to imply that; you are, of course, a person with thoughts and feelings, unlike myself. i’m a 7-ft-tall android built by uoft to help students. did you know they integrated ROSI into my retinas?