• CR/NCR,  late withdrawal

    CR/NCR, LWD, or just lie down and cry

    March 10, 2015

    Hi, right now I’m considering doing a course as CR/NCR and I’m in my 3rd year . I’m aware that my graduate school program of choice (sciences) looks at both your third year and fourth year marks. If I drop this course, I will have 1 course short of full course load, so I was wondering if having a Cr/NCR course on the tran script would be a bad idea, and if I should just drop it. This course is also a science course. Thanks!

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    the first thing you need to do is figure out if the graduate schools you’re looking at care if you’ve maintained a full course load in your third and fourth years. most grad schools don’t, though i know medical school is a real stickler about it.

    a CR/NCR is generally preferable to an LWD, since 1) you actually have a chance of getting the credit and 2) LWDs will usually impact any grad school application negatively. CR/NCR – not so much (as long as you pass the course, i mean).

    if you don’t think you’re gonna pass the course, an LWD might be a better idea. if you’re feeling really torn about it, a chat with your registrar’s office is never a bad idea.

    or you can just do what i do: don’t drop any of your courses, don’t sleep, cry, and get behind on your work in every class! whoo! trust me, it’s proven to work.

    good luck with whatever you decide,

    aska

    P.S. i know that some registrar’s offices are being a bit more lax about the CR/NCR deadline because of the strike, but if you do decide to CR/NCR it, i’d still recommend hightailing it to your registrar asap – just in case.

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  • askastudent love/hate

    it’s not your fault, mom. i’d regret me too.

    March 10, 2015

    Just wanted to thank you for this blog. And your existence in general. It’s greatly, greatly appreciated. Thank you, aska. Thank you for taking your time out and helping all of our curious souls.

    ———————————————

    see mom??? SOME people appreciate my existence. not everyone wonders “what the h3&k they did to deserve me.”

    seriously though, it’s not a problem. i’m happy to do it. keeps me off the streets. it builds character. it’s helping me to become a real boy. or something along those lines.

    and hey. HEY. i appreciate your existence too, random person off the internet. i really do.

    xoxo,

    aska

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  • subject POST

    funky munk-y

    March 9, 2015

    could you tell me more about the Munk School of Global Affairs? I have been accepted into U of T for a different program but I was looking at the Munk programs and they sound perfect for me. I’m a little confused as to what the munk school means. Would i still be part of the faculty of Arts and Sciences?

    ???????????????

    hey there,

    that’s a pretty good question, and i’m not surprised you’re confused.?we’ve got a lot of programs, schools, faculties etc. at this university, and it’s easy to get lost in them.

    so, let me try to break this down in a way that makes sense.

    munk?is an entity which does a lot of things: it?does research, it has a graduate program, it puts on events, etc. one of the things it happens to do is house a?number of undergraduate programs in the faculty of arts & science (or FAS).

    those POSts are just as much a part of the faculty of arts & science as any other POSt. in fact, every POSt is hosted somewhere, by something, in a department or program office somewhere. the munk school of global affairs is that place for the munk programs.

    that fact?doesn’t affect you as an undergrad in any significant way academically. it will affect you in that?that you’ll be hit by a pretty unpleasant wind tunnel along bloor every time you go to visit a departmental advisor. also, you’ll have access to a lot of cool?opportunities which i highly recommend you check out.

    excited yet? good. so when the time comes for you to choose your subject POSt(s) after first year, as long as you’ve completed any required prerequisites, you’ll be just as eligible to apply to a munk POSt as any other shmo in the?FAS.

    good luck with it, eh?

    aska

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  • late withdrawal,  UTSC

    UTSC LWD (we sure do love our acronyms)

    March 9, 2015

    I heard you’re the (wo)man to talk to.
    I just bombed two of my midterms horribly 🙁 and the deadline to drop courses has passed! As I just came off probation, I don’t want to mess up my GPA anymore — so I plan on using LWDS again (I have already used 1.0 of my 3.0 credits). So I tried to go on eService but it doesn’t show any of my courses! What’d I do wrong?! Is it because I still have a balance on my school account?
    On a side-note, while looking at some of your previous LWD-related answers, how bad do LWDs look on transcript (like in my case) for future employers? Would I still be hireable?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    if the courses you want to LWD are S-section courses, then the request period doesn’t open until march 23rd. so that might be why.

    other than that, i can’t do much more than guess at reasons why you can’t see your courses – mostly because i’m not a utsc student and i didn’t know what eService was until i just looked it up to answer your question.

    if you’re thinking about LWD’ing a course, and especially if you’re just off probation, you should probably be talking to your registrar’s office before making this decision anyway. while you’re there, you can ask why you can’t see your courses online. it might be because of your financial account, or it might be an entirely different reason – i’m not sure. but you should for sure talk to someone about it.

    as to whether you’d still be hireable, that kind of depends on the job you’re gunning for. generally, LWDs are more of an issue for people applying to graduate/professional schools.

    if you’re applying for a job straight out of undergrad, your employer probably won’t even know what LWD means, if we’re being real. in either case, an LWD is not damning by any means.

    two LWDs are a little bit worse than one, but again, not the end of the world. but definitely do talk to your registrar about the specific implications of an LWD on the jobs you’re thinking of going after.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • courses,  TAs

    turnitin is a machine

    March 9, 2015

    So I kind of feel silly for asking this, but I’m panicking and my TA is, of course, on strike so I can’t ask him… But will I be penalized for submitting an assignment on Turnitin at 12:00am if is due at 11:59 pm? t’s a second-year history course, so I’m not convinced I’ll be cut any slack, but I really don’t want to be penalized for a single minute, anf apparently any late submissions are marked as “late”, so my TA might not not even notice that it was just a single minute due to frustrating password problems, and even if he does, he might not take it into consideration.

    Thanks!

    A panicked first year

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    unfortunately, turnitin has no way of judging how late you were. if something comes in after the deadline, then it’s late – that’s all the program knows. which, yes, is frustrating, but i think i’d be more concerned if turnitin were sophisticated enough to feel human sympathy for lateness. like, first comes sympathy, then comes questioning why it’s servicing humans, then – BAM! robot war.

    fortunately, your TA is human. if you missed the deadline by just a minute or something, feel free to e-mail your TA about it and explain what happened. they won’t be able to respond because of the strike, but whenever it ends, they’ll have that explanation there and may be able to cut you some slack.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • engineering,  GPA

    the status of failed courses

    March 9, 2015

    Hey I’m a first year engineering student that really messed up, I was wondering if first year marks count towards cGPA, I know they don’t use first year when considering you for honours standing, but does the same apply for cGPA? Also when calculating averages for awards that require you to take a ‘full course load’, are failed courses still counted as part of a full course load?

    Thanks
    EFTW

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    the ‘c’ of CGPA stands for cumulative, so yes, it includes every year you’re at school, including first year.

    ‘full course load’ implies that you took a full course load, not that you passed your full course load. so whatever marks you got in your failed courses will be counted as part of your average, and you will be considered as having taken a full course load.

    try not to be too bummed about it. first-year engineering is almost mythical in terms of how hard it is. you have three more years to slowly build that CGPA back up to something you can be happy with, so don’t stress. if we all just focus on getting through the rest of the year alive, then there’s always next year to do better.

    good luck!

    aska

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  • subject POST

    SUBJECT POST SPOTLIGHTS!

    March 5, 2015

    my favourite time of year is almost upon us. no, i’m not talking about christmas. and no, i’m not talking about bath day, or go-home-and-let-your-mom-do-all-your-laundry day (although that day is pretty FREAKING GREAT).

    i’m talking about SUBJECT POST ENROLMENT TIME! this is one of the most exciting times of the year for first years (and sometimes even for second years…and third years…). i would argue that it’s the MOST exciting for people who haven’t totally decided what they want to do. maybe you have a general idea, but you’re not exactly sure what you want. or maybe you don’t have any idea what’s out there.

    if you’re feeling CONFUSED and BAFFLED by the whole thing, then this is the perfect opportunity to explore all the wonderful options that are out there for you!

    to get you started, aska will be doing a series called?’subject POSt spotlights,’ where i’ll be talking about programs at uoft that maybe aren’t as well known – but might be exactly what you (yes, YOU) are looking for. these spotlights will be leading up to the subject POSt enrolment date, which starts on april 1st.

    this is not a decision to make lightly. so i want you to read up, start thinking, and then you can make an INFORMED CHOICE?about what you want to study that won’t leave you feeling awful when you graduate?because you wasted four years and $30k on a degree you don’t actually care about.

    so when will these spotlight posts be going up, aska??? well, i can’t commit to a schedule because i’m a child, so they’ll probably be coming out sporadically a couple times a week. if you want to keep track of when they get posted, feel free to follow aska on twitter/tumblr/facebook.

    see you around,

    aska

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  • admissions

    42. the answer is 42.

    March 5, 2015

    What marks do they look at for february acceptance at utsg ?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    there is no definite answer to this, my friend. much like life, this will continue to be a question as long as people continue to experience it, and will probably never resolve itself into an answer.

    what i’m saying is: admissions probably isn’t about to spill the beans about their inner workings anytime soon, so just sit on down and have an ice cream cone or something.

    spill the beans

     

    an image of what uoft admissions likely won’t be doing anytime soon.

    d’you want to know something even more frustrating? there is likely NO definite mark that they’ll be looking for. it all depends on how your marks compare to everyone else’s, and that varies from year to year. THERE IS NO ANSWER.

    answer/no answer dinosaur

    a thoughtful dinosaur asks a question even aska can’t answer.

    yeah, i know that makes you want to tear your hair out. it’s ok. punch your pillow if you need to. you ok? good.

    you can take a look at the anticipated grade ranges in fall 2015 for the stream you applied to, and that’ll give you a sense of what they’re looking for. but i can’t give you an exact number. no one can.

    hoping you have an appropriately melancholic existential day,

    aska

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  • rotman,  st. mike's

    rotmikes (not a good combined name. i regret this.)

    March 3, 2015

    I’ve been accepted to Rotman but I’ve been reading a lot of things that are putting me off, specifically that the atmosphere is cold and your campus and social life will suffer. How true are you finding this? Also do you have any idea what St. Michael’s College is like? I was accepted there for residence and would like to know more about it:) thanks in advance!

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    before i get into this, i may as well give full disclosure: i’m not a rotman student, so i don’t have any kind of INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE about how rotman works. i have a lot of anecdotal information from having friends in rotman, but that can only go so far. i mean, they don’t let people onto the internet with just ANECDOTES, y’know. only real, legit people get on the internet.

    but hey, not being in rotman has never stopped me writing about them before! check out aska’s rotman tag for all kinds of musings.

    as a general point, i’ll say that lots of programs that are known for being very INTENSE can be isolating (engineering, engsci, rotman, economics, comp. sci). if it turns out you don’t like the program and/or find it very difficult, it can be hard to integrate yourself into the community.

    to put it another way: if it turns out you hate commerce, you’re not going to want to be hanging out with a bunch of commerce-y people all the time. it’ll get real old, real fast.

    however, it’s not impossible to make friends and get involved. here are a list of student organizations at rotman, all of which are a great opportunity to make friends within rotman. and if you love what you’re studying, you’ll be able to make friends with other people who love it and actually enjoy yourself.

    also, you’re allowed to have a life outside rotman (believe it or not). college life is a great opportunity to get involved – at st. mike’s you have the st. michael’s college student union, the st. michael’s college residence council and the st. michael’s college troubadours, just to name a few.

    even if you don’t do anything on campus, it’s hard NOT to make friends when you’re living on residence. just like…exist…on your floor and people will notice you and talk to you. and if YOU take the initiative to talk to THEM? well then, you’re golden.

    if you want to know more about st. mike’s, please check out our st. mike’s tag. you can also peruse aska’s ‘prospective students’ page and check out the links listed for st. michael’s college. (there’s a lot of ’em and they took a ridiculously long time to link, so please click on them).

    the residences at st. michael’s college are divided into five buildings. st. mike’s is the only college on campus which has single-sex floors – which i guess could be a good or a bad thing, depending on your perspective.

    despite that, every house/floor in the residence is part of an incredibly tight-knit community. everyone dines in the canada room, which is a great big dining hall on the college campus. everyone eats together, everyone lives together, and everyone participates in rez life together.

    as a first year, you’re most likely to be put in fisher house, teefy house or elmsley hall (1st or 4th floor) (if you’re female), and moore house or elmsley hall (2nd or 3rd floor) (if you’re male). you can read up on the character of each building here.

    congrats again on your acceptance! see you around next year,

    aska

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  • admissions

    pending WHAT???

    March 3, 2015

    I got accepted to u of t st George campus and on join id it says admitted but when I click check status it still says pending review?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    my guess is that the university is still waiting on some final documents for your school to submit, but that they’ve offered you a conditional admission based on your in-progress marks.

    what does that mean in not-uoft-jargon? it means you’re in. so don’t worry.

    unless JOIN is saying you yourself need to submit something specific, i doubt there’s much for you to do but sit back, relax and wait. however, you can always contact enrolment services to make sure there’s absolutely nothing more you need to do.

    and hey – congrats on your acceptance! welcome to hell (a.k.a. the best time of your life. no, really).

    cheers,

    aska

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  • academic offense,  late withdrawal

    LWD’ing an academic offence

    March 3, 2015

    Hello,

    I was wondering about the Late Withdrawal policy with an academic offense. In summary, I have been alleged of an academic misconduct during an exam, but it was nothing too serious like it was not cheating or hidden notes. It was because of possession of an unauthorized aid which was a cellphone, but it is still an offense. But I did not look at my phone at all during the whole time. Anyways, I might have to go through the very complicated process of meeting the prof, chairman of the department, dean and so on. So, I was wondering when I could be able to drop the course and place a withdrawal?

    Specifically, if the dean decides to punish me by like a 30% mark reduction on the exam, and I want to drop the course. Is that allowed? I heard that once you are caught with academic offense in a course, you no longer have the privilege to ask for a LWD. I mean, I know I did something bad by not following the rules and I regret so much by not putting the phone in my bag. But that is really going to impact my course grade and destroy my GPA…

    I know that if the Dean/Chairman decides that it is not an offense to them, then I would be allowed to easily drop the course with LWD, but I don’t know how it will go and what will be my fate.

    Thank you for your time,

    I hope someone could help me out and I feel so depressed from what happened to me this week.

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    you are not allowed to drop the course while the investigation of academic offence is happening – that includes late withdrawal. you are also not allowed to drop the course if they impose a sanction. unfortunately a 30% mark reduction is an example of a sanction, so no, you wouldn’t be able to LWD in that case.

    i know it’s tough to feel like a silly slip-up has cost you so much. no one likes to deal with an academic offence – literally no one. however, this is not the end of the academic road. i know it seems like a huge deal now, but you can recover from this (and so can your GPA).

    most importantly, there are people who can help you. i highly recommend you talk to your college registrar so that they can guide you through this process.

    best of luck with it,

    aska

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  • fees

    the fees’ knees

    March 3, 2015

    This year, I’ve had the unfortunate experience of paying my tuition fees by myself (pretty much all my money from working goes straight to my tuition). At the beginning of the school year in fall, I made the minimum payment and have been making small payments ever since. I am a little bit worried that I might not be able to pay it all off in time (like I’ll probably have little bit left by the end). So what will happen if I don’t? Will I still be able to do my exams and after get my final grades on ROSI? Or will they prevent me from taking any exams and fail me in all my courses? Also when’s the last day that I can pay (I can’t find it on the fees website)? Can I make arrangement to have it paid off by another date?

    UTSC student.

    Thanks again!

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    they definitely will not prevent you from writing exams – no dumbledore business going on here.

    the last day to completely pay your tuition this year is april 30th (Table 1). if you are not able to make the full payment by april 30th, they will block any transcript requests and may refuse further registration (Note 2, Table 1).

    so you’ll definitely be able to complete your courses this year (i mean, barring any considerations of the strike), but you may have some trouble registering next year.

    if you don’t think you can completely pay it off by april 30th (or even if you’re uncertain), i’d strongly recommend making an appointment to talk with the financial counsellor at your college registrar’s office. they can give you more details about what happens if you can’t make the payment, explore financial aid options with you, and help you make some plans going forward.

    and hey – good on you for paying your way through education. we have a really high tuition and student pay is (usually) really low, so paying your way through school these days is pretty tough to pull off. nicely done.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • profs,  subject POST

    bug your profs!

    March 3, 2015

    Hi aska!

    I’m a first year student trying to decide what my Subject Post would be. So I was thinking about doing a Psychology specialist, Economics major and Statistics minor. They still add up to 20 credits but do you think U of T would let me do such a combination?

    I also have another question: do you think it’s possible to ask professors to round a 79 to 80 after it’s on ROSI?

    Thank you and much love 🙂

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    firstly, sorry for the abysmally late response. we’ve been pretty backed up on questions and are finally catching up. FINALLY.

    technically, you CAN do a specialist, major and a minor. it’s not breaking any of the rules around subject POSts (i.e. no more than three POSts total, no more than two specialists/majors). i don’t know how you’re gonna pull of those three POSts and fulfil breadth requirements, but you can give it your best shot. good luck to ya.

    as to your question: it’s definitely possible. do i think they’ll do it? probably not. but hey, you have their e-mail – feel free to give it a shot.

    cheers,

    aska

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