• admissions,  repeating course

    i want u(oft) to want me, i need u(oft) to need me

    January 13, 2014

    Hey. Thanks in advance for your help!
    I’m a high student in grade 12, attending school in Ontario. In grade 11 I chose to take both grade 11 and 12 English, planning on not having to take English in my final year. I managed to finish with a solid 94 in grade 11 English, but the semester following I slacked off and missed a lot of school due to family issues – I moved out of my parents house and so forth. Point being, I finished with a 62 (Grade 12 English) and of course, this is unacceptable in any university’s eyes. I plan on retaking it during my last semester in high school but I have heard that U of T does not consider re-takes – that they just take your initial mark.
    If you know anything in regards to this, that could help my situation, please let me know! Thanks!

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    well if your only mark in the 60s is in that one class, then it’s not the end of the world. universities do allow for a margin of error, and one C doesn’t automatically mean you’re out.

    as for retaking classes, uoft has some liability safety-net statement (which i talk about more here) that says they reserve the right to factor in the fact that you had to do the course twice when it comes to making an admission decision. however if you retake english, do really well, and get good marks in all the rest of your classes in grade 12, i’d say you’ve minimized the fact of your having done the class twice as much as you possibly can. so by planning to retake the course, you’ve pretty much done everything you possibly can to help yourself out. woo!

    that doesn’t mean you’ll get in, obviously, but it does mean you can know for sure you did everything within your power to get in.

    finally, you can always contact enrolment services and provide a letter explaining why that first mark wasn’t up to par. it really does help.

    best of luck,

    aska

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  • CR/NCR

    CR/NCR, what are what are what are (you)?

    January 13, 2014

    Hello,
    I was just hoping you could confirm something for me. I selected the Credit/No Credit option for one of my courses, and I just want to make sure that by doing so it will not mess up the amount of credits I need in order to graduate. So if I have five credits for the year, selecting the CR/NCR option will not bring that down to four, right?
    Thanks in advance.

    ?????????

    hey there,

    only if you fail 😉 basically, it’ll count towards your degree, but not your program (usually) or GPA. so yeah, it’ll still register as a credit that you’ve acquired this year.

    aska

    P.S. good on you for double-checking seriously that is some proactive work u r a better person than i could ever be. bless.

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  • summer

    summer school enrolment MADNESS

    January 13, 2014

    Hi,

    I am currently an undergrad student at another Ontario university located near UofT. I intend on taking summer courses at UofT but I am worried about how fast courses tend to get filled up at UofT. Going off UofT previous enrolment time, visiting student begin enrolling last (http://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/current/course/timetable/20135/step2) at around 5 pm of April 8th. I was hoping you could provide me some insight on whether or not I will be at a huge disadvantage registering for my summer courses

    Thanks

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    ok well assuming that they put you guys at the very end again (which they probably will because they’re butts what can i say), yeah, i’m not gonna lie, it’s not going to be a great situation. i mean enrolment goes really fast even without being at the end of the queue, so if you’re gonna do this, i’d recommend you have some backup courses ready, if that’s at all possible for you.

    however i’d say it’s still worth it to try! especially if you just want to take courses in certain general areas rather than HAVING to take, like, this one very specific stats course or something, you can probably figure something out that’ll work for you. plus it’s a little less crazy in the summertime, so there’s that.

    also, i know that since you’ve gone to the trouble of contacting me you probably already know to do this, but make sure that you’re at that computer at 4:50 on April 8th, on ROSI, with your first choices and backups ready beside you or in a separate document. you have to be completely prepared with what you’re going to do as soon as your start time hits, because that’s the only way you can increase your chances of getting into the classes you want.

    i know that’s not GREAT news, but good luck with it anyway! and i hope you enjoy your summer regardless of what happens, man.

    aska

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  • course overload,  CR/NCR,  graduation

    a smorgasbord of graduation-related anxieties

    January 13, 2014

    Hey aska,

    First off, I just want to say that you’re awesome!

    Secondly, I want to ask about graduating. (I know by the time you see this, 2nd sem will probably have started but I would like your opinion anyway). I’m in fourth year and I had intended to graduate in June but that now seems highly unlikely if not impossible. I started the fall sem with 5 classes and ended with 2 and a late withdrawal. I have been going through depression, family issues, and an overall lack of motivation for school. In the winter sem, I’m scheduled to take 6 classes, which I fear will drive me insane but I want to get as many credits as I can given I flopped the fall sem and tuition is so darn expensive. If I keep and pass those 6 classes, I will have 19.5 credits (so close!). Now, my question is what are my chances of getting a course overload so that I could still graduate in June? I know 7 classes is crazy, but I don’t want to pay more tuition in summer school. Or should I just stick with what I have and take a half credit in summer to graduate in November?

    Given that most of my classes in the winter sem will be electives, should I take advantage of the credit no credit option and use them all? (that would leave me with only 3 courses in which I would get a mark). Are CNC a “bad” sign or negatively looked upon by potential professional or masters programs? Although, I have no current intention of applying to any future program, I want to keep my options open and not screw myself over. Especially since I’m in my last year, how would this be taken? Keep in mind that I already have a .5 CNC from 3rd yr, a LWD from 1st yr, and a recent .5 LWD this past sem. How will schools look at that LWD I got in 4th year? Did I forever ruin any chances to be accepted in a masters program, for example?

    P.S sorry for the long msg and thanks

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    thanks! it’s super cool that you think i’m awesome because i find validation through other people instead of having a healthy sense of self-esteem. it’s people like you who help me function, man. you should feel proud. (no but seriously, i’m glad i’ve been in any way amusing/helpful to you. srs).

    alright, on to the meat.

    this is just my honest opinion, but 7 courses is really a lot. i’d say you have a valid reason for wanting them, so you might be granted course overload. by the way, you have to go through the registrar’s office to do that, so if you have reasonably good grades and you explain about wanting to graduate in June, and if the courses you want to take aren’t all incredibly demanding, there’s a definite possibility you could be granted an overload.

    buuuuuut i wouldn’t advise it, especially in your last year. i understand that the financial aspect of it isn’t a small thing, but if you’re even contemplating the idea of some kind of graduate school in the future, you don’t want to screw yourself over especially in fourth year, which is in some cases the only year grad schools look at.

    personally, i’d take the last credit over the summer. if you can, maybe try to find a summer job to alleviate that cost. trust me, i completely empathize with how hella expensive it is to pay for your education, but i think it’ll pay off in the long run.

    as for CR/NCRs, they’re only really a problem if they’re actually requirements for a graduate or professional school. since all of the courses you want to use CR/NCR on are electives, it shouldn’t prove to be too big of an issue. in fact, it might even be helpful if you think that using CR/NCR will give you a higher overall GPA (something grad/professional schools also look at). and if you’re gonna be taking 6 or even 7 courses i understand that making 1.5 CR/NCR would definitely be helpful.

    HOWEVER i have to add the mandatory cautionary that credit/no-credit isn’t a strategy, it’s a helping hand. if you think you’ll do really well in your electives and they’ll boost your GPA, then you might as well take them properly. who knows, down the line those marks might come in handy for a job application or something, and it’s a real hassle to get your mark released after you’ve made it credit/no-credit already (trust me, i work in a uoft office – people have to jump through flaming hoops backwards to get CR/NCR marks post-exams). also, if you use CR/NCR on three courses all in one year, it might look a bit suspicious to a grad/profession school, though i’d suggest you talk to any grad schools you might be interested in to make absolutely sure.

    as for the LWDs, they’re not great, and they definitely would affect something like a grad school application, but i wouldn’t say that they at all ruin your chances. obviously it depends on your overall GPA and the specific school in question, but if you’ve done well in the grad program’s prerequisites and you have a competitive average, i think you would still have a chance. especially since one of your LWDs was in first year, which is pretty much irrelevant for almost all grad/professional schools.

    also, lots of grad schools have a written application component where you can make a personal statement. that gives you a third, non-marks based chance to prove yourself as a worthy candidate. finally, most grad schools allow you to write them a letter explaining why stuff like LWDs have happened, if there’s a specific reason (don’t do that as part of your personal statement tho that’s a big no-no).

    i hope that’s been somewhat useful to you! best of luck, man, hope it goes smashingly, and congrats on graduating. you lucky butt. grr.

    aska

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  • OSAP

    osap shmosap

    January 13, 2014

    Hi there,

    I am a first year student in a 2 year program on OSAP, I just finished my first semester and unfortunately I am unable to move onto next semester because I failed three of seven of my courses. I logged onto my school account and it still has me registered as a student and my schedule for next semester is up. What I want to know is will my OSAP be discontinued?? Or will I still receive it in second semester?

    -Silently Stressing

    ?????????

    hey there,

    OSAP will receive a report on your academic progress at the end of this term, so you should receive your second instalment if you are continuing with school into this term, regardless of what happened in the fall. however if you’re still registered for this term and you don’t want to be because, like you said, you’re unable to continue, then?you need to call your college registrar and talk to them about that! if OSAP discovers in April that you received money for a semester when you weren’t enrolled in any classes, you’ll be forced to pay it back. and that is majorly uncool.

    hope that helps!

    aska

     

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  • housing

    don’t do that pls

    January 10, 2014

    I was wondering if I could get away with staying in my dorm after my final exam? I know that U of T has this policy where you MUST evacuate your dorm room after your last final exam, even if the exam period isn’t over yet.?(So if the residence closure date is Dec. 20 and my last exam is Dec. 13, I still have to leave right away so they can accommodate people for the?winter break). Can I get away with staying in residence until they
    officially close? Do you know any body who has done this?

    ———————————————

    lol don’t do that.

    if you have a don, they are responsible for kicking you out. if you don’t have a don, it’ll be the responsibility of some stranger who works for uoft. either way, you don’t wanna deal with that, man, trust.

    if there’s an issue where you have no accommodation for over the break, you may want to look into this or contact housing services.

    aska

    P.S. i realize i answered this question too late but i hope it will be valuable for future kids who might be considering DUPING THE SYSTEM.

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  • CR/NCR,  grad school

    the mysterious world of credit no-credit

    January 10, 2014

    Hello,

    This is a question that should be common, but I can’t seem to find any information online. What are the consequences, other than not receiving the credit, of getting the NCR designation? I understand that it will not affect my GPA, but will it show up on my transcript? I am not thinking of applying for grad schools at the moment, but would it lower my chances of being accepted? Finally, would a NCR designation hurt my chances of receiving scholarships or getting other honors?
    Thank you very much.

    Cheers

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    sorry you can’t find any info online – if it makes you feel any better, i think that not being able to find stuff online is one of the thing that most strongly unites uoft students. just know that when you’re swearing and crying at xxxx.utoronto.ca at 1am on a monday, you are part of something GREATER than YOURSELF.

    hopefully though i’ll be able to help you out just a lil’ bit.

    so first: the credit does show up on your transcript, but it just indicates pass or no-pass. so anyone looking at a CR/NCR course designation will KNOW if you’ve gotten the credit.

    numero duo: credit/no-credit is specific to uoft and a fairly new thing anyway, so there’s no like universal OPINION CAPITAL-O that grad schools have about it. if the credit is not a requirement for grad school, it shouldn’t be too much of an issue, especially if it’s just one random credit. of course not passing a class is always an issue, but if all your other classes are great, i think they’d be inclined to put less of a focus on it.

    numero trois le francais holla: scholarships and awards are highly subjective. there are some truly bizarre awards out there with all kinds of criteria, but if you mean a scholarship based on academic merit from uoft, i’d say that it might, but since it doesn’t affect GPA, it’s still worth it to apply.

    hope that helps to clear up your confuzzlement!

    aska

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  • OSAP

    osap loans more like osap MOANS amirite

    January 10, 2014

    dear Aska,

    This question is related to student loans. OSAP allows 6 months after your full-time studies before dropping a load of interest on top of your principal debt. Normally this allows you to not study every second semester, without interest.

    But consider the summer. Suppose you take the three courses you need to be considered full-time. Q1) If they are all F-section courses, does your ‘full term period of study’ end in July or August? Q2) If it ends in July, does that mean you can’t not study next fall semester without paying interest? Q3) How could you know these things anyway?

    Your immediate reply is very much appreciated!

    ?????????

    hey there,

    i know this reply isn’t as ‘immediate’ as you probably hoped, but i did tell you i’d be away, dude! anyway, hopefully this answer will still be useful to you.

    basically, if i’m understanding you correctly, you’re asking about doing 3.0 FCEs one fall, not doing any courses in winter or summer (to go off and party it up or sum shizzle i know how y’all are), and then going back the next fall. that means you would not be in school for eight months, so Q1) your grace period ends in July and Q2) yes, you’d have to start making payments in July, though you’d only have to make them for July and August before going back to school for September.

    as to Q3) i know because i work in an office that’s responsible for knowing these kinds of things. i haven’t for the life of me been able to find that specific information on the tragedy that is the OSAP site, but please feel free to contact them?if you wanna double-check what i’m telling you. they also might be able to let you know about any possibility of alleviating or even eliminating those two months’ worth of payments in the summer, which they can sometimes do if there are extenuating circumstances.

    good luck and toodles,

    aska

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  • courses,  rotman,  summer

    doing RSM100Y1 again oh man oh man

    January 10, 2014

    If I retake management 100 in the summer time, can I still apply for a commerce major in September? Or do I have to wait until the Winter session to apply or next year?

    Thanks!

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    so, the summer course schedule hasn’t come out yet, but if you’re talking about RSM100, it seems to be available in the summer (this is a preliminary timetable and so they could change it around a bit, but RSM100 is a fairly essential course AND it was offered in 2013 and 2012 over the summer, so i’d say it’s probably gonna stick around). You can enrol for that starting April 7th.

    as for applying for a commerce major, it depends on whether you’re already a commerce student. if you are, you can still complete the RSM100 requirement in the summer. if you’re not already in commerce (i.e. you didn’t apply for and get accepted to rotman in grade 12), it may not work out. applications for second-year applicants are due in april/may, so you need to have met the requirements by that time, which you couldn’t do if you took it in the summer. you could contact rotman about it in case they’re willing to make a special exception, but it’ll probably be an uphill battle if i’m being real.

    i hope that helps! have a bomb-diggity* day,

    aska

    *the hyperlink for this is the first image that shows up on google images when you search ‘bomb-diggity gif.’ so. there’s your social commentary for the day.

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  • admissions,  commerce,  repeating course,  UTM

    who ever knows what university documents are talking about

    January 10, 2014

    Hello, I am a grade 12 student currently in high school and I plan on applying to UTM commerce, but this year my mother was terminally ill and diagnosed with breast cancer which has a impact on my school most importantly Grade 12 Advanced Function and I was wondering if UTM will accept me repeating the course again in night school to get a better mark. Please let me know! I plan on applying during the winter holidays starting December 19th!

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    my condolences about your mother. as far as night school goes, UTM will be able to see both of your marks. they definitely won’t refuse to accept the repeated mark, but they “reserve the right to give preference to students whose grades represent their first attempt.” which i know sounds just like…what talk straight, dammit – will you accept me or not?

    that’s where i come in (w00). i have some experience in decoding red-tape talk, and if you translate that sentence from bureaucratic university jargon, it basically means that it might affect the admission decision a little bit, but it definitely won’t decide it. additionally, a repeated course is much better than just leaving a really poor mark on your transcript. so i’d go right ahead and repeat it!

    ALSO, IMPORTANTLY, since you have a legitimate reason for this having occurred, you have the opportunity (which i 100% recommend you go for) to write the university a letter explaining why your mark(s) is/are that way. it’ll make them a lot more disposed to give you special consideration. you can do that by getting in touch with enrolment services: they’ll tell you where and how to send this kind of letter.

    best,

    aska

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  • admissions,  extracurricular

    high school peeps working themselves up a storm

    January 9, 2014

    hey!
    i have a couple of questions. i am a grade 11 student right now. i am very interested in applying to the life sciencesprogram in u of t. with that said, so far my grade 11 marks are [information redacted for personal privacy]. does u of t look at your grade 11 marks? if so, what holds more importance,your grade 11 marks or your grade 12 marks? i am unhappy with my grade 11 marks and i definitely will do much better next year, looking at an avg of 94+ hopefully. do i have a chance? ALSO what else does u of t look at besides grades? i mean as in extracurricular activities and volunteer hours. what are the minimums for those things, and how important are they?
    thanks for answering!!!!!

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    oh, to be young and be unhappy with marks like yours. i’ma let you in on a little secret, friend: you’ll get in. in fact, i’m willing to bet you get in everywhere you apply. if not, i’ll owe you an apology for getting your hopes up, because i am certain you’ll get in. in fact if you don’t get in, you can write back to me and i’ll post a public apology to you on THIS VERY BLOG.

    ’cause hey, i’m not the institution – i don’t have any power over student admission – but i do have perspective that you don’t, and that’s a perspective that includes all the INCREDIBLY DUMB students who also get into university every year. i know it’s hard to see right now because uni looks huge and scary, but trust me, getting in is a piece of cake.

    as for extracurriculars, it’s really helpful that you’ve done them – both for your own personal experience and for any scholarships you may want to apply to – but the university application doesn’t take them into consideration. they’ll only be looking at your marks.

    that said, some programs, like mcmaster’s health science program for example, require additional applications that might allow you to talk about extracurriculars, but those are the exception, not the rule. the first general application that you’ll make on OUAC will just submit your transcript, and nothing else. most programs won’t ask for anything beyond that first application. i’m pretty sure most (if not all) of the life sci programs at uoft don’t require any additional applications.

    so don’t worry about it! i mean i’d still recommend continuing extracurriculars/volunteering through high school and even in university because they make you a better person and you get to have cool experiences and stuff (also *cough* scholarships *cough*), but they probably won’t be part of your undergrad applications.

    finally, universities reserve the right to look at your grade 11 marks, but i’d say almost all of the attention is focused on grade 12. so if you’re not meeting your (already very high and admirable) goals for yourself this year, don’t worry – you’ve still got all of next year.

    best of luck friend, and try not to worry yourself. you’re well on your way 🙂

    aska

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  • admissions,  med school

    what’s up, doc? (should i go to med school, that’s what)

    January 8, 2014

    I’m a gr.10 student in Toronto struggling to pick a career. I am good at English and language courses. I am not very good at math, and around average in science.

    However, after visiting a relative in the hospital, I fell in love with the idea of going to work and saving people every day. Since then, it has been my dream to be a doctor. I also know that I want a prestigious job, and a doctor would fit that requirement.

    So that’s my problem. Should I work a lot harder and see if I can get into med school, or should I forget that and pick courses that I am good at?

    -Confused

    ?????????

    hey there,

    i’m gonna start with a disclaimer here. basically the two kinds of questions that are answered on this blog are 1) i’d like to find this specific information and i couldn’t find it on the #@!&* uoft website and 2) i’d like YOUR ADVICE on my PERSONAL LIFE. your question falls into category number 2, meaning i’m just going to answer with my opinion based on my experiences. ultimately though, i am not you, and it’s up to you to make the decision you think is best. so. hashtag don’t sue me.

    this is the thing. being good at math and science are really important for the many,?many years you’re going to have to go to school before becoming a doctor. and being good/bad/average at math and science in high school is very different from at university. what i would do is take your average right now in your math/science courses, subtract 10% from them, and see if that meets the requirements for proceeding in a science-centric program in university, as well as the requirements for medical school.

    at uoft, a GPA of 3.6 (that’s around an 83%) is required to be considered for admission, not to mention MCAT scores and extra-curriculars. consider if you could keep that average throughout school without making yourself completely miserable. more importantly, consider if you would ENJOY doing math and science for 7+ years. if you’re not having fun, it’s not worth it.?i’m sure you already know all this, but i just want to stress that this stuff is really only doable if you actually want to do it. otherwise, you start to resent the work, resulting in you not doing it, resulting in you ultimately not meeting the requirements for admission to med school.

    that being said, if you love the idea of working in a hospital and helping people, being a doctor is not the only option. you could become a bioethicist, a nurse, a paramedic, a psychologist?(at uoft that program has a calculus prerequisite, but at lots of other schools it’s an arts program!) and a whole bunch of other jobs which haven’t crossed my mind because i am not a good person and have never worked at a hospital. there’s no reason to sacrifice things you like for things you’re good at.

    what i’m getting at is that you have a lot of options. countless people in lots of different professions save lives. if the only reasons you want to become a doctor are to save lives and because it’s prestigious, i’d say you’re going in for the wrong reasons. there are lots of prestigious jobs out there, enough that there’s guaranteed to be one you’d love doing. it may just take a bit more time to find them.

    i hope that helps. and if it didn’t, don’t worry, because you’ve still got two years to figure it out. that’s plenty of time, so don’t feel like you have to rush a decision. just take it step by step, and you’ll figure it out.

    g’luck,

    aska

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  • subject POST

    i can’t think of a clever pun that has to do with sociology

    January 8, 2014

    Hi there,

    I’m a 2nd year student currently majoring in CCIT. I initially applied for Anthropology and Sociology minors in my subject POSts. Since I didn’t reach the grade average for Sociology, I’m temporarily enrolled in a History minor instead. Does this mean I’m required to take History courses this year? I’m enrolled in a History course for 2nd semester, but I have no interest in it at all and I’m debating on whether or not I should drop.

    For the Sociology minor, It says the grade average among all Sociology courses to get into the minor program must be at least 63% when applying in subsequent years . I took SOC100 during 1st year and SOC244 in summer school, but I ended up with a 60% in both courses. I’m taking another Sociology course next semester to hopefully get my average up.

    Do you have any advice on what I should do in the meantime? Do I have to wait until the next subject POSt enrolment date to re-apply?

    Thanks!

    ?????????

    hey there,

    so, a coupla things here. first, you do have to wait until the next POSt enrolment date to apply. for you, that’s march 18th?since sociology is a type 2 subject POSt. (that’s earlier than the downtown campus, ya lucky butt).

    as for history, they don’t require that you take certain courses in specific years, so i’d say you can get away with not taking any history courses if you don’t want to. if you have no interest in that history course you’re enrolled in, then i’d advise you drop it. drop it right away. ain’t no time to waste on lame courses you have no interest in.

    as for what you can do in the meantime, i’d say there’s not much. if you can take another sociology course this term to give you another chance to up your sociology average, go for that, but if that’s not an option, just sit tight, man. i’d say you’re doing everything you can.

    so long and good luck!

    aska

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