• colleges,  prospective student

    words of wisdom? from me?

    August 18, 2021

    Do social science students have to choose a college like life sci students? Also, any words of wisdom for the incoming high school seniors?

    ———————————————

    hi there,

    i hope you’re enjoying the last of the summer, and thank you for your patience with this answer.

    yes, social science students do need to choose a college! all students under the faculty of arts and science get sorted into colleges — u of t is so big that it only makes sense, administration-wise.

    as for words of advice, it’s been a quick minute since i’ve been in high school. honestly, the piece of advice that most readily comes to mind is this: in most people’s cases, your senior year of high school is your last chance to be a kid, so enjoy the heck out of it. life comes at you fast during university, and most of my friends needed to grow up real quick to deal with the realities of rental housing, international student immigration hoops, and student loans.

    i know there are a lot of stressors attached to university applications and figuring out your future when you’re in the 12th grade, but personally, i wish i had slowed down a bit and savored where i was a little more.

    i don’t know if that’s the kind of wisdom you’re looking for, but that’s all i’ve got for ya today. best of luck completing high school, and you know where to go if you have more questions!

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • subject POST

    i’m lovin’, i’m livin’, i’m switchin’ it up

    July 24, 2021

    Im a prospect student and was wondering how hard it is to switch from Psychology to Life Sciences since I received an alternate offer. Thanks!

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    hi there,

    i’m not really sure what you mean regarding the alternate offer.

    if you’re a prospective student, you should know that you’re not really a psychology student until after your first year, at which point you’d apply to the psychology POSt and hopefully get accepted.

    if you wanted to switch from a psychology major or specialist to a life sciences program like biology, you’d be able to do that after your second year, since the program request periods take place in the late spring/summer. essentially, you’d need to make sure that you have the appropriate prerequisites for admission to the program, and then you’d need to go through the POSt application process again. to find out what those prerequisites are, you’d check the appropriate entry in the artsci calendar. if you’re successfully admitted to the program, then you could drop your psychology program and accept your admission to the new lifesci program.

    but all of that switching trouble could be averted by simply taking the prerequisites for whatever lifesci program you like in first year, and then applying directly to that program. at u of t, you don’t really commit to a program when you apply — i believe you indicate a program of interest, but no one’s going to hold you to that.

    i hope this helped!

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • breadth requirements,  courses

    give me a class with no math, stat(s)

    July 21, 2021

    I was scrolling through your blog and I noticed that you recommended a course called DTS300 to someone. It sounds really interesting but I can’t find a lot of people talking about it online. Could you tell me more about it, if that’s okay with you? Thanks ?

    ———————————————

    hi there!

    thank you very much for your patience with this answer — i know it’s been a while!

    sure, i’m happy to tell you more about DTS300 if it’s still relevant. i had to dig up the syllabus to answer this well, which is why the delay. the year i took the class, attendance counted for a chunk of the grade, and then the rest of it was just three short papers and one longer one. the material was very conceptual — rather than delving into statistical techniques or mathematics the way you would in a regular breadth 5 class, we focused more on how quantitative and qualitative research function in the social world. for example, we looked at how statistics bolstered systemic racism against Black people in the united states.

    i personally really enjoyed the readings and the vibe of the class. despite being a fairly large group (i think 200-300 students), the instructor, kevin o’neill, ran things with a very interactive vibe. each lecture had a bit of an argument, in the sense that there was a conceptual realization o’neill wanted us to arrive at by the end. it was an intellectually challenging course, and i found it very worthwhile.

    keep in mind that all this could change, but that’s what DTS300 was like in my experience. i would definitely recommend it as a breadth 5 course!

    i hope this provided some more insight into what you might expect if you choose to take it.

    be Boundless,

    aska

     

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  • courses,  writing

    if only i could take every single course u of t offers

    July 16, 2021

    hi! i wanted to ask if you know anything about creative writing courses at u of t. cre275 (formerly known as vic275) sounds really interesting but i’m not sure if it’s gonna be good i know it’s subjective but i guess i wanted to ask if you know anything about it/know ppl who have taken it !

    ———————————————

    hello!

     

    thank you for your patience with this answer — i guess if you were planning to apply to cre275, you’ve already done it, but i’ll answer this anyway.

    i unfortunately haven’t taken cre275, but i do know people who have taken it with kuitenbrouwer and enjoyed it. that kind of assessment is, as you acknowledged, very subjective and my guess is that the course will probably be what you make of it.

    in terms of what i know about creative writing courses at u of t in general, i know that the cre program has some fantastic ones — but so does innis college’s writing and rhetoric program. i’ve taken a class with sharon english, and i would highly recommend anything she teaches. she’s a fantastic instructor who gives incredibly thoughtful feedback. if you’re interested at all in creative non-fiction, simon lewsen’s classes are also really enjoyable.

    sorry i couldn’t be more helpful — there are, after all, limits to what i can speak about from personal experience! but if you want to ask people who have taken cre275 and similar courses, feel free to drop your email and a quick note back in the tumblr ask box, and i can email you the link to a discord server where these kinds of discussions take place.

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • academic offense

    greyer than dumbledore’s beard

    July 13, 2021

    Is asking someone who already completed a test how hard it is, and comparing it with previous exams WITHOUT revealing the exam details an academic offense?

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    hi there,

    good question! here’s what the code of behaviour on academic matters says (i’ve bolded the clause that’s relevant here):

    1. It shall be an offence for a student knowingly:

    (a) to forge or in any other way alter or falsify any document or evidence required by the University, or to utter, circulate or make use of any such forged, altered or falsified document, whether the record be in print or electronic form;
    (b) to use or possess an unauthorized aid or aids or obtain unauthorized assistance in any academic examination or term test or in connection with any other form of academic work;
    (c) to personate another person, or to have another person personate, at any academic examination or term test or in connection with any other form of academic work;
    (d) to represent as one’s own any idea or expression of an idea or work of another in any academic examination or term test or in connection with any other form of academic work, i.e. to commit plagiarism (for a more detailed account of plagiarism, see Appendix “A”) ;
    (e) to submit, without the knowledge and approval of the instructor to whom it is submitted, any academic work for which credit has previously been obtained or is being sought in another course or program of study in the University or elsewhere;
    (f) to submit any academic work containing a purported statement of fact or reference to a source which has been concocted.

    what you’ve described feels sliiiightly grey to me, but only slightly. as far as i know, it’s perfectly okay to ask someone who’s already taken a test how they found it — their assessment of how it went is going to be so subjective that you can’t really obtain an unfair advantage from it. that is, as long as they’re not divulging details about the test, and just telling you whether it was easy or hard.

    however, i do wonder what you mean by “comparing it with previous exams.” i’m not quite sure what that entails, since (to me) you’d need to know details about the exam to make a meaningful comparison. also, how do you have access to previous exams? that’s a bit sketchy, unless your instructor/department provided that access.

    but that’s just my take, as a fellow student who happens to have an above-average understanding of academic offences. you can try contacting your registrar’s office to ask someone who’d be able to give you a more authoritative answer on this. i don’t think they can hold it against you — and you don’t even really need to give them your name if you contact them via the phone.

    i hope this was helpful!

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • Transferring

    i do not know!

    July 12, 2021

    hello! if i transfer from york biomed to utm life sci, I understand not all of my credits will transfer, or will either transfer as half a credit. I read somewhere that i may need to take an extra year to compensate for my missing credits, however i really want to avoid doing so and would love to complete my undergrad in just 4 years! are there ways i can complete all my credits in time?

    ———————————————

    hi there,

    thank you for your patience with this answer!

    unfortunately, it’s a bit tough for me to gauge your situation because i don’t have access to your academic history. i don’t even know what year you’re transferring out of!

    i’d recommend that you try getting in touch with both an academic advisor at york and an admissions officer at UTM. they’d likely be better able to answer your questions — i’m sure other prospective students have been in your situation.

    but in terms of strategies to keep your degree within four years, you can always take summer classes if that’s something you’re open to. at u of t, you can take a maximum of 2.0 FCEs over the summer (four courses). if you have a high enough CGPA, you can also petition for a course overload, which will allow you take more courses than the usual limit (6.0 FCEs in the fall/winter, 2.0 FCEs in the summer). i can’t say for sure whether these strategies will allow you to complete your degree within four years, though — that’s something you’ll need to do the math on yourself.

    i hope this provided a bit of clarity! good luck with your decision.

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • subject POST

    we live in a society

    July 9, 2021

    hello!!! i wanted to ask if you know some info about the sociology major? such as how big the classes are and what subjects you’re required to take in the senior years of high school to get into this course

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    hi there!

    you’re in luck — i do know things about the sociology major.

    apart from the standard social science admissions requirements, you don’t really need to take anything specific in the senior years of high school to get into the sociology POSts. instead, your first-year prerequisites will be considered when you apply to the program after second year. basically, you need to get a certain grade in both SOC100 and SOC150 to be admitted to the soc major. that grade cutoff changes year to year, so unfortunately i can’t be more specific about it.

    those first-year classes, SOC100 and SOC150, are really big. in non-covid years, they’re held in con hall. if i recall correctly, i think the enrollment is usually anywhere from 1000 to 1400 students. don’t quote me on those exact numbers. basically, it’s a crowd.

    as with most programs, as you become an upper year, the class sizes will shrink. the standard second-year sociology requirements are probably around 200 to 300 students large, and once you hit fourth year, you’re looking at 15-person classes.

    if you want to know specific class sizes as they are right now, you can look the sociology courses listed on this page up on the timetable and check the “space availability” section.

    the last note i’ll make is that you’ll need to take at least one statistics class to graduate with a sociology major. a lot of students don’t realize that when they request it as a POSt, and they end up dropping down to a minor to avoid that pesky stats requirement. switching POSts around can be inconvenient, so if you want to avoid math and statistics at all costs, the sociology major may not be for you! but if you’re willing to take that challenge on, it’s really just one course, and i’m sure you can get through it.

    i’m not sure what else you want to know about the sociology major, so drop me another question if there’s any specific information you’re seeking and i can try to find it for you. hope this was helpful, and thank you for waiting for this answer!

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • covid-19

    back to school, for real this time!

    July 4, 2021

    Hi! I’m an incoming second year student who basically feels like a first year because everything was online during my freshman year LOL

    I guess I wanted to ask if you have any general tips for in-person classes in university. I also wanted to ask if you could let me know how to attend an online class before an in-person class (back to back). I saw some people on reddit talking about study rooms, but I also don’t really know how that works/how to book it? I’m in Victoria College studying English and BMS if that helps at all :]

    Thank you so much in advance !!!

    ———————————————

    hello there,

    this is a great question!

    Joel Mchale Wow GIF by ABC Network

    here’s what i can come up with off the top of my head for in-person classes. it’s been a quick minute since i’ve done one of those, so i expect we’ll all need to adjust.

    • use the U of T map to look up building codes when you plan your classes out. whenever possible, i like to avoid registering in back-to-back classes that will require me to run from corner to corner of campus. you can technically make it from con hall to vic within the ten-minute window between classes, but it may require some jaywalking and some awkward walk-running.

    penguin running GIF

    • note down the location of each one of your lecture halls before the first day of class!! and then check them last-minute to make sure they haven’t changed, as sometimes that happens. one of the worst feelings is running around a building looking for the right lecture room, only to find that the class recently moved across campus.
    • make sure you bring snacks! there won’t be any more running to your fridge during lecture breaks if you get hungry.
    • familiarize yourself with the underground tunnels at vic, since they’ll keep you warm and dry when you’re going between buildings in the winter. plus, remember to use the museum subway tunnel to cross queen’s park between the faculty of law and emmanuel college. it’s much safer than jaywalking if you’re in a rush.
    • sit close to the front of your classes! i can imagine that if you have to talk with a mask on, you won’t need to struggle as much to be heard if you’re closer to the instructor.

    other than that… i’ll be learning how to juggle online courses with in-person courses the same as you, as i’ve never done that before. i can imagine online courses that don’t require voice participation will be a lot easier to manage, as you can just pick a quiet study space on campus and take your class from there. just make sure you bring your laptop charger and headphones.

    season 8 restraining spongebob GIF by SpongeBob SquarePants

    let me know if you need study space recommendations, as i do have a few favourites, but i think part of the fun of uni is trying all the spaces out and figuring out which ones you love!

    if you do need to participate by turning on your camera and/or mic, it may make sense to book a study room. information about that will be available on this page when u of t reopens the booking system.

    i hope this was at least a little helpful! i’m struggling to wrap my head around the concept of returning to campus myself, so i expect we’ve all got a learning curve just up ahead. remember to be gentle with yourself, stay hydrated, and plan things out well. you’ve got this!

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • friends

    you’ve got a friend in me

    July 4, 2021

    what’s the easiest way to make friends freshman year?

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    hello hello,

    glad you asked! it’s really important to seek friends out during your first year, as they will 100% make your university experience so much better.

    having fun GIF

    here are some of my thoughts on that:

    • take small classes, like the ones programs or the first year foundations seminars. i made some of my closest friends by taking courses like this when i was new to u of t! these classes tend to be more discussion-based and resemble high school classes in size, so they’re the ideal place to meet fellow first-years.
    • join extracurriculars that you think you’ll enjoy, which will help you meet people that share your interests! you can find club listings over at ulife, and most student groups also have an instagram or facebook presence if you have questions.
    • get an on-campus job that’ll require you to interact with fellow students on the regular. i personally recommend work-study jobs. you can find out more about those on CLNx.
    • engage in orientation — take advantage of all the bonding and activity opportunities, and do your best to open up to the people you meet. lots of people are looking for new friends during o-week, so it’s a great time to socialize in hopes of finding your tribe.
    • go to events held by your college or faculty! pub nights, if those will be running next year, are always great.

    honestly, above all that, the best way to make friends is to put yourself out there. say hi to the person sitting next to you in class, and make small talk — what year are they in? why are they taking this class? do they want to trade contacts and perhaps study together sometime? u of t can be a lonely, lonely place, and of course you’ll come across some people who aren’t interested in connecting, but i think you’ll be surprised how receptive people are to meeting new people.

    i’m fairly introverted, so that’s the best i can do, but i hope you got a few ideas from this! best of luck during the upcoming school year.

    be Boundless,

    Happy Season 3 GIF by Friends

    aska

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  • covid-19

    the start of the school year just got that much more chaotic

    July 4, 2021

    Hi! I’m really confused about the Dean’s explanation of whether things will be online or in-person next year. I know that until September 23, classes are all gonna be online (right???) but what happens after that??? Do only some switch to in person?? Sorry i’m just really confused

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    hey there,

    it’s entirely fair to be confused, i think things are still quite a bit up in the air!

    from my understanding, you are correct that classes will generally be online until september 23. after that, any classes labelled “in person” on ACORN/the timetable will switch to in-person offerings, unless you hear otherwise. it’s possible that these plans could still change with the evolving nature of the pandemic in toronto, but that’s the information we have so far.

    for more information about how classes will look at the start of the academic year, i’d recommend reading through all the FAQ on this webpage, as it helped clear up a lot of the questions i had.

    hope this helped!

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • prereqs

    very vague and mysterious of you

    June 12, 2021

    I’m currently in high school and I’m planning on taking a course in the summer to meet the requirements of my condition. Has anyone done this before and can you share what the process was like?

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    hi there!

    i’m not really sure what you mean by the requirements of your condition… do you mean your conditional acceptance?

    without more information, i’m not sure that i can answer this in a helpful way. i do know that people take summer courses to meet course prerequisites — one common summer course to take is calculus. if you’re worried about meeting math prereqs, you can look into the PUMP program, which is a u of t-run course that addresses that specific worry.

    i’ve never taken a supplementary summer course myself, so unfortunately i can’t tell you what it’s like!

    but i would recommend reaching out to your registrar’s office to ask about the process, and clarify what hoops you might need to jump through (submitting transcripts etc). even if you haven’t started your first year yet, you can book appointments with an academic advisor if you’ve been admitted to the school.

    sorry i couldn’t be more helpful, and best of luck with this!

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • academic offense

    off the hook!

    June 7, 2021

    Hi, I was accused of academic offense last month for plagiarism in a final test worth of 25%. I shared my account with my friend and they copied some of my answers. My instructor reached me and I gave him all the evidence I have. Fortunately, I was forgiven and he won’t forward my case to the dean said in an email. The problem is, I am planning on a trip and I may not respond to email for weeks. I wonder if my matter will be dropped for good or if there will be further investigations.

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    hello there,

    i hope you haven’t left for your trip yet! sorry it took me a good minute to get back to you on this. for more urgent inquiries, i always recommend that you contact the appropriate u of t office, like your registrar.

    if your instructor has told you that your case won’t be forwarded to the dean, you can rest assured that your matter will be dropped unless you’re notified otherwise. according to our darling academic offence bible, the code of behaviour on academic matters, no further action is taken when an instructor doesn’t notify the dean or department chair of an offence. here’s the specific wording, so you can see it for yourself:

    “If after such discussion, the instructor is satisfied that no academic offence has been committed, he or she shall so inform the student and no further action shall be taken in the matter by the instructor, unless fresh evidence comes to the attention of the instructor, in which case he or she may again proceed in accordance with subsection 2.”

    i hope this helps you feel better, and that you have a safe trip! if there’s anything else related to this that you’d like professional advice on, please don’t hesitate to contact your registrar to book an appointment with an academic advisor. as far as i know, nothing you tell an academic advisor can be used against you when a matter of academic offence goes to trial.

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • academic offense

    it’s academic offence season again

    June 6, 2021

    Hi there. I would like to ask what kind of academic offense will be taken to tribunal directly? Is copying significant part of an exam possible? I am really stressful these days and I don’t know if I might get suspended.

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    hello hello,

    thanks for getting in touch, and i appreciate your patience with this answer!

    as far as i know, no academic offences are taken directly to the tribunal. the code of behaviour on academic matters is your friend when navigating these situations, but it can also be a little hard to understand.

    to my understanding, the document indicates that you’ll meet with your instructor to discuss a potential academic offence first. after that, you’ll have another meeting with the department chair or dean.

    an academic offence case only makes it to the tribunal when, after a meeting with the dean or department chair, a student does not admit to an offence and the provost lays a charge against the student.

    apart from that, i’d really recommend that you reach out to your registrar’s office and book an appointment with an academic advisor to guide you through this. academic offence cases are so very stressful to deal with, and you deserve professional support. as i understand, nothing you tell an academic advisor can be used against you in an academic offence case.

    please also remember that u of t has mental health care resources for you to access if you feel overwhelmed by this stress. the My SSP program, for example, is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in multiple languages.

    i hope this situation gets resolved all right, and that you look after yourself and reach out for support!

    be Boundless,

    aska

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