• courses,  prereqs,  subject POST

    it can indeed be done

    June 1, 2021

    Hey Aska! I’m a grade 12 student. I’m going to UofT next year in the Life Science admission category. The truth of the matter is, I am very interested in two very different programs (life sci and poli sci). My understanding is that you can double major in programs from two different admission categories, even though you’re only allowed one admission category. Is that right? Also, do different majors have prereqs? And if they do, do you think it will be possible to fit them all in my schedule?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    congrats on accepting your offer of admission! it’s great to hear that you’re interested in different programs — i honestly think the people who study super different things, like chemistry and history, are the coolest people on campus.

    your understanding is correct — it’s totally okay to double major in programs from two different admission categories. different majors do have different prerequisites, though. you can find out what those prerequisites are by consulting the appropriate program entries in the arts and science calendar. in nearly all cases, it is possible to fit those prerequisites in your schedule with a little careful planning. degree explorer is your friend here.

    in first year, your admission category will afford you priority enrolment for certain courses — since you’re in lifesci, that means it’ll be easier to get into things like BIO120. but i wouldn’t say this will necessarily stop you from registering in humanities or social sciences prerequisites. plenty of people do it, and if you encounter difficulties, you can also reach out to your registrar’s office for help. in fact, if you want to have a chat with an academic advisor before your course enrolment begins, you should be able to book those kinds of appointments over the summer.

    hope this helped, and a very early welcome to u of t!

    be Boundless,

    aska

     

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  • ASIP

    an old school trying new things

    May 28, 2021

    Do you happen to know any information about the new ASIP program? I’m in an eligible program for it but I don’t quite understand how it’ll work 🙁 If you could help me out I’d really appreciate it!

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    this large, large school is always coming up with new things for me to catch up on, huh? which is really a good thing, because hopefully it means things are improving.

    i don’t know a ton about ASIP, because it’s launching in the fall of this year. it sounds a lot like the co-op programs that other schools, like the university of british columbia, run. if it’s anything like those programs, it’ll entail applying to jobs and then participating in a paid work opportunity. these types of things are really great for getting substantial stuff on your resume before you graduate, and my friends who have participated in co-op programs have enjoyed them. but ASIP is new, so it’s entirely uncharted and i can’t say how similar it’ll be to co-op.

    to confirm details and find out more, i’d suggest that you attend one of these information sessions. but if it helps at all, it does sound like a cool opportunity that i’d be interested in if i were eligible. unfortunately, i’m too old.

    hope this helped!

    be Boundless,

    aska

     

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  • academic offense

    a little good news for you!

    May 26, 2021

    hi there. Last few days had been particularly stressful to me. My instructor in a math class had contacted me and claimed I might committed plagiarism with other students. I have shown him evidence and he seemed to believe me. Later he said he won’t be forwarding my case to the dean. I wonder if the dean would still investigate my case and might use the evidence against me. Thanks.

    ———————————————

    hi there!

    to my understanding, if your instructor says that he isn’t forwarding your case to the dean, i don’t believe the dean will be investigating you. according to the code of behaviour on academic matters, when an instructor decides that a student has not committed an academic offence, no further action is taken. i doubt that your dean would have time to investigate a case that wasn’t forwarded to them, even if they wanted to: the varsity has reported that there’s a bit of a backlog in academic misconduct cases, because the number of those increased so much recently.

    in the future, if you find yourself in this situation again i’d suggest you contact your registrar’s office and ask to speak to an academic advisor. academic misconduct cases can be incredibly stressful, and you deserve to navigate those with support. i believe that nothing you tell an academic advisor can be used against you when your case is investigated.

    overall, this sounds like a rough situation to be in. i hope you take some time to look after yourself, and i hope that this answer helps.

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • odds are that won't be asked again

    no one gets rest here. this school lacks a BEd

    May 24, 2021

    Hi there! Do you happen to know any information on education, specifically teaching internationally? I’m currently going into second year, so I only just enrolled in a double major for English and BMS, but now I’m wondering if I need to pursue an education degree to teach internationally. I’m aware that U of T doesn’t really have an “Education major,” just the education and society minor. How exactly would I become qualified to teach internationally then? Maybe I don’t need an education degree in my undergrad? Maybe I need to go to grad school for it instead? I’m very confused, and I’ve tried to do a ton of research online and in reddit but I decided to reach out to you because I was still confused 🙁 I hope you can help! Thanks so much 🙂

    ———————————————

    hey,

    unfortunately i don’t feel all that qualified to answer this! i did a bit of research, but like you mentioned, it is a bit difficult to figure out. i was only to find stuff on websites that i don’t recognize, and that kind of info can be a bit hard to trust sometimes.

    this webpage indicates that qualifications will vary depending on where and what you want to teach, which makes sense. it seems like the standard is to have a bachelor’s of education degree, though. if you’re looking for that at u of t, your confusion is understandable.

    as far as i know, you are correct that the education and society minor is pretty much it for u of t education programs at the undergrad level. i believe other schools, like the university of alberta and the university of british columbia, offer bachelor’s of education programs. u of t does not. if you’d like a bachelor’s of education, you may need to transfer to another school. if you’re interested in doing a graduate degree in education at u of t, you may want to look into OISE’s master of education program.

    i’m not sure what type of international teaching you’re hoping to do, but if you were hoping to teach english classes abroad, you might want to look into getting a “teaching english as a foreign language” certificate.

    apart from that — sorry, bud. i don’t really know.

    in terms of how to move forward, you can try reaching out to your registrar’s office. i’m not sure if the academic advisors will necessarily be specialists on how to become an internationally accredited educator, but they may know the right directions to point you in for more information.

    i wish i could be more helpful! best of luck.

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • courses

    as you can tell i am very type a

    May 24, 2021

    Hi! Do you have any tips on how to manage or organize our required courses? I’m gonna be an English major and Book and Media studies major, and they both have a lot of requirements that I’m not sure how to space them out. Do you think I should be doing some second year courses in third year and stuff (so like, for example doing 2 200-level English courses in 3rd year to free up some space for my requirements for BMS and maybe even a breadth requirement) thank you!!

    ——————————————

    hey there,

    this is a good question! thanks so much for your patience with my answer.

    it’s absolutely fine to do some second year courses in third year, and even fourth year. conversely, it’s okay to take 300- and 400- level courses in second and third year as long as you’re up to the challenge and can meet all the prerequisites. i know plenty of people who arrange their schedules that way, because program requirements can be a bit tough to coordinate.

    in terms of other tips i have to manage and organize required courses:

    • degree explorer is your friend! it won’t be quite as helpful for scheduling courses, but it is great for keeping track of which requirements you’ve fulfilled and which ones you still need.
    • on top of using degree explorer, i like to use colour-coded spreadsheets as well. at the end of my first year, i created a lil 40-cell spreadsheet matrix with one cell per half credit of my degree. then, i colour-coded: i assigned pink to program 1, yellow to program 2, and blue to program 3, and used those colours to fill as many cells as half-credits i’d need for each program. then i went in and used text to fill out the course codes of specific required courses, and bolded the ones i still needed to take. that helped me keep much better track of what i was juggling. i’d show you my lil colour-coded matrix, but it would be blatantly clear what my POSts are, and i value my anonymity.

    • when planning out courses in a more long-term way (ie. beyond one semester) see if you can figure out which program requirements will cause you the most distress (lol) and try to space them out well. sometimes, you’ll need to talk to upper-years in your program to see which classes are well known to be difficult.  sometimes you can just assess this based on your own strengths.

    that’s about all the tips i have — but if you’d like to talk this over further with someone, i’d suggest reaching out to your friendly local registrar’s office. if you’ve never spoken to someone at your registrar before, here’s a guide i wrote that will give you the basics — this is from pre-covid, though, so obviously in-person services won’t be open.

    i hope you have a good summer, and best of luck planning your courses!

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • admissions

    the ol switcheroo

    May 16, 2021

    Hi! So I’m not entirely sure if I want to apply to social sciences or life sciences next year. I’m leaning more towards social sciences though. Question is, if I get accepted into social sci and end up deciding I want to go into life sci can I make that switch? And if I decide to stick it out until the end of first year in social sci and decide that it’s not for me will I be able to easily change programs? Or will other students get priority? Thank you!

    ——————————————

    hey there,

    it’s very normal to be uncertain about what you want to apply to!

    if you get accepted into social sciences and end up deciding you want to go into life sciences, you can certainly make that switch. the nice thing about u of t is that you don’t need to put another application in to switch faculties, the way you might need to at another school where there are separate faculties for arts and science.

    really what you’re applying to when you apply to ‘social sciences’ is an admissions category. i believe it may give you priority enrollment for social sciences courses, but it’s not a program per se — programs are your majors, minors, and specialists, which you’ll apply to after first year.

    so it should be quite straightforward to switch between admissions categories, at least within the faculty of arts and sciences. if you decide to switch relatively early on, for example before you register in your first year courses, then you could just avoid selecting prerequisite courses intended for social science students (like SOC100, for example). instead, you could select prerequisite courses for the life science programs you’re interested in. to find those prerequisites, consult the artsci calendar. 

    if you want to keep your options open, you can try registering in prerequisites for both social science and life science programs in first year. then, you’d be able to apply to any of those programs during the program selection period that begins near the end of the academic year. for more information on applying to programs, you can check out this webpage. 

    if you commit to social sciences in first year and then decide closer to the end of the year that you want to switch, that’s a bit more complicated. you’ll need to pick placeholder programs in order to be eligible for second year registration, and in your second year, you’ll need to take those life science prerequisites. then, at the end of your second year, you can apply to life sciences programs. you might be wondering if entering your programs so late might be considered abnormal, but it’s actually quite common — lots of people decide to switch!

    i hope this helped, and feel free to send me another question if any of this isn’t clear. i realize the system can be quite confusing!

    @ U of T,

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • subject POST,  UTSC

    i’ve been a non-degree student and it’s not a bad experience!

    May 15, 2021

    Hi. Is it possible to graduate utsc without enrolling in a subject POSt?

    ——————————————

    hey there,

    if you’re interested in graduating from utsc with a degree, this webpage indicates that you can’t do so without enrolling in the minimum combination of subject POSts. so to my understanding, unfortunately, the answer is no!

    if you’re interested in studying at utsc without enrolling in a subject POSt, you can look into becoming a non-degree student. that means that you’ll be permitted to take courses at utsc, but you’ll commit to those courses on a case-by-case basis and won’t need to complete program requirements. in fact, you won’t be allowed to enroll in programs if you change your mind. you also won’t receive a degree, and therefore won’t graduate in the traditional sense — but for some people, this is the right course of action and exactly what they’re looking for in their education!

    i hope this clarifies things for ya.

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • subject POST

    that disappointing time of year

    May 15, 2021

    Hi there, I applied for human bio major and psych major for my POSt however I did not get into human bio nor any other bio major, hence I went ahead and enrolled in 1 Psych major and 2 minors (a minor in psych and minor in bio). I wanted to ask if first will I be able to easily switch my POSt as in reapply for human bio maybe after summer or in 2nd year? Also I’ve enrolled in 2 bio courses for the summer for human bio but since I didn’t get in do I drop the courses and take psych ones? Thank you

    ——————————————

    hey there,

    sorry to hear your POSt applications didn’t go as planned! this very disappointing experience is unfortunately all too common at U of T.

    it’s great to hear that you enrolled in placeholder programs instead — that’s something you need to do in order to enroll for second year.

    personally, i’d drop the bio summer courses and take psych ones instead if i wasn’t confident that i could get into a bio POSt in the future. from my perspective, it’s better to start tackling the requirements for a POSt that you’re already in — there’s more of a sense of security that way. sometimes, people take upper-year requirements for a POSt that they’re hoping to be admitted into later on, and then they end up in a tight spot if they don’t actually get into that POSt eventually. but if you feel good about your bio chances in the future, go right ahead and take those bio courses.

    you can also ask your registrar’s office this same question — i don’t think my opinion is the be-all-end-all, and the right answer for you might very well be different from the right answer for me.

    you can certainly reapply for your first choice POSts, but you won’t be able to do that until spring of next year, when applications open again. unfortunately, there isn’t an application period after the summer or during the school year. frustrating, i know.

    i hope this helps you navigate your situation better! good luck.

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • courses

    no silly questions here

    May 15, 2021

    hello! this might be a bit of a silly question but it’s okay to take a second year course in third year, right? i’m an english major and i want to do as much of the requirements as i can in second year, since a lot of the courses are 200 levels, but i also really want to do a 200-level course called “queer writing,” i just don’t have room in second year anymore. i’m thinking i could take it in third year instead. this is okay, right? as long as i fulfill other requirements in my third year along with it?

    ——————————————

    hi!

    i don’t think this is a silly question! yes, it’s absolutely okay to take second year courses in third year. no one will judge you for it, and if they do, they need to be paying more attention to their own studies, lol. in fact, taking a second year course in third year can actually give you an advantage, since the grading is a bit easier than a third year course. like you mentioned, you’ll still need to fulfill your third year requirements, but most people won’t have so many that they can’t take any other courses.

    enjoy the queer writing course! it sounds great and i’m sure it’ll be interesting.

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • international relations,  subject POST

    please add time travel to the long list of my talents

    May 6, 2021

    hi! hope you’re doing well! i recently made a big oopsie and forgot to send in my supplementary essays for the pcj program (and my mom won’t let me forget about this anytime soon so yay for me). i was wondering if you know if the international relations major needs any supplementary essays? i can’t find it on the program page on trinity’s website, and the calendar doesn’t specify either, but my mom insists that she remembers someone saying i need to write one. thanks in advance! 🙂

    ——————————————

    hi there,

    on behalf of every u of t student who’s ever made a consequential mistake, i feel for you and want to tell you that things will be okay! it’s great that you’re looking into IR as a backup. honestly, from what i’ve heard, the PCJ program is fantastic and very cool but sometimes a bit disorganized (new instructors cycle through often, the program’s comparatively quite young, etc.). you also have to deal with a lot of big egos because of the high threshold for admission.

    i double-checked the IR calendar entry and you’re right that it doesn’t mention any essays. if supplementary materials are required, that will always be mentioned in the calendar. but because i know how moms can be, i also asked a friend who applied to IR in summer 2019 to confirm, and they told me that they needed to submit a short essay.

    so, as one does, i put on my detective hat. i wear a lot of hats around here, but this one’s my favorite.

    i couldn’t find a gif of The Hat that i liked, so this one will have to do.

    after that, a little time travel was in order.

    in summer 2019 (july the second, to be exact), this is what the IR calendar entry looked like.

    as i expected, all application requirements were listed in the calendar entry, and back then those requirements included a statement of interest — or an essay. so your mom was technically correct in the sense that, in the past, an essay was necessary. but given that the page today has removed the “Statement of Interest” bit, i think it’s safe to say that no essay is required.

    i hope this helps! good luck.

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • covid-19,  failing,  first year

    sending hugs to all the first years <3

    May 5, 2021

    Hi I’m a first year life science student and to be honest this entire school year has not been great. I only passed one course and failed the rest of my courses. I don’t know what to do next to be honest. With COVID-19, online learning, online tests, online exams, online classes, the constant staring at my screen, trying to keep up with work, to be honest its too much. I don’t know what to do next with course selection and choosing majors. I plan on talking with a academic advisor. Any advice?

    ——————————————

    hey there,

    thank you for your patience with this answer! i’m really sorry to hear that things have been so rough for you. back in december, i heard from several other first years who were in the same boat as you, and it seems like this year was a phenomenally difficult one in which to be adjusting to uni life. i hope that you’re able to take some time to rest now that the academic year is over — please be kind to yourself!

    i’m not sure if you’ll already have spoken to an academic advisor at your registrar’s office yet, but this is the advice i can offer you. i expect that you’ll be placed on academic probation since your CGPA is likely less than 1.50. maybe you’ll have been notified of that already, or maybe this will serve as a heads up for you. in either case, i’d ask your registrar what that means in terms of your course and subject POSt selection. there may be stipulations that i’m not aware of.

    in terms of choosing majors, you’ll need to have selected the minimum program combination (a specialist OR two majors OR a major and two minors) to register in second-year courses. i’m not sure if the programs you’re interested in are open enrolment or limited enrolment, but for now you’ll need to select open enrolment programs that don’t require you to meet a specific threshold. if they’re not your actual program choices, think of them as placeholders that you can swap out next year if your CGPA is higher.

    i’m not really sure what advice i can offer you regarding course selection, as that’ll depend entirely on your program goals and what requirements you need to fill. if you come up with any specific questions, let me know and i can try to help! otherwise, your registrar’s office is always a good place to go.

    finally, i’d like to recommend some other resources that may help you moving forward:

    • your college should have a learning strategist that you can book an appointment with. learning strategists can help you re-design your study systems, plan schedules that work for you, give you personalized time- and stress- management tips, and more. if you’ve never visited one, they may be useful to you as you try to pull your GPA up.
    • i’m not sure what type of classes you’re in, but writing centres and math learning centres are also great places to visit for paper/homework help.
    • if you’re feeling overwhelmed, u of t runs the ‘My Student Support Program,’ which is accessible 27/7 in multiple languages for confidential support. university is really tough, and resources like these have been invaluable to me as i’ve tried to make it through. i hope you access MySSP if you need it.

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • taxes

    this is what the utsu tax clinic is for

    April 30, 2021

    hello! it’s that time of the year again–tax time! i’m a first year currently and i’m completely lost on what “unused tuition transfers” are. i wasn’t employed in 2020 and the only “income” i received are the CESB and OSAP, but i don’t know if i have unused tuition or if i should transfer it to my parents. do you know anything about that? thanks! 🙂

    ——————————————

    hey there,

    i know today is tax day, so sorry for cutting it so close to the deadline! i literally just emerged out of a pile of finals an hour ago, and am back on here doling out advice.

    i’m really not qualified to be a tax consultant, but i can try. this is what the CRA says about tuition transfers, including unused tuition transfers.

    this turbotax explanation is also helpful, even a bit clearer:

    “As a non-refundable credit, if the tuition amount is greater than the tax owed, the non-refundable credit can only be used to reduce or eliminate the student’s federal/provincial tax bill but won’t generate a refund. If you aren’t able to use the full amount of the credit, any unused credits can be carried forward to a future tax year, or transferred to a spouse/common-law partner or parent/grandparent.”

    “Unused tuition credits calculated on Schedule 11 can be transferred to qualifying relatives. Spouses and common-law partners, parents and grandparents — including those of your spouse or partner — can be designated for all or part of the transferred amount.”

    so it seems like, if you have a low income and aren’t owing much tax, claiming your tuition fees won’t do much in terms of getting you a refund. so the portion of your tuition that you can’t use to get credit then becomes “unused,” and you can transfer up to $5000 of that “unused” amount to a relative.

    in the future, if you need help with taxes i’d recommend checking out the utsu’s tax clinic. a lot of students don’t know this resource exists, but accessing it will get you free one-on-one help with a student volunteer who’s trained with these things! much more reliable advice than mine, imo.

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • admissions

    back door entry

    April 19, 2021

    Hello! I’m in my second semester of 11th grade and I recently bumped UofT to my top choice school. Problem is I did really poorly in functions this year (low 60s), I plan on applying to life sciences (biodiversity and conservation biology). The requirements are English, Bio and Calculus. I’m getting a tutor this summer and shooting for low-mid 80s in Calc next year. Is it likely that I could be accepted? Or should I just apply to Humanities and try switching into life sci if I get accepted?

    ——————————————
    hi there,
    it’s great to hear that you’re hoping to come to u of t!
    i struggle to answer questions like this because i’ve never been inside the admissions process, and what i do know about admissions from research is quite vague.
    if you’ve taken functions 11 and are seeking to do better in calculus 12, you may want to note that u of t does consider grade 11 marks for life sciences admissions if grade 12 ones aren’t available. however, i’m not 100% sure how much of an equivalent functions is for calculus. and i can never really assess the likelihood of someone’s acceptance based on a partial account of their academic record — i get a lot of questions like yours, and unfortunately can’t give people the answers they want.
    for a better answer, i’d recommend that you speak with someone from admissions. i’ve linked their contact info here. i’d ask them whether a midterm mark in calculus 12 would be considered with enough weight that they wouldn’t look at your functions 11 mark. i’d also ask what they think about applying to humanities and switching to life sciences later. i guess that’s kind of like using a back door into the admissions process — to me, it doesn’t sound like a bad idea, but i wouldn’t be surprised if there are some complications. so just check that over with someone who’d know better.
    good luck with your tutor lessons this summer! i hope that goes well.
    be Boundless,
    aska
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