askastudent - your student life specialists

housing, money, residence

the housing market should be scared of me

May 15, 2025

Hi there!!!!!!! Is it actually cheaper to rent an apartment than to live in college? Those prices are driving me insane, honestly lol.

hey there,

this is a great question.

my immediate answer is yes, it is cheaper live off campus, just because that’s how it’s been in my experience and my friends’ experiences.

for example, some of my friends were recently paying around $1600/person/month to live on campus and then moved off campus to a place that was like $1300 per person each month.

personally, i used to live in dorm but got an apartment last fall. let’s just say that when i moved off-campus, my rent was $500 less per month than it would have been had i stayed in campus housing. but keep in mind, i got really lucky finding my place.

so if you’re exclusively looking at the renting price itself, in general it is common to find apartments within walkable distance from campus that are cheaper than the college dorms (see a list of the dorm prices here).

but for a complete answer, i have to acknowledge that whether an apartment is “cheaper” heavily depends on your lifestyle choices — ie. what conditions you’re willing to live in, how far you’re willing to commute, how much you’re ordering food in. because there are definitely ways to make living off-campus more expensive than dorm.

furnishings

an important thing to consider is how much it’s going to cost to furnish your apartment. some apartments come furnished, most don’t. you’ll want to think about how long you’re planning to stay in the city — is it worth buying all this furniture if you’re only here for a few years? you decide.

if you stay in dorm, you save a few hundred, maybe more, on furnishings and cleaning supplies. but if you’re here for a while, this one-time purchase might be worth it.

maybe you’ll even get lucky and manage to find a furnished place! like, my friends just found a relatively affordable place with really nice furnishings nearish to campus. it’s doable.

meanwhile, if you were wondering, it is also possible to furnish on a budget.

for example, i was able to cut costs by turning to my holy grail facebook marketplace for things like shelves or chairs. you can also ask around — a lot of students are moving in and out, and everyone has things they want to get rid of. if you’re feeling adventurous, you might take note that most of my furnishings were picked up from the sidewalks of residential neighbourhoods and then thoroughly bleached. what can i say? you see an offering from the universe, you take it.

food

this is a huge factor that can make-or-break how expensive your living is. my biggest qualm with U of T dorms is that almost all of them require you to buy a meal plan if you want to live in dorm. bully behavior if you ask me. *cough* whaat who said that?

i’ve never had to buy a meal plan, but i remember in my first year everyone was trying to use up their money before the school year ended. one kid had 2000$ he had to use up in one month — so he treated the entire class to lunch multiple weeks in a row LOL.

the short story is, you’re going to be paying an insane amount of money for the meal plan. even if you don’t use up all the money in it, you won’t get it back. and there’s pretty much no way you’re going to use up all the money by yourself.

so to save money, i would recommend living in a place with a kitchen — whether that be a dorm or an apartment. for example, woodsworth college and innis college both include kitchens in their dorms, and give you the option to avoid meal plans.

just try not to live exclusively off uber eats like some students do. then consider all that money Not Saved 😀

area

next up, what area are you looking at? an important thing you’ll want to consider how far you’re willing to walk to get to class. are you willing to pay transit fare multiple times a week? because with frequent use, transit fares can add up to a lot of money.

in general, apartments further from campus are going to be a lot cheaper. for example, places in little italy will be more affordable than, say, places in the annex. but, while you’re deciding how far you’re willing to walk, just keep in mind that toronto turns into a windy winter hellscape for most of the school year.

*not actual footage of toronto. i am just being dramatic*

ultimately there’s a lot of factors to consider here. living farther is technically cheaper but if you consider the transit cost idk…

and even if you live close to campus, the area north-east of campus has very few affordable grocery stores while the south-west side is affordable grocery heaven. definitely some things to think about.

more affordable on-campus housing options

all that considered, i just want to make sure you know that living in an expensive college dorm is not the only option if you want to live on campus.

here are some options that people i personally know have used. these are like, not necessarily U of T affiliated, but are still university student residences:

coop housing. this is the most affordable option you’re gonna get! it involves living right on the edge of campus with around 9-13 people in a house, and from what i can see, rent is around 600-800$ per month. this is the lowest rent i’ve ever seen downtown. so if coop housing peaks your interest, you might want to spend some time scrolling through the coop house options, as there are many different houses with different rent prices.

tartu residence is the second most affordable place i know of. it is also located on the edge of campus, on bloor street. the lowest monthly rent you can pay here is $785, but there are a lot of pricing options here depending on what conditions you prefer. i know different people who have rented at the lowest and highest rates at tartu, and both sides say it worked well for them.

anywayssss. the good thing is that the housing market has gone down a bit this year so it is actually a good time to be looking for an apartment (in comparison to recent years, where it’s been really bad).

so yeah, i hope this was helpful and not too confusing? remember, this is just my personal opinion gained from a few years in the city — i guess you could say other people might have different opinions. i guess.

feel free to ask more questions, like how to look for apartments or area recommendations. i have sooo much to say about this but don’t want to overload you with info lol. good luck with everything!

over and out,

aska

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admissions, hard

the waiting game

May 9, 2025

I’ve completed my application in January and I have received multiple emails from uoft admissions (probably more than 40 emails have been sent back-and-forth between us), yet I have not been admitted and it is now April and I already understand why people called the school uoftears. I already have hair loss before even entering the school.
Like bro if you’re gonna reject me just say it already.
No need to ghost me to make me like you more or smth.
Also if you’re in the admission team and you see this please let me in.

hey there,

dangg i’m sorry that’s happening!! i know this season is already such a hard time for high school applicants, and what you described sounds so stressful 🙁

i hate to let a homie down, but i’m not actually working on the admissions team. i’m just a student! (albeit a super duper cool one who knows a lot of things about the university). so even if i wanted to, i can’t let you in. (unless i went rogue, became a supervillain and hacked the system idk).

but while i don’t have the super-hacking powers to let you in myself, i can tell you some things that might help ease the uncertainty.

based on what you’ve said it seems to me like there is good news: and it’s that you haven’t been rejected. U of T will clearly and formally tell you if you have been rejected, so if you haven’t received a rejection letter, there is still hope for you to get in. U of T will not just ghost you.

i also know that acceptance/rejection letters are still going out right now, and can even come out as far as in late may, according to this future U of T page. in fact, admission decisions can be sent out late for any number of reasons. for example, depending on your program, they might just be reviewing supplemental information, or even waiting for relevant midterm/interim grades to come out.

the point is, decisions are still being made right now, and you can still be considered in the next round of admission decisions.

however, i know that waiting this long for your admission decision can be quite stressful and hard. just know that your worth is not tied to the university’s timeline or decision! and in the meantime, please be kind to yourself. you’ve already done the hard work, now we’ve just got to sit tight and wait.

wishing you good vibes, good luck, and sunshine-filled mornings. you’ve got this!

over and out,

aska

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choosing, courses, one programs, timetable

feeling attacked by course enrolment is a rite of passage

May 8, 2025

hi aska,i just accepted my utsg offer and am already stressed about the course selection process. i tried using the timetable builder but i don’t understand it 🙁 do i select all the tutorials and lectures listed for a specific course? what does this mean?: “Students enrolled in LEC0101, LEC2000 & LEC2001, must enroll in one of TUT0101 to TUT1702; TUT2801; or TUT5101 to TUT5201.” do i take all vic one courses? is it okay if most of the courses i want to take are 0.5 credits?thank you in advance!

hey there,

big congrats to you and welcome!

first, i gotta say, the immediate stress and confusion about course enrolment is absolutely normal. when i was in your shoes and dealing with this for the first time, i remember going crazy over how confusing everything was — it always felt like i was missing something important that everyone else heard about!

but the good thing is that course enrolment does make more sense once you’ve done it a bunch of times. so maybe i can help clear some things up.

enrolling in LEC and TUT

so you’re asking what this means on the timetable builder: “students enrolled in LEC0101, LEC2000 & LEC2001, must enrol in one of TUT0101 to TUT1702; TUT2801; or TUT5101 to TUT5201.”

great question! i am realizing that wording is so confusing?! not very swag of them :(. it’s interesting because i’ve never seen instructions like this for course enrolment… usually it’s simple and you just enrol in one lecture and one tutorial. but — uhhh i’ve actually never had to enrol in a course like this before.

*i leave you in the room and do some digging through the world wide web*

*i return looking more confused*

okayyyy so i’m gonna guess that the course you’re asking about is SOC100? because the only place those exact instructions can be found on the internet is in the SOC100 syllabus from fall 2023. but when i look at the timetable builder for fall 2025, the SOC100 tutorial and lecture numbers look a bit different, so those instructions wouldn’t apply anymore. in general, just know that you should ignore the enrolment instructions of past syllabuses, since they change every year.

for now, it’s too unclear since the timetable builder doesn’t have all the enrolment instructions or details up for fall/winter yet. once more details show up on the timetable builder and you’re able to start adding courses to your enrolment cart on acorn, things will hopefully make more sense.

but if you still wanted to know, i can tell you what i think those instructions mean. i think if you’re enrolled in one of the three lectures, you must choose one tutorial in one of the three ranges — so one tutorial overall. either:

1. a tutorial between the numbers TUT0101 and TUT1702

2. just TUT2801

3. a tutorial between the numbers TUT5101 and TUT5201

so in the end, you could be enrolled in LEC0101 and TUT0101, for example. and if you wanted to know what’s behind my reasoning for that, it’s just based on familiarity with how U of T writes their lists of options. see more on that here.

ultimately, it’s kinda really hard to give an exact answer on this unless i knew exactly what the course code was so that i could take a look at how it looks on acorn myself. but anyways, if i’m wrong about the SOC100 syllabus thing… haha ignore that you didn’t hear me. if i’m right about it… of course i’m right.

what are lectures and tutorials

i get that all this course code stuff can be confusing if no one’s explained it before. so i do want to quickly go over what lectures and tutorials are.

basically, just think of “lecture” as the main class time. here, your professor teaches you things, uses a laser pointer at a powerpoint slide, and yaps away while you rapidly type notes at the speed of light. every single course will have a lecture, noted as “LEC” on the timetable builder.

some courses will also have “tutorials”, noted as “TUT” on the timetable builder. here, you listen to your TA (teaching assistant) yap away instead, and depending on your program, they’ll either go over problems or go over the readings, and you’ll do a lot of class discussion stuff.

tutorials are almost always offered in larger courses (think more than 80 people), but can also be used in classes as small as 50. the main idea of tutorials is to break up the crowd and give you the chance to learn in smaller groups.

like for example, if you’re in a class of 200, and there’s only one prof, how would the prof answer all 200 student’s questions during class time? that would waste a lot of time and make the prof go a little insane. so instead, we get broken up into groups of say, 20, to get the chance to ask specific questions, get one-on-one help, and engage in discussion about course content with other students.

so tutorials are more similar to the high school classroom experience. and keep in mind that you’re often required to attend them — especially if you have participation marks or presentation projects involved.

vic one courses

do you have to take all vic one courses?

hmmmmm. so i’m gonna assume that you’ve already applied and been accepted to the vic one program. because in order to take vic one courses, you would need to get into the program first. like, it’s a whole separate application to the U of T application. but you know that, right? 😀

once you’re in, you would know that there are eight streams, and you would have chosen your stream during the application. here’s the catch, though: you can only take courses within the stream you got into. so for example, if you got into the chambers stream, you won’t be able to take courses from the pearson stream, gooch stream, or any of the other streams.

but, the good thing is that while taking vic one courses, you are allowed to take courses offered at other colleges. it says so on their FAQ page. so in short, no, you are not limited to only vic one courses.

in fact, you can’t actually take only vic one courses during your first year. you’re gonna have to take other courses too, because vic one courses alone can’t fill up your course schedule.

why is that?

well, if you take a look at the vic one course offerings on the timetable builder, you’ll see that some streams offer two fall 0.5 courses and two winter 0.5 courses, while other streams offer two 1.0 courses.

adding up either of these options would leave you with 2.0 credits completed by the end of the year. BUT to finish first year, you’re going to have to take at least 4.0 credits.

so you’ll have to take courses outside of vic one to meet your degree requirements. does that make sense?

finally, if you didn’t actually apply to vic one yet but wanted to join it, you’ve still got a chance! the third application round is still open until june 9, and you can find out more about applying here.

half credit courses

yes, it is absolutely fine if most or even all the courses you want to take are 0.5 credits. these courses are worth half a credit, and are more common than courses that are worth one full credit.

half-credit courses will last for one semester, which is half of the school year. for example, it can start in september and end in december, OR start in january and end in april. meanwhile, full-credit courses will last for the whole school year, from september to april.

anyways, these were all really great and very valid questions. i’m glad you asked rather than languishing in confusion! that’s not fun, i would know.

so i hope this was helpful, feel free to ask again if more come up!

over and out,

aska

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fees, financial aid, residence, scholarships/bursaries

the cost of living, it’s eating me alive

March 27, 2025
hi! I’m currently in the middle of the decision process of whether I attend UofT. I got into the Arts and Sciences Faculty with Innis College. My main issue is regarding residence fees, if I apply to Innis college scholarship before the deadline, by when would I get acceptances/rejections regarding scholarships?

hey there,

omg congrats on your acceptance!

this is a really great question. residence fees at innis are honestly getting so high, even if innis is known as the lowest priced dorm at U of T.

so i definitely get why you’re looking to get scholarships to help out.

i know that there are admissions scholarships that you’re automatically considered for, and those would have been included in your admission offer. but since you’re talking about scholarships that need applications, im assuming that you’re talking about innis leadership awards for incoming students.

would you hear back about these scholarships before your deadline to respond to your admission offer?

well, your deadline to respond is going to be either late may or early june. (it should say the exact date on your admission letter!) but, decisions about these scholarships often aren’t released until late spring, which i know is vague but i fearrrr that’s all i’ve got.

all i can say is, it is not uncommon for students to hear back about scholarships after the response deadline. there is a decent chance it could happen to you.

regardless, i want you to know that these innis leadership scholarships are not your only opportunity to get financial aid.

government financial aid

if you’re from canada, a great thing to do is apply for government financial aid programs. for example, students from ontario are able to apply to OSAP. meanwhile if you’re not from ontario, there are still provincial student aid programs for each province.

in-course scholarships

there are also going to be several “in-course” scholarships available to you during your time at U of T. this “in-course” name basically just means “not admission and not graduating, but while you’re here”.

first, there will be in-course scholarships that you can apply for within your program. the bigger your program is, the more scholarships they’ll have to offer. you’ll usually get an email about these mid-way through the fall semester (though i’m not sure if programs offer ones for first years, sometimes it starts in second year?).

second, there will be in-course innis awards available to you. for example, there are gpa-based awards that tons of people get during their second, third, and fourth year. and there are several more leadership awards that you can apply to during the spring of each year.

some more resources

a great tool for sorting through the many scholarships at U of T is the award explorer. definitely use filters though, to find ones that would be applicable for you.

you can also use this U of T financial planner to help yourself budget. it’s meant to help students see how much money they’ll need to cover tuition and fees, housing costs, food, etc during a year. it can be pretty overwhelming, and this can be helpful in sorting it all out!

finally, i just want to say that innis residence is a really amazing place to live! i lived there, and i’ve heard nothing but good things about it (unlike other residences). the location is insanely convenient, there is plenty of student support available, there are lots of events with free food, and it’s just a great place to find community. i could go on and on!!

i will leave you with some important dates to keep in mind:
1. applications for provincial financial aid programs become available from your home province or territory around may of each year.
2. the deadline to apply to incoming innis leadership awards is april 14.
and yeah, i hope this helps you make your decision! sending good vibes <3

over and out,

aska
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deferral, second degree

you’d probably prefer to not defer

March 23, 2025

Hi, I got accepted as a second degree student and surprisingly got accepted to a masters program (both at UTSG). Can I defer the second degree to finish the one year masters (accelerated)? If I reapply, would my masters GPA be used?

Thank you.

hey there,

ok slayy congrats on getting accepted to both of these! getting into a masters program at the st. george campus is a huge accomplishment.

so now that you’ve been accepted to a masters, you’re saying you want to defer your second degree to complete the masters first. that decision makes sense!

but, good thing you asked. because here is the thing!

you unfortunately won’t be able to defer your second degree if you’re going to pursue a masters degree. this is due to two reasons:

1. students can only accept one offer of admission from U of T at a time, and

2. you can only defer for a gap year if you’re not planning on attending university during that year.

as you can see on this future U of T page, in order to get approved for a deferral, you must have already accepted the offer of admission, paid the admission deposit (if required), met all the conditions of your admission offer, and confirmed that you aren’t going to study at university in the meantime.

so basically, if you accept your masters offer of admission, you won’t be able to accept your second degree offer, and also won’t fulfill the criteria to get your deferral approved. does that make sense?

BUT it will be okay. you can still do the second degree after your masters as you’ve planned, it just seems like you will need to reapply for the second degree.

as for what grades they’ll look at when you reapply for the second degree program?

according to the second degree admissions page, your application will be assessed based on your academic record from your previous degree. i think this means it’s safe to assume that your grades from both your undergrad and masters degree will be looked at for your admission. but honestly? i don’t think you need to worry too much about getting in again, since you’ve already gotten in once.

so tldr: you can’t defer the second degree if you accept the masters degree. and when you reapply to the second degree, they’ll look at your grades in undergrad and masters.

also, just to preface, i did not make this stuff up (it would be crazy if i did LOL), this info was all verified by my college registrar. but i’d still highly encourage you to directly contact the faculty in which you plan to pursue your second degree.

i say that because the future U of T website says that you should contact your faculty directly for details about deferring your offer, especially if you’re in applied science and engineering, nursing, bachelor of information, physician assistant program, or medical radiation sciences. often, each individual faculty does things a little differently and it’s just better to make sure.

hope this helps! congrats again on your admissions, i hope you make some time to treat yourself <3

over and out,

aska

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admissions, applying for U of T, OUAC

whatever you do, do not dilly dally

March 16, 2025

Hi! I’m a student from Vancouver, BC. And I applied for U of T this year and I met a trouble with my information in my account. I got a wrong SIN number and how can I change it? Thank you so much!

hey there,

i’m gonna assume you haven’t gotten a letter of admission/denial yet and are still waiting to hear back.

if you put the wrong SIN number into your personal information page on OUAC (where you applied), you should be able to change it. back when i applied, i’m like 80% sure i was still able to go back and my change personal info after completing the application.

but tbh it’s been a while and i’m not an expert on the OUAC platform.

all i can say is that you should try to fix this asap because it might impact your admission decision. in the best case, you should be able to manually change it, or contact the admissions office to get it changed. in the worse case, a wrong SIN number in your application sounds like it might count as fraudulent information.

officially, the university says this: “you should be aware that when you submit your application you are required to certify that the personal information and documents submitted in the application, or to be submitted (all of which constitutes the application), are true, complete and correct in all respects. if evidence is found to the contrary your admission to the university may be rescinded, your registration may be revoked”

but no need to quake in your boots just yet. if you really can’t figure out how to manually change it in OUAC, you should really contact undergraduate admissions directly at this link or at this phone number: 416-978-2190. and do it as soon as you can.

i really hope this helped and that everything turns out ok!

over and out,

aska

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enrolment, programs

so your chances are looking…. chancey?

March 9, 2025

I’m currently a first year art and sci at utsg and had a question about enrolling in a program. I’m interested in a minor but lack one of the prerequisites! If I take it in the first term and apply in the second enrolment period, does this affect my chances of getting into a limited program, especially the more competitive ones?

hey there,

i immediately love you for specifying your faculty and campus. we appreciate the context. plus, this is a really good question!

well, i can tell you that your situation is super common. students who don’t have all their program pre-requisites by the end of first year will complete them in the first summer term and then apply during the second enrolment period. this happens all the time!

but i can see where you’re coming from. if i was in your position, i would also be asking whether enrolling in the second period might affect my chances of getting in, especially to a competitive program.

the good thing is that you don’t have to worry about whether applying during the second period might be applying “late” — departments don’t really care which period you apply during. if they have a set grade baseline or required pre-req courses, that’s all they’ll base their decision on.

however, if you’re worried about spots filling out, hmmmmm. yeah. that’s valid.

here’s the thing. i looked into it, and it’s really unclear whether spots can fill up during the first enrolment period. this is because program enrolment is a process that’s overseen by each individual department, so there isn’t really a clear answer i can give you without knowing which minor you’re interested in. (ie, every department does this a bit differently.)

if you wanted my personal opinion, i’m sure that most departments would hold spots for students who apply during the second enrolment period. because programs that are open during the first and second period will take students in the second round if they meet the requirements. it’s just unclear exactly how many spots there would be in each period.

my take is, if there’s a list of pre-requisite courses you need to complete and you’ve completed them, i’m pretty sure they have to let you in. meanwhile, if there’s grade averages involved, it’s probably gonna be more complicated. but tbh, only the people within your department would know for certain.

all that considered, just make sure that the minor you want actually accepts students during both periods. (some programs only accept students during the first period, and you can find that info in this list).

and in the end, if you don’t end up being accepted to that minor, it’s certainly not the end of the world. worst case is, you apply to programs in your second year like half of U of T anyway. 😀 almost everyone i know (including me) was still applying to programs during the summer after their second year. if that happens to you, it is completely fine and normal.

so yeah. i hope this was somewhat somehow helpful for you? good luck with the rest of the semester, i hope you get some time to photosynthesize in the spring sun! <3

over and out,

aska

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courses, first year, one programs

how to not drown in the large pond that is U of T

March 3, 2025

hey askastundent!

just got into uoft st george at innis in social sciences (planning on majoring in public policy) (yay!!) last week, and was wondering… how many people should I expect to have in my classes? I’m doing dual enrollment through my hs at a uni of a similar size to u of t (total student population of 67k) and all my classes have had between 60 and 30 people (minus my honors class of 11), now granted I’m not taking like ‘Biology 101’ or the super basic ones, but they’re all classes I qualify for as a first year. is u of t the same, with a wide range of class sizes that are available to you from year one or should I expect to be a total small fish in a big pond for all of my first year?

appreciate everything you guys do!

hey there,

yay!! that is so exciting, congrats and welcome!!

ok so the great thing about U of T is that there is a wide range of class sizes that are available to you from year one. you are absolutely not limited to only take classes with thousands of people in them. should you choose, your class sizes can be as small as 25 or as large as 3000+.

the first thing you should check out is the timetable builder, which students use to plan out their courses. filter for the faculty of arts and science, and the fall/winter subsession. then you’ll be able to get an idea of the many course options that U of T offers, as well as their class sizes.

if you’re planning to major in public policy, you should also take a look at the artsci calendar’s overview of what courses you’ll have to take for it, linked here.

as you can see on that page, in first year you’ll have to take large first-year economics courses, which have class sizes around 3000. but for the rest of your first year pre-req credits, you’ll be able to choose between large poli sci courses or small courses in the ones programs (such as munk one, trinity one, and vic one).

ones programs

but wait.

what are “ones” programs you ask? these are special first-year-only programs offered by all the colleges that allow you to explore your interests, find community, and get experiential learning opportunities in small seminar settings. what makes these classes special is that they often give you the chance to do exciting projects that go beyond the classroom.

since you’re going into public policy, i think the ones most relevant to you would be trinity one and munk one. i took the munk one program in my first year, and i gotta say, it really pushed me beyond my comfort zone and put me in a room with the most well-spoken, academically excelling, and smart students i’ve ever met at U of T. i highly recommend the experience, and it gave such a strong foundation on global issues and social change that would be relevant to any field of study.

the only issue i had with this was that these courses didn’t count towards my programs of study, since i ended up going into life sci, lol. but they would be perfect for you since the munk and trin (and vic, i think?) programs funnel directly into the public policy major!

first round applications for these close during the last week of march, so go check them out asap.

but if you didn’t want to take a ones program, you are still able to take small courses during first year through FYF seminars.

first year foundations seminars

when choosing electives during your first year (to go alongside your program pre-reqs), i highly encourage you to take some first year foundations courses. these are small seminar courses that not that many people know about — so like, kinda secret, very swag, and super duper cool!

they’re on really interesting, niche topics such as “murder and other deathly crimes”, “tree stories”, vampires, time travel, cryptology, and more. like, you won’t find these kinds of courses at other school. but, these are limited to 25 people per class, and, you can only take FYF courses during your first year.

i am a huge fan of FYF courses and took a few during my first year. they’re rare opportunities to make good connections with professors so early in your undergrad career, and give a more gentle/exciting transition into university than large courses provide. ie, you won’t get such a good chance to connect with your professors if you’re in a class of a thousand.

ALSO, if you take small seminar courses you have a much lower chance of being bombarded with 5 exams during exam season, since they usually don’t have final exams.

if you’re interested, you can see a full list of them here.

even if you don’t take seminars

ok, let’s say you’re uninterested in the above and are less than impressed with my advertisement of FYF courses and ones programs.

even if you don’t take seminar courses, all of your large econ and political science courses will have tutorials. basically, there will be lectures, which is when 500 people will go to a huge lecture hall and listen to the prof yap for 2 hours straight. but also, you’ll all be sorted into tutorials, which are when smaller groups will meet for an hour with the TA and go over course content in a more interactive way (eg. discussion, working on projects, talking about assessments).

so tutorials are sort of another way to experience small class sizes, minus the connection with the professor.

overall

so long story short, there are several ways to take small courses during your first year and you don’t always have to feel like a small fish in a big pond. you will have to be in some big classes, but if you choose, you can mix some small seminars into your schedule.

during my first year, i was able to take three seminar courses per semester, which always surprised my peers who complained about large class sizes. but this was because because i was part of a ones program AND took FYF courses. #iwaswinning4real.

so yeah. hope this answered your question??? either way, you have now received the secrets to taking small courses during first year. lucky you! now go forth and be a happy fish in a normal sized pond.

over and out,

aska

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admissions, applying for U of T, extracurricular

a guide to what U of T actually looks at

February 24, 2025

what should i do to get a better chance of getting into u of t? is there anything particular they want to see in a student? and do i have to be good at leadership or its not that important?

hey there,

well, this is sorta hard to answer because it depends on which admission category, which campus, and which faculty you’re applying to.

soooo i guess i’ll just cover the main options and hope one of them is relevant to you?

humanities, life sciences, physical and mathematical sciences, and social science categories

within the faculty of arts and sciences, there are six admission categories, which are basically just general categories that help sort all the programs. if you’re applying to the humanities, life sciences, physical and mathematical sciences, and social science categories, you won’t have to hand in anything other than your grades. since these are the most common areas of study at U of T, this will be the case for most people.

if this is you, U of T will base your admission based on the average grades of your top six academic grade 12 courses, including pre-requisite courses. no leadership skills required, and no extracurriculars. which is a little cray-cray considering how much effort i put into that stuff in high school just to apply to a uni that didn’t look at any of it :DDDD.

anyways, admission for these fields of study is literally just based on grades and all you can do is try to keep your grades above the competitive average for your category.

so if you’ve got good marks, YAY. U of T made it super simple for you!

and if not. ugh, U of T sucks for that who gave them the right.

rotman commerce and computer science categories

meanwhile, if you were applying to rotman commerce or computer science, they will look at both your grades and your extracurriculars/experiences in a supplemental application. so yes, things like leadership and extracurricular activities are important.

for rotman commerce, it seems like this supplemental application will include written and video responses to assess your leadership skills and community involvement, as well as your passion for business. i’m sure for rotman, leadership skills are a big factor, since that’s kinda essential for business school.

and for comp sci, this application will look at similar things. it’ll be a 250 word response about your leadership skills and experiences. but questions won’t be centred around computer science.

faculty of engineering

for engineering applicants, they will be looking at your grades alongside an “online student profile” that you’ll fill out. this will focus on your extracurriculars and interests, and they are especially “interested in your activities and achievements that demonstrate leadership, dedication and overall excellence”.

if you wanted more details about what this looks like: it seems you’ll have to discuss your non-academic activities like clubs, sports, and arts. AND, you’ll have to complete timed video responses that will help them to “get to know you as a person”.

daniel’s faculty of architecture, landscape, and design

and finally, i want to include architecture, just in case this applies to you. telepathically, i am sensing you’re most likely in arts and sciences but we’re gonna roll with this.

if you wanted to apply to the daniel’s faculty, you’ll need to submit your grades alongside a supplementary application that will include a written response as well as a creative submission. so, leadership/extracurriculars don’t matter for this program, but personality and creativity do!

overall advice

so the tldr is: in artsci, the humanities, life sci, physical and mathematical sciences, and social science categories only look at grades. it’s only rotman, comp sci, and engineering that will look at leadership, extracurriculars, and interests. and architecture will look at your personal response and creative ability.

but regardless of which field of study you’re interested in, having good grades will really help you have a good chance of admission (duh!). make sure you’ve taken the pre-requisite courses for your admission category, thoroughly understand the admission requirements, and meet all the deadlines.

i’d also highly recommend that you submit during the early application period, for the best chances. start your application early so that you don’t rush it during the few days before and just decide “eh, i’ll just submit for the later deadline” because you’re too rushed (like a lot of people in my high school did). start early and submit early!

anyways, i hope some part of this was helpful. best of luck with your application!!

over and out,

aska

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GPA, non degree

on that non-degree to PhD arc

February 19, 2025

Hi! So here’s my situation- Masters degree in Electronics Engineering gpa 3.74- graduated in 2012 from university in uk Undergraduate degree in electronic engineering – graduated in 2010 in India. I passed in first class but WES evaluated my GPA as 2.8. I have been trying to get into a PhD biomedical engineering program and facing rejections. I applied for a masters program , rejected again. Grading in my undergraduate program was strict and there were only 2 students who were awarded distinction (>3 gpa). How can I improve my gpa from 15 years ago? Taking up an undergraduate degree now would push my PhD goals further. What do I do? Please help I sincerely appreciate any suggestions

hey there,

thanks for this question! geez, that undergrad program sounds so tough if only two people graduated with distinction.

well, i can tell you that this is a very common situation. many people end up needing to raise their undergrad GPA years after they’ve already graduated. and the main way to do this is to enrol at a university as a non-degree student.

basically, being a non-degree student allows you to take classes at a university without the commitment of pursuing an entire undergrad degree. taking these classes will give you the opportunity to improve your academic record, which is perfect for what you need!

i’m not sure if you were considering U of T as your university of choice since you asked me this question, but that’s where my expertise lies, so that’s what the next part of this post will be about.

usually i point people towards taking non-degree courses within the faculty of arts and sciences, since that’s our main faculty here at U of T. but since you’re in engineering, you might prefer to take non-degree courses within our faculty of applied science and engineering. i feel like taking courses that are relevant to your intended grad program would be helpful for your application, right?

well, just in case, here is how to apply for both.

applying for non-degree at the faculty of arts & sciences

if you want to start this fall, the application deadline would be june 2. you would apply on OUAC using the non-degree application. admission requirements would be based on your previous academic record from high school and university, as well as your english proficiency, if required.

applying for non-degree at the faculty of engineering

meanwhile, for engineering, the application deadline to start this fall would be august 1. according to their website, it seems like you would need to directly contact the engineering undergraduate admissions office to get a non-degree application. i’d assume that admission requirements for this are also based on your previous academic record and english proficiency.

look at courses on the timetable builder

if you were interested, or even partially interested in taking non-degree courses at U of T, i’d encourage you to check out what courses are offered at U of T on our timetable builder. this website allows you to search courses by faculty, session, department, or code. for example, if you wanted to check out biomedical engineering courses, you would type in BME in faculty of applied science and engineering in the filter bar.

and that’s it from me! hope this was helpful and best of luck. you are so swagalicious for not giving up in the face of rejection, you’ve got this!

over and out,

aska

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admissions, applying for U of T, grades, rotman

live laugh spiral

February 18, 2025

Hi there! I am a Grade 12 student applying for Rotman Commerce at St. George campus. I just finished semester 1, and my top 6 average is currently a 95.3, which includes Grade 12 English and Calculus completed. However, I didn’t do well back in Grade 11 and have 3 very bad marks, including Chemistry, Physics, and G11 English, but I got 90s in all other G11 courses except for Function with an 87. As I know, Rotman would look at all G11 and G12 grades when reviewing my application, therefore, I am scared these 3 grades could significantly lower my chances, especially for the G11 English mark. I had high 50s in Chem, mid-70s in Phy, and 66 in Grade 11 English, which resulted in an 83 Grade 11 avg. Moreover, despite having a fabulous Grade 12 average, I took so many Grade 12 courses outside of day school. For example, I took English in summer school and got a 93; calculus in e-learning and got a 94, and at last, MHF4U in night school and got a 96. I am also scared it could lower my chances as well since, apparently, U of T cares about night school, summer school, etc. It also shows grade inconsistency in English since it jumped from a 66 in Grade 11 to a 93 in Grade 12. I got a 95 on both the only two Grade 12 courses that I took in day school fyi. Last but not least, I completed my supp app last week, and I believe I did decently well. I would give myself an 8/10. Nonetheless, I apologize for how long it is since I just wanted to provide some context. But here are a few questions I would like to get an answer to: 1. Will my low Grade 11 avg and Grade 11 English mark significantly lower my chances? 2. Does U of T care about whether I took any courses outside of day school? 3. Overall, what are my chances of getting into Rotman? I am really sorry for bothering you! I hope you have a good rest of the day!

hey there,

first off, congrats on finishing your application, and on getting such good marks in your first semester of grade 12! those numbers are really impressive.

but i get the anxiety despite it all (you’re just like me fr).

jk. these are super valid questions, and also really common questions! so maybe i can help clarify things. just a disclaimer though, i won’t be able to give a perfectly clear answer because publicly released U of T admission rules are pretty confusing. they really gotta stop tryna act so dark and mysterious, man.

grade 11 marks

ok i can see why you’re worried if you got a 66 in grade 11 english and english is one of the pre-requisite courses for admisson into rotman.

but you may be fine. because in general, grade 11 marks are looked at mainly for early consideration and conditional admissions.

it’s true that U of T does look at your grade 11 marks, but these will matter more when your marks from grade 12 aren’t out yet. keep in mind that everyone’s term system works differently, and some schools won’t release interim grade 12 marks yet at this point in the year. so for students who get their first term grade 12 marks back late, grade 11 marks will count more. but your interim grade 12 marks are already out, so your grade 11 marks will likely not hold as much weight. does that make sense?

i’ve heard U of T admissions likes to see improvement, too! so the fact that you showed massive growth from grade 11 to grade 12 should help you out. plus, an 83 average for grade 11 is not bad at all.

courses outside of day school

i’ve been told that U of T doesn’t care whether you take courses during the summer semester. i’ve also heard that they don’t care if you take courses online. however, i have not heard anything about night school.

while i did find a statement made about day school on this rotman page, it doesn’t really provide us with anything of substance. officially, they say this:

“while there may be valid reasons for taking courses outside of your day school, we encourage students to take courses in their day school where possible. all aspects of the application may be considered in the admissions process”.

very vague, i know. but the general vibe i’m getting is that taking courses outside of day school will not be a make-or-break factor in your application, considering you already have a very high average. i think it’s usually only cause for concern for applicants who are close to the minimum admission average. but that’s not you, because you’ve got really high marks!

your chances

so yeah, as i said above, if you have a top 6 average of 95.3, you’re way above the minimum average of mid-high 80’s, shown on this rotman page. the fact that you’ve got high marks and did well on your supplemental means that your chances are pretty good.

overall, my personal take (as an arts and science student and not an admissions person or a rotman student) is that you will be fine. several other people have asked similar questions to these, and you have higher grade 12 marks than the rest of the crowd. grade 12 marks and the supplemental will matter the most, and you’ve absolutely got those in the bag.

finally, no one can give you a guaranteed answer except the admission letter itself. but if you wanted to hear directly from a rotman student, here’s a link to register for a one-on-one meeting with a current rotman student. you can ask them about things non-admissions related too, like student life and general rotman advice they might have. finance, finance, case comp, add me on linked in, insert business lingo here.

anyways, that’s all from me. i know it can be pretty stressful while waiting to hear back about your application, so just know that you’ve done all you can — and you’ve done it well!

i encourage you to make the most of the rest of your senior year, and try to enjoy it while you’re still there. i’m rooting for you, and think good things are coming your way!

over and out,

aska

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admissions, applying for U of T, bad times, engineering, hard

rejection is just redirection

January 31, 2025

I don’t know if I’ll make it into uoft engineering, because my average is mid-80s for end of first sem, but I’ve asked this page a lot of questions last year, and I’m very grateful, so I wanna know how I should prepare for the rejection. I don’t know if this sounds depressing, but I’ll be fine later on but I saw my exam grades today and I wanna cry and I just don’t want to feel sad about being rejected because I really wanted to go to uoft.

hey there,

man, i’m sorry that’s happening! that sounds really upsetting.

first off, thanks for your question, it means a lot that you came to me with this.

i know that it can feel like the world is ending when you don’t get the grades you wanted, especially when you put so much effort in and there’s so much at stake. i also remember your questions from last year, so i know that you’ve really been committed to getting good grades over the past year! you were asking all the right questions and were focused on all the right things.

i mean, it’s totally normal to feel distressed over this! anyone who’s worked as hard as you and has this much dedication to their goals would be.

when i’m feeling this way, i think it helps to know that you genuinely did the best you could. you did all you could with the resources and knowledge you had at the time, so there’s nothing to beat yourself up over. sure, it didn’t turn out the way you wanted, but a rejection is not a reflection of your work ethic, intelligence, or competence. sometimes the circumstances are just built in a difficult way.

and like, are we kidding? trying to get into U of T engineering is one heck of a difficult circumstance. the grades they require are insanely high, and it’s a notoriously difficult program at the notoriously most difficult school in the whole country.

just because this program isn’t right for you doesn’t mean you can’t reach academic excellence (whatever that is) or be on the path to a highly successful career — tbh, all the most successful and outstanding U of T students i know who are making big moves and getting recognized for their work aren’t in engineering. and i’m not sure if you applied to other schools, but getting any engineering degree is impressive and will make you employable. there are plenty of other top-notch engineering programs in canada and other top-notch programs at U of T.

but even then, nothing’s set in stone yet! you just got your interim grades back, not the rejection. your marks are in the mid-eighties, which is like what, two percentages away from the high-eighties? remember that the engineering admissions considers your extracurricular work along with your academic work, so that could pull your application up. at this point in time, you could still get in, or even get waitlisted. let’s not snowball towards the worst-case scenario, you still don’t know what will happen.

if you wanted advice on how to prepare for rejection, here’s what helps me. when i’m really set on an opportunity (which i am right now), i try to not get attached to the end outcome, and only focus on what’s controllable. you can only control your effort, consistency, and drive — after that, you’ve done your job and there’s nothing else you have to do.

also, you might think something is the perfect golden opportunity, but remember that it hasn’t actually happened yet. we’re only human, so we can’t look into the future, and you don’t actually know if it would be disastrous! like, have you heard of burnt toast theory?

maybe this opportunity just isn’t right for you — or, it isn’t right for you at this point in time.

what i’m trying to say is, when something doesn’t work out, there’s often something better waiting for you that you just don’t know about yet! i am a firm believer that rejection is just redirection, and what’s meant for you will find you.

maybe i sound a little delulu LOL but that’s what helps me.

anyway. if you’re really set on engineering and didn’t apply to other schools, maybe you can try again next year — you are still able to apply to universities a year after you graduate. don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do something! if you really have a dream, don’t let one “no” end it all. i know someone who’s applied to med school four years in a row, getting rejected each time. but she keeps trying again and again, because she’s committed to her goal.

ultimately, all you can do at this point is keep working hard in school. maybe if you keep your grades up, you might get waitlisted, and then accepted!

i’ll leave you with this: if you have effort and you have consistency, there is nothing you cannot do. it is truly only a matter of time.

you are so capable. take a deep breath, you’ve got this.

over and out,

aska

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admissions, applying for U of T, human biology

to retake or not to retake

January 28, 2025

Hi ,Thanks again for your help with my previous question! I have a quick follow-up about my course selection. Since my Advanced Functions (MHF4U) mark isn’t very competitive, I’m wondering if I should retake it, or if taking Data Management (MDM4U) instead would be a better option. Do you think taking both would strengthen my application, or is one more important than the other? (Also advanced functions is not a prerequisite course for most of the programs I am looking at) and to specify I would like to apply to both campuses

I really appreciate your advice on this!

Thanks so much

hey there,

y’all, two returning askers in one WEEK! i feel so loved.

ok so should you retake advanced functions to raise your mark or just take data management instead?

well, if advanced functions isn’t a pre-req for most of the programs you’re looking at, you probably don’t have to retake it. here’s why.

as you can see here, the great thing about applying to U of T is that they will only use your top 6 marks in academic courses to calculate your admission average. among these 6 marks must be the pre-requisites for the admission category you’re applying to. so if advanced functions isn’t a pre-req, it won’t actually have to be included in the calculation of your admission average, assuming you have other academic courses that you got better marks in.

remember that if you’re hoping to apply to human biology, what you’ll actually be inputting into your OUAC application is the life sciences admission category. the pre-requisites for this category are english and calculus. so for example, your admission average could be calculated based on your marks in english, calculus, chem, bio, history, and data management. (classes like drama, art, band, or physical education wouldn’t count).

honestly, taking data management instead could strengthen your application just because you won’t have a repeated course on your transcript. and it’ll have the same function as advanced functions — you’ll be able to use data management as the alternate pre-requisite for UTSC human biology, as mentioned in my previous answer.

i honestly don’t think either data management or advanced functions would be more important than the other transcript-wise, but i will say that data management skills will be very applicable for any STEM program you want to go into. sure, advanced functions skills are important, but data management skills will be directly needed in a large number of your upper year courses in life sciences. i think it’ll be useful to get comfortable with these skills early on (i wish i did!).

basically, both the UTSG and UTSC campuses say that repeated courses aren’t super great on your application. so it could be a good idea for you to just take data management to meet the pre-req requirement for UTSC human bio instead of retaking advanced functions.

but it’s really hard to say what decision is better to make, because all this stuff is intentionally made to be a little murky. it’s totally up to you, you could retake advanced functions and try to get a higher mark and have that work out for you! you could take data management and have that work out for you! anything could happen.

my personal take is that taking data management might be the best idea, BUT remember that this is just my opinion as a student who is not involved in the admissions process at all. please think it through a lot, since there’s no easy answer here.

i hope this helped! sending lots of encouragement.

over and out,

aska

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