• choosing,  co-op,  co-op management,  UTM,  UTSC

    i’m the goat

    April 23, 2020

    Hi there! Sorry for bothering you but I am really struggling between UTSC and UTM right now. Little bit of background info: I was accepted to the Co-op Management program at UTSC and the Management program at UTM (did not apply to UTSG). I am also an international student who has received a 65% scholarship for my studies in UToronto, and an additional 19000CAD scholarship from UTM.

    Pros for UTSC:
    -Can do Co-op which I believe is really good for a student’s future career
    -Better sports facilities (especially for my sport) which are really ideal for me

    Cons for UTSC:
    -Don’t really like the campus, looks pretty sketchy and people don’t seem to like it on Reddit
    -More expensive as I will be losing my 19000cad from UTM and Co-op costs more I believe
    -The campus just really doesn’t look as nice as UTM but I am not sure because I have really only looked at pictures online
    -No free shuttle bus to downtown:(

    Pros for UTM:
    -nicer campus, more green area which I will feel more comfortable being around
    -Lower tuition fee (which is kind of a big deal for me)
    -Free shuttle bus!!
    -The community just look nicer and suit me better, idk…

    Cons for UTM:
    -no co-op which I’m not sure if its really that big of a deal (Coz I really need job experience but can I even get any at UTM…)
    -might have to travel to downtown/UTSC 3-4 times a week to practice
    -isolated area? So hard to find jobs/internships around campus? I am really not sure because I am just so lost:(

    I guess UTSC can prepare me for a better career which is truly ideal, but UTM is what I prefer for my 4 years of college life. Would be great if I can get the same amount of work experience at UTSC by attending UTM (is there a way to secure that the school can help me find jobs if I don’t do co-op or am I really going to be on my own:( )

    I might even do UTM Commerce in my second year if I study at UTM, but I will probably stick with Co-op management if I study at UTSC. Which one do you think I should choose? Is Co-op really that big of a deal? Is it worth sacrificing part of my college experience/preference for it?

    Sorry that I am all over the place, there’s just too much going on in my head and I’m just so worried that I’m going to regret it. Thank you so much for your precious time and help!

    ——————————————

    hey there,

    congrats on making it into both programs, and with scholarships, too!

    quick psa: it would be v cool if people stop sending questions to every single ask box i advertise! this seems to be an international student thing, so you’re not alone in it, but rest assured that i will see your question even if you only send it once. 

    but you never need to apologize for bothering me, this is what i do. let’s get to it. for anyone who hasn’t been following this epic saga, this post is a part two, it seems, to this one. thank you for taking my suggestion to shorten your question! that’s cool. we love readability.

    so you did the epic pros and cons list, i can see. a few notes on that list:

    • don’t believe everything you see on u of t’s reddit! from my experience, it’s where the angry people go to congregate.
    • finances are definitely something to consider! you’ve been offered a huge scholarship to UTM, and imo that’s hard to turn down.
    • it can often be quite difficult to make a judgement about a campus based solely on pictures. here is a webpage offering virtual tours of utsc, and here are some virtual tours of utm residence buildings. you can also try looking video tours up on youtube, which is something i did when i was making my admissions decision!
    •  utsc has a lot of green space too! 
    • it’s hard to tell what a school’s community is like until you’re there. i’m curious as to why you think the utm community will suit you better. rest assured you will be able to make friends, find mentors, and study under great profs regardless of whether you choose utm or utsc!

    it’s still really hard for me to give you a definitive answer re: which school you should choose, because even if i know what factors you’re considering, i don’t know the weight of each one. for example: if you give up the utm scholarship, will you be taking on that same amount in student loans? or do you have sufficient parental support to not need those loans in the first place? i feel like depending on your situation, the importance of certain things you’re considering can change.

    keep in mind that you will (presumably) be spending four entire years of your life as a student at whatever campus you choose. so if you feel like you’d be happier at UTM, that’s not insignificant. four years is a solid chunk of your life. university isn’t just a stepping stone to a future career– it’s an experience, and one that has so far been really precious to me.

    that being said, i’m not sure that there’s a way to ensure that u of t helps you get a job without a guaranteed co-op. that isn’t to say there aren’t any student supports to help you find jobs at utm– utm has a fantastic career centre, and like i told you in the last post, the utm management program has programming that will help you get work placements and hands-on experience. ie. MGT480H5 and the certificate in effective business practices and leadership skills. if you end up choosing utm commerce, you’ll have access to the Personal Experience Year (PEY), which is a 12 to 16 month internship also done by students at utsg.

    basically, i wouldn’t say you’ll ever be fully on your own. there’s programming at both schools to help ensure that you get hands-on work experience while pursuing your degree. at the very least, your registrar’s office (both at utm and utsc) will be able to provide you with guidance and refer you to career resources.

    ultimately, you’re gonna need to take ownership for your decision. there’s no easy formula to success in life. co-ops are important, yes, but you can do great even without one. students at st. george don’t have access to the co-op program that utsc runs, but they tend to be fine. i have full faith in you to make the best decision for yourself. you got this.

    i actually think it’s pretty clear which school you want to go to, so…

    be Boundless,

    aska

    Read More
  • grad school

    graduating soon!!!! love that

    April 22, 2020

    Hi,

    I will be graduating soon and technically only need 5 more courses to graduate or 2.5 credits to satisfy the 6.0 FCE at 300+. However, I was wondering if graduate schools require you to have at least 10 credits in both 300 and 400 courses.

    I changed programs last year which resulted in me having extra credits for courses that do not satisfy my current program requirements. But this is also why I would not need to take more than 6.0 FCE in 300+ level courses in order to graduate.

    I do plan on continuing my education in the future and do not want to come back to finish courses if I do not meet the requirements. So would it be best for me to have 10 credits in 300 and 400 courses or would I be wasting my time taking extra courses now?

    Thank you and take care.

    ——————————————

    heyo,

    kudos to you for having the energy to plan for your future during these trying times. i can only manage to sleep way longer than i should, zone out at the kitchen table, and start new podcasts only to give up 10 minutes in.

    anyway, the best course of action for you to take is to get in touch with whatever grad school programs you might be considering for the future and ask them directly. i say this primarily because there’s no one-and-done rule for grad school admissions– different schools have different policies– and i’d hate to give you inaccurate information that screws you over. this is especially true given i don’t know what kind of grad schools you’re looking at. law? med? fine arts? … engineering?

    it’s a lot easier (on your sanity and wallet alike) to email and call a couple of your top choices than it is for you to take an extra ton of credits at the 300 and 400 level just in case.

    it may be reassuring for you to know, though, that many grad schools do encounter applicants in your shoes (fewer upper year credits) and are often willing to account for reasonable factors causing this. for example, u of t medicine’s application info page reads:

    “It is recognized that at times, students take courses in lower years for various reasons, such as a change in program or to complete subjects of interest or prerequisites that did not fit the academic schedule previously. If you have information about your academics that you feel is important for the Admissions Committee to know, please use the Academic Explanations Essay within the OMSAS application.”

    ie. they allow you to explain your situation, so that it’s accounted for when they’re looking over your file. i’ve heard that this is quite common among grad schools.

    but yeah. best course of action is always to go right to the source of the admissions policies, just to be sure. hope you’re takin care of yourself as well, and good luck with finishing your degree!! you’re almost there.

    be Boundless,

    aska

    Read More
  • career choice,  grad school

    i have a lot of question sand, too

    April 20, 2020
    Hello! I am looking for some advice. I am a graduate student at U of T and ma planning to make a career change after finishing my grad school. In order to do that, I may need to acquire a second bachelors degree. However, I am not entirely sure which department would be most suitable and how to proceed about it. I have a lot of question sand need to find a very good academic advisor that can meet with me in person. Would you recommend any specific person that I can get in touch with?

    ——————————————
    hello hello,
    i’m so sorry it took me so long to get to this! i wrote a post up, but it got buried in a bunch of other stuff. fully my bad.
    so you’re at u of t, which is bureaucracyland– meaning that i can’t necessarily recommend a specific person for you to speak with, because there are so many different academic advising offices serving different populations. i doubt the academic advisors i know would be able to help you out, given that as a grad student you don’t fall under their jurisdiction.

    so my first instinct was to send you to your own registrar, but upon actually looking into that… apparently this is a lot more convoluted than i thought. the registrars’ directory that i normally link people to does have a line for “school of graduate studies,” but when you click it, it sends you to a registration info page. what? did someone just paste the wrong link in? more concerningly, do grad students not have a registrar? who do you run crying to when you miss a deadline and need reassurance? ah, you’re grad students, maybe you have your lives figured out.

    i would recommend that you email graduate.information@utoronto.ca to see if the school of graduate studies has any academic advisors (i would sure hope so). you can also reach out to the career centre for a one-on-one career advising appointment. this might be more of a post-covid thing, given that they don’t have a phone number listed (???) so maybe try the school of graduate studies first.

    while most departments are no longer doing in-person appointments at this time, you can probably get the same caliber of advice over the phone or microsoft teams.

    hope you’re staying safe and sorry again for how long it took me to get back to you!

    Read More
  • 12 distinct credits

    it took me way too long to add 4 + 4 + 7 together

    April 20, 2020

    Hi aska, I know lots of people are asking about the 12.0 distinct credits rule, but how would that apply to 1 major and 2 minors… None of my program credits overlap so I can assume I’m safe?

    ——————————————

    hey there,

    you are correct that this is a super common question, but it’s common because it’s one of the most confusing things at this school.

    the 12 distinct credits rule does apply to 1 major and 2 minors, yes. since a minor is typically 4.0 credits and a major is typically around 7.0 credits, one major and two minors with no overlap should add up to around 15.0 distinct credits. since i don’t know what programs yours are, i can’t confirm this for you, but you can probably do the math yourself!

    if in doubt, UTSC has put together a pretty solid 12 distinct credits worksheet that can be useful for more complicated program combinations with some degree of overlap. just throwin’ that out there in case you decide to change your program at some point, and need to figure things out again. you can also use it for your current program combo if you REALLY want to be sure.

    but yeah, bottom line, i think you’re probably safe.

    be Boundless,

    aska

    Read More
  • admissions,  financial aid,  scholarships/bursaries,  work-study

    fresh blood, bois (thank god it’s good news this time)

    April 19, 2020

    I have been accepted into all 3 campuses and my fam is beyond happy about it. But I just got an email today informing me that I failed to get the scholarship. I’m an international student and the tuition fee is way too much for my fam. I have calculated possible earnings from coop (management) but I’m not confident they will be of any help. Is there any information or organization/ someone I can contact abt scholarship or any means of financial aid?. I’m vibing with UofT already so I’m thinking of taking loans but is it worth it? considering that I can go to my country’s uni debt-free. Thank you.

    ——————————————

    hey hey hey,

    enormous congrats on your acceptance! all three campuses, wowow. even in these whack times, that’s v exciting. i, personally, am on a HUGE ‘i miss u of t’ stint at the moment, so i’m even more excited for you than i’d normally be at this point in the semester.

    u of t is a fantastic school, and it’s offered me so many opportunities/friendships/learning experiences that i wouldn’t give up for anything. with that said, not everyone ultimately finds it “worth it,” so to speak. here’s a previous post i wrote upon the pros and cons of going to u of t, as i see them. give it a look if you’re interested. it might give you a little more information as you draw up your own pros and cons list, metaphorically or literally (but i always recommend literally, it’s how i made my own uni decision).

    i can’t give you a definitive answer as to whether or not going to u of t is worth it, because i don’t have all the details necessary to make that decision (and please don’t give them to me!! i could be an internet criminal for all you know). for example, i don’t really know what your values or goals are, or the caliber of the local school you’d be attending. those are definitely things you should be taking into consideration.

    here are some other questions to ask yourself: what do you want out of your undergraduate degree? are you in an acceptable financial position to take out loans? do you anticipate that your field of study will be lucrative enough to pay your loans back? will you have parental support? would you be able to cut costs by living off-campus and cooking for yourself? etc., etc.

    worried about funding? here are some things you can look into:

    • the award explorer database, which just launched quite recently, will allow you to filter through a ton of scholarships that the school offers in order to find the ones you’re eligible for. there are a good number of admissions scholarships you can probably apply for. many scholarships will also take financial aid into account (some of them only look at financial aid!!) so i’d give this a shot
    • the work-study program provides paid on-campus part time jobs that are generally quite flexible in terms of hours. as an international student, you’ll need to apply for a social insurance number in order to be eligible for work-study, but i know several international students who have successfully done this. i myself am a work-study student, and find the program to be pretty fantastic. our main campus newspaper, the varsity, has put out a few pro-con articles on work-study if you wanna check them out here. 
    • working in the summers or getting an off-campus part-time job during the semester can be a good way to make some tuition money. i have friends who work at bubble tea shops, coffee shops, and more. the downside to non-campus jobs is that your work schedule won’t always be as flexible as it would under the work-study program, but it’s definitely something to consider.
    • becoming a don is also an option in your upper years, if you have the leadership/crisis management skills and the patience to deal with rowdy first-years. each residence has their own hiring process and they don’t all offer the same benefits, but i’ve heard it can be a super solid way for people to offset university costs. for example, many residences with meal plans offer dons free access to those meal plans. other residences offer 100% free accommodations.
    • most colleges and divisions also offer some sort of bursary program to students with financial aid. you’d need to speak to your registrar’s office to find out more.
    • going to UTM or UTSC will typically be cheaper in terms of rent/groceries, and there’s probably less competition for scholarships. but you’d have to weigh the value of each campus in terms of your personal goals as well– i ultimately chose st. george because there were more opportunities downtown.

    if you do ultimately choose u of t, your registrar’s office will usually have a financial advisor who’s willing to work with you to create a student budget. they, as well as residence programs, can also provide money-saving advice. i myself was worried about finances when i chose u of t, but i’ve found that meal-prepping, thrift shopping, living with roommates, and using student discounts is really helpful. i also use an excel sheet to keep track of my spending– if you use a few simple formulas, it auto-updates just like magic! spreadsheets rock.

    all that being said, i do realize that international student tuition is really high, and the casual offsetting you can do by skimping on restaurant meals and takeout will only make a small dent in that debt.

    in terms of weighing the “should i stay or should i go” question: one lil piece of advice i’ve heard is that, when considering what country you do a postsecondary degree in, it’s helpful to have a sense of what region you’d like to work in afterwards. after you complete a university degree, your degree isn’t the only thing you should have in your pocket– often, you end up with a personal and professional network that may open up career opportunities, but that network will be most useful in the area where your university’s actually located.

    here’s a domestic example: if you were choosing whether to go to school at home in edmonton or out-of-province in toronto, but ultimately want to return to edmonton to work, then it might be more useful to grow that network at home. if, however, you saw your career flourishing best in toronto and would be happy working on the east coast, that’s extra points for a school like u of t.

    hope that makes sense. good luck making the decision! i’m sure whatever you choose, it’ll be good.

    be Boundless,

    aska

    Read More
  • academic offense

    guys please ://

    April 19, 2020

    hi , I just got an email from my professor that the TA suspects me for plagiarizing . This is my first time getting academic integrity/offence email . It involves my final which is worth 30% . The issue was some of my answers were not properly paraphrased and misreference as I thought citing from Wikipedia isn’t valid . I know Im the dumbest person in this uni right now , but currently this issue has give me a lot of pressure . Thanks in advance for your help 🙂

    ——————————————

    hey there,

    not sure what your specific question is, but i can tell you what will probably happen next. according to the code of behaviour on academic matters, you’ll need to make yourself available for a meeting with your instructor, in which the two of you will discuss what happened, your instructor will give you more information, etc. etc. nothing you say in this meeting can be used against you, so you and your instructor can have as open a conversation as possible about the situation. if, after that, your instructor still believes that you committed an academic offense, your case will get passed on to your department chair or dean, and things will be dealt with accordingly.

    in your case, since your assignment was worth more than 10%, it’ll likely be the dean who decides what kind of reprimand you’ll be facing. but no use speculating about what that’ll be until you meet with your instructor.

    to address specific elements of the message you sent me:

    in general, citing from wikipedia isn’t really a good call. if you’re really insistent on using it, scroll down to the bottom of the wikipedia page and see if you can find any legitimate sources lurking in the footnotes. it’s a much better to (properly!!) use and cite those sources than it is to use or cite wikipedia. don’t cite wikipedia. at most, use it as a starting point.

    anyway, you pay for access to u of t’s library of online journals and stuff, anyway, so it may be worth the extra effort next time to pull sources from there instead. i know the language can be more difficult to parse and it’s a little less straightforward than doing a simple google search, but the quality of info you’ll get there is so, so much better than wikipedia. not using a service you already paid for is kinda like:

    as for proper paraphrasing… this document from the uc writing centre is pretty legit in terms of the guidelines it provides. at the core of it, they outline two essential points. first, you NEED to reference your source (in-text, like through footnotes or whatever your prof wants). second, it’s essential that you use your own words and sentence structures when paraphrasing. it may be beneficial to give those guidelines a look, just so that you’re clear on what the expectations are for next time.

    in general, i’d recommend that you reach out to your friendly local registrar. book a phone appointment and explain your situation. it would be useful for you to talk your situation over with someone who can give you advice specific to your case. it would also be a good opportunity for you to ask any specific questions you might have.

    a final note: i need you guys to understand that i can’t bail you out, or give you reassurance i ultimately can’t stand behind, or even predict what’s going to happen to you. i’m willing to answer as many of these as are sent in, but i (as a fellow student!) can only be useful in these ways, as far as academic integrity cases are concerned:

    • explain the code of academic conduct
    • give you tips to avoid academic integrity issues in the future
    • walk you through the next steps of navigating an academic integrity case
    • refer you to resources

    this isn’t @ you specifically, just an announcement for anyone asking academic integrity questions right now. i’ve gotten more this week than i usually do over the span of, like, five months.

    best of luck finishing the rest of the semester if you’re not yet done. we’ll pull through.

    be Boundless,

    aska

    Read More
  • copyright,  library

    sharing is caring????????

    April 17, 2020

    hey! I was wondering what the big copyright stamp/page at the beginning of some of my readings entails? Does uoft really own the material even if it was by some random author at some random time? I have american friends in a different university that i sometimes like to help out by sending pdfs of my readings, but is that not allowed?

    ——————————————

    hey hey,

    i actually have… no clue what you’re referring to? i’d need to have a look at the actual copyright stamp or page to even begin deciphering it, and i’ve probably got as much experience with that as you do. not gonna lie, most of my readings just… start at the first paragraph, or page, or whatever. or i download them off of JSTOR, which outlines its intellectual property stuff here. 

    i’d give it a close read, google any terms you’re unfamiliar with, and try to piece the situation together that way. if you’re not authorized to distribute your readings, then i think any copyright notice included will make that pretty clear. just use your best guess/common sense, and roll with that, i guess.

    as a student myself, i can understand that you’d want to help your friends access materials that they might have trouble getting a hold of. i have no clue how copyright laws work cross-border. that does complicate things a bit.

    i’d actually reach out to a librarian if you want a more concrete answer. i feel like they’re the kinds of people who would know things like this. if you’re aware of your personal librarian at u of t, that might be a good place to start. you can just pose your questions in general, hypothetical terms if you’re worried about repercussions.

    sorry i couldn’t be more helpful! if you wanna send me screenshots of what you’re referring to, i can try and investigate a lil further. but yeah, personal librarian. get in touch.

    be Boundless,

    aska

    Read More
  • academic offense

    sharing is caring, but not always

    April 17, 2020

    I was charged with my second academic offense. My first one was a warning offense for sharing ideas on an extra credit assignment. This time, i was in a groupchat on messenger and people were sharing exam pics and such. I sent answers to 4 pics but didnt send any exam pics and proof was sent to the dean. I got an email saying the deans office is looking into it and now im really worried. what punishment can i expect? I know what i did was wrong and i fully admit to it I dont wanna be suspended:(

    ——————————————

    hello there,

    it’s kind of hard for me to say. since it’s not your first time offense, i highly doubt you’re going to get off with just a reprimand.

    according to the code of behaviour on academic matters, the next lowest steps after a “warning offense,” as you put it, are a grade of zero or F on the assignment, or a reduction of the final grade for the course. you could also face a grade of zero or F in the course. in other words, a suspension isn’t the only possibility you’re facing, which i hope gives you a little reassurance. i know it sucks either way, though.

    i feel like, until you sit down and have a conversation with the dean/your instructor/the department head, you don’t really know what you’re facing. ie. you can’t really guess at what punishment you can expect. it will probably help you out if you admit to what you’ve done (if you don’t, i believe the case moves to higher authority/worse punishments are doled out).

    i’d just sit tight until you get an update re: their investigation. it’s an anxious situation to be in, i know, but you can’t really control what they do/find right now.

    i’d recommend that you reach out to your registrar’s office if you’re really worried. they can talk to you over the phone or something, and give you a better sense of your situation as well as prep you for any potential discussions with the dean. good luck!

    be Boundless,

    aska

    Read More
  • academic offense

    i do not love that for you

    April 17, 2020

    I just received an email this morning from my instructor that she thinks I plagarized. It’s really freaking me out because I was so sure I paraphrased (we weren’t allowed direct quotations) and that I put a citation to everything and I’m ashamed that I might have plagarized w/o knowing. I’m aware it might be accidental and the meeting will just be a discussion but I’m still really stressed about it and I can’t stop worrying that I also did this in other classes and I’ll get suspended pls help

    ——————————————

    hi friend,

    i feel like this pandemic has brought with it a wave of academic offense questions. not sure if the correlation equals causation here, but rest assured you’re not alone. perfectly natural and valid to be stressed about it, though– i know it’s a scary situation to be in.

    it’s always a little bit hard for me to respond to peoples’ cries for help re: possible academic offenses, because there’s… very little i can do? without actually having a look at your assignment and sources, it would be very difficult for me to tell you if you actually committed an academic offense unknowingly. but i can explain what the possible consequences might be if your case moves past that first meeting, so you can see that getting suspended is far from the only outcome of this. for more, i would recommend that you reach out to your registrar’s office— they’re really experienced with these things, and can help you navigate the situation.

    glad you seem to have done your research (or something?) so i can gloss over the bit about the first meeting just being a discussion. cool cool cool.

    so according to the code of behaviour, how sanctions for academic offenses work is a little different depending on a variety of factors, like whether you admit guilt and how much the assignment was worth. it gets kind of complicated. you can scan through the potential consequences in the code of behaviour if you’d like, but i want to highlight for you that there are so many other options, other than suspension, even if your academic offense is found to be legitimate. for minor and first-time offenses, you may just need to resubmit your work in addition to some sort of reprimand being issued. obviously, since i don’t know the details, i can’t tell you if your assignment would qualify as a minor offense, but it does sound like you’re a first-timer.

    even if it’s a bit of a larger deal, they’ll assign you a grade of 0 or F for the assignment or reduce your final grade in the course before they’ll suspend you. i know that’s not super reassuring, but it is better than suspension. and i have faith in the system to only reprimand you in proportion with what happened, ie. if it really was an accident, i really really doubt you’re gonna face your worst nightmares.

    best of luck with everything though, sending you all the good vibes. drink some water and take a deep breath. focus on something else. as someone who would panic over something like this as well, what i’ve learned is that there’s no use digging yourself into a hole of anxiety– just prepare yourself well for that initial first meeting, be fully honest, and see where things go from there. you’ll have more information about your situation after that meeting. you got this.

    be Boundless,

    aska

    Read More
  • music

    how does janet DO it

    April 16, 2020

    Hi Aska, is there anyone who has transferred midway (I am in 2nd year) to a completely new major in the Faculty of Arts and Science. How likely is it to finish a whole 7 credits in the span of 2 years? If it helps, it is the Music major under the Faculty of Arts and Science, and I want to finish all 7 credits in 2 years. Are the prerequisites really strict or can i take different year courses at the same time? Thanks!

    ——————————————

    hey there,

    is there anyone who’s transferred to a completely new major in the faculty of arts and science after second year? well, i’m not a good place janet, so i can’t tell you for certain, but it doesn’t seem implausible to me.

    aaand i’m also very clearly not a good place janet because i learned, today, that there’s a music degree under the big ol’ artsci umbrella. as in, separate from the faculty of music? huhhhh ok.

    to my knowledge, it should be perfectly doable to finish 7 FCEs over the span of two years. that is, 7 miscellaneous FCEs. it gets a little more complicated when you’re dealing with 7 program requirement FCEs, because then you have pesky things to think about like prereqs. let’s try to unravel that whole mess right here and now so we can get a sense of the feasibility of what you wanna do:

    oh boy. okay. so i’m giving you my feedback in real time, which is a new thing i’m trying, and my guess is that you hit the same wall i did. in other words, you did the thing where you look up the music major program, cool cool cool, here it is, and then you click on the music major requirements. first year, higher years, all there. everything looks normal. but then you take it to the next stage, and literally none of the first year requirements are in the current calendar. 

    try ’em. HMU111H1, HMU126H1, TMU115H1, TMU140Y1 … nothing. why? if this major was a place, it would be one of those desert oasis mirages. looks legit while you’re on your way there, but when you get down to it and want what it has, poof.

    so um, it appears we have hit a dead end. i even tried looking up HMU courses on the fall/winter timetable, also with literally no results. what is going ON?

    all right, all right. i would recommend that you reach out to either the registrar or assistant registrar of the faculty of music, then, and see if they know anything about the ultra-mysterious HMU program. does it exist? does it… not? is course registration so exclusive that you literally can’t figure out what you’re getting into until you’re already in? if they know anything, they’ll probably be your best bet at figuring out whether you’ll be able to finish all 7 credits in 2 years.

    best of luck!! what a MYSTERY i hope the music registrars can help you figure it out. sorry i couldn’t be more useful– my powers can feel so dreadfully limited at times like these.

    be Boundless,

    aska

    Read More
  • chem,  engineering,  grad school

    i had to google submatriculate, but i think i’m still qualified to run this blog

    April 11, 2020

    Hi! I’m a (possibly) incoming UTSG artsci freshman who has too many academic interests. Firstly, would it be possible to do a 2nd major (or minor or 2nd degree) in biomedical engineering? Secondly, is there a way to submatriculate into an MSc program from chem/biochem specialization? Lastly, is there some way for me to skip the introductory courses (apart from transfer credit)? Sorry for ruining your day with a barrage of obscure questions! ?

    ——————————————

    hey hey,

    lmao i feel like 40% of the people on this site are in some kind of serious academic trouble, and 20% are keeners like you (very kind, apologize too much, interested in literally everything). don’t worry, you’re not ruining my day with a barrage of obscure questions. i thrive on obscure questions. we cool.

    i’m not aware of any option to take biomedical engineering in conjunction with an artsci program. to even be eligible for biomedical engineering as a minor, you need to be in one of the core 8 engineering programs or in engsci. the biomedical systems engineering major, meanwhile, has hella requirements. you only get to enter it after two full years of engsci foundational courses. i can’t imagine an artsci kid juggling that on top of another major, even if it were allowed. i suppose you can get in contact with the department if you really wanna know for sure, but i think the answer is unfortunately no on this one.

    to address the lil’ musing about second degrees you seem to have thrown in…. i’m not really sure if a second degree is really what you wanna do, even if you’re super thrilled about everything. i have a feeling your first degree will tire you out a lil, or at least enough to make you wanna reconsider. especially doing a second degree in engsci, i dunno man, it seems like a lot. and then when you add the amount of student debt you’d be carrying after one degree, let alone two… yikes. just some things to consider, yknow? hang on to the second degree thought until you’re close to doing your first degree. then, if you still want to do a second degree, talk to the academic advisers at your registrar and get a lil guidance on it. that would be my take.

    as for the submatriculation thing… i was unable to find any info on this via the big ol’ world wide web. so i reached out to someone who’s pretty well connected in the chem department, and they told me that they’re not aware of any submatriculation options within chemistry. even if you’ve been working underneath the same supervisor for a long time and hope to do a phd with them, you’ll still need to actually apply to admissions to do so. i’m not sure if it’s different in biochem, but like i said, there doesn’t seem to be any readily-available internet info on this, which suggests that the answer is no submatriculation. once again, i would reach out to the department if you want a super solid answer, though. chem contact info linked here, biochem info linked here.

    in terms of skipping required introductory courses without transfer credit… i would say the answer is also probably no, otherwise a ton of people would be doing it. i’m assuming you’d be wanting to do this in order to take a wider breadth of courses, or something? introductory courses tend to have some pretty important information, and even if you could skip out on them i wouldn’t recommend it– the foundation you get in those huge first year courses tends to be quite important for the academic work you’ll be doing later on in your degree.

    but once again, you could contact the department running the course and ask, if you have a super duper legitimate reason to be skipping an intro course.

    this whole post has been an enormous “pls ask someone else” but i hope my insights have at least been… insightful! keep that excited, i-love-everything energy. it’s refreshing, and makes my brain feel a little less melty. wishin’ you all the best as you weigh your options for next year!

    be Boundless and stay healthy,

    aska

    Read More
  • subject POST

    very cool.

    April 8, 2020

    Hello! I am hoping to double major in Classic Civilization and Near and Middle Eastern Studies, Is that a valid combination? Or do I need a minor? can i even add a minor? (Degree Explorer keeps telling me it’s an invalid POSt combination!)

    ——————————————

    hey there,

    sorry for the long wait with this answer! it’s taken me a while to look into this, because i’m stupid about degree explorer sometimes, but as far as i can tell it… should be a valid combination? i managed to add all the NMC majors to that combination on my degree explorer, anyway, once i confirmed that it wouldn’t mess with my current degree explorer plans.

    so i don’t know what’s up with your error message. you can contact your registrar if you’re still having trouble, i guess. but the good news is that your combination should be valid! i’ve never encountered a combination that wasn’t valid, unless someone was trying to specialize AND major in the same thing (not ok, apparently).

    to answer your second and third questions:

    you don’t need a minor if you’re doing a double major. to graduate from u of t, you generally need a specialist OR a double major OR a major and two minors. that’s the minimum required POSt combination, and tbh it’s the way to go if you still wanna have any space for electives or breadth requirements. now, if you’re a chronic overachiever, super interested in too many things, or you just plain hate yourself, you can go aBoVE anD bEyOnD those requirements and add up to three subject POSts. that is, as long as the third one is a minor.

    tl:dr u doin good buddy, have fun studying your ancient civilizations! very cool.

    be Boundless,

    aska

     

    Read More
  • academic offense,  covid-19

    “waiting for academic rep to contac–” *static*

    April 8, 2020

    I’m a first year eng student shifting online. 2 labs I did not know how to submit and sent it to my professors & second time I tried to submit remotely and searched how to do it and submitted the wrong one. I got an email about an academic offense and realized my friends codes were sent and submitted and not mine they r completely different & work there is no incentive and I have my search history on how I was trying to figure out how submit. What will happen. Waiting for academic rep to contac

    ——————————————

    hey there,

    you ok, bud? never finished your sentence there.

    i know it’s been a rough transition to online school for many people, and it must be even tougher to navigate that as a first year– in my first year, i had no clue what was what. so take a sec, breathe, it’s okay, you’re doing great.

    typically, the procedure for academic offenses begins with a meeting with your instructor. i’m guessing that under the current circumstances, that’ll be conducted on zoom or something. anyway, this meeting is where you’ll explain to your instructor what happened– how the mistake was made, how confused you were, etc etc. at this point, it would be useful for you to have proof that what happened was an honest mistake. so have your search history ready to go, and any other evidence you think will work in your favor, like the file that you meant to submit and proof that it was completed on time. if, after this meeting, your instructor believes you to be innocent of an academic offence, you’re off the hook.

    if not, the case goes up the ladder. in other words, it’ll go to the department chair or dean, and you’ll probably have another zoom meeting. more on the rest of the procedure here, should you choose to torture yourself with information that may not even apply to you.

    that’s basically what i can tell you about what will happen to you. obviously the specifics of it will depend on how your meetings go, and how far up the chain your case gets moved. i hope for your sake that things get resolved early on so you don’t have to gou through the whole ordeal. maybe they’ll be a little more forgiving given that we’re all in a weird transition-to-online-school phase that’s thrown everyone off a little bit, instructors included.

    unrelated, but i’ve referenced the code of behaviour on academic matters way, way more often than is healthy and this is the first time i noticed how melodramatic it is. truly. “this mandate is more than a mere pious hope. it represents a condition necessary for free enquiry, which is the university’s life blood.” um… ok. it’s just a set of rules, but ok.

    sending you good vibes from quarantine! hope your mistake gets resolved okay.

    be Boundless,

    aska

    Read More