• engineering

    engsigh

    June 23, 2019

    I’m a soon to be first year for eng, and I’m not sure what engineering strain I want to do anymore. I’ve been thinking of switching to engsci(I know that it’s going to be tough – by the way, what’s the typical average I need after first year to be successful?), but I’m afraid of doing horribly in physics – I’ve had absolutely awful physics teachers for all of high school. how screwed am I if I manage to transfer? does the first year curriculum allow me to explore(most of) every strain?

    also, pertaining to physics – what’s the general consensus of physics in the first year of eng? do the classes have a high failing rate? is it generally considered one of the hardest courses?

    ——————————————

    hey there,

    congrats on your eng admission! it’s understandable that you’re unsure what you want to go into at this point– and you’ve certainly got some time left. plenty of eng students go in not really knowing what strain they’re interested in.

    as far as i know (and maybe you know this too), transferring into engsci is harder than transferring out of engsci. according to the university, you can only do so after first year, whereas you could transfer out of engsci right now. the website only specifies that you’ll need a ‘superior academic record,’ which i suspect is vague on purpose — they don’t know what kind of transfer room there will be year to year, and what your competition will look like.

    in terms of how screwed you are if you manage to transfer, this blog post compared first year engsci to ‘drinking out of a fire hose.’

    so, assuming you decide to go ahead with the transfer, you’d be going into second year engsci without having had the same intensive foundation as your peers. you can check out all the first-year engineering curricula here, which might give you a more accurate (and concise) look into first year than i can offer. the idea of first year, though, is that you do get a feel for each strain so you know what you wanna pick later on. with that said, i dunno how good of a job track one is gonna do regarding engsci strains.

    the post is actually pretty illuminating regarding the differences between engsci and track one, so i’d suggest giving it a look.

    what i’ve heard about physics is that there is some overlap with high school and AP physics. i’d suggest you check out forums and see what others say, as well as take a look at the course descriptions. this is track one’s first year physics req, and engsci’s is phy180, which i can’t find any working pages on. it’d probably benefit you to have a solid high school foundation for things like kinematics, but if you’re worried about it and enough of a keener, you can definitely pre-study to prep yourself.

    anyway, since none of this info comes from firsthand experience, i’d recommend you hit up the engineering registrar and speak to them as well. they might be able to advise you on what your gpa will need to look like to transfer into engsci, as well as what first year physics is really like.

    best of luck!

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • extracurricular,  grad school,  med school,  medicine

    i’ve never been happier

    June 21, 2019

    Hello! I’m a soon-to-be 4th year student interested in applying for grad school (health/medicine-related). The program does not require any job shadowing experiences but I think it would look good on my application. After a google search, I found a U of T alumni who coincidentally graduated from the grad program i’m interested in and also works in my town. It seems like she is self-employed so there is no info on shadowing or volunteering like there is on hospital websites.

    How do I go about asking if I can job shadow or volunteer? I was thinking of sending an email but I’m not sure what I would write. My grades aren’t that impressive so I’m counting on my extracurriculars to get me into grad school (I probably shouldn’t mention that in my email though) and I think this would be a great opportunity.

    ——————————————

    hello friend,

    you should just go for it! an email seems like a good choice– less forward than a phone call, and less terrifying on top of that. while i’ve never been in your specific situation, i did some research on job shadowing for you and think i can help piece together an email.

    from what i know, job shadowing is typically a shorter-term thing (we’re talking like 1-3 days) whereas volunteering might offer you slightly longer-term experience. i’m thinking volunteering might be of more use to you if you’re trying to gain significant experience for an application, but job shadowing isn’t a bad idea if you’ve just got a few questions you want answered and want a quick window into her career. obviously, her availability and willingness to offer one or the other to you will affect your options, but it’s probably important to be clear on what you’re asking of her up front. just cause, yknow, there is a difference.

    these are my thoughts on what the flow of your email could look like:

    hello —–,

    1. introduction
    2. how you found out about her
    3. why you want what you want
    4. what you want
    5. when you want it
    6. some kinda failsafe clause
    7. attach your resume

    so it’d probably end up looking something  like this:

    my name is —— and i’m a soon-to-be fourth year at u of t. i’m currently in the —- program, but i have a serious interest in pursuing —– in the near future. from what i understand/found on your website (or whatever), you graduated from this program yourself.

    [this is the part where you enthusiastically express interest in the field, the program, what this person does, etc. according to a ted talk i watched in like, the tenth grade, apple sells so much stuff by leading with their ‘why’. that’s the advice we’re following here. i dunno what your why is, though. that’s on you, buddy.]

    if possible, i would love the chance to shadow you/volunteer with you for (whatever period of time). i understand you may be extremely busy and unable to accommodate me. if that’s the case, could you please forward my request to a colleague who might be able to help me out?

    my resume is attached for your reference; i look forward to hearing from you soon. if you would prefer to speak on the phone, here is the number i can be reached at: (your phone number here!)

    thank you for your time,

    end email

    anyway, the tone of this question is a good indicator you can write a solid email! gotta love those full sentences and that good grammar.

    on top of that, it’ll probably help that she’s a u of t alumni who went through the exact program you’re gunning for. best of luck with this opportunity and i hope my answer helped!

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • residence

    feeding two birds with one scone

    June 20, 2019

    Hi aska! Can I apply to the waitlists of multiple different residences/colleges? I’m a first-year member of University College but not guaranteed residence. Thanks so much!

    ——————————————

    can i apply to a bunch of different residences of a bunch of different colleges? i’m already a member of one university. (aska note: what is this ‘one university’? campus one? university college? what? where? who? why?)

    ——————————————

    hello friends with almost the exact same question,

    i dunno when or where this info was imparted to me (probably as an eleventh grade keener, tbh) but i’ve always just assumed your college equals your residence. i actually had to do a lil digging into whether this was actually a published rule– these kinds of questions always have me doubting myself– and according to student life, the answer to your question is unfortunately a no.

    u of t’s college system basically serves to organize our huge student population into smaller, slightly more manageable chunks. i guess this is true for residence as well, in that as long as you’re in artsci you can’t really cross over college boundaries to live in another college’s res. professional faculties kiddos, like the architects and the engineers, have way more of a range of choice, but there are also fewer spots for them. win some lose some, i guess.

    chestnut is the only residence that seems to take all u of t undergrads regardless of college or faculty. i know it’s not an option for many people because its fees are so high.

    bottom line: you’re stuck with whatever residence it is you’re stuck with. a self-evident statement, but appropriate in this context, i think. if you’re worried about not having housing next year, you can give off-campus housing a go. i did this hella long post on finding it a while back– here, if you’re interested in checking it out. the more i link it, the more i realize it’s kind of chunky. i should fix that sometime.

    as always, title ref for the less cultured, because aska loves you too and wants you in on the joke.

    be Boundless (or not really in this case :/ ),

    aska

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  • extra courses

    six hunnids

    June 19, 2019

    can you take 100 level courses in upper years?

    ——————————————

    hello friend,

    you definitely can! the number of 100s you’ll be able to take later on depends, though, on how many you take in your first year. according to the rules and regulations, there’s a limit on how many 100 level courses you’re allowed to count towards your degree. it caps at 6.0 FCEs, equivalent to 6 full-year courses or 12 half-year courses. so if you max out your first-year courseload at 6 courses a term, and none of those are upper-level courses, you’ll have reached that limit.

    if you do choose to take 100 level courses beyond that 6.0 FCE allowance, you should still be able to register in them. they’ll just be designated ‘extra’ courses on your transcript, and won’t count towards your GPA or 20 credit requirement. it may be useful to know that with this, you can’t pick and choose which courses will get slapped with an ‘extra’ label. it’s automatically done based on the order in which the courses were taken– that is to say, the latest ones are the extra ones. just like friends at a party. 

    hope this helped!

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • one programs

    one one two ones three ones four

    June 19, 2019

    Do most people apply to multiple ones in the hopes that they’ll get into just one or the programs? Or should you only apply to one that you’re really interested in

    ——————————————

    hello,

    this one is totally up to you! i know some people have their sights set on a specific one program– that was the case with me– so they only apply to that one. others go for more than that, then have their pick later on. just be aware that you can only register for one ‘one’.

    i don’t think there’s any harm in applying to multiple one programs. especially since some of the applications are easier than others (mine probably took ten minutes), it can be a good way to make sure you’ve got options for your first year. at the same time, admission to ones isn’t terribly competitive. of course it depends which one and which stream you’re interested in, though. the more prestigious (and thereby popular) ones seem to be vic, munk, and trin. that said, there were some streams of trin that weren’t too full either, from what i heard from a friend last september.

    if you decide not to apply to too many and ultimately don’t get in, keep in mind that first-year seminars are still an option you have for small classes. you won’t need to apply to those– just register during regular course enrollment. as i’ve written in the past, they’re pretty similar to ones. 

    hope this helped!

    over n out,

    aska

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  • one programs,  seminars

    another one

    June 17, 2019

    how many first year seminars or ones can you take?

    ——————————————

    there doesn’t seem to be any official rule on how many ones you take, but because of technicalities it seems like there is a limit. you can only be registered in one ‘one’ at a time, according to the exclusions placed in the timetable. for example, innis one’s exclusions are munk one, new one, st. mike’s one, trin one, vic one, uc one, and woodsworth one: in other words, literally all the other ones.

    however, you should be able to take both a ‘one’ and a seminar– from my personal experience, at least, it’s definitely doable. not a bad way to go, either. that way you can hit a few different breadth requirements in your first year through small classes. i’m not aware of any limitations on the seminars, but from what i know it doesn’t matter too much anyway since you likely won’t have enough room to take a crap ton of them. still gotta meet those POSt prereqs, am i right?

    on an unrelated note– hope everyone downtown at the rally today came out all right! i know it was kind of a crazy, terrifying time for anyone around bay as well as eaton. please stay safe, my friends.

    over n out,

    aska

     

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  • psychology,  rotman

    bcom whatever you want to be

    June 17, 2019

    Hi! I just have a short question. I am interested in various areas in business and psychology. Is it possible to do majors in both subjects at the same time? I can’t really find a clear answer anywhere.

    ——————————————

    hi there,

    if by business you mean a bachelor’s of commerce, then yeah, taking both business and psych should technically be possible! in fact u of t is pretty great for this very reason– i find it has fewer barriers to mixing and matching totally different programs than other schools do. even though sometimes, that mixing and matching can feel a little like this:

    if you do want to graduate with a bcom, you’ll be required to take a specialist at rotman, not just a major. you’ll be choosing from either accounting, finance & econ, or management for that specialist. how much room you’ll have to complete a psych program (in other words, how much elective space you have) will depend on which rotman program you select. accounting leaves you 5.0 full-course equivalents (FCEs) while fin&econ will leave 2.5 and management 4.0-5.0.

    a psych major will ask you for 7.0 credits. how, you ask, is it possible in such a limited universe, that you’ll be able to fit that into your 5.0 or fewer credits of elective allotment? there’s a chance some of your requirements in each program will be able to overlap– you’ll need to figure out for yourself how likely this is, as it’ll vary based on what you choose at rotman. you can also schedule an appointment with an advisor at your registrar, and have them talk you through your options.

    if not enough overlap is possible, you’ll still be able to take both programs, but might not be able to finish in 20 FCEs. this’ll mean either loading up on extra classes during the school year, taking summer school, or extending your time at u of t for a semester or so.

    if you’re super keen on doing both business and psych, but don’t want to take that extra load on, you can always consider doing a psych minor instead– it’ll be easier to manage, at just 4.0 FCEs. when considering this, keep in mind you’ll also need your elective space to complete your breadth requirement courses.

    hope this helped! go for it if it’s what you want. aska believes in you.

    over n out,

    aska

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  • enrollment,  enrolment

    i guess that makes us all telepaths

    June 16, 2019

    Hey aska! I’m sorry if this question has been asked before but how do we find out when to enrol in courses?

    ——————————————

    hello friend,

    no worries at all! i did a recent post on this, which you can check out here. basically the gist of it is, look out for an email from your registrar. if you don’t get one by mid-july-ish, shoot me another question and i’ll try to find out what’s up. but yeah, you should definitely be notified by the school when it’s about to begin! i don’t have access to those specific dates right now, but it’s pretty safe to say course enrolment should be at the end of july. that is, if it’s anything like last year.

    so like, expect the school to speak! telepathically! to you through a machine! in order to get your hands on that specific information. sounds like amazing fun. file that under things that make me nostalgic about entering first year. ah, sarcasm’s so hard over the internet.

    over n out,

    aska

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  • timetable

    gotta hang on!

    June 16, 2019

    which is more accurate, the timetable or the academic calendar? when will the timetable be totally done?

    ——————————————

    hello hello,

    the timetable is never ‘totally done,’ per se– i feel like small changes are always being made as more sections are added, rooms are assigned, instructors are moved around, etc. i would recommend you wait to plan your courses closer to course reg time if you’re worried about it, as it tends to stabilize around then.

    i’ve heard that there are actually some issues with the current timetable, in that there are discrepancies between the courses registrars know are to be offered and what the timetable shows. this was flagged with first year seminars in particular, as i’ve written in several previous posts, but there could very well be other issues i’m not aware of at the moment. i will post an update about this when i get one, but once again– gotta hang on! 

    from what i know, the calendar is probably your more reliable bet at the moment. i’ve confirmed that it is up to date. while changes are definitely still possible, they’ll be tracked on this webpage.

    however, the calendar won’t give you the kind of info essential to planning out your schedule, not the same way the timetable will. you’ll notice that courses listed on it are devoid of any practical details– no room numbers, no instructors, no tutorial times. this is why you’ll want to hang on for a bit and use the timetable to plan closer to course selection– but if you want to check which courses are being offered and stuff, the calendar is a solid bet.

    hope this helped! best of luck with planning things out and getting those prereqs down.

    over n out,

    aska

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  • colleges,  one programs

    no restrictions! none!

    June 14, 2019

    can i apply for vic one if im not part of vic college, apply for uc one if im not part of uc, etc?

    ——————————————

    hey friend,

    you definitely can! i had friends in innis one from trin, vic, and all sorts of colleges. while the college system does kinda sort you into smaller groups, it places no restrictions! none! on the courses you can take.

    i have no idea what this gif is from, but it was the first result under ‘go for it’ on giphy. represent, i guess.

    keep in mind that only some of the one programs require an application, though– you should be able to get into uc one without applying. hope this helped and feel free to reach out if you need any other answers!

    be ??oundless,

    aska

     

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  • one programs,  seminars

    potato, potato

    June 14, 2019

    do you recommend first year seminars? how do they compare to the ones programs? (tbh i still don’t quite understand the ones programs) thanks so much!!

    ——————————————

    hey hey,

    i absolutely would recommend first year seminars! my first year, i was lucky enough to take both a ‘one’ program for a full credit, as well as a half-cred first-year 199 seminar. in both cases, i had a great experience and even got to bump my gpa up a little bit. i do a pretty detailed plug for the specific 199 i took in this post, if you wanna check it out.

    what’s the difference? i find that most of the ones are targeted more so towards humanities/social science breadth requirements– we’re talking global innovation, literature, cinema.don’t let that stop you if that’s not what you’re into: trinity has a few global health/environment streams, and meanwhile a stream of st. mike’s one works with tech. vic one is the only program i’m aware of that has a straight-up mathematical and physical sciences stream. however, for the most part i don’t find that ones gear themselves heavily towards math/science/physics etc. you’ve definitely got more options among the first-year seminars.

    ones are also all run out of specific colleges, as you can tell pretty easily from their names. what? you’re telling me uc one runs out of uc? yes, that’s exactly what i’m telling you. meanwhile, first-year seminars aren’t affiliated the same way. they tend, instead, to be organized by breadth requirement. you’ve got your ones (not to be confused with the other ones u of t whY), your twos, your threes… you know how to count ’til five.

    something else i’ve found differentiates the ones is that they tend to have some type of central idea or theme organizing their offerings. this tends to follow along the lines of what the college in general is known for. st. mike’s, a former catholic institution, offers ones that explore the intersection between faith and other subjects; innis’s ones cover either writing or cinema, which makes sense as that college runs those programs; trin tends to run more ir/ethics-tinged programs for a similar reason. if you check out this page, you’ll see that each one program has a clear focus/mission statement.

    one other difference is that some of the ones, like munk one, can count towards POSt. meanwhile, seminars just…don’t. they count towards breadth req and your 20 credits, but that’s about it.

    format-wise, i found that both the one and the seminar that i took felt pretty similar. both weighed participation 10%, didn’t send too much coursework home, and had fantastic instructors willing to go above and beyond. they were also pretty small classes that forced us to talk to each other– i ended up making good friends in my one program in particular, just because it was a yearlong thing.

    that’s the main reason i’d really encourage you to take a one or seminar, actually! u of t does have its big n’ scary reputation of being hella antisocial, and truth be told it’s next to impossible to make friends in con hall classes. i actually tried, my first day, being the eternal optimist that i am — the girl beside me turned out to be a fourth year. i asked her if she was a TA. that was the end of that.

    anyway, if there’s anything specific you were wondering that i didn’t speak to, feel free to let me know! otherwise, hope this helped, friend.

    over n out,

    aska

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  • enrollment,  enrolment

    s p a c e

    June 14, 2019

    thank you so much for answering my question on priority enrolment! i had a second question about that: if i have priority for a certain course does that mean i get to choose that specific course at an earlier date than my other courses? or do i still choose all the courses at the same time?

    ——————————————

    hey,

    if you have priority for a course, it doesn’t mean you get to enrol in it earlier than your others, no. how it works instead is that enrolment for everyone else opens up later– meaning those without the priority designation need to check back later on and see if there’s still space.

    according to what the timetable says at this moment, if you’ve got priority enrolment, you’re among a select group of students that can register before july 31. there’s a small gap in course enrolment aug 1, then once august 2 rolls around anyone else in artsci can vie for a spot. meanwhile, students from utm or utsc seeking to enrol in utsg courses will be able to do so after august 9.

    hope this makes sense and lemme know if you need any other help with enrolment/navigating the system/etc. etc. i take fun questions, too! been a while since anything spicy has hit the ask box. 

    over n out,  

    aska

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  • internal transfer

    back to ouac

    June 13, 2019

    Hey, I’m a soon to be UTM student studying social sciences, and was wondering how hard or competitive it would be to switch to Uoft st George campus rather than the Mississauga one. What type of gpa would I need and what type of process will I have to go through. Also I had originally applied for uoft st George but was rejected and given an alternative acceptance to uoft Scarborough and Mississauga, would my rejection lessen my chances to get into st George?

    ——————————————

    hello hello and welcome to askastudent! (and u of t at large i guess)

    maybe this’ll come as a surprise to you, but this is actually a highkey common question. you’ll be looking to do a lil something we call an internal transfer, for which you’ll need this ouac app. that’s right, you’re being sent back to ouac. it’ll cost you 90! entire! dollars! and your deadlines will be sometime in january, if previous years’ are any indication. i wrote in this post that it’d be best to get it done during christmas break, but i’m realizing now that it’s likely better to get it in as soon as you can. all i know is it’ll open in the fall (at the same time as other u of t apps i’m assuming?) so just keep an eye out.

    the type of gpa you’d need will obviously vary by program– especially if you’re hoping to transfer straight into POSt. i don’t know what your plans are regarding this, so it’s hard to speak to– and either way, i don’t really have that kind of data. maybe i should look into getting it, if possible. problem with this kinda info is it’s so hard to track down.

    if you’re transferring into the social sciences, though, i’d say that generally things will not be as competitive as programs like compsci. unless you’re shooting for something super prestigious like peace, conflict, and justice, socsci tends to not be as cutthroat.

    what i’ve done in the past is referred people to utm’s internal transfer gpa requirements. to be competitive as an internal transfer student there, you’d need a cumulative GPA (CGPA) of 2.5 and upwards. it’s hard to tell, though, if those requirements carry over to utsg– so i would advise you to speak to your registrar and see if they have anything more concrete for you. they may know, too, if your past rejection will lessen your chances. i know that for external transfers, unis will typically look at a student’s whole academic record, but i don’t reeeeallly know if this carries over to internal transfer kiddos.

    hope this was still helpful, though! best of luck with your first year and the internal transfer.

    over n out,

    aska

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