• askastudent announcement

    um HI what’s going ON : an announcement

    April 27, 2019

    hello friends, readers, internet stragglers, spambots (shoutout to our all-time most frequent commenters, we see and love you)–

    have you accessed the aska site in the last few days and been FLOORED because you thought you made a wrong turn? have you made a quick search for ‘can’t get into my poST heLp’ and been met with minimalistic black-and-white nothingness? what about clicked on a link and been transported to a different dimension?

    i mean, probably not, because so far we’ve just been trying quick things. BUT this is your heads up that the askastudent website is, as of now, beginning the long and laborious process of being brought out of the early aughts! time travel is real, people. yeah, i know, i’m a little attached to our quirky banner and strangely dark colour scheme too. but all good things must pass.

    we’re gonna be fiddling with things for a while, possibly til the end of the summer, so i’ll post another update when the changes have been solidified. what will it look like? wish i knew, i am indecisive as hell.

    herewegoooooo,

    aska

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  • grad school

    if you love me don’t make me do math

    April 25, 2019

    Hello. I’m interested in applying for a masters program at uoft, specifically in the public policy (PP) programs. Although uoft is my first option (i go to utsc currently), I’m open to PP programs at grad schools in Toronto like at Ryerson or York. My first three semesters sucked (1.85, 2.00, 1.5). My next three semesters: 2.84, 3.13, 3.57. My CGPA now is 2.57 with 11 credits. If I keep averaging around/above 3.5, will I have a chance at getting into uoft? I’m also looking to gain experience!

    ——————————————

    hello hello!

    i mostly deal in undergrad and am not a numbers person, but i looked into the munk school’s graduate PP program for you. looks like they require two different numbers:

    • your CGPA has to be at least a B
    • your GPA has to be at least a B+ in your final year

    as usual, the website includes the bit about how meeting this minimum requirement only makes you competitive, but doesn’t in any way guarantee admission.

    now, i am in no way the person you want doing your calculations, so i think it’s in both of our best interests to redirect ya. plug your numbers into this gpa calculator, including your prospective grades, and take a look at what it spits out. a B CGPA at u of t is a 3.0, and a B+ is 3.3, so those are the thresholds you’ll be looking to make. giving this a try will probably give you a better idea of what your chances are.

    hope this helped and all the best with your grad school admissions!

    cheers,

    aska

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  • bird courses

    what kind of bird ARE u tho

    April 22, 2019

    what are the bird courses at UofT?

    —————————————

    hello there!

    don’t we all wanna know. i’m not aware of that many (you’ll find it’s a very short list lol), but i’ll toss the ones i have heard about at you.

    ANT208

    all i know is a bunch of people have recommended this to me as a bird. if you check out this reddit post, one user can tell you why. i’m always a lil hesitant to trust reddit, especially as an aska– a lot of redditors giving advice don’t really know what they’re doing. sooooooo use this at your own risk, but either way ANT208 seems to be a solid bird option.

    PHY100: magic of physics 

    i heard from a first-year that as long as you had taken physics in high school, this one was a breeze. don’t know much about it otherwise, but it seems to be a relatively well-known bird for those inclined towards the sciences.

    CLA204: introduction to classical mythology 

    i met one girl who wouldn’t shut up about this course. she told everyone she knew to take it, because apparently it was that easy. as long as you’ve read percy jackson, she said, you’ll already know all of the testable material. and the lectures are basically like listening to stories. i can’t corroborate this cause i have yet to take her up on her advice, but like… sounds like a bird to me.

    SOC100?

    someone told me first year sociology would be a bird, but I haven’t really found that to be true. there was still quite a workload when I took it, and the final exam is pretty hefty AND worth about half of your final grade. i found that, at least with caron, the nice thing is he’ll give you a lot of the questions beforehand, especially short answer and essay prompts. helped a lot with test anxiety, but it meant the exam was pretty tough in terms of length– maybe to compensate. even then, the class average was something like a B. so i guess it depends on what’s important to you. for me, knowing what’s on the exam ahead of time makes it worth it. for you, maybe not. i hear with latouche it’s different, and the exams are pure multiple choice.

    seminars

    first-year seminars generally seem to be quite a bit easier, and I’d recommend them if you’re a first year and you qualify. they emphasize participation more so than in other classes (in my experience it counted for about 10%), so if you’re not into talking and you care about that 10%, just be aware of that i guess. they also cover some real fun topics, like vampires and drugs. separate courses, unfortunately not in the same one.

    i took the frontiers of astronomy one, and was pretty lost at the beginning but found that if i worked off the rubric and spoke up a few times each class, it wasn’t actually a stretch to get an A. easy breadth 5 fulfillment, not even basic math required! a win. and the profs, reid and drout, are real gems. a brainless recommendation for me.

    —

    i brought bird courses up with an academic advisor once, actually. her response was, “what kind of bird are you, though?” which is actually, if you think about it, a fair point. what’s a bird for me might not be a bird to you. do you like talking? writing? is math a strength or a con of MASSIVE proportions to you (like it is for me)? some courses are birds for CS majors but will crush a humanities kid, and some fun-looking artsy course might not turn out to be all that fun for a physics geek.

    i dunno. i guess some courses are objectively easier ie. the course average is higher and they have less of a killer workload. i would just say be careful about any courses you take just cause you’ve heard they’re birds, especially if you don’t have any real interest in them. people tend to do better in courses they can get excited about, or at least don’t want to pass out over.

    on top of that, taking a harder course with a phenomenal prof seems to almost always be more rewarding than taking an easy course with a subpar instructor– another thing to keep in mind. ratemyprof can help you out with this.

    personally, the best instructor i’ve ever had is kevin o’neill, who teaches out of diaspora and transnational studies. such a passionate lecturer, and literally described as a genius by his fellow faculty. he made me excited to show up for my morning class, even in the dead of winter. get you a prof like that.

    anyhow, this facebook group is also a great reference for bird courses. join it if ya want, seems like you can get some advice on what to take if you want an easy time. sometimes people will send you syllabi, too, if they’re feeling nice and you want more info. this relatively recent blog post also gives you some options i didn’t highlight, in case you wanna check that out.

    big sorry that it took me so long to get to this; i’ve had a bunch of questions i’m only just now almost through, and it’s also exam season. SUMMER IS COMING though and i couldn’t be more excited.

    over n out,

    aska

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  • petition,  withdrawal

    extenuating circumstances

    April 22, 2019

    Hi, I have a unique situation . In my first year my father just passed away which affected both my first and second year marks in university. I then had to take some time off and returned back to school after 1.5 years. Its been a couple of years, and due to academic stress. Because my GPA is so bad after failing 3 courses in both years ,I wanted to know if it was possible to petition to remove the marks I didn’t pass due to these extenuating circumstances.

    ——————————————

    hey there,

    i know it’s been a few years and you’ve probably heard this already, but i’m sorry for your loss. i can’t imagine what dealing with that must have been like, and it’s totally understandable that your GPA took a hit.

    i looked into this for ya, and i think your best option is to go after a withdrawal or WDR. it’s not gonna be a clear-cut process, because the official rule is that you can only request one until 6 months after the end of the term in question. there can be exceptions to this 6- month rule with extenuating circumstances, but i’m not sure you’ll be able to apply the exception to all your terms. apparently the faculty (artsci, although i’m not sure which one you’re with) argues that if you could register for more courses, any issues with past courses will have been resolved. i don’t know if that makes much sense, but the bottom line is you may only be able to fight for your last term of courses.

    i would recommend that you talk to your registrar’s office and make an appointment with an academic advisor. they’ll have access to your academic history and be better able to talk you through your options, as well as walk you through the petition process if they believe filing a petition would be in your best interests. there are fees associated with petitions, and if yours is successful you won’t get a refund for the courses you withdrew from either. but an academic advisor can give you specifics on that, as well.

    best of luck, my friend. i hope they’re able to work something out for you!

    over n out,

    aska

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  • housing,  no one asked

    1-800-housemeplease

    April 18, 2019

    ah, the struggle. so you’ve either decided you don’t want to live in res, commute 4 hours from home, etc etc. well, welcome to the godforsaken housing market that is toronto.

    it’s bad, but it’s not as bad as narcity and blogto will make you think. apparently it’s true that rent is higher here than anywhere else in canada, and from what i’ve heard and experienced, the competition to get a place is intense. but (i’m told, to my great dismay) i don’t exist to scare you. in all seriousness, though, a lot of the trouble i had finding a place stemmed from the fact that i was pretty clueless. this isn’t the most organized post, but it will run you through everything i picked up that i wish i had known before.

    u of t will plug the toronto off-campus housing website, especially if you go to those off-campus housing seminars. it’s a good option, but it’s far from the only one out there and you’ll want to cover your bases. so here’s a rundown of options the housing seminars don’t cover:

    • the good ol’ craigslist, kijiji… anywhere else you’d go on the internet to buy used stuff

    the main thing i’d say for these options is be wary of scammers. if something seems too good to be true, it’s probably a trap. sift through the ads and use your senses. you can find gems on here if you’re meticulous, and if you get lucky. it’s not a terrible idea to give a try.

    what i really like about padmapper is its… map. which should seem intuitive, as the site literally has the word ‘map’ in its name, but its map really is superior to every other site i’ve been on. if location is super important to you, this is the site you want to use to find your place. there are also really nicely designed price filters. big fan of those.

    two downsides: padmapper lists full apartments only– you won’t find “room for rent” stuff going on here. so unless you’re looking for your own place or have already decided on roommates, it won’t be that great an option for you. also, it seems like the places advertised on here have rent higher than what you can find on facebook.

    kay, so it’s not as beautiful as padmapper, but we’re not web elitists here we JUST WANT A PLACE TO LIVE goddammit. viewit lets you pick a district– if you want to be in the st. george area, you’re gonna want T5. you can also choose between furnished and unfurnished apartments, general price ranges, and see placements on a map. i found listings here did tend to be a lil cheaper than on padmapper, but not by much. viewit also seems to be better for long-term rentals, whereas padmapper does list a lot of short-term stuff you can filter off if you’re not into that.

    if you’re looking for something low-rent, like a room in a shared house, this is not the housing site for you– it generally seems to advertise whole apartments.

    i, like, couldn’t figure out how to work this? but i figured i’d include it because you might have more luck with it than i did.

    also one i didn’t use, but you can check it out if you’d like. there are housing listings for all 3 u of t campuses provided!

    • reddit

    okay, yeah, i was pretty skeptical about this one too. i have a friend that managed to get a really great place last-minute off of reddit, though. i don’t know too much about the world of reddit (uncultured lol) but hey, if you’re confident navigating it, r/TorontoRenting might give you some leads.

    • facebook groups

    plug plug plug, because this is where it’s at, people. as far as i’m aware, your best bet lies with bunz home zone, which has over 100k members and is super active. the nice thing about bunz is that posts are pretty thorough and standardized, so you have a lot of information about a place before you actually reach out and say you’re interested.

    you can also search for roommates through bunz should you wish, although i’d really recommend the u of t off campus housing roommate portal if you want to live with a fellow student.

    on top of this, there are student-specific facebook housing groups you can check out:

    Student housing Toronto – UofT – Ryerson – OCAD,

    University of Toronto (U of T) – Off campus housing St. George,

    University of Toronto – Off-Campus Housing (St. George)

    University of Toronto (UTM) – Off-Campus Housing (Mississauga) 

    University of Toronto (UTSC) – Off-Campus Housing (Scarborough)

    • word of mouth

    this is also an option i really stand behind. a lot of people i know found their current apartments because they knew people who were moving out, or had others ask around for them. the perk of this, too, is if you have some sort of personal connection to the current tenants, you won’t have to contend as much with the dog-eat-dog world of competition.

    on roommates

    it can be a bad idea to live with friends. it can also be a bad idea to live with total strangers. the jury’s out on this one. just try to meet the people you’ll be living with first, and make sure your habits are compatible. also make sure you’re both willing to talk things through with each other should issues arise, as there’s nothing worse than the passive-aggressive sticky-note roommate.

    on timing 

    some people look for apartments waaaay before apartments become available at all. i definitely did this. there are probably better ways to use your time than browsing in december for nonexistent may move-in listings. i learned that things usually go up about 4-8 weeks out, especially on facebook.

    if you look too early, you might end up signing for a place too early, which will mean you pay rent you don’t need to be paying. would not recommend. save the money for burrito bowls or somethin that brings you joy, you feel?

    location

    i’ve frequently been told you can’t find cheap rent near campus, and to look further if you want to save money. to a certain extent, that is true. but people make it sound like it’s impossible to get a room for under 1000 within walking distance, when i know people on beverley and in kensington paying 500-800. it is doable, if you know the right people or get lucky– just know that chances are you’d be living in a shared residential house, probably a pretty old one.

    on going home for the summer

    if you’re heading home for four months but want a place for the next year, you have three options. you can either:

    1. wait until you come back to find a september lease (a lil stressy)
    2. search for a place remotely, which i also wouldn’t recommend. you should always try to view a place in-person before you sign.
    3. find a lease that begins in may, and search for a subletter for the months you’re away. subletters basically live in your place while you’re not there, and pay their rent to you so you can pay the landlord at no extra cost to yourself. if that makes sense.i mean, subletting is its own ordeal and you always run the risk that you won’t find someone. then you’ll be responsible for your summer rent. many condos also have rules against subletting, the details of which can vary– if you lease a condo, make sure you know what those rules are. weigh your options and decide accordingly, friend.

    on furniture and furnishings

    perks of getting an unfurnished apartment: you have agency! your space will look the way you want it to. craigslist and carousell are your friend. ikea is also your friend.

    downsides of the unfurnished life: searching for furnishings, and transporting them to your place. assembling ikea furniture– i swear i can follow almost any other instructions, but ikea ones

    perks of a furnished apartment: no blood, sweat, & tears just to have a bed to sleep in

    why i didn’t want a furnished apartment: sometimes you get stuck with whack furniture. my friends have this huge, strangely orange armchair that they can’t fit through their door. it clashes with everything else they own. what to do, what to do?

    miscellaneous

    what the heck is hydro? GEEZ. i wondered about this for weeks and weeks before i finally found out it basically means your electricity bill in canadian. a lot of places i’ve seen will include all utilities except hydro and internet, so if you’re paying bills it’s useful to know what it is you’re paying for! if you can, try to get all your utilities included, though.

    if you’re staying in the summer, find out if your place has good ventilation and/or AC. if not, you can always look into getting a portable AC unit, i guess.

    know your rights! 

    this tenant survival guide is long, but it’ll run you through a crap ton of useful legal things. give it a glance, or refer to it if you get in trouble.

    viewings

    this inspection checklist can be useful! some of the questions feel a lil stupid but it can help to give it a look over before you go to a viewing. it’ll give you a better idea of what to look out for, and remind you of lil things you might otherwise miss. like outlets. outlets are hella important.

    —

    aanyway.

    this is just the information i’ve gathered through personal experience navigating the system. i realize that it’s mostly geared towards UTSG, just because that’s… the area i know about? i mean, the sites should still work for scarborough and ‘sauga, but i don’t know the nuances of those markets. if anyone comments with tips for utsc and utm, i’ll add them on.

    proud of ya if you made it to the end of this post. here’s to having a place to live!

    over n out,

    aska

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  • anatomy

    hand over the bodies

    April 17, 2019

    Hello! Someone told me theres a 4th year anatomy course where you get to work with cadavers. Do you know which course this is? I tried looking at course descriptions but none of them say “cadaver” (which is understandable lol)

    ——————————————

    hi there,

    my best guess is that you’re looking for ANA400. its timetable listing reads that ‘anatomical dissections’ take place as a part of the course, which could indicate that you’ll be doing hands-on cadaver stuff. if you want to find out more, you can look it up in the artsci timetable or on this division of anatomy page.

    it seems promising, cause it looks like there’s a pretty extensive application process to be able to register for the course. if i had a limited number of cadavers for students to work with, i’d vet the students pretty thoroughly too.

    if you want to be certain of what this course offers, i’d recommend talking to the division. but yeah, this is my best guess– i think, but i’m not sure, that i found it.

    hope this helped you find what you’re looking for!

    over n out,

    aska

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  • health and wellness,  mental health

    counselling! cw: mental health

    April 13, 2019
    Does uoft offer therapy? My friend at another uni said it was a part of her tuition and set up appointments.
    ——————————————

    hello and welcome,

    thanks for asking, cause this is something we should all know about.

    resources-for-the-run-down rundown time. options! delightful! not all of these are necessarily set up by u of t, but i figured the more you know the better, right?

    below i’ve given you everything i’m aware of, and you can weigh whether or not each will meet your needs. i’ve also tried to include what i’ve heard about each option. never worked up the guts to take the plunge and get help myself (working on it !!) but if i ever do, i’ll update this with personal experience lol

    1. help line

    some people love it, some people hate it– i was at a mental health forum a week or so back, and peoples’ experiences with this seemed to vary dramatically. i guess it depends on whether or not you call at peak times– apparently wait times can be over an hour, or there can be no wait time at all. but! good2talk is an always-open mental health helpline for young adults, so  it is a resource available to you should you wish to give it a try. it’s also bilingual, if that plays a role in your accessibility.

    a lesser-known one is the gerstein crisis centre, which you can phone at 416-929-5200. as far as i know, this isn’t affiliated with our lovely lifesci library of the same name. they pick up 24h/day and serve anyone 16+.

    what i like about the help line option is that you don’t have to leave your home to talk to somebody. a lot of the time when i’m coming down from an anxiety attack, the last thing i want to do is bundle up and head outside. i want blankets, pajamas, and the safety of my own room. phone help lines are probably good for this feel.

    2. health and wellness

    from what i’ve heard, this is generally not the way to go. there’s a really high demand for the counsellors at health and wellness, and i’ve spoken to people who have waited 4-6 months for an appointment once they’ve obtained a referral. i don’t think it’s the fault of anyone working there, and while i understand peoples’ anger, i’m hesitant to take an adversarial stance with the staff and admin on this issue. to me, it seems like the system itself is just overwhelmed and we need to be funneling more resources into it. which is a whole tangent you didn’t ask for. get to the point, aska, cmon. 

    to get an appointment, you can call, book online, or visit them in person. more on this here.

    i’m pretty unfamiliar with the system and couldn’t find much else otherwise. if you feel up to it, you can give this a try. it’s supposed to be the main u of t-organized resource for mental health therapy.

    i don’t know how long this is gonna be up, but at least during this exam season, you can get drop-in h&w counselling at robarts. appointments are 45min beginning every hour 5-10pm. and and and, they’re offered in NOT JUST ENGLISH but hindi, mando, and punjabi. give it a shot if you’d like, this year it runs til april 30.

    3. embedded counselors

    these tend to be a lot more accessible than health and wellness, from what i understand. they’re essentially counsellors from h&w assigned to a college/program and operating at a location close to them (which helps if you live in res, i guess). because they serve a smaller demographic, it follows that they’d be easier to get an appointment with. i want to stress, though, that this is just something i’ve heard from friends’ experience– a friend at trin managed to book something the next week, i think.

    i believe you can phone h&w to get an appointment with these as well, but some also have alternative methods of contact you can give a try. eg. for the innis ones, you can drop into the registrar’s office and ask, or speak to specific staff who can hook you up.

    here are links to all the ones i’m aware of (a very limited list):

    utsg

    trin, vic, innis, uc, kpe (undergrad and grad), engineering, grad students in general. anything i didn’t link here, eg. other colleges and professional faculties should all still have embedded counsellors! just call h&w and ask for whatever you’re affiliated with.

    utsc

    psych, english, anyone living in res

    utm

    send help ?? could not FIND anything. really sorry, i’ll keep looking and see what i can add for yall ‘sauga kids. maybe utm doesn’t have embedded counsellors, though?

    4. counseline

    seems like this is mainly targeted to utsg artsci kiddos. in-person as well as online counselling is available at this outlet running out of the faculty of social work. there isn’t a lot of info for how intake works, but you can try shooting an email at the project coordinator, whose contact info is available here.

    this may be a good LGBT+ friendly option, cause they collab with the sexual/gender diversity office.

    5. OISE

    seems like our lovely OISE runs a clinic for counselling and therapy. you’d be speaking to a student doing their clinical, but under supervision by a professional. there are associated fees, and i’m not sure if uhip covers these but it might. the clinic site recommends that you call intake and ask about a specific program to get further details, and apparently subsidies are available in some cases.

    i’m a lil iffy about this one, just cause they do record your session for training purposes. i mean, they delete it after, but i wouldn’t be fully comfortable knowing that my session would be accessible to someone other than my therapist and i. just something important to be aware of, i guess. i understand that it’s probably important for the facilitators to be learning from the sessions they’re carrying out.

    6. external counselling

    in my experience, if you struggle to get help from any of these other options/don’t feel like you have the energy to give them a try, looking for something outside of u of t may not be a bad idea. if you haven’t opted out of the university’s insurance plan, you have coverage under the universal health insurance plan, or uhip.

    this essentially means that if you choose to see someone outside of the university’s system, you’ll get refunded $125 per visit at most. you can do this 20 times a year, which doesn’t sound too terrible compared to most of the 7-8 visit limits on other options. it also gives you more flexibility with who you choose to see, and where you go.

    7. stella’s place

    i’ve never been, but stella’s place looks promising. really, really promising, actually. they do mental health help for young adults 16-29 free of charge. i don’t know what wait times are, but it does appear that they’re actively working to make them shorter.

    you can find their contact info under this FAQ page, or visit them at 18 camden. it’s a half hour’s walk/10 minute streetcar from robarts. they do these sessions 3pm on thursdays where they walk you through all the options they offer, and i think if you attend these you’re automatically eligible to join their groups as well as get individual counselling. if it works better for you, walk-in counselling is offered tues/thurs 3-5 to anyone, regardless of whether you’ve attended stella’s place previously!

    did i mention it’s f r e e ?

    8. online option

    i believe studentcare is running an online counselling service that works under uhip coverage as well. you talk to a licensed psychologist through a video call, kind of like skype i guess, but with a different software. and you get the convenience of not having to trek to an in-person clinic and wait.

    9. side-options

    they’re not in any way professional therapists or counsellors, but residence dons and commuter dons have received basic mental health training and may be able to help you out, maybe while you’re waiting to see a real therapist. it’s a better option than not having anyone to reach out to, in any case.

    i’m hoping to see this list of options expand as u of t starts to address the deficiencies in its mental health help system.

    if you’re reading this and know of anything i didn’t mention that you think should be on here, or if you’ve had experience with any of these options and have advice to impart, comment it below and i’ll edit this post accordingly.

    over n out,

    aska

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  • credits,  subject POST,  summer

    another day, another POSt

    April 12, 2019

    Hi! I took the min amount of courses a full time student can take so I should have 3.0 FCE at the end of the year right? So I can’t apply to a POST? What happens then? I have to wait until next summer or will I have to apply in the coming fall semester as soon as I complete 1 more FCE to make 4 total? Also I want to major in sociology but I didn’t take perquisite course (took a different soc course) & I can’t take it in the summer so do I have to apply to random programs then just switch later?

    ——————————————

    hey there,

    if you took the minimum amount of courses to still qualify as full-time, you should indeed have 3.0 FCE by the end of the year. you’re correct that this bars you from applying to a POSt right now, and unfortunately there’s no POSt application period in the fall. it only happens in two periods once a year, generally beginning near the end of winter semester and in the middle of the summer semester.

    this puts you in kind of a weird place.

    my recommendation to you depends on your plan going forward. there are two possibilities:

    1.you’re taking summer classes and will have another 1.0 credit once the first summer semester is up

    there’s a rule that prevents students from enrolling in courses once they reach 4.0 credits and aren’t registered in a program. if you are taking enough summer classes to have 4.0 by july, i’m worried that this will kick in for you before course reg, and you’ll find yourself unable to come back for fall/winter next year. what you’ll want to do with this case is request programs during the second request period. this request period depends on what program type you’re going for, and you can find those dates here.  i dunno if you’re well-versed on program types, so if you’re not you can read up on them there as well. to check what kind of type your programs are, ctrl+f them on this page. 

    yikes, i feel like one of those automated phone lines you call and have to press 5 buttons before you can speak to a real human being. press 8 for more information. press 9 to repeat this message. press 0 to revive aska-with-a-personality from the hellhole that is exam szn :(( my apologies for being as dry as a piece of two-week-old bread.

    … i don’t know what i’m throwing this gif in for. it serves no purpose other than making me a lil uncomfortable.

    since you won’t be able to get your soc prereqs by then, what you should probably do is pick placeholder programs. this’ll ensure you’ll be able to register in courses, and they’re easy enough to drop at the end of next year if you still want to switch to soc. i’d go for random type 1 programs, as they don’t ask anything extra of you. it’s basically just so your acorn continues to function and treat you as a student following the rules. loopholes!

    2.you’re not taking summer courses/enough summer courses to have 4.0 by july

    with this, i’m relatively confident the no-course-enrollment rule will not affect you. what you’ll have to do in this case is just wait til next year’s program enrollment period. this, thankfully, gives you time to complete your soc prerequisites without having to throw placeholders into your ACORN.

    hope this helped! best of luck with what exams you have left, and feel free to shoot me another question if you run into any trouble with this.

    over n out,

    aska

     

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  • admissions,  scholarships/bursaries

    we all need some money to lean on

    April 11, 2019

    Hi, I just received an admission from U of T. I didn’t receive a scholarship in my admission letter but I was wondering if it is possible to get one from the school or college at a later time. Thank you.

    ——————————————

    hi there!

    ah, answering admissions-related questions.

    …and that’s actually okay with me! real nice talking to people who haven’t had their souls sucked out of their bodies by overnight study at robarts yet (shoutout to the utsu for bringing snacks last night tho you the real ones).

    bless your soul, and congrats on your acceptance– exciting stuff.

    depending on which campus/faculty/program/college you’re in, there are definitely other scholarships you can apply for. the most centralized place is to check this database. don’t stop there, because it doesn’t list all the university’s scholarships, but it’s a good place to start. you can also check your college/program’s website, and see if further awards are available there.

    even if you don’t get any scholarships right now, there will always be other opportunities later. a lot of colleges will do in-course scholarships based on academic achievement, that you automatically get if you reach a certain GPA threshold. amounts (and thresholds, i think?) vary by college, ’cause u of t is a bureaucracy and that’s apparently how we do things here! errything is in several different places. you’ll get used to it if you accept your acceptance.

    if you choose to get involved on-campus, there will likely be awards available for you to apply for going out of your first year, as well. my registrar sent those out to me in an email. i’m not sure if all registrars do that, but that’s another way to find out about what’s out there.

    anyhow, best of luck! i mean, there are always external awards and stuff. i wrote a 1500 word essay in march of my senior year on the perks of orthodontics doing my best to offset some tuition, but they ended up giving the cash to someone else. big sigh. it be like that. my point is, there are opportunities if you’re willing to put the work in, you just gotta find them. and beat the hell out of everyone else going for the money, yay competition.

    not that relevant, but if you don’t hear a tune in your head when you read the title of this post… wyd man?

    cheers,

    aska

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  • PSL,  subject POST

    psl pLS

    April 11, 2019

    Hi aska! I’m a 2nd year Health & Disease Specialist but want to switch to a double major in H&D + Physiology or Immunology, and have a couple questions: 1) when I apply to the PSL/IMM majors do I need to check the box that I’m switching out of H&D spec. or can I just apply for the majors separately & drop out of the specialist on ACORN if I get accepted? 2) PSL rejected me last year but my marks in PSL courses/overall are way better this year – will they consider 2nd year marks? Thanks so much!!

    ——————————————

    hello hello!

    this definitely undermines my credibility, but i only found out what psl stood for … four days ago. BUT now that i’m armed with that elusive! knowledge! i think i can help ya out here.

    1. don’t drop your H&D right away! what you’ll want to do here is apply for the majors first. then, should you get in, you’ll need to indicate that you’re switching out of H&D in order to accept
      PSL/IMM. as far as i know, ACORN will let you add up to three programs at a time, so there’s no good reason why you should take the risk and sweep H&D off the table before you know if your admission to PSL/IMM is secure.
    2. some programs have specific second-year admissions criteria, and some don’t. PSL is one of the latter; the calendar indicates that they base admissions on those 3 first-year required courses. however, there are departments that will still look at your second-year grades, and if they find you’ve made a significant improvement, this will be factored into your decision. now, i’m not sure if PSL is this level of gracious, so unfortunately i’ve gotta redirect you to the department for this one. give them a call or a visit, and find out if it’ll work out for you. you can find the undergrad assistant Eva Eng in medsci 3209, or call her at 416-978-5077.

    off you go, then. best of luck getting in!

     

    cheers,

    aska

     

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  • course overload

    standard course load? we don’t know her

    April 11, 2019

    I have 17 credits finished and I’m taking 2.0 over the summer. Is there any way they’d allow me to take 3.0 credits so I can just finish? Not trying to go to grad school. I just want to graduate! I know about the course overload petition. But I was wondering if it’s possible to do that for 3 credits over the summer instead of 2. Thanks 🙂

    ——————————————

    hello friend!

    i don’t blame you for wanting to get outta here quicker, but that also sounds terrifying. 3.0 creds over summer is a heavy load.  but hey, if you’ve weighed your options and think it’s worth it, as far as i know the university will permit it. you’ve gotta get in contact with your registrar and set up an appointment to get the overload approved. at the end of the day, they’re the ones who will assess whether or not they feel it’s a reasonable courseload for you.

    the bottom line is, though, technically it’s possible. not in any way recommended, but you do you best.

    here’s to all-nighters, sleep-deprivation, and ungodly amounts of coffee (exam szn is best szn),

    aska

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  • academic standing,  courses,  probation

    PROBing the limits

    April 10, 2019

    Hi, I was just wondering what the max course load of someone on probation is supposed to be (Annual and Summer session)? Is the max a suggestion or university policy? Thanks

    ——————————————

    hello!

    according to my best friend the artsci rules and regs, if you’re on academic probation you can take up to five courses per semester in fall/winter, and during the summer your limit is two. these limitations (fortunately or unfortunately?) are not suggestions– the faculty you’re with will remove you from courses you take beyond those, and i don’t think you get to choose which ones you’re removed from. so it’s best not to risk it, in case they boot you from a class you need. 

    hope this helped! here’s a gif of some smol pups to brighten your day, because lord knows we all need that now that exams are on.

     

    cheers,

    aska

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  • UTSC

    too many horror stories or whatever

    March 29, 2019

    I want to come to utsc for math, and I’m really scared I won’t be able to make it through, I currently have an average of 92.5 in high school (senior year). Are there any tips for me

    ——————————————

    hello prospective fellow student!

    feels like this question tends to hover over the heads of everyone considering u of t. it sure hovered over mine, before i decided to just take the plunge and deal with whatever consequences might come. and so far… the school hasn’t been nearly as bad as i expected. i figure you’ve probably heard/read a lot of horror stories, just like i did before i got here.

    i don’t know anything firsthand about utsc or math, to be honest. all i know is what my experience at utsg has been like– and it hasn’t been as terrible as i heard it would. i actually really like it here. with that said, i really want to stress that everyone’s experience at the university is different. i have the advantage (and it does matter) of loving my programs a lot, having a solid support network, and living on res. it also helped me to drop down to 4 courses my first semester, which– if you’re able to do it– is something i’d recommend. it helps with adjustment, yknow?

    previous askas have written some pretty solid posts on this i can link you to, on getting work done, buttering up your profs,  and using the resources at your disposal.  these are probably the three biggest recommendations i’d make to you: develop a strong work ethic, engage with your instructors/classes, and know what’s there at the university to help you make it through. as i said, i’m not too familiar with utsc but there are definitely supports there in place. just know that it’s not impossible to do well at u of t, no matter what reddit declares.

    bottom line– scared you won’t make it through? chances are you’ll probably be all right, especially with that entering average. but i make no concrete promises or predictions. like a previous aska has put it, the experience will be what you make of it.

    i’m planning to put up a comprehensive askastudent guide to surviving this uni, hopefully sometime soon (lord knows we need one). will link it in the comments below once it’s up.

    cheers,

    aska

     

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