• fees

    kinda sorta probably important

    August 6, 2019

    do you have to pay the whole year 1 tuition fee before starting year 1, or only the first semester fee? my fee balance on acorn shows the whole year fee and i’m wondering if i have to pay that all at once.

    ——————————————

    hey there,

    fees can be so confusing. i am not a fan. i’ve been doing this u of t (and this aska) thing for a lil while now, and i still got massively tripped up going through all the different fees documents and trying to answer this. gotta love me some bureaucracy.

    according to the student accounts website, though, you only have to pay whatever your minimum payment to register is before the school year starts. you can find  that amount by going into ACORN, looking for the ‘finances’ section, and clicking the ‘view invoice’ button. just ctrl+f ‘minimum payment’ or scroll right down to the bottom of the page.

    if you’re an artsci, architecture, music or kinesiology kid, the deadline to pay this minimum payment is august 28th. you won’t need to pay your fall tuition til the 30th of september. meanwhile, your winter tuition is due november 30th. 

    minimum payment deadlines for other faculties and campuses can vary– eng kids only have til august 15, while utsc and utm students’ deadlines are august 12th and 13th respectively.

    don’t skip out on these deadlines, friends. they are kinda sorta probably important, if you’re interested in not paying extra fees and/or staying registered. y’know.

    one more pro tip– if you send a payment in and it doesn’t go through, hold your horses. wait for it to process. this is especially true if you’ve paid right on the last day. you’ve got a fun lil ten-business-day grace period for your payment to go through. no need to wonder if you’re gonna get kicked out of all your classes and whatnot. but do try to pay early or on time (i say, as i know full well i’ll watch the deadline inch up on me and make absolutely no move to do anything about it).

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • enrollment,  enrolment

    big enrollment day… a week ago

    July 31, 2019

    Hello aska,

    I am just finalizing my timetable and course schedule before the big enrollment day tomorrow and I wanted to clarify whether I’m allowed to take the courses I’m planning to take.

    After enrolling in my core program courses, I have added a few electives, one of which is a regular full year course, the other three are VIC135, ENG196, and SMC199.

    I wanted to know whether I can take the vic course without being enrolled in “VIC One” and also whether I could take all those three courses in my first year.

    Thank you for your time, and I hope to hear from you soon.

    Kind regards,

    [redacted]

    ——————————————

    hey friendo,

    sorry this response is so late– it’s definitely past your course enrollment now! i figure that if there were any immediate consequences to registering in these courses, you’re already aware of them. i guess there still is the possibility of you getting kicked out later on, though, so this question is still worth an answer.

    it seems that vic135 is part of the vic one sphere, although i can’t figure out what stream it is. i’m just making this assumption based on the exclusions listed on the timetable– only a vic one class would have a ‘vic’ designation and be incompatible with all the other one programs. as long as it’s a vic one course, then, i doubt you’ll be able to get in (or stay in) without explicit admission to vic one. at least, that’s what this site indicates. if you don’t have admission but have somehow still managed to register (or want to), i would contact vic.one@utoronto.ca. dunno if they’ll actually let you this late in the game, but hey.

    as for the possibility of taking all 3 courses at once– i anticipate that the smc course is the one that’s gonna give ya trouble. it seems to list all other first year foundations and ones as exclusions. so you might wanna find something else to slot in there, because even if you’ve managed to register in it, once someone notices, they’ll have to kick you out.

    otherwise, if you manage to stay in vic135, that course and your eng196 seminar should be a-okay to be taken alongside each other.

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • part-time

    pls don’t make me do school full time

    July 30, 2019
    how do i switch to part time student status? i can’t find any instructions anywhere. i used to be part time and then they switched me back to full time for 2019 calendar year?
    ——————————————
    hey,
    from what i know, you don’t actually need to switch to part-time status. what i mean by that is, as long as you’re under the required number of credits to be full-time (2.5 in fall-winter) then you’re automatically a part-time student, with no extra hurdle to jump. there can be a little more to it, for example if you choose to switch to part-time during the school year. other than that, though– as long as you’re only enrolled in a part-time courseload, your final billing on ACORN should update at some point to reflect that.
    hope this helped!
    be Boundless,
    aska
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  • food,  meal plans

    it do be hard

    July 29, 2019
    im a first year enrolled in uc but living in an apartment can i still pay for a meal plan? i cant make food for the life of me

    ——————————————

    hello friend,

    you certainly can! i figure you probably googled it but weren’t able to find anything– that’s because, according to this site, the plans aren’t available for purchase til august of each year. so hang tight– they should be up soon, and with updated fees.

    if you’re not on res, you can purchase an unlimited dining plan valid at certain locations. new college’s dining hall is usually one of them, which is a win ’cause new is known to have the best dining hall food on campus. when you purchase a plan, you choose a certain period of time it’s active for as well– a year? a semester? a month? i’m not sure what the offerings will look like this year, that’s just based on what it’s been in the past.

    i’m pretty sure buying the annual plan gives you more ~value~ because it’s cheaper per day. an alternative to that is purchasing a plan for a semester, just til you get on your feet with the whole adulting thing. it can get pretty tedious having to go to campus for your every meal– trust me, once january or february hits and it’s -30 wind chill, you’ll want to stay at home if you can. and chances are, you’ll also still end up eating out with friends, skipping breakfast, and wanting snacks outside of dining hall hours.

    these reasons are what have deterred me, personally, from getting a meal plan, although biting the bullet and purchasing a plan can be the right choice for some people. i do believe you’ll learn how to make your own food at some point– but baby steps! it’s totally fair if you don’t feel up to feeding yourself every single meal right now. it do be hard.

    another option you have is to load your tcard with tbucks, which will give you a discount at a bunch of on-campus dining locations. you can also use these tbucks for printing or bookstore purchases, so if you don’t use them all on food, they won’t go to waste.

    that said, if you do wanna go for the full-year unlimited plan, by all means. it can help free up time you would’ve otherwise spent doing groceries and cooking, and hey– maybe you’ll end up making friends in the dining hall. just want you to be aware of your other options, as well as some things i’ve picked up along the way. at the end of the day, choose what works best for you!

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • seminars

    askastudent top fan shooketh to the core

    July 27, 2019

    hi Aska,

    Hey, iz me, the most frequent inquirer (am i really though) of all time lol. Whereas my other questions have been ESSAYS (i am so so sorry for that btw), this one will be fairly short–approximately the length of an intro paragraph in an essay haha.

    I’m entering my last year and a half to complete my undergrad (woohoo!) , but i am shooketh to the core from the idea of taking a 4th year course in the next year, which i must do for my programs. i am so terribly afraid of speaking in class, Aska. PETRIFIED. i have horrible anxiety when it comes to these things and i do horrendous in tutorials because of this. But since i am an English and History Major, these courses will most likely be seminars full of smarticle-particle students talking in the fanciest, most intellectual way possible, getting super high participation marks (…yay), and my ass just sitting there looking dazed and confused (not like the movie, but that would honestly be better lol)– aka my version of a horror movie.

    Am i wrong about this scenario? Are 4th year courses in my field really that horrific? If so, how can i conquer them?

    pls send help. thank you.

    ——————————————

    hello hello,

    this seems like a perfectly normal fear to have– i know plenty of people who detest speaking in class. i also know people who speak more than they probably should. it’s a spectrum, people. personally, i’m a weird combination of both– i hate participating, but if it’s being factored into my grade you best believe my hand is shooting up every class.

    i feel like most seminars probably have at least a few of the absolutely terrifying intellectual™ keeners, for sure. i try not to let them get under my skin, but they INTIMIDATE me. and then everything i say sounds dumb. so i totally feel you.

    while i’ve never taken a fourth year course in your field, rest assured that if everyone in your program has to take a fourth-year seminar to get through, then you probably won’t the only one who doesn’t particularly like this kinda class. there will be others.

    there are a few ways to make seminars less gross. one of them is to try and get to know the students around you– it’s always easier to talk when you feel like you’re surrounded by actual people as opposed to being blindly intimidated by everyone. the more comfortable you are with your fellow students, the more class might start to feel like a discussion rather than a competition. you are friend, not food.

    you can also keep in mind that the other kids in your class, no matter how smart they might sound, probably have insecurities too. they might overthink everything they say before they say it, or kick themselves for something that sounded stupid but no one else even noticed. there’s something called the spotlight effect, which is basically the idea that you’re more likely to notice your own mistakes than others are.

    for me, something that helps is also to jot down quick notes about the comments i want to make before i make them. as soon as i’m called on, everything in my brain scatters and it’s reassuring for me to have that sort of backup.

    i also try to set small goals for myself– speak at least twice a class, or something. the more used you get to talking, the easier it will be. my throat tends to close up if it’s been a few classes and i haven’t yet said anything– the longer i spend quiet, the more the anxiety gets to me and the harder it is to speak.

    other than that, i’d just advise that you come prepared to class! it’s always easier to offer insightful or quality comments when you’re familiar with the material. don’t think too much about how fancy your language is when you talk, or anything– it’s the content that matters.

    i know that despite whatever advice i might offer you, it’ll probably still feel like a rough class if you’re anxious about speaking. but you got this. it’s just a semester or two. and hopefully you’ll learn from it– become more comfortable with engaging in discussions and stuff!

    in other news– lol, i wish i could hand out top fan badges like facebook does. not that i ever claim my own. no one needs to know how much i love hummus memes.

    GOOD LUCK with the fourth year seminar! hope these tips helped and conquer away.

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • new kids

    aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

    July 27, 2019

    hi im definitely not smart enough for this school but ill be there this september aaaaaaa

    ——————————————

    hello friend,

    welcome in advance to u of t! super happy for ya as you enter this ~new chapter of life~ and hey, i’ll let you in on something– plenty of students here feel the same, and continue to feel the same even after first, second, third, and even fourth year.

    impostor syndrome can be a weird thing. i mean, i dunno if that’s exactly what you’re feeling– maybe you’re just nervous. but i remember reading this pretty good article in the varsity about it that resonated with me and at least a few others. it says the thing better than i know how to say the thing, if you wanna check it out. tl:dr impostor syndrome is not an uncommon feeling at u of t, but there are ways to refocus and start to move away from it. one of those is to compare yourself to your own achievements and look at your own growth, rather than holding yourself up against others.

    and hey– you got into the school, right? that’s gotta count for something. what matters now is what you make of that admission. go to your classes. keep up with your readings. u of t does ask for a lot from its students, but if you’re up to tackling that workload i wouldn’t say you’re any less deserving of your place than anyone else.

    wishing you the best of luck,  and if you find yourself dazed or confused at any point in time, don’t be afraid to ask. i’m super excited for you and all that you’re going to experience/achieve/learn in the coming years. don’t let your self-doubt get you down.

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • enrollment,  enrolment

    i am student blogger!

    July 25, 2019
    can/should a first year take 200/B courses? i gotta enrol tomorrow morning oops
    ——————————————

    yo can first years take courses above 100 levels
    ——————————————
    hey friends,

    sorry i (probably) wasn’t able to get this answer to you before your enrollment– at the same time, please try not to send me panicky last-minute asks! in the future, i’ll try to monitor my inbox the night before first year enrollment, but this goes for all things. it usually takes me a week or two to respond to questions. i am student blogger! not emergency help line! and this student blogger has got a backlog of stuff to get to.

    it’s not even a monday, but it’s always a monday, if you know what i mean.

    with that said, i sympathize with the whole panicky-last-minute thing, so i bumped yall to the top of my queue. the answer is that it depends. you definitely can take 200s, as long as you meet the prereqs. the prereqs will keep you out of a course if it isn’t meant for a first-year. for example, they’ll be first-year courses like BIO1whatever that you need to take first. or the prereq might simply be ‘the equivalent of 4.0 FCEs,’ which is just another way to say ‘no first years allowed.’

    i wouldn’t say 200-level courses are impossible for first-years to tackle– they’re usually just smaller and different from those huge first-year con hall lectures. so i would say go for it, if you’ve got the requirements. and if you don’t? that’s what second year is for.

    hope this helped! and that course enrolment went well.

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • biology

    where are our labs???

    July 20, 2019

    do you know if bio/eeb labs are all held in RW? Thanks in advance!

     

    ——————————————

    hey there,

    my understanding is that usually they are held in RW. it’s hard though, as a fellow student, to know if there are any exceptions. i did check the timetable (as i’m sure you have, as well) and it’s pretty frustrating that none of the labs have room listings right now. my guess is that you might be worried about making it to a lab in time, if your classes are back-to-back?

    if it’s a huge concern for you, i would give the department a call and ask about the specific lab. i did try calling twice, but i guess it was at a bad time cause they didn’t pick up. that’s probably on me– i should know better than to call around lunchtime.

    tl:dr if you’re willing to risk it, chances are good your lab should be in RW. if you are a concrete information kinda person, check with the dudes who should know.

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • weirdness

    the answer is! yes

    July 19, 2019

    do you need to pass a swim test before entering U of T?

    ——————————————

    hey,

    i love this. i’ve never seen a question in my inbox that has bewildered in this exact way. i have so many questions for you. why? how? what? what? do i know you? is that why you’re doing this?

    is swim a typo? am i missing something? it’s not whack enough that i know for sure it’s a joke.

    on a more serious note: yes, you absolutely do. it’s not very well advertised by the university, which it obviously should be, seeing as it’s such an essential thing. it’s toronto, after all. the land of torrential rainstorms during the summer months, and school cancellations that do not happen when they need to. how else are you expected to get to class? even billy bishop airport is overrun with frogs. look at me, citing my sources. 

    we’ve had so many students almost die drowning, in all seasons, all of them. toronto weather is WHACK. i almost died once myself. i was there. it happened. 

    many a wide-eyed frosh is turned away from the school each year for not meeting this requirement. you would think they’re out to get us, or something. make us pay our fees and then kick us out for some absurd reason. 

    what? you’re telling me this isn’t standard? that mcgill and queen’s don’t take policy-grounded precautions to prevent student drownings? frankly, that’s a pretty irresponsible oversight. this, and definitely not the millions of dollars we pour into research, must be the reason why u of t is the number one uni in canada. 

    just kidding. the only thing u of t kiddos are drowning under is the insatiable load of readings, labs, online homework, testsquizzesassignmentsprelabsahhhsendhel- ~static~

    be Boundless,

    aska 

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  • art,  clubs

    i kinda want to do everything help

    July 18, 2019

    hi is there any room for exploration of creativity and art at u of t bc I kinda want to do everything help

     

    ——————————————

    hello,

    ahahhah this is such a vague question but i totally get the mood. it’s fantastic that you’ve got that drive to explore, and i hope it’s something you hang on to throughout uni.

    these are some of the options i can think of. i’m assuming you don’t mean programs, so i’ve focused on things you can do outside the classroom:

    join clubs: there are tons of options– and this is probably your best bet.

    are you musical? we’ve got gospel choirs, acapella, and more. if you’re into illustrations, i’ve got a friend who joined a sticker selling club– dunno what it’s called tho. photography and cameras? got it down. drama? ballroom and latin dance? just want to release stress through art therapy?  are you an engineer AND a poet?

    you can check out the full ulife arts clubs list here. 

    i would encourage you to go to the clubs fair during frosh– wander up and down the booths, especially in the arts section, and see if anything catches your eye. joining them is a great way to make new friends as well– nurturing a sense of community is super important as a first year.

    check out your college: most, if not all, colleges should have some sort of arts programming. i know uc has a theatre troupe, innis shows free movies on friday nights, and trin/vic both have choirs. see here for more.

    explore hart house: there’s some kind of hart house art committee that seems to be involved in actual curation, as well as the hart house theatre where donald sutherland used to perform. if you’re into books, check out the literary and library committee. more hart house clubs here!

    use that breadth requirement 1: take a creative writing course, or something in cinema studies. study some chinese art in EAS199. anything in FAH should be artsy as well.

    it’s really easy to get absorbed in academics, especially at u of t, but you seem to already have the right idea. so best of luck with it all!

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • economics,  online courses

    eco105whY

    July 13, 2019

    How do online courses work? Like for ECO105Y1, is it kind of a do-it-at-your-own-pace thing with deadlines or does everyone have to be online at certain times? Where online are they held?

    ——————————————

    aight so,

    the thing with this is that u of t is pretty closed-mouthed about online courses in general, much less how they work. short of actually taking one, which i haven’t, it’s a bit hard to know. i’m sure it also varies across different courses from different departments. i did try calling the undergrad econ department to get some info for you, but either they were on lunch break or away. 

    luckily, before i became an aska, i enrolled in (and very quickly dropped) this exact online course. from what i could remember (and what i could find in my inbox), the course was administered through quercus and some other online software. i dug through my computer to see if i still had the course outline (i don’t), but luckily for you the internet does. check it out here. you’re welcome. 

    to paraphrase what that very lengthy document has to say, you’ll need to get an access code to something called myeconlab, and you’ll also be doing some work on peerscholar.ca. as far as i can tell, it is a ‘do-it-at-your-own-pace thing with deadlines’– when you sign up for it on ACORN, no time slot is provided. i guess it’s intended to be flexible, which is a lovely lovely thing especially given that the in-person lectures are usually at unearthly times. last year they scheduled it mondays at 8; this year it’s mondays at 9. a slight improvement. still dunno if i would take it. would not have time for breakfast. food is important, yall.

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • french

    TWO!

    July 11, 2019

    Hi!
    I took the french placement test prior to my first year cause I thought I was going to continue my french immersion studies. I’m now in 3rd year and am interested in taking my first french course. I know you’re usually supposed to take the test prior to the course. Am I allowed to take the placement test again? I tried contacting the french.secretary email last month but no response.
    Thanks!

    ——————————————

    hey friend,

    my apologies this answer was so long coming– i’d never encountered this situation before and have little-to-no prior knowledge about placement tests. luckily, the lovely french department came through. 

    according to them, a placement test is valid for two! whole! years.

    to clarify, that should mean if you took it before first year and you’re now headed into your third, you won’t need to take it again. that is, if you’re planning to enrol in that french course for the upcoming school year. 

    however, if you choose not to tackle that french course now and end up wanting to do it later (your fourth or fifth year), you will need to retake the placement test. it’s not as simple as just signing up for and taking the test, though: you’ll need to obtain permission to retake it first.

    you’ll likely need to contact the french undergraduate counsellor in order to do this. just let them know your placement test expired, or whatever the correct term for it is.

    i suspect that if the french secretary still hasn’t answered your email as of now, they may only be the person to contact to schedule placement tests, not to answer questions about them. 

    anyway, hope this helped!

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • enrollment,  enrolment

    speeeedy

    July 9, 2019

    i’m a first year, and i’m super stressed about picking courses. how likely is it that i won’t get into the ones i want? (social sciences and humanities mostly.) what do i do if i can’t get in? also, how fast do you have to do your course selection before time runs out?

    ——————————————

    hello friend,

    it’s natural to be stressed your first time, but there’s less to worry about than you might think! it is true that first years get to pick their courses last of the bunch, but first year courses also tend to be on the larger side. so it kinda balances out. chances are your schedule will be full of those larger con hall shenanigans, where it doesn’t really matter if you’re the 15th or 959th person in. if you’re shooting for first year seminars and application-free ones, you might find you have a little bit of trouble, but those also don’t always fill up all the way. it’s hard to say how likely it is you won’t get your first picks without knowing the popularity of your courses or your start time, but speaking as someone who’s done course reg before, i think you’re gonna be okay. 

    if you’re worried about not making it in, you can put together as many backup timetables as you want. i think i had… three different versions, my first time doing course reg? and i ended up getting my top timetable. it’s kind of funny because this year, i’ve spent waaaay more time answering yalls’ questions about course planning than actually paying attention to my own. which is unfortunate cause my start time is (was? will be? nah. not gonna drop you any clues about my year) much, much sooner than yours. maybe it’s the sense of total nihilism that starts to accumulate when you’ve spent one too many months sleep-deprived and hyped up on coffee to get through the day. or maybe i’m mellowing out. we don’t know. hopefully the second one. 

    when your start time comes up, i would just recommend being ready– have your enrolment cart on ACORN preloaded with the courses you want, so all you have to do is click a few buttons a few times. there’s no “how fast”– just how prepared. make sure your internet connection is speeeedy. set several alarms if you’re in a different time zone and your start time is smack dab in the wee hours of the night. 

    aaaanyway. take a deep breath. another one. there you go. you’re gonna be just fine. 

    be Boundless, 

    aska 

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