• enrollment,  enrolment

    anxiety, woo!

    July 8, 2019

    what can we do to prepare for course selection? (first year anxiety woo)

    ——————————————

    hello friend, 

    a very valid question! i should probably get started on that myself, given that my course selection’s coming up much much sooner than yours. (upper year anxiety woo)

    anyway, here’s a quick step-by-step of what i do/would do as a first year to prep.

    go through the calendar and check the prereqs for all your programs 

    these are gonna be important. a lot of the time you’ll need to pass some kind of grade threshold, too, to make POSt, but for now all you’re concerned with is what you’ll need to take in first year to even get considered. it can be wise to make sure you’ve got the prereqs for one or two backup POSts just in case– in particular if the POSts you’re eyeing are types 2 or 3.

    use the timetable  to add courses to a hypothetical plan and view them blocked out in a schedule 

    the timetable is great, guys. probably my favorite u of t course planning tool, not that i’m aware of that many others.

    if you’re a keener/super anxious/both like i was, you can make backup versions of your schedule too. this can be especially reassuring if you get a crappy start time, and are legitimately worried that the lecture/tutorial sections or classes you want will be full. saves you from a last-minute scramble while things are filling up. 

    when you’re choosing courses, take into account:

    • what do your class sizes look like? it’s a good idea to balance those classic first-year con hall monstrosities with at least one smaller class. first year foundations seminars and the one programs are a fantastic idea to check out, and they can help you fulfill breadth, too.
    • what breadth requirements will your courses fill? you’ll need to hit at least 4 of the 5 during your time at u of t, and a good time to get them out of the way is first year.
    • who’s teaching the course? ratemyprof is a decent resource for this, although not all the entries are super populated with our school. it can be helpful to give you a sense of the more well-known instructors, though.
    • what’s the course content like? this feels like a pretty minor consideration to me, but still worth mentioning because you’re more likely to do well in classes you enjoy. i’ve found it’s pretty hard to find syllabi on the internet for u of t’s classes, but you can check out the past exams repository to see what you might be tested on. i don’t know if this is a normal thing to recommend people do. but i sorta wish i’d done it my first year.
    • evening classes or morning classes? a few, stacked days or a well-distributed courseload? eight straight hours of class or four hourlong breaks throughout the day? it’s up to you. personally, i find it hard to focus for more than a few hours straight. for some reason, i’m still stacking my schedule because it feels more efficient. so this one’s on me.

    when you’ve planned that all out, you can check your start time on ACORN

    assuming you’re a first year, you’ll be able to do this starting july 19. for all other years, kindly! consult! this post.

    preload your cart on ACORN with the courses you’ve planned for 

    once again, this’ll save you from a scramble once your start time comes.

    right off the bat (aka, when your start time comes up) you’ll be able to enrol in a maximum of five courses. after the priority enrolment period is over, you can add a sixth. general enrolment opens to everyone on august 2, although times are still staggered by year.

    log on to ACORN at your start time and register! 

    hope this was helpful, and it does something to ease your anxiety.

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • enrollment,  enrolment,  grad school

    i’m lovin it

    July 4, 2019

    hello, lovin the new theme
    there are 3 courses that i need to take to complete my degree requirements. for the rest of my courses, i am conflicted as to whether i should choose bird courses that aren’t directly related to my degree or to choose 3/4-level year courses that are related to my degree and probably require more work. are these different types of courses weighed differently by grad schools? the grad school im interested in said they rank applicants based on GPA of the most recent 10 FCE but do they still consider the types of courses that are taken?

    ——————————————

    hey there,

    you noticed the theme change! it’s still very much a work in progress (read: kind of dull atm) but i’m looking into spicing it up a bit. lemme know if you have any suggestions. but yeah, hopefully it’s a tad bit easier on the eyes now.

    the thing with grad schools is that what they’ll consider and the weight they place on different elements of your application varies so much between schools. i’m glad you put time into researching your grad school– but i’d encourage you to take it a step further and maybe give their admissions office a call. i don’t know if they’ll be able to give you a super direct answer, but it’s gotta be better than what i can approximate with the very limited info i have.

    sorry i couldn’t be more helpful! my best guess is that it’s probably safer to take those related higher-level courses. but even just thinking about that much extra work, especially if it doesn’t turn out to be necessary, kind of hurts. so yeah– would encourage you to go straight to the real sources for this one.

    be Boundless,

    aska

     

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  • enrollment,  enrolment

    you no big dumb

    July 4, 2019

    Hi I am big dumb but for signing up for courses on acorn, do you take the course you sign up for both days or both times that it says you have to take them? Or do you or someone else ultimately choose the day and time you take said course based on the other courses you have?

    ——————————————

    hey there,

    i don’t think you’re big dumb. uni is a different system to adjust to. big dumb would be having this question and not bothering to ask it. you no big dumb.

    what i’m assuming you mean by this is that you’ve got a lecture where you sign up for one section, but it’s held at two different points in the week. for example, mondays from 4-5 and wednesdays from 4-5. for example, HIS103 is held 2-3pm on both monday and weds.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    in this kind of case, you’re required to go to both. if there’s a longer, chunkier option only offered on one day, i tend to prefer those options just ’cause it’s one fewer time i need to drag myself across campus to class. it’s less walking, too. the optimal play for laziness. but we don’t always get a choice, do we?

    by ‘both times,’ there’s also a chance you’re looking at something with multiple lecture sections. something like this (gotta love gently informative screenshots):

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    in this case, where you’ve got two different lecture codes (0101 and 0201), then you’ll only be allowed to select one when enrolment time comes.

    the bottom line is that you make your decisions! no one else is gonna mess around with your schedule once it’s set– unless something goes deeply, madly wrong. i would encourage you to use the timetable to plan if you’re not already doing so. you’ll be able to add courses and click on that lil ‘view timetable plan’ button to check out what your schedule will actually look like.

    hope this helped and best of luck getting into the sections you want!

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • enrollment,  enrolment

    we love specifics!

    July 3, 2019

    any word yet on when course selection will be?

    ——————————————

    hello hello,

    yes, actually, i’ve been planning to put an update out and this has been a good reminder! big thanks to u of t memes for true blue teens, actually, for providing me with this info before i found it myself. it’s listed on the artsci website, but is highkey hard to dig up because i guess we still havin’ issues.

    since you’re reading this already, and since i promised updates, here are the dates. we love specifics!

    first years can see their start time on july 19 and their course enrolment begins july 25.

    second years get their start time july 12 and can start enrolment july 18.

    third years’ dates are the 8th and 15th.

    fourth and fifth years get their start time today (july 3) and can register in a week, on the 10th.

    where can you see your start time, you ask? ACORN has your back for this one.

    don’t forget to plan your schedule out using the timetable, and be aware of your POSt prereqs and breadth requirements! best of luck to everyone with the whole process. hope the start times are favourable and yall get the classes you need.

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • courses,  enrollment,  enrolment

    who wants to be average anyway

    July 2, 2019

    How many courses do you recommend people to take each semester?

    ——————————————

    hello friend,

    five courses a semester is considered the average number– it’s how many you need to be taking to graduate in four years, if you don’t plan on taking any summer school.

    big thanks to the university of utah for this snazzy gif that only reads in my head as sarcastic. suMMer sCHOol, oh! yeah! i love attending class in 30-degree heat while my friends upload instastories from asia and europe. this is my idea of a good time.

    real talk, though– what i would really recommend is that you take things at your own pace. the adjustment from high school to university (if i can make that assumption, given your question) can be rough in different ways. i mean, not for everyone– we get it, jim, you’re taking six courses and pasted your 99 in bio to your dorm room wall. and while we all know a jim, we’re not all jim. jim will probably burn out anyway.

    as far as fall/winter is concerned, you’ll need three courses to qualify as a full-time student, and you can take up to a maximum of six without special permission. i haven’t met anyone yet on three– the most common loads are four, five, and six.

    tl:dr, your options for a full-time sem of fall/winter study (and what kind of first year/carb they make you) are:

    option 1! four courses

    you know your limit and you play within it. or maybe you just took one of the few APs u of t actually accepts and want to ease things off after an anxiety- and caffeine-fueled high school career. either way, you’re not looking to bring anyone down; you just wanna look after yourself and get things done without crying too much.

    if you were a carb, you’d probably be brown rice. healthy and quite wholesome.

    option 2! five courses

    you’re a go-with-the flow kinda kid. you probably went to university because everyone else was doing it too, or because your parents told you to. you don’t know what you want to do with your degree yet, or even what POSt you want. what’s a POSt? post… what? post-degree, you’re headed for a standard nine-to-five with an hour-long lunch break where all your coworkers talk about their kids and the weather.

    you, my friend, are a slice of bread. pretty standard. not too interesting. good with peanut butter.

    option 3! six courses

    you like to live life on the edge– of sanity? of a robarts study carrel at 3 in the morning? no one else is really sure. you’re highkey headed somewhere, whether that’s absolute greatness or the deep dark pits of study burnout. maybe you’re crazy. maybe you just have a better work ethic than the rest of us. maybe she’s born with it. maybe it’s maybelline.

    your designated carbohydrate is kraft dinner mac and cheese. can’t be eaten for too many years in a row without doing some kinda damage to your body. a lil concerning. but pretty dang amazing in the moment.

    obviously, take ’em with a grain of salt. i’m no buzzfeed quiz.

    regardless of which option you choose, it might be useful to know the uni will probably charge you the same tuition. that is, if you’re in artsci– if you’re not, i would encourage you to look into your fees. just to show you what i mean, last year a first-year domestic student in innis college paid a flat program fee of $6,780 whether their courseload was four, five, or six. once they dropped below an average of four per semester, they’d pay per course.

    so, purely financially speaking, you kinda get more worth outta things if you’re taking a load of five or six courses. especially since, if you’re only taking four at a time, you’ll have to take summers, extra semesters, or even an extra year to finish your degree.

    like i said, though– if you have the resources to do so, take your time. i know plenty of really smart people who plan to stay an extra year or sem. don’t feel too much pressure to do things the “normal” way. remember that you can always register for five and drop down later, if things get to be too much.

    be Boundless,

    aska

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  • one programs

    [confused screaming]

    June 27, 2019

    help the ones program page is down and I can’t find the deadlines for the different programs

    ——————————————

    hey there,

    lmao i love the panicky tone of this question because that’s exactly how i felt when artsci went down and i had all these admissions questions pouring in a few weeks ago.

    what i soon found out is that a lot of pages appear to be broken, but if you plug what you want into the search bar, you can usually dig it up.

    anyway, to answer your question (or at least the one i think you’re asking), this page on the ones program should be functional. so should this one– and hey, look, deadlines! i didn’t know this page existed til now. basically, the gist of it is:

    vic one: march 17

    smc one: may 31

    trin one: july 1

    munk one: july 12

    innis one, new one, woodsworth one, uc one: enrol during course registration (in short, a free-for-all)

    hope this helped, and that the deadline for the one you’re interested in hasn’t passed! i’d encourage you to apply to any of them, though– they all offer a fantastic experience.

    be Boundless,

    aska

     

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  • admissions,  UTSC

    is it gonna be (rev)ok(ed)

    June 25, 2019

    Hi! I was accepted to UTSC’s Psychological and Health Sciences program (so excited!). I was told I need to maintain at least a 75% average and at least a 70% in my prerequisite subjects. If my final average is a couple of marks under 75%, but I maintain above a 70% in my prerequisite subjects, will my offer of admission be revoked? This totally wasn’t the best year for me sigh 🙁

    Thanks 🙂

    ——————————————

    hello,

    congrats on your acceptance!

    for specific cases like this, i would encourage you to give the utsc office of admissions a call. as they’ll have access to your actual academic record, they’ll be able to better advise you on your circumstances. this is too consequential of a guesstimate for me to comfortably make, as someone who’s not particularly involved in the actual process of admissions.

    apparently if you’re really worried about it, you can take summer school and try to boost your marks to avoid getting your offer revoked. at least, that’s what this 3-year-old reddit thread suggests. i try not to use reddit too much as a source, because it can be wildly inaccurate, but the comment i’m referencing was apparently made by a utsc admissions staff member. i’d give the thread a look and check its info over with the office of admissions.

    good luck and be Boundless,

    aska

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  • 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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