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?

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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 

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

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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:

• how far apart any back-to-back classes are, because you only have ten minutes of leeway. if you’re on st. george, you can search this map using any building codes given on the timetable. then plug the buildings into google maps, to give you an estimate of how long it’ll take you to walk. jackman humanities to leslie b. dan is the longest trek i’m aware of. if you walk fast, con hall to vic can technically be done in under ten, but it’ll leave you panting. or maybe i just need to hit the gym more.

• 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

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?

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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

any word yet on when course selection will be?

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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