askastudent - your student life specialists - Page 4

admissions, applying for U of T, grades

me when my permanent record is permanent

June 28, 2024

Hello,

If My grade 11 average is not good and I do extremely well in Grade 12 is it possible to submit my Grade 12 grades to UofT without them looking at my Grade 11 grades.

hey there,

unfortunately, no, this is not possible. that really sucks though.

when you apply to U of T, you pretty much just submit the grades on your transcript, and there’s no way to erase your grade 11 marks from your transcript. U of T considers you based on both your grade 11 and 12 marks, especially since your final grade 12 marks won’t be out yet when you apply.

for more details on how your high school marks are considered in your application, i recommend you check out what i wrote in my previous answer here.

the short answer is, your grade 11 marks do need to be looked at, but they aren’t the make-or-break factor. if you aren’t shooting for an early acceptance, your grade 12 marks are more important. the best thing you can do for now is just do your best in grade 12! in the case that you do apply early and your grade 11 marks are too low, you have a chance to be reconsidered when you grade 12 marks are released — as long as there is still space in your program.

sorry for the bummer. wishing you the best! you’ve got this.

over and out,

aska

Read More

aska No Comments
admissions, applying for U of T, grades, repeating course

am i helpful or am i delusional

June 28, 2024
Hello, I am planning on going into life science (or biochemistry, health sciences) and I am currently stressing about my grade 11 grades, I am going to end up with a low 80 in chemistry and advance functions. I have decided to redo these courses over the summer (aiming to get 90s). Will universities care about me redoing 2 grade 11 courses? Will my chances of getting into the program be better vs me not redoing it at all?

hey there,

that sounds like a stressful situation! when i was in high school, i remember being confused about how much my grade 11 marks mattered for university admissions too.

but now, i know all the secrets about admissions. jk not really, but in the process of answering questions, i’ve spent hours perusing U of T websites and have cross-referenced everything they officially release. weird flex sure, but it means i can help you.

so tune in while i take some really confusing information and present it to you in a slightly less confusing way. (i hope? y’all would tell me if i wasn’t making sense right)
1. how your high school marks matter in admissions
at U of T, all applicants are considered based on their top six academic grade 12 courses. the marks of these courses are used to calculate your admission average.

meanwhile, when you apply to U of T, you’ll apply to one of six admission categories. these are basically just a way that the university sorts all applicants, because, well, when you’ve got 340 something programs, it can get complicated. instead, there are just general admission requirements in six different categories. to get into the life science admission category, you have to take two pre-requisite courses: english 12 and calculus 12. as pre-requisite courses, those are going to have to be included in the six grade 12 courses that determine your average.

so what does that mean for you? well, that means your grade 11 marks shouldn’t be the make-or-break factor, and they’re generally considered alongside your grade 12 marks. eg. if your grade 11 courses are low, you can have your application re-considered using your grade 12 marks when they come out. according to the general admission requirements website, grade 11 marks are mostly considered in pre-requisite courses for early or conditional offers of admission. (note that chemistry is not included in your pre-req list!)

the way i understand it is that the balance of your grade 11 and grade 12 marks really just depends on the space the program has, and how soon your grade 12 marks in pre-requisite courses come out.

i hope that all makes sense, it’s a bit of a complicated process to understand and nothing is clear-cut. but it really helps to know all this when making your decision.

2. repeated courses

meanwhile, does UofT care about repeated courses? officially, the site on admission decisions says that “while we recognize that there may be valid reasons for repeating a course, we urge you to do as well as possible on your first attempt. in some instances, repeated courses will not be accepted for competitive admission categories”.

wow, that was sO clarifying of them.

but yeah, this doesn’t really tell you that much. i believe life sciences lands kind of in the middle of the spectrum for competitiveness — it’s harder to get into than social sciences and humanities, though it’s not as bad as computer science or rotman. personally, i think it might be fine to repeat courses if they’re grade 11 courses, since grade 12 courses seem to matter more. but if you do repeat them, just make sure that you disclose the repeated courses in your application.

anyway. that’s it from me. i hope this helped, convoluted as it was. good luck with everything, i’m rooting for you!

over and out,

aska
Read More

aska No Comments
admissions, applying for U of T, polisci

first steps first

June 26, 2024

What subjects do I need to take in Grade 12 to study Political Science

hey there,

oooh political science you say? very nice, U of T has a great poli-sci program, i fully support you in that.

here’s what you need to know:

at U of T, all programs are sorted into general admission categories for incoming students to apply to. if you want to study political science, you’ll apply to the social sciences admission category when you send in your application through OUAC. later on, after taking the first-year poli-sci courses, you’ll be able to enter the actual poli-sci major or specialist.

but, first steps, first.

according to the general admission requirements, you’ll have to take six 4U/M courses in high school. among these, the only required course you’ll have to take is english 12 (ENG4U). so it looks pretty simple for you! other programs require calculus, but you won’t have to worry about that.

just keep in mind, the recommended admission range is mid to high 80s and U of T will consider your average based on your top 6 academic grade 12 courses.

anyways. good luck with everything, reach out if you have any more questions!

over and out,

aska

Read More

aska No Comments
admissions, engineering

once again, may i present… your registrar!

June 21, 2024

Hello,

I applied as an early consideration for EngSci program at UofT. However, I have received an email in mid April that I have been placed on the waitlist.

Till now I have not received any updates and my engineering portal account gives the same message that I’m still under consideration.

Someone asked here about the latest response date which turns out to be June 7th, but I haven’t received either an acceptance or rejection till now (June 18th)

What does that mean? :’))

hey there,

man, that is a bit confusing to have not heard back for so long. first, props to you for checking my previous answers before asking!

buut, it’s good thing you asked because i’m not sure that answer would be applicable to your exact situation.

that question i answered last month was asked by a first year student enrolling in their program of study for second year. the latest response date of june 7th was pulled from the arts & sciences “important dates” timeline. but this date wouldn’t be relevant to you since you’re in a different faculty, the faculty of applied science and engineering. these faculties operate under different timelines and have different academic dates!

anyways, based on what you’ve said, i’m assuming you’re applying to your engsci major as you go into third year. here’s the thing with that — i can’t seem to find an exact date or timeline for engsci major acceptances like there is for artsci programs. and even if i got your situation wrong and you’re in the other engineering track (core 8), i also can’t find a program acceptance timeline for that.

the world wide web has failed me today i guess. but it’s fine, i’m fine.

fear nOT, though. while i am not an engineering student, i know there is someone out there who actually knows the dates when you should get a definite answer. the most reliable source i can guide you to is the… can you guess what i’m gonna say? the… engineering registrar!

literally just shoot them a quick email at registrar@engineering.utoronto.ca . ask them something along the lines of, “is there an estimated timeline for acceptances to roll out?” they’ll be helpful, you can do it!

in the meantime, june 7 is an irrelevant date for you, and your engineering portal says you’re still under consideration. so i would say, consider yourself under consideration and not rejected for now. but, the best thing you can do is really just to reach out to your registrar.

anyhoo, good luck with everything, i hope this somewhat helped!

over and out,

aska

Read More

aska 2 Comments
admissions, other schools (boo!), stats

live laugh love? in these conditions?

June 5, 2024

hi aksa!! i have had pretty terrible grades in 11th and somewhat better in 12th, do u think there is hope for me to get into a good uni for statistics ??

hey there,

aw, i’m sorry to hear that! good on you for improving, though! that takes commitment.

ok, so you want to get into a good uni for statistics. i can’t really look into every single good uni out there cause i’m pretty sure they all work pretty differently. so for now, let’s look at a couple example to compare our options with: U of T, UBC, and mcgill. these are the top three statistics programs in canada, apparently.

first, let’s cover U of T.

1. getting into U of T statistics

when applying to U of T, your admission is based on an average grade calculated using your top six grade 12 U/M courses. if you wanted to get into the statistics program, you would apply under the admission category “physical and mathematical sciences“. (this is because at U of T, you don’t enter your specific program of study until after first year).

as you can see in general admission requirements, two pre-requisite courses are required for physical and mathematical sciences: english (ENG4U), and calculus (MCV4U). so these are the two courses that will have to be included in your top six. therefore, your admission will be based on your english grade, your calculus grade, plus your four top grades in academic grade 12 courses. that’s it.

if you apply for early admissions, or if your final grade 12 marks aren’t out yet, U of T may also look at your corresponding grade 11 marks to give you a conditional offer. but if your grade 11 marks are low, they’ll wait to see your grade 12 marks. so really, don’t worry too much about your grade 11 marks. it’s your grade 12 marks that are the make or break factor.

2. UBC

according to this website, UBC looks at your grade 11 and grade 12 marks, paying extra attention to the courses that relate to the degree you’re applying to. this includes english 12 and pre-calc 12. overall though, UBC looks at a whole lot of things other than just the numbers on your transcript. they say they look at the range of courses you took and how challenging they were. infamously, they look at a whOle lot through your personal profile, where you have to write a lot about leadership skills, extracurriculars, and experiences. (maybe i’m just dramatic, but writing this sucked the life outta me.)

so if your grades have been bad but you have a lot of leadership experience and you’re involved in your community, you might have a chance at UBC! but if you have zero experience in that area, and you are throwing all your cards into the numbers on your transcript, U of T is the one to bet on.

3. mcgill

meanwhile, mcgill will look at your grades over the past three years — so grade 10, 11, and 12. and, um, the admission averages are INSANE for computational sciences? 97-98% is crazy high.

but like U of T, they compute your top 6 grade 12 courses, so there is a little room for grace.

ultimately, this just shows that it really depends on where your strengths lie. each university considers its applicants differently, so you’ll have a better chance in some places compared to others. whichever university you apply to, it’s great that you’re doing better in grade 12! i heard somewhere that universities like to see improvement. just do some research on how different place consider their applicants.

so yeah. i think you do have hope to get into a good uni. reach out if you’ve got any other questions, wishing you the besttttt luck!

over and out,

aska

Read More

aska No Comments
admissions, applying for U of T, social sciences

no, no, and no

June 5, 2024

hello,
i am currently a grade 11 student. last sem i failed the functions u level course with a 40%, so i’ll be retaking it this summer. i’m worried that i won’t be accepted to the social science program because of this. also, i think my current average right now is around 74%.
so my questions are that would failing functions affect my change of acceptance?
i am aiming to get better grades in grade 12 so will uoft look at my grade 11 marks or my grade 12 marks?
my last question is regarding supplementary applications, i am planning to choose the political science stream so would i need to submit my extracurriculars, volunteer hours, etc? because currently i only have around 45 hours of volunteering and no extracurriculars, would this also affect my acceptance?

thank you,
hope this makes sense.

hey there,

i like you. finally, questions that are within my realm of expertise.

1. will failing functions affect your acceptance?

no, it shouldn’t. as you can see here, U of T only looks at your top 6 academic grade 12 courses, which they use to compute your admission average. among those courses, one must be english 12. depending on the admission category you apply to, there may be other pre-requisites included — such as functions if you were applying to, say, computer science.

however, you are applying to the social sciences admission category, which only requires english 12. this means that U of T will only look at your english course + five other of your top grade 12 marks. so if you’ve failed functions, it won’t be included in your top marks and U of T won’t look at it! so like, moving forward, um wdym, you didn’t fail! that tOTally did not happen!

2. will U of T look at your grade 11 or grade 12 marks?

so again, U of T will only look at your top 6 grade 12 marks. however, if those marks haven’t been released yet, they will look at the corresponding grade 11 marks to make conditional early offers.

check out this answer i posted recently where i talk more about the weight of your grade 11/12 marks. the tldr is that if your grade 11 marks don’t make the cut, U of T will consider you again when your grade 12 marks are released.

3. will you need to submit extracurriculars for political science?

you will not need to submit extracurriculars to get into your program of study, thank GOD. as you can see on the arts & sciences calendar, admission into the political science program only concerns pre-requisite classes and your grades. i’ve never heard of a U of T undergrad arts & science program that required extracurriculars, or volunteer hours. so you’re good to go!

4. will U of T look at your extracurriculars/volunteer hours for admissions?

finally, U of T also does not look at your extracurriculars or volunteering hours for first year admissions. when you apply on OUAC, there isn’t even an option to put these in! if i remember right, you pretty much just upload your transcript lol.

anyways, university applications can be super hectic and so confusing. so i hope this was helpful and that it took a bit of stress off your back! good luck with everything, you’ve got this!

over and out,

aska

Read More

aska No Comments
admissions, campus, hard

we love utsg

June 3, 2024

Is there a difference between applying to different campuses at UOFT? (Like applying to St. George is harder to get in or Mississauga is easier) truth be told, I’m only interested in St. George campus

hey there,

good question.

yes, i think there is a difference between applying to different U of T campuses. there is no official info on this, but from what i’ve heard, the st. george campus is harder to get into compared to the mississauga and scarborough campuses. i say this because i know some people who were admitted to UTM or UTSC but were rejected from UTSG.

i would try to compare the admission averages among the three campuses, but i can only find the utm admission average, which is 75%. so take from that what you will.

ultimately though, it depends on what program you’re applying to. maybe the st. george campus is harder to get into because it has programs that have a higher volume of applicants? as in — most people are like you and only interested in the UTSG campus. also, some programs are only offered at the st. george campus, which might play into it.

but don’t be discouraged from applying to UTSG. i think the st. george campus is so beautiful and a great place to spend your undergrad years at. (if you’re interested, find out what makes each campus unique here). it may be a bit harder to get into, but this is just a word-of-mouth thing and again, i don’t have any statistics to back up my facts with.

however, i can back you up. you’ve got this! WOOO! yeahhh!

anyways, good luck with your application, hope to see you here.

over and out,

aska

Read More

aska No Comments
programs, wait list

try, try again

May 24, 2024

I am in year one, and I am waiting to be accepted into a certain program. They sent me an email saying that I am on the waitlist, and the last accepting date is supposed to be June 7th. After this, I can expect that I have been rejected, and I should apply to the program again in the second round, right?

hey there,

hmmm a certain program. so vague of you. testing my psychic powers, i see. ~~but hasn’t anyone ever told you, don’t test god.~~

anyways yes, that’s correct. according to this page on important program dates, the last day to be accepted in the first request period is june 7.

so if you haven’t received an acceptance by june 7, it means you haven’t been accepted during the first round. after this, you are able to re-apply in the second round, assuming your program offers a second round. (some programs don’t offer a second round, so you should look here to make sure yours does.)

some advice, though: if you want to improve your chances of getting in the second time around, you might want to consider taking courses in the summer to increase your CGPA. because re-applying with the same qualifications as last time may likely give you the same outcome. the second round’s application period is between july 6 and august 20, and results will be sent out between august 21 and september 4 — meaning that whatever summer courses you take will be counted in time.

but, that’s a really general advice, and i don’t know your mystery program. so i highly recommend that you go connect with your registrar for more specific advice around that.

so good luck, i hope it all works out for you!

over and out,

aska

Read More

aska No Comments
admissions, programs, psychology

confusing uoft websites, couldn’t be me

May 22, 2024
Hi! I’m currently in year 12, I study IB and my Higher Levels are Psychology, Sports Exercise and Health Science, and Art. I’m planning to apply to uoft to study clinical psychology in the future but then found out BIO is required after some research. Now I’m confused about this because the websites gave me different answers, one telling me that the only requirements are Calculus and English, and another saying that biology is required too. (if that’s the case would SEHS still be acceptable?)

hey there,

yeah, several people have asked this question before. those admission websites can be so confusing, they’ve got to fix that!

the tldr is that you don’t need bio 12 for admissions, but you’ll need it to go into second year.

admissions

let me explain. when you apply to u of t, you don’t actually apply to a specific program, like biochemistry or immunology, or psychology. instead, you apply to a general “admission category“. basically, all 300ish undergrad programs at the UTSG campus are categorized into 6 admission categories:
you can follow these links to see a list of programs under each admission category. your admission category is what you’ll actually put into your OUAC application, so admission category requirements are the only requirements you’ll need to worry about for now.

if you want to get in to the u of t psychology program, you’ll be applying under the “admission category” of life science. although the psychology requirements website says that you need biology, calculus, and english, the life science requirements website says you only need calculus and english. so for admissions, you only need calculus and english.

program enrolment

HOWEVER, you will need to complete biology 12 to enrol in your psychology program after first year. this is because everyone at u of t actually enrols in their POSt (program of study) when they go into second year. for some POSts, you automatically get in, but many others require pre-requisites or grade minimums. psychology is unfortunately the latter.

assuming you’re hoping to take the psychology major, this means you’ll need to first take PSY100 (the first year psych class at u of t) and get above 75%. you’ll also need to have passed grade 12 calculus and grade 12 biology.

biology equivalents

i recommend you read through the bottom of this page, where it covers biology equivalents and other options. here, it says that they accept IB biology courses, including standard and higher level classes. since i didn’t take IB myself, i’m not sure if SEHS would be counted. you said it’s a higher level IB course, but my question is — is it specifically a biology course?

you can figure that out. but if not, you are able to directly check by sending an email to psy.ug-assistant@utoronto.ca .

anyways, i hope this cleared things up, good luck with everything!

over and out,

aska
Read More

aska No Comments
askastudent love/hate

love from the void

May 18, 2024

Hi, I’m the second year student who asked about if having no experiences is bad. Thank you so much for your response I felt a lot better after reading it!

hey there,

yay, glad to hear it! thanks for reminding me i’m not speaking into the void.

over and out,

aska

Read More

aska No Comments
getting involved, research, volunteer

i am the resource

May 18, 2024
hi there! im an incoming uoft for sept 2024 and i’m just curious where can i find/which websites i should go look into to find professors that can provide students with volunteer experiences/research opportunities? or specifically, as an incoming student, is it possible to apply for volunteer positions at hospitals? and if so, how may i do that? where or which resources can i go look for that opportunity? thank you in advance

hey there,

welcome! this is a great question. you want resources? i’ve got them. heck, i am the resource.

1.research opportunities on CLNX

so, there aren’t exactly websites where you can just search and find professors who have available volunteer/research experiences open to students.

HOWEVER, there is something sort of similar, and it’s called the career & co-curricular learning network (CLNX). i think you’ll only have access to this once you get your utorid closer to september, but it is a really important site to know during your time at u of t. CLNX is a launching pad for applying to on-campus jobs, exploring clubs, applying to experiential learning opportunities, seeing different career events happening, and more.

most relevant to your question, it’s where you will be able to search and apply to research opportunity programs (ROP)s. ROPs are research experiences that are supervised by a u of t faculty member, and CLNX has a searchable/filterable database of all of them. you’ll be eligible to participate in ROPs if you’ve completed between 4.0-13.0 credits by the end of the school year — so you’ll have to wait until the spring of your first year to apply. note it down, applications are open for this between mid-february to mid-march every year.

2. research/volunteer opportunities through other means

CLNX is not the only way that you can gain access to research or volunteer experiences. some advice i’ve heard is to ask your professors and TAs if they are currently in need of research assistants or if they can direct you towards opportunities. they might not always conveniently have a spot for you, but they are connected and might be able to help you out! little tip: you might improve your chances if they know who you are, so go to office hours throughout the semester and participate in class.

i’ve also answered a similar question here about getting into research, if you wanna give that a look. there, i mention @uoftursa on instagram, the uoft undergrad research students’ association, who post events geared towards getting into research. another group to look into might be the uoft research network, @uoft.rn .

3. volunteer positions at hospitals

the great thing about u of t is that it’s near and connected to many of the top hospitals in canada.
- one popular opportunity i’ve heard about is volunteering at sickkids. sickkids is affiliated with u of t and is super close to campus, offering both summer and year-round volunteer programs for post-secondary students. to be eligible, you just need to be 18 or older and enrolled in post-secondary education. posting for this year’s 2024 fall program, which starts in september, will open on june 3.
- another great one to volunteer at is UHN, the university health network affiliated with u of t. through this, students are able to volunteer at toronto general hospital, toronto western hospital, toronto rehab, and princess margaret cancer hospital. applications for this are open all year. if you want to do actual research through the UHN though, i think you’ve got to be a grad student.
- mount sinai hospital also takes volunteers, but they are currently full—their website says to check back in the fall for openings.
- st. michael’s hospital takes year-round volunteers through the unity health network
anyways. i hope this was helpful, good luck with everything! and please don’t put too much pressure on yourself to get involved with all this during your first year. students usually get involved with research and volunteer stuff after their first year, once they’ve settled down academically.

over and out,

aska

p.s. y’all are asking so many questions :D. i’ve never done so many posts in such a short span of time, this is me every waking hour:

but, pls pls keep ’em comin.
Read More

aska No Comments
admissions, engineering, grades

wait for me

May 16, 2024

I’m currently in grade 11 and have a 85 average and in HOSA (and going to be president in my club soon), I want to get into uoft for mechanical engineering, I want to try to get higher grades for grade 12, but will my grade 11 marks be considered a lot for my admission or will they wait for my grade 12 marks?

hey there,

ok, right now, i think all you can do is just stick to your plan and try to get higher grades for grade 12. because, the weight that your grade 11 marks hold against your grade 12 marks just depends on a whole bunch of factors.

first, i’d recommend reading through this faq page, which details a lot of important need-to-knows about admissions! i’ll be drawing some info from there.

as you can see on this important deadlines page, there are two rounds of admissions decisions: students who submit their OUAC application by nov 7 and their engineering application by dec 1 are considered under round one (aka. early consideration). meanwhile, those who submit everything by jan 15 are considered under round two.

the answer to your question depends on which round of admissions you’re considered under, and how soon your school releases your grade 12 marks. in my experience, it makes a difference whether you go by the quarter semester system or the three term system. if you’re considered during round one, there’s a chance you won’t have many grade 12 marks released yet, so they’ll mostly look at your grade 11 marks and whatever grade 12 marks are available. so basically, from the way i understand it, it all really depends on your school’s term system.

however, it is all going to be okay if you’re not admitted under round one due to unavailable grades. you will just be considered again in round two as more of your grades come out.

nothing is really set in stone, but ultimately, you don’t have to worry about applying early if your grade 11 marks aren’t as high as you’d like them to be. after all, the admission committee say they “may hold applications to wait for more information” if you applied early. so overall, yes. they should wait for your grade 12 marks to be released ~~from depths of the underworld~~.

(if you don’t get this reference, you are simply uncultured)

also, i found on this same page that canadian students’ admission averages for mechanical engineering is within the high 80s to low 90s. i think you have a good chance if you succeed in getting those good grades in grade 12! they also say that extracurriculars are considered, so good on you for being extracurricular-ly involved! that will help you out.

sooo good luck with everything, reach out if you have more questions!! you’ve got this.

over and out,

aska

Read More

aska No Comments
bba, newly admitted, programs, switching, UTSC

faq page pulling through

May 15, 2024

I applied for undergrad in BBA but i got offer for co-op social sciences & humanities. Any possibility of switching after a year or sem?

hey there,

i’m sorry that you didn’t get your first choice! that can be really disappointing. but congrats on getting in, and welcome!!

so the good news is, yes — there is a possibility that you will be able to switch your program. especially since you’re switching at this early stage, i think you might have a good chance.

check out the utsc admissions website‘s FAQ page under “amending your application”. as you can see here, it’s pretty common to ask whether you can change the program that you applied to. so you’re not alone!

this FAQ page says that for those who haven’t yet received an offer of admission, all that student needs to do is change the program on OUAC.

however, since you’ve already received an offer of admission (woop woop!) for co-op social sciences & humanities, do not change your program on OUAC! this will cancel your offer of admission and you’ll lose your place at u of t. instead, you need to directly email utsc.offer@utoronto.ca to request a program change. with this, it’s best that you reach out as soon as possible.

keep in mind though, i’m not sure if this will work since i think what you received is an alternate offer of admission (also explained on that FAQ page), having not received your preferred program choice. if emailing for a program change doesn’t work at this point, you might need to switch after first year.

if that’s the case, you should directly contact the academic advising team for BBA students or management department to find out what this process would look like, concerning application procedures and deadlines. i would recommend that you specifically contact admissions inquiries at (416) 287-7529, or the first year academic advisor at mgmtyr1.utsc@utoronto.ca .

i hope the people at the end of these contacts i’ve provided are helpful and kind to you! this doesn’t need to be a stressful process, you’ve got this. reach out if any more questions come up.

over and out,

aska

Read More

aska No Comments