• computer science,  grad school,  non degree

    compSIGH

    May 28, 2019
    Hello! I’m a mechancial engineering graduate from Queen’s university. I realized my passion for computer science and want to pursue a career in computer science. The masters of computer science at UofT requires CSC343H: Introduction to Databases CSC369H: Operating Systems; and CSC373H: Algorithm Design, Analysis & Complexity or their equivalents. Would it be possible/feasible for me to apply and get into these courses as a non-degree student?
    yes, from what i know it should be possible to do that! u of t easily allows recently graduated students to enrol as a non-degree student for the purpose of getting those grad school prereqs down. this is true even if you completed your studies elsewhere– you’ll just need to apply. compsci as a program is considered to be under the faculty of arts and science, which makes it much easier to get into those courses as a non-degree student (with faculties like music and engineering, you’d have to contact them).
    the only thing i can think of that might be a barrier to you is if those three courses are particularly in-demand. i looked them up on the timetable and they’ve all got priority enrolment controls, which essentially means only compsci degree students can get seats until a certain date. then, artsci students and utm/utsc students have second and third priority respectively. i’m not sure where non-degree students would fall in this priority order– possibly with utm/utsc, or after?
    if you’d like to know for certain what the likelihood is that you can get in, i’d suggest you contact the department directly. even though i can see the class sizes and enrolment controls, it’s pretty hard for me to give you a concrete answer as a fellow student myself.
    hope this was helpful though! all the best with your possible future at u of t.
    over n out,
    aska
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  • suspension

    is that normal or should i be worried?

    May 27, 2019

    Hello, I’ve been suspended from utm for the summer, but today, I tried booking a study room in the library and it could not find my name in the database. I just want to know, Is that normal or should i be worried?

    ——————————————

    hey,

    i’ve never heard of this happening, but it kind of makes sense to me that it would. i did what i could to see if the university had any explanations for this on the internet, but wasn’t actually able to find anything specifically on this.

    my best guess is that this is what’s happening: when you’re suspended, the university doesn’t consider you to be enrolled as a student. this u of t libraries site indicates that only currently registered u of t students are able to book group study spaces at the uni, key word being current. so it’s probably not like the system totally wiped its memory clean of you– it’s more likely that, since you’re not paying fees while on suspension, you’re not able to use the facilities as a paying student would. unfortunately, that means you’re gonna have to find some new study spots for the time being.

    tl:dr i wouldn’t worry about it! seems pretty normal to me.

    over n out,

    aska

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  • biology

    i glove my job

    May 25, 2019

    Hello !
    do i need to buy gloves if i want to continue taking biology? in first year my labs all provided gloves. thank you!

    ——————————————

    hey there,

    this isn’t something i would know from experience, but i asked a friend who’s taken higher level bio for ya. apparently if you’re taking BIO230 it’s a no on buying gloves, but they weren’t sure about BIO220. if you’re not taking 230 i would say just… wait til the course starts, then figure out whether you need to get them?

    or if you really really REALLY have a burning desire to know i guess you could contact whichever bio department you’re hoping to take courses in. i figure they’re the only ones who would know, since my guess is it varies per course– if you do choose to contact them, please remember to be polite and respectful because i’m sure they’re quite busy people who deal with a lot of stuff! although this is probably an unnecessary reminder and i’m sure you would be anyway.

    i would suggest you wait and see, though, if it’s all the same to you! if you need the gloves, you’ll find out come the start of classes. again, i wouldn’t know, but i’m guessing gloves don’t break the bank.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • courses,  timetable

    patience, my child

    May 25, 2019

    when will course listings on griddy/acorn/course search be up to date? every listing i’ve found gives different courses that are or aren’t there!

    ——————————————

    hi!

    as far as i’m aware, there’s no exact date out as to when the listings will be updated– i’ve noticed the same thing, that course finder is only showing summer session stuff right now. generally the update happens sometime in june, both on ACORN and the artsci timetable. the university’s still in the process of working out what the listings are gonna look like, which is why you’ve probably had trouble finding accurate info so far.

    at least the timetables are up to date, according to my friend at the office of student life, so if you do wanna be a keener and start working on your schedule you can start there. in fact, i’d actually recommend you use the official artsci timetable as opposed to griddy. that is, if you’re in artsci.

    griddy isn’t run by the university, which means that while it can totally be helpful, it isn’t necessarily foolproof. a previous aska did a quick rundown on their experience with this, which you can check out here. i’d recommend giving it a read. even then, i prefer the timetable for a few reasons. the timetable will use different colours for lectures, tutorials, labs, etc., which can help break up your schedule and make it easier to read. i’m not sure if there’s a way to do this in griddy, but i wasn’t able to find one. the timetable can be helpful for slotting tutorials in, too, because it’ll show you all the potential times in one page rather than you having to click on each section to see it.

    the timetable also offers you a more complete set of information! with course listings, it will show you space availability, enrolment restrictions, and location/waitlist info. you’ll also be able to click on a tab that shows you prereqs, breadth reqs, exclusions, and the course description. maybe i’m just looking in the wrong place, but I’ve never been able to find anything other than section, time, and instructor on griddy.

    in short, this has been a large plug for the timetable! use it use it use it. apart from the ical feature griddy has, i can’t really think of a reason why the timetable might not be a preferable option. it’s safer and more informative. what’s not to love?
    anyway, yknow what would be killer, especially for first years? a site you could plug your course codes into and have your classes mapped out across campus. could be game-changing. i 10/10 could have avoided trekking the MILES from con hall to bader with queen’s park closed and a full-on blizzard in my face. i guess i know better now. class location is important, people, don’t gloss over it. i make mistakes so you don’t have to.

    over n out,

    aska

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  • law school

    what, like it’s hard?

    May 24, 2019

    I am considering law school after I finish my undergraduate degree. What would admissions look for specifically? Would they look into what courses I had taken and what level they are in (2nd year versus 4th year)? Does it matter on who writes the recommendation letters (such as a university professor versus a teacher I had known for years)? When do people prepare to take the LSAT? Are there any tips to make my admission chances better? I wanna be prepared as law school is competitive as heck.

    ——————————————

    hi there,

    as someone who’s never gone to law school (or has yet to, my parents are still hoping lol) i wasn’t really sure how to answer this question without making stuff up.

    so i reached out to someone who worked in grad school admissions, and this is pretty much what they had to say:

    there isn’t really a set standard for law school admissions– nothing they’ll specifically look for across the board. depending on what program and what school you’re looking into, the things they require and take into consideration will vary. even the person reviewing the application can influence the answers to each of those questions you asked. this is true for all grad schools, not just law, apparently.

    because of this, any concrete answer i might be able to provide you with probably won’t be consistently useful, and might even be misleading. i was told it’s best to specifically check each program or school you’re considering. often, there’s a lot of stuff you can find just floating on the web. you can also look into attending info sessions, as schools typically send student or faculty representatives that’ll be able to tell you about their program’s criteria.

    you can also take a shot at emailing or phoning schools’ admission offices directly. this is a recommendation that comes with a (hopefully unnecessary) friendly reminder to be polite when you do so! i feel like a lot of students forget this when talking to administration. these are the people that may have your law school future in their hands, and anyway it’s just the decent thing to do. this also means you’ll want to avoid emailing multiple people the same question at the same time– if you feel it’s necessary to do so, cc (not bcc) them. this way, they’ll be able to tell that you’ve asked someone else too, and can then check whether you’ve received a response yet.

    so that covers admissions– as for the LSAT, life @ u of t has done a pretty good piece with some relevant advice. according to them, it only takes about 2-3 months to prep for the exam. this other random law school site i pulled up recommended 3-4, so i’d say 3 is probably a good bet.

    closing this post off with this iconic moment, because no post about law school is complete without a lil elle woods.

    you got this. law school may be competitive as heck, but i believe in your ability to compete. best of luck with it all, and hope this helped even if it wasn’t as specific as you hoped!

    over n out,

    aska

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  • exchange

    but the flat earthers said australia was a hoax…?

    May 23, 2019

    Hi, I’m a psychology student at The University of Sydney. I’m thinking about going on exchange to UofT in the fall of 2020. Is UofT a good uni to go on exchange to or do you think there are better options in Canada? Also what should I know about UofT and going to uni in Canada in general? Thanks!

    ——————————————

    hello from the other hemisphere!

    hope you’re ready for a long post– i always try to cover my bases, and i as an aska tend to be chattier than my predecessors. that probably says something about me. let’s skip thinking about that and head straight to the point, shall we?

    going on exchange can be such a cool experience and i think it’s fantastic that you’re thinking of coming here. for what it’s worth, i’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time at this school so far, and would choose it again as my home institution.

    however (and i say this every time) not everyone feels this way. this last year, i made a friend who was on exchange from the university of edinburgh. lovely person and i’m grateful to have gotten to know her, but it seemed like she kind of regretted coming here for her year of exchange. she told me about how at her school, a full courseload was three courses, and she spent most of her time engaged in extracurriculars and leadership activities.

    before showing up at u of t, she didn’t realize the sheer amount of time she would be spending just studying here. to put it into perspective, a standard courseload here is five courses a semester, and apparently we’ve got a lot more small assignments and such than she did back home. what she told me is that they do a midterm and a final there, and that’s pretty much… it. here, depending on the course you’re in but as a general rule, that’s not the case.

    i don’t really know how this compares to your situation, as i realize the uk and australia are totally different countries and their school systems likely differ. but i thought this might be a useful way to give you a sense of perspective.

    from what i know, the five-courseload, many small assignments thing is pretty normal across canada, so i don’t think you’d be able to avoid it by going elsewhere in the country. i can give you a quick run-down on what i’ve heard about some of your other options, though. i’ve chosen bigger universities in major cities, just because those tend to be the better-known ones. these are also the only three i’ve attended lectures in, so i feel more confident speaking to them.

    mcgill, in montreal, is a top-tier institution also in a major city’s downtown core. although the province it’s in, quebec, is mostly french, the campus functions in english. you may still need some french in the city, bear in mind.

    it’s canada’s most european urban centre for sure, and is rough academically but apparently toronto is worse. of the three unis, i know the least about mcgill, but what i do know is that it’s super international. if making a bunch of connections with people from around the world appeals to you, it may be a good place to consider exchanging to. mcgill makes a big deal about how their biggest classroom size is 600 and how not ideal it is, but it doesn’t really compare to u of t’s con hall at around 1500.

    the university of british columbia, in vancouver, is a really solid research institution too. the campus is beautiful– it’s next to the ocean, has the most gorgeous sunsets, and the buildings were designed to let in a bunch of natural light. academics are quite strong there as well. when i was visiting, i went to a few first-year lectures– the class sizes are definitely way smaller than u of t, but i feel like our profs are overall better quality. which obviously is just based on my personal experience at both institutions.

    how does u of t compare to the others? well, it’s known to have the heaviest workload out of all canadian universities. we’ve got the most opportunities on campus as well as the city around us– the largest number of clubs and student papers, for example. probably has something to do with our huge student body– we’re about double the size of mcgill. in terms of our campus, we’ve got a ton of really beautiful old buildings and libraries. food trucks are scattered on the main streets (the brown one is the best), and we’ve got close proximity to the chinatown, yorkdale, and annex neighbourhoods. it’s a tradeoff– you might suffer a little academically, but toronto is where it’s at.

    along that line of thought, it’s important to consider how you feel regarding each city, and what it might be like to live there for a semester. which i guess i covered a bit already. i can tell you that rent close to campus will be the highest at u of t, followed by vancouver and montreal as far as i know. but toronto is also canada’s biggest city, and has the most going on. if major artists make a tour stop in canada, it’s often the only place they’ll do a show. a friend of mine at mcgill says after a while, the only thing left to do there is go out dancing– it’s mostly about the nightlife there.

    but people in montreal seem… happier, somehow– i’ve seen people my age dancing in thrift stores and talked to panhandlers with jazzy attitudes. meanwhile, vancity is a mountains-ocean-forests city that gets pretty sleepy compared to the other two. and it has the slowest pace of the three and the best sushi.

    on top of that, if safety is a concern for you, i’d order them toronto-montreal-vancouver in terms of least to most safe. toronto can get pretty scary sometimes.

    what should you know about going to uni in canada in general? it’s cold. toronto and montreal more so than the west coast, but all parts of canada usually get at least a bit of snow. this past year in toronto, we had one day of -40 wind chill and about two months when it averaged -20 wind chill outside. however, if you’re coming during the fall semester, you’ll probably get the best of the school year’s weather. it can still feel like summer til mid-october, and the autumn leaves on campus are absolutely gorgeous. the worst of the weather really is january onwards, and you’ll likely be gone by then– but the climate is definitely something you should consider, especially if you experience seasonal affective disorder.

    what’s great about canada? we multicultural out here. toronto has a ton of ethnic enclaves, and canadian student bodies are pretty diverse, meaning you get a pretty legit cultural education too. beyond that, we have bagged milk, poutine, and tim horton’s. win win win.

    kudos to you if you made it to the end of this. hope this was helpful and if you have any more specific questions about u of t/canada that i didn’t cover, feel free to send in another ask!

    over n out,

    aska

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  • breadth requirements,  first year

    pmu199 plug plug plug

    May 23, 2019

    do you have updated suggestions for the math/science breadth requirement courses for first years who aren’t good at math or science? i think the offered courses have changed a lot this year, because i can’t find some of the old suggestions on the course list!

    ——————————————

    hey there and warm welcome to u of t!

    not entirely sure where you’re looking, but it is quite possible that course offerings have changed from previous years. i can definitely run you through what i know about your options, though! because you didn’t specify, for the purposes of this post i’m gonna assume you’re a st. george kid.

    the math/science breadth requirement, or breadth 5, can be one of those tough ones to get down if you’re not numerically inclined– which is something i totally sympathize with and had to navigate my first year as well. it’s good that you’re looking to get your breadth reqs out of the way early, because your freshman year really is the best time to do so. not only are there special courses you can only take during that one year, but you’ll also just not have to worry about them later on, particularly when you’re looking to graduate.

    the one breadth 5 course i took that i ended up really liking was one of the 199s, specifically the one called “astronomy at the frontier.” from what i can find, it’s still being offered. i took it with drs. drout and reid. they were both super supportive but also just really good teachers, as in they managed to get ME pretty into a SCIENCE. the class mostly revolves around learning how to operate and use this online telescope software to take pictures of the galaxy. then, you’re graded on a final ‘observing project’ where you develop a research question and use photos you took to illustrate your results. if you stay on top of your work and stick to the (pretty detailed) rubrics, it’s reasonably possible to do well in this course with no science background whatsoever.

    i’m not sure how much they’ll have changed the format based on the feedback my year gave, but when i took the course participation was worth 10 percent, and there was no final exam, just a three-minute oral interview worth another 10. the best part, at least where you’re concerned? absolutely no math involved. we were expected to familiarize ourselves with a good number of astronomical concepts, but not to the level of actual in-depth memorization, and never to the extent of learning any formulas or calculations. could not plug that course more.

    can’t fit it into your schedule, or does it still not sound like something you wanna take? for more, you can go to the timetable https://timetable.iit.artsci.utoronto.ca/ and search “pmu199” in the course codes box. you’ll get a bunch of listings for similarly oriented first-year-exclusive courses. these small seminars are your best bet for fulfilling your breadth requirements, as they’re just plain less likely to screw you over. they also have more interesting content than typical first year lectures: there’s a video game writing one that sounds kinda cool, and a biosensory tech course geared towards arts kids.

    another option you have is to take a regular first year science and credit/no credit it. that way, you fulfill your breadth requirement but only need to pass to do so. once again, astronomy! i’d recommend AST101 as i’ve heard it’s not too hard. i’ve heard good things about the ‘magic of physics’ first year course too. it’s on the small size for a lecture, and supposedly a breeze if you took high school physics, which i dunno if you did.

    it may be useful for you to know that you can’t cr/ncr any of those small first year seminars, because they’re considered ‘too easy’ for that. i didn’t really realize that before going into mine, but luckily it turned out fine.

    sorry for the novel. i have fun writing these and get a bit carried away sometimes, but i do hope my unnecessary levels of detail are helpful at some level. as always, keep in mind that anything i put forward here is just my personal experience and someone else’s take could be totally different.

    hope your first year is fantastic and you crush that breadth five req!

    over n out,

    aska

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  • economics

    would make a pun but i don’t know enough econ

    May 21, 2019

    Hi! First of all before I ask my question, thank you for being super informative in answering the questions in a personal and friendly manner. It has helped so much since I start my first year soon! Okay, so I would love to take some economic courses but on the website it says the prerequisite is high school calculus. I only took advanced functions and an economics course so far, do I have to take calculus to enrol? Thank you and have a lovely day!!!

    ——————————————

    hi there,

    no worries at all– it’s what i’m here for, but i really appreciate your appreciation. writing an anonymous blog can feel a bit like shouting into the void, so it’s always good to hear that the stuff i’m putting out is useful!

    i’m not entirely sure which website you’re referencing, because u of t being u of t there are a ton of places you could be getting your info. regardless, i’m pretty sure what you’re seeing is the program prerequisite, and not the prerequisite for courses specifically.  as far as i can tell, you don’t actually need high school calc to enrol in first-year econ courses. the artsci calendar lists secondary school calc/advanced functions as recommended preparation for ECO100, key word being recommended.

    ECO100 is quite tough from what i’ve heard, so i would be cautious going into it with absolutely no calculus background. but i guess the point is if you wanted to you could. and if you take ECO105, the intro course for non-specialists, nothing is mentioned with regards to recommended preparation. if you’re not planning to be an econ major, i’d recommend you give this one a try. while i’ve never taken the course myself, i have several friends who say it’s pretty easy to do well as long as you put the work in. meanwhile, i have one or two humanities friends that took 100 to prove to themselves they could do it, and…  kind of just regret it now. there is a strong argument, though, for taking 100: if you’ll be doing higher-level econ later on, it’ll prepare you better for that more advanced study. your call, you know yourself best.

    if you do want to be registered in the econ major later on (you’ll choose your programs of study at the end of first year) i would look into getting that high school calculus credit. perhaps from an online course provider, as long as you can make sure you get credit. you’ll need it for admission into the program– i believe even if it’s a high school prereq, it will be enforced. so just keep that in mind.

    hope this helped! welcome to u of t and best of luck with your first year.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • probation,  summer

    a tomorrow problem

    May 21, 2019

    im in a stressful place right now – im on academic probation, but im already enrolled in summer school with osap already given. the 2 0.5 courses im taking interest me a lot and im sure i can do well in them, but there’s still a voice in the back of my head that gets me really nervous about my academic standing come the end of my term. do u think its possible to pass and secure at least a 1.7 gpa in the 1st summer term, given my terrible academic standing last year? ????

    ——————————————

    hey friend,

    it’s hard to know too much about your situation. but from what i can guess from the numbers, you’re trying to dodge suspension, yeah? or at least that’s usually what it is when someone on probation is concerned with making a summer GPA of 1.7.

    if the courses interest you and you’re optimistic about doing well, then by all means i think a 1.7 is possible. it’s hard to really tell because i don’t know what your academic record’s been like, nor do i know if there are non-academic factors you think will heap extra struggle on your studies. but at least it’s just the one summer term you’ve got to worry about for now. since the school’s not requiring you to pull your entire CGPA up to stay registered at the school (which would be much harder), it may be healthier to shelve your past grades for the moment.

    i don’t blame you for being nervous. it’s only natural to feel overwhelmed when you’re contending with a whole academic record looming over you. but ultimately, all you have control over right now is how well you do in these two classes. i’d encourage you to focus on just that, then. you don’t have control over your gpa so much as you have control over how smart/hard you study, and how well you keep up. you feel? remember that it’s also okay to ask for help– in fact, you should. clarification from profs/TAs on assignments can actually make quite a big difference with how well you do.

    i know the summer term’s been on for a few weeks now, but if you think it might help, i’d recommend that you contact your registrar or student life and see if you can get an appointment with a learning strategist. especially if you’ve been struggling for academic and not personal reasons, this might help you out. they’ll be able to walk you through smarter study strategies, give you exam prep tips, and sling you pointers on writing and presenting. they also help you address issues like procrastination, which tbh we all need at least bit of help with.

    as much as i’d love to (and totally could, if you want) write up a post chock-full of study tips, i always feel better knowing yall are talking to someone in person, who’s better able to familiarize themselves with your specific situation. i love the anonymous aska format, but it can make it a bit difficult to give super personalized advice, which you certainly deserve.

    thanks for waiting on this answer, and sorry for the delay in getting it up. wishing you loads and loads of good luck and strong work ethic to get you through the summer sem. i believe in you and your ability to push through and pass those courses, even if it doesn’t end up being easy. i’m here cheering for you and hoping for your success!

    over n out,

    aska

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  • course overload,  summer

    is it illegal

    May 21, 2019

    Hey got a weirdo question for future references. I know that a typical full course load for summer school is 2.0 credits spread evenly through the summer but, lets say 3 courses I want to take are being offered in the same summer session. Is it illegal to do a summer session with 1.5 credits in one (and potentially 0.5 credits in the other)? I mean, it’s kinda crazy but it’s still 2.0 credits so it’s not an overload… Right?

    ——————————————
    hello,

    not that weird of a question at all! as far as i can tell, unfortunately it would actually count as an overload. the artsci calendar indicates that the maximum course load for any given summer term is 2 courses, the same way the max you can take in fall/winter at one time is six. so if you did want to take all 3 courses at once, you’d have to request registration in an overload through your registrar.

    not much you can do about it. the system’s pretty inflexible, i guess.

    either way, i know this is just a hypothetical, but i’d encourage you to take that third course at another time if you’re able. sometimes the rules are there to protect us from ourselves. summer courses are accelerated and it gets pretty tough to juggle three of them in one sem. midterm season hits second week of summer school, i swear. i’m not a fan.

    over n out,
    aska

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  • breadth requirements

    let’s get this breadth

    May 18, 2019

    What are the breadth requirements for arts and sciences students?? The page on the school website gave me an error: not found message :/

    ——————————————

    hey there,

    yeah so it seems like the artsci website is… broken? or at least the version of it linked to nearly every single google search is chock-full of 404s. trust me, i’m not the biggest fan of this either because it makes my job as an aska harder.

    i’m sure someone at the uni is working hard on getting things back on track, though. in the meantime, i’d suggest you either do a search using the artsci search bar instead of google, because the page links you get from that shouldn’t be broken. otherwise, you may be able to find the information on other sites, and feel free to ask again if there’s anything you can’t find.

    i did manage to find a working page that outlines the breadth requirements. there are 5, which i can outline for you here since i’m answering this question anyway:

    BREADTH 1: “creative and cultural representations” — involves things like creative writing, anthropology, cinema studies, drama, and the like. the artsiest of artsci. want to study tolkien or game of thrones? talk about murder in fiction? find out what the heck a cossack is? these are the courses you’re looking for.

    BREADTH 2: “thought, belief, and behaviour”– are your parents nagging you to ‘learn a third language, jimmy, it’ll help prevent the early onset of alzheimer’s’? (maybe this is a me problem.) are you into philosophy? do debates on morality get you going? do you like to do a lot of thinking for the sake of thinking? chances are you’ll already have this breadth pat down.

    BREADTH 3: “society and its institutions”–do you self-identify as a history buff? have a burning vendetta against gender violence that you want to explore in the classroom? want to go paddling on the great lakes for credit? hell yeah you do. breadth 3 is for you.

    BREADTH 4: “living things and their environment” — is your life’s goal to cure some obscure but life-threatening disease? do you want to talk about drugs? dementia? membranes? TREES?

    BREADTH 5: “the physical and mathematical universes” — do chem labs spark joy for you? are numbers your idea of a good time?  does thinking about the human genome fill you with awe and wonder? breadth 5, my friend, is your vibe.

    –i mean, for a lot of these you don’t really have a choice. to fulfill your breadth requirements, you’ll need to take either:

    1. one full credit from four categories OR
    2. one full credit from three, and a half credit from the remaining two

    usually breadth requirements aren’t too bad, though. if your strengths lean more so to one of either humanities or the sciences, you can definitely find breadth requirement courses that won’t pose as much as a challenge for you. for example, i managed to get my breadth 5 credit with a first-year astronomy course that didn’t require me to do any math at all. i’m sure there are also humanities courses designed for the sciences. i would encourage you to get these requirements out of the way early, though, especially since the easiest breadth courses are restricted to first years (seminars and ones).

    sorry for the wait getting this answered– i’ve been out of commission for a bit but i’m back now and will try to get through the backlog of questions. big THANK to everyone waiting!

    cheers,

    aska

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  • first year

    freedom!

    May 12, 2019

    If I’m going into my first year and still pretty undecided about what I want to study, can the courses I take just be exploratory and unrelated to each other?? I’m a vague ~humanities~ person but am also really interested in environmental studies (even though I suck at math!!!! aaah!!!!) and so im worried my courses are gonna be alllll over the place before I figure out what I wanna do.

    ——————————————

    hello there,

    it’s perfectly okay to still be undecided going into first year! a lot of people go into uni with a concrete four year plan they end up ditching anyway, so i wouldn’t say your lack of direction puts you at any particular disadvantage.

    u of t’s actually pretty great place to go if you’ve got a variety of interests. i’m not sure how familiar you are with the school’s requirements, but this university (for some reason unknown to me) pretty much only hands out honors degrees. a lot of students don’t realize this heading in. that means that you won’t actually be able to take a single major at this university: you’ll need a combination of either one specialist, two majors, or a major and two minors. we call these our programs of study, or POSts. i know kids doing double majors in things as unrelated to one another as Chemistry and Peace & Conflict Studies—cross-disciplinary study is easier here, i feel, than at other universities. so by all means, you could end up majoring in environmental studies AND a humanities program.

    the only thing you’ll want to be aware of is that you’ll need prereqs to get into those POSts. so it’s not exactly an ‘explore to your heart’s delight’ situation, unfortunately. on the bright side, from what i know, humanities and social science programs generally tend to have fewer prerequisites than science programs, so this might give you more leeway.

    i don’t know what humanities programs you were looking at specifically, but i took a look at the environmental studies major for you. the one i’ve linked is the arts version of it, which interestingly enough doesn’t require anything from you as a first year. they recommend you take ENV100, but it’s by no means a requirement. doesn’t look like there are any math courses required for this major, either, so this might be a good option for you! there is an environmental science major, which does seem to be quite a bit more intensive with required first-year chem and bio. you can take a look at it if you want, just to know what your options are.

    in short– yes, you can and should explore! just be aware of what you might need to get into the programs you’re interested in. welcome in advance to u of t and all the best for your first year, my friend. hope you figure out what it is you wanna do!

    over n out,

    aska

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  • physics,  subject POST,  switching

    in with a new POSt, out with the old ones

    May 12, 2019

    hello!

    so i just finished my first year at utsg and i have applied to do a double major in equity studies and pharmacology. within the past couple of weeks i have been getting really really into physics (which is odd because i hated physics in high school). anyways im thinking that i want to switch into a biophysics specialist degree. the issue is, that i didnt take any physics or calculus during my first year and so i basically have to restart my four years. i was just wondering how i would go about switching to the physics specialist, do i just leave my current posts as they are and take the courses that i need for physics or do i have to drop my posts somehow or something else? not sure if this changes things but equity studies is a type one so ive already been accepted and pharmacology is type 3 so im still waiting to hear back on that one. (also do you have any tips on how to cope with the fact that i wasted an entire year and thousands of dollars)

    and thank you in advance for your response!

    ——————————————

    hey,

    nice job making it through first year! it’s a perfectly normal thing to see your interests shift at this point in your degree– i can definitely relate to that, although not to getting into physics.

    to get the tedious part out of the way first– how would you go about making the change? i wouldn’t drop your POSts now, no. you need to be registered in some kind of valid program combination to be eligible for second-year course selection, so if you won’t be able to get into biophysics before fall it’s best to keep what you’ve got. think about your current programs as placeholders of sorts– ignore their requirements, and focus on taking the prereqs for your biophysics spec. then, when the program enrollment period rolls around, apply for biophys.

    chances are you already know this, but if you took the prereqs for pharmacology, you may already have the chem requirement for biophys under your belt, at least for the most basic biophysics specialist. hopefully that makes things a little less overwhelming!

    all the biophysics specialists seem to be type 1, which will hopefully make things a little easier for you. if you were switching into multiple type 2 or 3 progams, i would have advised you to apply for them first THEN drop your previous programs once you got in. just to be safe. but since yours is a type 1 and you’re switching into a specialist, that makes things a lot simpler. you’ll be able to register in biophys before dropping equity and pharm, as ACORN allows you to be in a maximum of 3 POSts at once.

    how to cope with the fact that your first year didn’t ultimately feed into your POSt? we’re fed this myth that we all need to finish our degree in four years, and that absolutely everything in our studies must count or serve a purpose or lead to a job. i’m still wrestling with this myself, because i’ve internalized that expectation. but no. everyone has their own time, their own path. this just happens to be yours. maybe it sounds wishy-washy, or cheesy, or whatever. either way, there’s nothing you can do to erase your first year and do it over, so from here all you can do is keep moving forward. i can understand if you’re bummed about it. though. i guess from a financial standpoint especially, it can be difficult to move past.

    despite not knowing you personally, i’m real proud that you’ve acknowledged where your passions lie and are willing to pursue them, even if it might not be the most convenient thing to do. so much changes when your course content gets you excited. i don’t know what this past year has been like for you, but if it’s been rough then this might be what you need for study motivation.

    i know several people who totally switched their programs when first year was over, and even one who switched faculties AND universities after her second year. everyone who i’ve seen go after something new has been really successful in their current program of study, so much so that it’s hard to imagine what things would have been like had they succumbed to inertia. i think a lot of this has to do with the fact that they followed their interests, and care a lot about what they’re studying now. maybe that’s where you’ll be in a year’s time.

    wishing you all the best, friend! i think you’re brave.

    over n out,

    aska

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