askastudent - your student life specialists

first year, seminars

seminars, first year, exams, oh my!

October 24, 2018

Hey!

I am currently enrolled in VIC108H1 it is a VIC first-year course. I am enrolled in VIC110H1 in the winter term, I am also enrolled in a first-year seminar course (CCR199H1) in the winter term. I just wanted to make sure I am allowed to take these courses. I read somewhere that said you have a limit. Hopefully, you guys answer before the winter term! also, when is the December exam schedule coming out? Will it be emailed to everyone?

Thank you so much!

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hi!

surprise, a relatively quick response!

according to this link about the first year seminars, you can take both first-year seminars and vic one hundred courses, but you can only take up to one full credit (1 FCE) of either. since each of the courses you’ve listed above is worth 0.5 FCE, you’re currently in a total of 1.5 FCE. this means that you need to drop one of the seminars you’re enrolled in for the winter term so that you are only in 1 FCE total.

the december exam schedule is usually posted online on the faculty of arts and sciences’ website. i’m not totally sure when it’s posted, but it’s usually around sometime soon-ish? don’t quote me on that.

don’t worry about missing it, though. profs will usually highlight in class when and where the exam is, if there is one. if your prof doesn’t bring it up, i’m sure SOMEONE on facebook or whatever will share the link. people always freak the eff out when the exam schedule is posted.

hope that helps, good luck!

xoxo,

aska

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admissions, life science, math

you gotta math no matter what

October 15, 2018

Hello!
I am currently a high school student in grade 12 and considering Nursing at UofT. I’ve noticed one of the prerequisites for nursing is life sciences. And to take life sciences, I need to have advanced functions and/or calculus and vectors. The thing is, I was a little late in realizing this and I am taking data management (MDM4U) this year only because I took college math in grade 11 and therefore don’t have the requirements to take advanced fuctions/calculus (MHF4U/MCV4U respectively) in grade 12.
Do you know if UofT makes any exceptions to these situations? Would I be able to take some sort of introductory course or something during first-year? I am open to options!

I’ve searched the internet high and low for answers but it seems like I’m the only one with this problem 🙁

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hi!

whoa! a grade 12 student thinking about their POST GRAD ambitious? damn, i’m in third year and i barely know what i’m doing with my undergrad. but good on ya.

let’s not get ahead of ourselves, though. i’m only going to address the whole getting into life sciences thing in my response.

so, unfortunately, if you don’t have grade 12 calculus and vectors, you will not be admitted into the life sciences stream. you can check out this link to see the specific grade and course requirements for each admission stream.

something that you could possibly, maybe, potentially do is to apply for u of t under a different admission stream, like humanities or social sciences, that only requires grade 12 english. the admission categories (life science, humanities, etc.) are only really important in first year (you actually declare your majors/minors/specialist after first year) and you can take courses outside of your admission stream (ie. a humanities student could take life sci courses).

i don’t know if this is necessarily the best option, though. basically, students who are in a certain admission category get first dibs (or priority) on courses that are associated with that category. so, life science students would get first dibs on life science courses. this means that even if you wanted to take those courses, you might not get into them because you wouldn’t have first dibs as a non-life science student. also, most life science programs require some sort of first year math course and the prerequisite for those first year calculus courses is… high school calculus.

unfortunately… you’re gonna have to do grade 12 calculus at some point some how if you wanna do life sci here. i’m sorry, i wish i could’ve told you otherwise, but we here at askastudent are committed to the truth.

good luck.

xoxo,

aska

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courses, fees, Flat Fees, part-time

how much time is full time?

October 12, 2018

I go to the st george campus. Currently I’m only registered in two F courses, two S courses, and two Y courses. Acorn says my course load is 2.0 a semester. I was wonder what the minimum full time student course load is? I can only seem to find the maximum limit. If I drop one of my year long courses, will i still be a full time student?

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hi!

the maximum course for the F or S sessions is 3.0 each (which means you’d be in a total of 6 FCEs the whole year).

there isn’t really, technically a minimal amount of courses. you could take just 0.5 FCE and still be a student. the minimum course load to still be a full time student, however, is 3.0 FCE. it’s a little tricky to find (information at u of t isn’t super accessible, unfortunately). you can take a look at this fees schedule (scroll down to the third page) and you can see that part time status begins at 2.5FCE and full time status begins at 3.0FCE during the fall/winter session.

so, if you dropped a Y course, you would still be considered a full time student because you’d have (if i’m doing the math correctly) 3.0FCE left.

something that you should be aware of though, and you can see it from that fees chart, is that if you’re enrolled in 3.5 FCE or less, you are eligible to be charged per course.

what does that mean?

basically, everyone is charged a flat program fee at the beginning of the year. but if you’re taking less courses, you can be charged for every individual course you take separately. basically… cheaper tuition yay!

to switch from program fees to per course fees, go to this link, sign in with your utorid, and follow the instructions. if, for whatever reason, you can’t do it online, get in touch with your registrar’s office and they should be able to do it for you.

good luck!

xoxo,

aska

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profs

no guarantees

September 24, 2018

Odds of prof letting me skip assignments and tests for an out of country wedding? How would I ask the prof lol

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hi!

that’s something that you’d have to talk to the prof directly about. it’s totally at the discretion of the prof, so i can’t really say whether or not they’d let you “skip.”

i suggest that you bring it up to your prof as early as possible (IN PERSON) and see if you can work out an agreement. there are no guarantees, especially if you want to fully skip assignments, but they may be able to work out some sort of accommodation for you, like extensions for assignments. i just wanna stress again, that it’s totally up to the prof and that there are no guarantees either way. hopefully, your prof(s) will be nice and accommodating.

i hope this helps! good luck with your prof.

xoxo,

aska

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OSAP

we’re all confused together

September 24, 2018

if I pay my minimum fee myself because osap hasn’t processed yet, will they reimburse me? hasn’t osap policy changed so it goes directly to the school? I can manage to scrounge up enough to pay the minimum fee but I’m scared they wont reimburse me

——————————————

hi!

first, let me apologize for how late this response is. i’m not sure if this will still be relevant to you since the minimum fee deadline has passed, but i’ll answer anyways for future reference.

you’re right; OSAP will now go to u of t directly and be applied to whatever outstanding fees that you have for that specific term. whatever is left over after it’s paid u of t will be sent to the bank account that OSAP has on file. so, you should be reimbursed if you paid your fall fees out of pocket.

according to enrollment services’ OSAP FAQ page, they will only “use the account balance for fall 2018 to calculate the amount of OSAP to send to u of t in september.” if you’ve “already paid your fall tuition and fees before your OSAP is received, your OSAP would not be redirected” to u of t. the info is pretty hard to find and their wording is really really confusing, so i don’t blame any confusion you may have. to be honest, it took me multiple read-throughs to get what they were saying. (to the tune of that high school musical song: we’re all confused together!)

if you have any other OSAP related questions or if you’re still confused about what i laid out above, you should get in contact with enrollment services.

i hope this helps, and sorry again for the delay!

xoxo,

aska

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quercus

que-what-cus?

September 21, 2018

why does uoft call canvas quercus?

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hi!

good question. aside from being super difficult to pronounce (so far this semester, i’ve heard profs say “quirk-us”, “quick-us”, “queue-kiss”, and MORE!), the name means seemingly nothing. unlike good ol’ easy to pronounce and meaningful blackboard/ portal (RIP).

anyways, according to this nifty video from the academic toolbox renewal website, quercus is pronounced “kwhere-kus” and it is the latin word for the oak tree. and as we know, u of t is really into oak tress; it’s on our crest and our student web services is named after a crucial part of the oak tree (ACORN). i guess renaming the academic toolbox something that is oak tree is just the natural progression of the brand?

hope this enlightens you!

xoxo,

aska

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programs

POSt to play

September 19, 2018

Do you have to choose a program second year or can I still be undeclared

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hi!

once you complete 4.0FCE, you must choose a program of study. in general, this happens at the end of your first year. if you don’t enrol in a valid POSt combo (ie. a specialist, two majors, or a major and two minors) after finishing 4.0FCE, ACORN won’t let you add courses. which is a big time uh-oh.

if you finish 4.0 credits, but you haven’t completed the requirements for your desired POSt, you can add yourself into a placeholder type 1 (the kind with no application or specific course requirements) program. as i mentioned before, if you’re not in a valid POSt combo you won’t be able to add courses. by adding yourself into the placeholder POSt, you’ll be able to add courses on ACORN, avoiding the big uh-oh.

now you may be thinking “but aska, now that i’m in this fake POSt, do i have to take courses in that POSt?” no you don’t! adding the fake POSt just ensures that you can add courses. basically, you can take the courses you ACTUALLY want, finish the requirements for the POSt you ACTUALLY want, then drop the fake POSt after. no harm, no foul.

i hope this all makes sense, it can be a little hard to follow.

xoxo,

aska

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email, odds are that won't be asked again

askanI.T.

September 17, 2018

Hellooo, how do I add my utoronto email to Apple’s Mail app? I read the FAQ on the u of t library site but I can’t find my configuration number.

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hi!

do i look like I.T. to you? yes, i literally live in front of my computer and yes, i do seem like an omnipotent all-knowing/ all-seeing tech god, but i am NOT I.T.! sorry for getting so heated, maybe it’s that #millenial thing of being treated as tech support by my older family members that has made me bitter towards anyone who asks for tech help from me. but i shouldn’t have taken it out on you, and i apologize for that.

SO! you wanna put your utoronto email onto your phone. that’s a good idea, tbh, so you won’t miss any announcements from profs or u of t in general.

i’m not sure what FAQ you were looking at, but this page that i found from the info commons help desk provides a step-by-step guide to adding the u of t email service to your ios device– without the “configuration number” whatever that is. that should work, but i know that the u of t email service sometimes just…. doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do. if it doesn’t work, you could talk to the people at the info commons help desk. they’re located on the first floor of robarts library.

another thing that you could do, though this wouldn’t get your utoronto email to the mail app, is to download the outlook app. since the utoronto email is run through microsoft outlook, you could sign in through outlook directly. i personally don’t do this (i have my utoronto email linked to the mail app), but it’s definitely a possibility. i know a lot of people who do this because they find apple’s mail app ugly or less intuitive or whatever. it’s all about your preference.

i hope this helps. good luck!

xoxo,

aska

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breadth requirements, first year

a breadth of breadth courses

September 14, 2018
Hi,
I’m a first year student and having a hard time choosing a simple Breadth requirement course that doesn’t involved Math under the 4-5 category. I’m worried if I don’t do it during my 1st year it will be too hard 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year…
Any suggestions would be really appreciated!

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hi!

ah, the time-honoured tradition of avoiding math. i know it well.

a great way to look for courses is the faculty of arts and sciences’ timetable. you can click on “advanced search” and look up courses based on which breadth requirement they fulfill. you can also see other course information such as when and where the course is held, any enrollment blocks that may be on the course (priorities, exclusions, etc), how many people are in the course or on the waitlist, and who teaches the course. since you’re looking for courses to fulfill breadth 4 and 5, you could filter your search by that and look through the courses and see if there’s anything that interests you.

you mention that you’re worried about doing breadth in the upper years. though it’s true that a lot of students fulfill their breadth requirements in the first year, it won’t be “too hard” to do it later on. first year is transitional, and the transition can be difficult. if something in the sciences is super out of your comfort zone, there’s no harm in waiting until you’re more comfortable with university life to do breadth.

and since you asked for suggestions… here is my PERSONAL (and i greatly emphasize, PERSONAL), suggestions for breadth courses that look interesting that still have space:
- PHY100- the magic of physics (breadth 5)
this is a survey course designed for non-scientists and assumes that students have no background in math or science at all, so this sounds perfect for what you’re trying to do. the course outline also mentions that the course explores popular scientific topics, so it might be stuff that you’ve heard of before. also, the course title itself sounds pretty dope.
- AST101- the sun and its neighbours and AST201- stars and galaxies (breadth 5)
these are astronomy classes designed for students with no background in science. they explore “our place in the universe.” i feel like everyone i know has taken these before for breadth; it’s super popular. i mean, tons of people take it and they manage to fill con hall every semester so… it’s gotta be aight, right? plus, space is pretty cool.
- GGR101- ancient civilizations and their environments (breadth 4)
a course about ancient civilizations and how they responded to where they lived. if you’re a history buff or want to learn about the truly stark environmental crisis we are currently in (compared to the environmental changes that the ancients experiences)… then this is the course for you!
- PCL102- the art of drug discovery (breadth 4)
the title is a tad misleading, and i promise you (and your concerned parents) that this isn’t a class about narcotics. this is a class about pharmacology and the creation of pharmaceutical drugs. it looks like it could be super interesting, especially if you’re interested in the health sector or how pharmaceuticals are made but not necessarily the SCIENCE and CHEMISTRY behind it.

breadth can be really daunting, i know that the thought of having to take a university-level course outside of my comfort zone terrified me– in fact, i didn’t do breadth until my second year.

that being said. i hope this helps!

xoxo,

aska

PS- don’t forget that the last day to add F or Y courses are september 19th!
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english, first year, programs, sociology, UTAPS

good luck, young one

September 10, 2018

Hello!!

I am a first year student. I plan on majoring in English and Sociology. I have a couple of questions:

What is Type 1,2,3 program? From what I understand type 1 program does not have any requirements. And does English and Sociology fall under any of those programs?

If English and sociology does fall under type 1 program that means that I do not have to worry about anything hopefully.

Can I enrol in my english or sociology major now or in second year?

Also how fast can i graduate? I am currently enrolled in 5 course. I plan on taking however much courses I am allowed in the summer.

Lastly, one of my friend told me about UTAPS. I will be receiving OSAP this year. Will i be eligible for UTAPS. And (if so, i hope so) when will I know if i am getting UTAPS?

Thank you

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hello eager first year!!!

since your question is in multiple parts, i will be answering in multiple parts.

1. program types

the program type basically indicates what the entry requirements are for that specific program. type 1 programs have no special requirements. type 2 programs require specific courses and/or grades in those courses and type 2L programs are programs with a limited amount of spots. type 3 programs require specific courses and have a limited number of spaces. some type 3 programs might require additional information (an application, an interview, etc). check out this link for more info.

according to the program listings, english is a type 1 program and sociology is a type 2L program.

2. enrolling in the majors

you don’t need to enrol in a POSt (program of study) until you’ve earned at least 4.0FCE (full credit equivalents). this is usually at the end of your first year.

for english, you will just need to add the program during the program enrollment dates and you will automatically be added to the major–easy peasy lemon squeezy.

for sociology, you will need to have a minimum of 65% in SOC101Y or an average of 65% in a combination of SOC102 + SOC103, SOC102+SOC150, SOC103+150, or SOC100+150. once you’ve completed that requirement, you will request the program on ACORN during the request period, and then wait for the response. if you are accepted, you will see an “invitation” to the program that you will need to accept to be officially in the major. keep in mind that because sociology is a 2L program, it means that just meeting the minimum requirement may not get you into the program.

check out this link for more detailed information about enrolling in programs.

3. how fast can you graduate

if you take 5.0FCE every year, you should graduate in 4 years (5 FCE x 4 years= the 20 FCE needed to graduate). if you take the maximum number of summer courses (2.0FCE) every year, you could graduate a little earlier (ie. if you were supposed to graduate june 2022, you can graduate november 2021). basically, that would look like this:

5FCE (fall/winter 2018-19) + 2FCE (summer 2019)

+ 5FCE (fall/winter 2019-20) + 2FCE (summer 2020)

+ 5FCE (fall/winter 2020-21) + 1FCE (summer 2021)

= 20 FCE needed to graduate for november 2021.

keep in mind, however, that summer courses move super super quickly and it isn’t a really good idea to take the max amount of summer courses– especially since you’ll be coming straight from a full year’s worth of school. personally, i can’t fathom the idea of three years straight of school– i need my downtime!

another option that you could look into is taking 6.0FCE (the absolute maximum amount of credits) per year. again, keep in mind that u of t courses are super intense and a lot of students actually take less than 5.0 because of how heavy the workload can be. it might be a good idea to see how first year goes and then decide if you wanna take a heavier course load (either in the summer or in the year after).

4. UTAPS

if you’re receiving OSAP, you will be automatically assessed for UTAPS. you can use their online estimator to see if you’re eligible and how much you could potentially receive.

according to the financial aid website, UTAPS is first applied to your balance on ACORN and any extra is sent to your bank account. it doesn’t say when you will receive the UTAPS if you are eligible.

i would get in touch with enrolment services, the financial aid office on campus, for more information.

phew, that’s a TON of information.

i hope this helps! good luck, young one.

xoxo,

aska

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fees, OSAP

yikes, fam

September 7, 2018

I haven’t been able to deffer my fee because I still have to deal with osap stuff so how long do I have.. are they gonna kick me out for not deferring the fee slash paying the minimum amount?

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hi!

yikes, fam. it’s getting a little late in the game to have not paid/ deferred your fees.

though the deadline to pay or defer was august 29th, there is a 10 day grace period before you will be deregistered (meaning you will be “financially cancelled” and removed from your classes). this means that while you are a little late, not all hope is lost.

there are basically two options:

1. make a payment.

you can make a payment ASAP and present proof of payment (bank receipt, screenshot of the confirmation page that comes up when you use online banking, etc) to your registrar’s office. once you show them proof of payment, they should be able to manually register you (meaning your status on acorn will go from “invited” to “registered”).

2. defer your fees.

if your OSAP application has been processed, you can show proof that you will be receiving OSAP to your registrar’s office (this usually means showing them a screenshot of your OSAP dashboard and funding estimate). they can manually defer your fees and register you there.

if you don’t do this in time, you’ll have to visit your registrar’s office to be re-registered, pay a fee, and be put back into classes. the scary thing is that there’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to be in all the classes you were in before if you lose your place.

to avoid that, pay or defer ASAP!!!!!

hope this helps!

xoxo,

aska

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geography, online courses, Uncategorized

~*~online learning~*~

August 29, 2018

hello! are online lectures live or can i watch the videos any time? I’m enrolled in ggr107 and the online lecture starts right after my new job shift ends. i’m hoping the online lectures can be watched at any time so i don’t have to change my shift at work!

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hi!

in my own personal experience, online courses that i’ve taken have been recorded and uploaded online. that’s just in my experience, though, and the way that courses are run may differ between faculties, departments, or even individual profs. i suggest that you get in contact with the prof that’s teaching the course. that’s probably the safest bet!

YAY! learning! yay! back to school! YAY!

hope this helps, good luck!

xoxo,

aska

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grad school, math, non degree

brave potential grad student

August 23, 2018

Hi Aska!

I’m currently getting a computer science bachelors with a math minor from another Canadian university, and I want to apply for a masters in mathematics at uoft. I think my GPA is high enough but I’m not sure I have an “appropriate bachelors degree” and haven’t made connections with any of my math professors for letters of reference.

So I changed my plan to:
– apply as a non-degree student
– take a year to do a bunch of math courses
– get letters of reference from them
– apply for masters
– ???
– profit

I’ve also emailed the graduate unit to ask for application requirements, so I thought as long as I could get the specifics cleared, ie. what courses do I need to take to prove I can do a masters in math as a computer science undergrad? things would go smoothly. However, I was looking at this and it says that full-time non-degree special students need at least two letters of reference. Are non-degree special students the same thing as non-degree students? Does this mean I need reference letters to apply as a non-degree student? Am I basically screwed because I need letters of reference to get my letters of reference? If yes, do you know of any alternatives? I don’t want to do another bachelors but I’m not really sure how I can get in otherwise.

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hi!

when i got your email i was immediately delighted. i. LOVE. plans! alrighty, lets get down to business (to get you into a math masters at u of t) (which sounds absolutely terrifying you brave brave soul math sucks)

according to the math department’s graduate program’s minimum admission requirements (which i think you’ve already taken a look at, but i’m just gonna regurgitate some info for you here), applicants must hold an “appropriate bachelor’s degree” with a final year average of at least a B-average, at least three reference letters, a letter of intent, and a CV.

as you mentioned, you aren’t sure if you have an “appropriate bachelor’s degree” nor do you think you have anyone who you could put down as a reference. in that case, applying to u of t as a non-degree student first in order to get some math credits under your belt/ meeting some profs for reference letters may be a good idea. the link that you had sent me is actually the info for applying as a non degree GRADUATE student, but if you wanted to just take some math courses in order to get into a masters program, you’d actually want to apply as a non-degree undergrad. you can check this link out for the application process, just scroll down to “non-degree applicants.” totally understand the confusion though, since you ultimately wanna be a grad student here.

i also took a closer look at the master’s admission requirements. they list some informal “suggested prerequisites” in this pdf. while they do list u of t courses, they also say that “there is no fixed or rigid list of prerequisites” and they describe concepts and topics that you should be familiar with, rather than strict course equivalents. take a look through their suggested prereqs and see how many of the topics/ concepts that you have covered with your math minor. maybe you already have all the requirements fulfilled. it would probably be a good idea to get in contact with the math department directly for more information.

so basically, tldr; you should look into applying as a non-degree undergrad student and look into the informal prereqs the math department has. then, decide your next move, whether that be coming as a non-degree student or applying for the grad program directly. it’s up to you!

i hope this helps!

xoxo,

aska

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