askastudent - your student life specialists

dropping courses, summer

not too cool for summer school

October 12, 2017

hello! i am currently taking 6 courses and am enrolled in 6 courses next term. however, my stress level is slowly (but surely) increasing. im thinking about taking 2 courses in summer school. how/where do i found out if my courses will be available in the summer? id like to know if they are offered in the summer before dropping out of the courses. thank u

——————————————

hello!

6 courses is an awful lot! if your stress levels are rising and you’re finding it difficult to keep up with 6 courses, it may be a good idea to drop one. i’m always an advocate for dropping things and making more time for yourself, your mental health, a hobby, and/or a job.

unfortunately, the summer timetable isn’t released until mid-march, so i’m not 100% sure what courses they’re offering in summer 2018. however, you could check the timetable from the 2017 summer session. though there’s no guarantee that the courses will be the same, usually departments offer similar courses year to year.

i’m sorry for this really slow response, i don’t know how relevant this answer will be now, but you have until november 6th to drop a F session course. so you’ve still got a little bit of time to think about it!

i hope this helps. good luck!

xoxo,

aska

Read More

aska No Comments
registration

get cancelled

October 6, 2017

If I’m taking a year off do I have to inform the school?

——————————————

hi!

no, you don’t need to inform the school. don’t pay any fees or enrol in any courses, and just let yourself become financially cancelled.

when you want to return to the school, go to your registrar’s office and ask to be re-registered. you’ll have to pay a fee, but then you’ll be re-registered and able to continue where you left off.

hope this was helpful!

peace and love,

aska

Read More

aska No Comments
probation

academic standing: it’s complicated

October 6, 2017

Hi, so if you’re off probation do they send you an email telling you that? I was recently placed on probation at the end of April. I took summer school and raised my CGPA to 1.58 (I go to UTM). I haven’t received any email telling me I’m in good standing now. Also, I CR/NCR a course during the summer that I got a NCR for. But my other two marks that were assessed made my CGPA a 1.58. Am I considered to be in good standing now? Also note, my CGPA in April was 1.47, and my SGPA for summer is 2.15.

——————————————

hi!

they will contact your college/ faculty if there is a change in your academic standing, who should then inform you of that change. if you haven’t been informed of a change to your academic standing (ie. you haven’t heard from your registrar that you are no longer on probation), then that means there hasn’t been a change to your standing (ie. you are still on probation).

if there’s any confusion at all, talk to your registrar! though i, as askastudent dot utoronto dot ca, know quite a lot, i am (unfortunately) not all-seeing. your registrar’s office, however, are able to see much further than i can. i’m a baller but it doesn’t mean i’m not humble.

i suggest that you make an appointment with your registrar’s office who’ll be able to look into your academic standing and provide you with more information. you can also look at this link that details what being “on probation” really means.

hope this helps!

xoxo,

aska

Read More

aska No Comments
time management, work-study

you know yourself best

October 5, 2017

Hi,
Currently, I am a 4th year neuroscience student at U of T. I have recently got a work-study job at a psychology lab. Then another opportunity came up and I could be a volunteer research assistant for another psychology lab. I have read some posts from searching on Google and most posts suggested that undergrad student shouldn’t do this because it would tired me out. Some post even suggested that researching with two different profs from the same faculty might not look the best. I am only doing 3 course for this semester (so I am not that busy) and I was wondering if I could get some advice on this matter.

Thank you!

——————————————

hi!

i can’t really say whether or not you’d be able to balance 2 work-study positions/ lab positions and 3 courses as i don’t know you. my suggestion is to really think about how you work, whether or not you can commit to managing your time efficiently, and if if will take a toll on your grades, mental health, or physical health. i would also discuss these concerns with the profs that you would be working with and see if they would help you to balance your time between the two labs and school.

i don’t really know about working with two different profs from the same faculty not looking great. i don’t know if it would really matter, but then again, i’m not a prof or someone looking at your transcript for grad school or whatever. if it’s something that you’re really worried about, i would bring it up with the profs who you’d be working with. they would have more insight onto how student placements in labs work as well as grad school applications.

i really hope this helps and i’m sorry for such a slow response.

peace and love,

aska

Read More

aska 3 Comments
fees

fees are so scary

September 22, 2017

Hello,

I still haven’t received the money I need to pay and the deadlines tomorrow what can I do to stay in my courses??

Thanks

——————————————

hi!

wow, this is nearly a month late. i’m so sorry for this extremely delayed response.

hopefully you have deferred your fees, but judging from the nature of your question, you probably have not.

in that case, defer your fees online! if you are receiving OSAP, you should be able to automatically defer your fees through ACORN.

if that doesn’t work, please go into your registrar’s office. this goes for any deadline that you think you might be in danger of missing: GO SEE YOUR REGISTRAR!!! they are honestly magic-makers and can help you out even in the most dire of circumstances. trust me.

again, i’m so sorry for such a late answer. i really hope that this helps out, even though the deadline has long passed (so, so sorry. i really hope that you didn’t get kicked out of your courses).

xoxo,

aska

Read More

aska No Comments
failing, probation

keep holding on

September 22, 2017

Hey

As I 3rd year international student and heading to the last year of my uni life, I just found out I failed a course during the summer. It was a course for my program but it’s not a required course. This is really breaking me down because it drags my CGPA down and below 1.5. I used to be on probation before but I studied hard and pull my CGPA back to normal and safe line, now I have to face a fact that I would be on probation again when I am in the fourth year, is it going to suspend me directly? Is there any possibilities that I could make up this test to let it pass (the pass grade is 50 and I am 48), can I talk to the professor and see if he can curve? Or can I talk with the registrar office and see I could late withdraw this course? I knew the possibilities of these might be very very small but if there is anything I could to let it pass or erase this course history, I would sacrifice my life for it.

Thanks

——————————————

hi!

first, let me apologize for my extremely late response. i’ve been super swamped lately with the start of classes. i know that isn’t a good excuse and it’s pretty sh*tty of me to have put this off for so long, so i hope that you will forgive me and that this response isn’t TOO too late.

so, you shouldn’t be put on suspension; you’ll just be put on probation again. which sucks, i know, but you got out of it once, you can do it again! you should look at this link that gives has a lot of information on probation and advice. i also highly recommend visiting the academic success centre. they’re a criminally underused service here at u of t. you can make appointments with mentors, learning strategists, people who work at writing centres, and a whole bunch of other folks who are there to help out. it’s a really great way to learn about how you learn which should, in turn, help you learn better and get better marks. they have walk-in times as well as appointments that you can make. it’s pretty dope.

as for your mark– unfortunately, if that mark has already gone through and you have the final mark for the course, it’s too late to get rid of it. the LWD date has also passed. i’m really sorry about that.

if you need anymore advice at all, especially concerning probation, i also suggest making an appointment with your registrar’s office.

i hope this helps. again, i’m so sorry for my late response. i know that you’ll be able to get yourself out of this pickle. i’m rooting for you.

peace and love,

aska

Read More

aska No Comments
Portal

blackboard/ portal/ whatever people usually call it

September 22, 2017

i was waitlisted for a course but now i am enrolled in the course (yay). its been a week and the course hasn’t shown up on portal 🙁

——————————————

hi!

yay! congrats on getting off the waitlist.

as for when courses are added on to blackboard, that is an impenetrable mystery that literally no one has the answer for. if it’s been a while (and since it’s been a while since you’ve sent in this question, so… yeah it’s been a while) and you’re still not in the course on blackboard, then i would bring it up with the prof. hopefully by now, three weeks into the school year, you’re on the blackboard site.

also remember that some profs don’t use blackboard. if you have one of these profs, then there is nothing to worry about! there isn’t even a portal group that you can be left out of!

i hope this helps!

xoxo,

aska

Read More

aska No Comments
OSAP

uh oh osap!

September 21, 2017

If I earn $1000 to $1200 each month how will that affect my osap? Right now I’m eligible for free tuition.

——————————————

hi!

unfortunately, this is a question outside of aska’s (in)finite wisdom. OSAP is a scary, scary beast and no one is quite sure how it works. i suggest that you talk to the people at enrollment services, who are the OSAP experts on campus. they would be able to most accurately estimate how much OSAP you could get as well as answer any other questions you may have.

i hope this helps!

xoxo,

aska

Read More

aska No Comments
library

get readin’!

September 15, 2017

how do course reserved books work? my instructor said the course textbook is reserved for short term loan at new college library.

——————————————

hi!

books that are on the course reserve mean that they are reserved (duh) at the library for people in your class. this means that you can go into the library and take out that specific book for a specific amount of time. sometimes, profs will specify that you can’t take the book out, but you can look at it in the library.

to access these books, you go to the course reserves search tool, find the book’s call number, bring the book to the short loan/ course reserves area of the library, and find the book! now you can use it for your class.

check out this link to learn more about course reserves.

hope this helps!

peace and love,

aska

Read More

aska No Comments
suspension

suck-spension

September 15, 2017

I’ll be honest, I have not tried my best nor have I attended all my classes resulting in a below 1.0 CGPA. I have failed four courses in total and I just dont know how I am going to pull up my GPA to not result in a suspension once again. I know that if I’m on probation, I can get off it if I have a 1.7 GPA; but does that even apply to a suspension? And if I want to get off suspension I need to get a CGPA of 1.5 but I’ll need 100s in at least 6 full year courses which is impossible! SOS please

——————————————

hi!

let me first apologize for the delayed answer. this is a really tricky situation and i’m sure that waiting for my slow af reply doesn’t make things easier.

from what i understand, you are currently on suspension and you are trying to come back from it. suspension basically means that you have to spend one calendar year away from school and when you return from that, you will be on probation. at that point, you will need to get a CGPA of 1.50. you can check out this flow chart which explains the various steps and academic standings as well as what they mean.

i would consider really using the year off for some much-needed “me time”. school can really suck. when you’re trying to balance school, a personal life, a job, and any other combination of things, self-care becomes something that is completely forgotten about. take the year off to take care of yourself. you deserve it, and when you come back to school, you’ll feel much happier and more excited to be going to school.

i would also check out the academic success centre; they’re really an untapped resource here at u of t. you can set up appointments with learning strategists who’ll help you figure out how you can get more out of classes and therefore, get better grades.

talk to your registrar. they’re amazing and can go through your options with you. even if it looks hopeless to you right now, i’m sure they would have some ideas of what you could do with your year off as well as how to help you out. they’re honestly like miracle workers.

this is a really really sucky situation, but i’m so sure you will get through this. in your message, you admit that you may not have tried your hardest in the past. that recognition, to me, shows your self-awareness and willingness to learn from your past mistakes, things that’ll help you get back on your feet after your suspension. take it one step at a time, take a deep breath, and do the best that you can.

again, i’m so sorry for taking forever to answer this. i really hope that this helps out. good luck. i’m rooting for you.

peace and love,

aska

Read More

aska No Comments
Uncategorized

lemme into that sweet 200!

September 11, 2017

Hey! How are you doing?

tbh I’m kinda stressing about choosing classes even though it’s supposed to
be done by now lmao

so I’m starting first year and I’m taking PSY100 in the fall semester but
I’m trying to change a class for the winter semester and I’m looking at
second year psych courses, some of which are still open.. so my question is
can I enrol in one of them for the winter semester even though I
haven’t technically passed/gotten the credit for PSY100 which is a preq, or
do I need to/should I wait until I actually pass the class??

I really want to get into psychology for my second year and hope that
taking a second year course in psych would help? But I’m also taking calc,
bio and chem too, so idk if taking the second year course would be worth
it/too stressful

Thanks!!

——————————————

hi!

firstly, let me take this chance to say that i am so so sorry that this answer is so late. we’ve been pretty busy at aska HQ lately, what with classes and orientation week and losing a beloved member of the aska team. but we’re back, baby!

unfortunately, ACORN will kick you out of a course if you don’t have the prereqs for it. it might take a few days, but they do catch up and kick people out. trust me, i got kicked out of a dope class in second year, too.

i really hope this helps and i’m sorry that it took so long. i promise that we are back on track!

xoxo,

aska

Read More

aska No Comments
human biology

battle of the sciences

August 30, 2017

I need to know what the neurosci major is all about. I’ve emailed so many
people but no one is replying. Is it hard? Will it kill my GPA? I’m super
interested in the topics but I ain’t gonna sacrifice my medical career for
it. Is a general human bio major easier? I mean it says that it doesn’t
need stats so I’m in shock.. I’m going into my second year so I’m praying
for the best! Thanks xx

——————————————

hi!

to look into what a program is “all about”, you can look it up on the faculty’s calendar. here, there is a short description of the program as well as all the courses that are required for it. by looking at the courses, you can gauge how much you’d enjoy being in the program as well as how well you think you would do. unfortunately, i don’t know how “hard” the major is or if it’ll kill your GPA. all i can say is that if you genuinely enjoy the program and the content of the courses, you won’t find it “hard”.

for the difference between human bio and neuroscience, i would get in contact with the department. they would have the most relevant and up-to-date information.

good luck!

xoxo,

aska

Read More

aska 1 Comment
random

appsastudent

August 21, 2017

Does uoft have a student life app? Any other apps I should download?

——————————————

hi!

there isn’t a student life app as far as i know, but there are other useful apps! (EDIT: a commenter has informed me of the student life app! sorry! check out their comment here with links to both android and ios downloads).

i suggest downloading the blackboard app. blackboard/ portal is the system that all classes at u of t use to distribute class information. basically, you log in and can view everything you need for a course like readings, the syllabus, etc. the blackboard app is kinda old and janky looking (it literally looks like something from 2008), but it gets the job done. you can set up notifications for when your prof/ TA posts announcements, do some readings on your phone, or just pull up the syllabus quickly.

i would also suggest the u of t map app. though it’s not as intuitive as google maps (you can’t see your location or get directions), it’ll show you things like parking lots or accessible buildings that wouldn’t be available on other map apps.

another thing i highly recommend is linking your u of t email to your phone somehow. either by getting an outlook app or by adding it to your mail app. here’s a link to how to do it for ios.

i hope this helps. get out there and be tech-y, baby!

xoxo,

aska

Read More

aska 1 Comment