• bad times,  failing,  health,  late withdrawal,  petition

    my bed is my safe place

    June 2, 2017

    Hey,

    My registrar has advised me to petition to have a quite a few of my credits designated as LWD instead of the F’s they currently have due to my documented illness (read: mental health struggles). I was just wondering if you could give a ball-park estimation of how successful these types of petitions are? The depth of consideration these petitions are given? Will I be taken seriously or will the petition-gods roll their eyes?

    I’m scared/embarrassed of submitting a petition with such a heavy request. I actually do pretty well in school when I’m not in bed all day (which has been the case for the past year and a half).*

    *FYI, I am currently receiving treatment and plan to resume with my studies – I just really need my academic record cleaned up if I want to have any future in my field or any future period.

    Thanks!

    ———————————————

    hey,

    while i personally haven’t seen people petition to designate failed courses as LWD, (that’s not to say it doesn’t happen) petitioning for most things at U of T is done through a case by case basis. there isn’t really a formula or way to predict what the outcome will be. since this petition is kind of a big deal, know that the petition committee will not handle it lightly and will only approve of it if there are serious extenuating circumstances.

    for now, i would just follow the advice of your registrar and try to petition it anyways. the fact that your registrar has advised you to do so means that they think there could be a chance of it getting approved. and hey, it doesn’t hurt to try!

    in my personal experience (meaning it might not be the same for everyone), mental health issues are dealt with pretty seriously at U of T. i’ve definitely late withdrawn from several courses over the years due to mental health issues with the help of my registrar and counsellors at health and wellness. being in bed all day made going to class and, well, pretty much everything very difficult. it was the greatest escape from reality. you’re not alone.

    the good thing is, you’ve taken the initiative to contact your registrar and ask for help. the fact that you reached out for help definitely helps your case! i don’t think they’d straight up roll their eyes if, like you said, you do pretty well in school when you aren’t in bed.

    i can totally understand why you’re scared; petitioning is always a little nerve-wracking. it may not be what you want to hear, but realistically, the only thing you can do is keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best! remember, health always comes first. stick with the treatment plan if it works, and always put yourself and your wellbeing before anything else. you can do this.

    ^me and you

    (i started typing ‘hug’ into giphy and then i saw ‘hugh jackman’ [my husband], so i thought i would get him to give you some encouragement as well)

    sending you our love, luck, and positive vibes all around,

    aska

     

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  • Uncategorized

    get it, ya molecular nerd!

    June 2, 2017

    Hi!

    I’m a first year student desperately wanting to do the specialist program
    in Molecular biology, however I failed one of my prereq courses (Mat134 –
    calc for life science) and bc of that I only have 3.5 completed credits.
    Due to all this, I was refused from the program enrollment, as well as all
    of the other 4 backup programs I applied to. If I’m able to revive my GPA
    to about a 3,0, will I be able to enroll in the program after second year?
    Also, do I have to already be enrolled into a program in second year?

    Thanks 🙂

    ———————————————

    hello!

    you have to be completed 4.0 FCEs in order to enrol in a subject post. that’s probably why you didn’t get into your 4 backup programs. when you’re done 4.0 FCE, then you can enrol in a subject post.

    according to the artsci calendar, you need a 70% in BIO130H1 or BIO230H1 in order to be considered for the molecular biology specialist. they also have a couple of preq courses outlined in the calendar. i would check those out too.

    as for getting your GPA up, there isn’t a specific GPA or CGPA requirement outlined in the calendar, but i imagine it would be competitive. i don’t want to give a specific number. again, i just want to avoid giving false information, and i’m sure it fluctuates year to year.

    i hope this helps!

    xoxo,

    aska

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  • Uncategorized

    what time is it?? SUMMERTIME!

    June 2, 2017

    Hey Aska! Got any advice or opinions on how one should spend summer break?

    ———————————————

    hi!

    bruh, do i look like blogTO to you? or narcity? whatever cool hip listicle website the kids are reading these days?

    in all seriousness though, summer is a great time to just chill tf out. especially if you’re not taking any courses. i guess the only advice i really want to give you is just do whatever you want just because you can. finish that book you couldn’t during the year because you were busy doing school-related readings. take a walk by the lake just because the weather is nice. go to some stupid trendy food place just because you wanna treat yo self.

    here are some interesting looking articles that you can check out.

    have a great summer!

    xoxo,

    aska

     

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  • admissions,  life science

    the N to your BSc

    June 1, 2017

    How can a Life Sciences student become a Nursing student?

    ———————————————

    hi!

    i’m assuming you’re talking about the bachelor’s program? the website has tons of info about how to get into the bachelor of science in nursing program hosted by the faculty of nursing.

    according to the website, it’s a two year program and you need to have 10 FCE before applying. it also says that you need a 3.0 GPA, a personal statement, an academic reference, and a work-related reference. there are also some prereq courses that are outlined on the website, so i would check those out too.

    basically, i would just check out the prereqs, take those courses in your first two years (or first 10 FCE), then apply after! the application itself can be found here.

    good luck!

    xoxo,

    aska

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  • Uncategorized

    we got ourselves (another) catherine keener

    May 31, 2017

    Hello, are there summer first-year courses for first year students at the Mississauga campus? If there are, are they the same ones offered in the fall/winter semester? Thanks!

    ———————————————

    hi!

    unfortunately, incoming students can’t take summer courses. you are not technically a student at u of t until the fall semester. 

    enjoy your summer, catherine keener. see you on campus in september! stay cool for the summer!

    xoxo,

    aska

     

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  • criminology,  psychology,  sociology

    still bragging about my new soc degree

    May 31, 2017

    Hi,

    Previously I was a part-time student at the St. George Campus. I completed 4.5 credits and then left. Now it’s 5 years later and I’d like to come back to complete my degree. I did not chose a subject post before I left. Now, my preferred program (sociology) went from a Type 2 to a 2L. I  got 65% in my 100 level SOC credit. That’s the bare minimum so I’m not super competitive.

    1.  How do I get permission to retake 100 level courses to become more competitive to get into the sociology program?
    2.  In case I don’t get into the sociology program, what are other programs that I should consider?
    3.  What services are available on campus to help transition back to student life?

    ———————————————

    hello there!

    yay, a sociology question! no biggie, i just completed my soc major last month so you’ve come to the right place (yes, i know, i bragged about this in a past post, but #sorrynotsorry)

    1. if you want permission to retake 100 level courses, you would need to contact the department of sociology. i’m not sure if they’ll let you you retake the course since 1) you’ve already passed the course, 2) you do TECHNICALLY meet the requirement. in this situation, it would be best to talk to the undergraduate advisor to look at what your options are for entering the program. a nice chat with her will probably be beneficial, especially if there have been any changes to the program since you’ve been gone. dammit, kelly clarkson is stuck in my head now. i have a feeling that the fact that the program switched from a type 2 to a 2L isn’t thaaat bad, it just sucks because we don’t know exactly how limited the program is.

    2. if you don’t get into the sociology program, you could consider programs that are similar. instead of the studying groups of people/ society, you could learn to study individuals (psychology)? humans (anthropology)? criminals (criminology)? there’s always women and gender studies, equity studies, or sexual diversity studies as well! of course, all of these programs will have prerequisites that you will need to look up yourself. since you’ve already completed 4.5 FCE’s, you’ve probably already completed a first year prerequisite course for a program. you could consider going into one of those programs!

    3. transitioning back into student life after an absence is an interesting thing that not many people ask about. honestly, i don’t think there are many resources for transitioning back, but there are definitely tons of resources for transitioning into university life, if you want to relive that again! it’s always good to check in with the registrar’s office if you need help with transitioning back to academics or if you have more questions about returning!

    hope this helped! welcome back!

    peace and love,

    aska

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  • east asian studies

    yay language education!

    May 31, 2017

    hello! I’m a high school senior right now and I got into uoft! I was looking at course enrollment and I want to take EAS110Y1 which is like intro to Korean but it’s just a summer course? It starts in May, but I’m still in high school…

    ———————————————

    hi!

    EAS110Y1 is not just a summer course! it’s also a full-year course offered in the fall/ winter session. here’s the posting for it in the faculty’s calendar. 

    yay new languages! yay education!

    xoxo,

    aska

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  • ACORN,  arts & sciences,  breadth requirements,  courses,  degree requirements,  enrollment,  first year

    course selection frenzy

    May 30, 2017

    Hello! I got into u of t St George and first I just wanted to say thank you to all the admins of aska! There’s a lot of anxiety surrounding uni when you’re a senior, but this site was a haven for all my questions. So thank you 🙂 And now that I got in I have even more questions haha. Course selection! I don’t know anything about what I’m supposed to do! How many courses do I choose? How many credits do I need to graduate? Can I only choose courses revolvin from major and/or minor? Thanks again!!

    ———————————————

    hello young one!

    thank you! it’s always nice to get fanmail!

    as for your questions about course selection, it’s understandable that you have no clue what’s going on! i felt like i was wandering through an impermeable haze of confusion during the summer before my first year so i totally feel you.

    for first years, you’ll find out your course enrolment time (when you can log onto ACORN and enrol in courses) on july 21st. actual course enrolment starts july 27th. basically, you log onto ACORN, find the courses that you want to take by typing them into the website’s search bar, add them to your enrolment cart, and then click the enrol button on july 27th. DON’T FORGET TO ACTUALLY ENROL IN YOUR COURSES. i know tons of people who forgot because they thought that adding them to their enrolment cart enrolled them automatically. THIS IS NOT THE CASE. it’s like online shopping, you gotta check out after you put ’em in the cart.

    as for how many courses, most people do 5 FCE (full course equivalents) per year in order to graduate in 4 years (you need 20 FCE to graduate, 5 times 4 = 20). of course, that is just a suggestion. some people take less and then take either an extra year or two to graduate or make up for it with summer courses. it’s all up to you! i wouldn’t suggest taking more than 5 in the first year though. while it is possible to take up to 6 FCE per year, it’s nice to be able to just figure out your pacing and see how heavy uni courses are before taking on extra courses.

    in your first year (i’m also assuming that you’re in artsci), you can take any classes you want, though you should take the courses that are relevant to your programs of interest. you should also do some research on the programs that you’re interested in and check out their preqs. you can find programs and their requirements in the faculty calendar.

    i would also suggest looking at the breadth requirement. though you do have your entire undergrad to fulfill these, a lot of people like to get these out of the way early. there are also a lot of breadth options in first year, such as the first year seminar classes. also, you are only allowed 6.0 100-level courses throughout your degree, so it might be a good idea to plan out how you’re going to use them.

    i really hope that this helps! looking forward to seeing you on campus in september!

    xoxo,

    aska

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  • arts & sciences,  colleges,  fees

    every penny counts

    May 30, 2017

    I’ve noticed that some colleges have cheaper tuition prices then others, it seems that Woodsworth College has the cheapest tuition is this correct?

    ———————————————

    hi!

    included in your tuition are compulsory non-academic incidental fees. a lot of these fees are the same for all u of t students (we’re all charged the same hart house membership fee, for example) but some of them are college specific. though they’re not technically “tuition”, they’re included in your overall fees and you pay them at the same time you pay your academic fees.

    the compulsory non-academic incidental fees include your college’s student society fees, any levies they require that you contribute to, or any service fees. they differ from college to college, as each college has a different student society that collects fees to contribute to clubs/ levies/ events.

    you can check out the these charts to compare the different colleges’ incidental fees. i ain’t gonna do the math and figure out the cheapest one for you. you know i hate math.

    xoxo,

    aska

     

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  • admissions

    mysterious admissions committee continues to mystify

    May 29, 2017

    DEAR Aska

    Before I start, THANK YOU for all the work you do. It’s always better to start with thanks as I have heard. So my predicament is basically this: I applied to ArtSci at St. George for the Social Sciences and will now likely fall below the required average (by about 2-3%). I am asking if that cuts me off from admission. My marks for the required courses are super high (above requirement), it’s just the sciences which are keeping it low. Will they look at the individual courses? Can my required possibly save me?

    Thanks in advance

    ———————————————

    hi!

    they do have access to your full transcript, so they can see that your required courses have better marks. however, the whole admissions process is kinda shrouded in mystery, so i’m not quite sure how they make their decisions. there are a lot of factors that go into their decisions.

    i’m not sure which average you’re going off of, but if you’re looking at this, then the cut-off is low to mid 80s. i’m assuming you’re at a high 70-ish? dude. i really don’t know. lots of stuff go into their decisions, but at the end of the day, that just what they are- their decisions.

    best of luck!

    xoxo,

    aska

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  • commerce,  gap year,  GPA,  international students,  rotman

    i want a 9 CGPA

    May 29, 2017

    Hey there,
    I have currently completed my 12th from India. I would like to join
    university of toronto,Mcgill university, York university or university of
    British Columbia for undergraduation in business or finance. But due to
    certain circumstances I have missed this year’s application deadline. So,
    if I take a gap of a year and apply again next year, will the colleges
    consider me or not due to the year off. I am an student with
    With around 86% in 12th and 9 CGPA In 10th.

    Regards from India

    ———————————————

    hello,

    taking a gap year after your last year of high school will not affect your chances of getting into U of T. most of my friends that i’ve met at U of T took gap years before first year!

    with regards to your GPA, i’m not familiar with the GPA scale in India since it is very different than the 4.0 scale we use here, but i would recommend that you look at this link which tells you the minimum requirements for students applying from India. GPA calculations are already quite tricky and since we are only familiar with the U of T scale, i think it’s best that we don’t try to convert/ translate your CGPA and let the pros at admissions do it.

    the link says you will need: “All India Senior School Certificate (awarded by CBSE) or Indian School Certificate (awarded by CISCE).  Year 12 State Board Exams with excellent results will also be considered on an individual basis.”

    … none of that made any sense to me but i hope it made sense to you!

    “excellent results”, of course, is super vague, and since you’re trying to get into rotman commerce, the admission requirements may be slightly different. here’s a link to rotman commerce’s admission requirements- make sure you scroll to the part about apply from high schools outside of canada! hope this helps!

    have a wonderful gap year and make the most out of your time!

    good luck with your application and we hope to see you here soon!

    peace and love,

    aska

     

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  • UTM

    UTM vs UTSG brawl!! (but not really)

    May 29, 2017

    What is the difference between UTSG and UTM? Is UTM academically less stressful? Any further details about the difference between UTSG and UTM would be much appreciated.

    ———————————————

    hello!

    this is a question we get a lot and one that i always dread answering. i really wanna avoid angry emails from admin and also i don’t have the answer (i know! aska not having the answers? crazytown). i also recently answered a really similar question and this is going to sound really repetitive… but like i said before, it’s also super unfair to say “utsg is harder than utm”- it undermines utm students’ hard work and achievements.

    as for differences in general, i have never been to utm, so i don’t really know what the campus’ vibes are like. it’s a much smaller campus than utsg so there are probably smaller classes, less line-ups/ waits, more familiar faces around. on the flip side, because utsg is so big, they have a wider selection of courses. for example, the department of cinema studies is much bigger at utsg so there are more courses there than at utm. it all really depends on your personal preference. some people like the small school feel, while others like how big utsg is.

    there are also some programs that are different between the campuses, so you should check out the programs that you’re interested in and which campus they are hosted at. for example, commerce at utm is not affiliated with rotman like it is at utsg.

    at the end of the day, you’re at the university of toronto. even if you’re technically in mississauga.

    xoxo,

    aska

     

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  • exchange

    jet set joint minor

    May 26, 2017

    Hey Aska,

    I just finished my first year and am looking into some programs for my subject POSt. I’m interested in the Biology Minor jointed with the National University of Singapore. I’ve read the Arts & Science Calendar about the requirements and such but there’s not much information on the exchange. I’ve never been in an exchange program so I don’t really know how things would go. Where would I stay? How much would everything be? What would I be doing at NUS? How many other UofT students would be there? I can’t seem to find much information on the program. I was hoping there would be blogs or forums about students’ experience in the program and at NUS but I can’t seem to find any. Plz help!

    ———————————————

    hey!

    congrats on finishing your first year! i’m glad you’ve already looked into the requirements on the artsci calendar. 

    according to the outbound joint minor programs website, you need to apply for a term abroad separately through the CIE (centre for international experience). the website has tons of information about the application process, what documentation you need to have, and the various steps you need to take before going on exchange. be sure to check it out!

    the CIE also has information about funding and bursary options, safety abroad workshops, and transfer credits. 

    i would really suggest getting in contact with the CIE or visiting them at the Cumberland House at 33 St. George Street. they’ll be able to give you more detailed information.

    i hope that’s helpful, you jetsetter!

    xoxo,

    aska

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