• 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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  • frosh

    res bnb

    May 26, 2017

    Students that have been admitted can stay on residence just for frosh week right? How do I apply to that ?

    ———————————————

    hello!

    yes, you can stay on res for just that week. when you register for your specific college/ faculty’s orientation week, there should be an option for you to billet (room with) a residence student for that week. it’s a really cool option and you get to have a little bit of the res experience.

    hope that was helpful. looking forward to seeing you on campus in the fall!

    xoxo,

    aska

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  • new kids,  work-study

    will work-study for food

    May 25, 2017
    Are you allowed to apply for work study when you’re still a high school student? Or can you only do that after you begin in September? Thank you!
    ———————————————
    hi!
    unfortunately, you can’t apply for work study if you’re still a high school student. you need to be enrolled as a student (full-time, part-time, undergraduate, or graduate) to qualify for work-study positions. 
    good luck, young one. looking forward to seeing you around campus come fall.
    xoxo,
    aska
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  • admissions,  other schools (boo!)

    hot buttered soul admissions

    May 25, 2017

    I know this sounds a bit too ambitious, but can utm grads get into HBS? If so what do you think needs to be on the checklist?

    ———————————————

    hey!

    i have no clue what you mean by HBS. do you mean the heritage building society? health and biological sciences? hardware breakdown structure? hawaii biological services? hot buttered soul? hrvatski biljarski savez? i literally have no idea.

    okay, in all seriousness. i think you meant harvard business school? idk. ask harvard.

    jk. i don’t think it’s too ambitious to go for harvard! despite the jokes and sterotypes, utm is a university too, just like utsg. you worked hard for your undergrad degree, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!

    again, i don’t know much about other schools’ application and admissions process, but i can tell you what they have on their website. according to the harvard admissions website, you need an undergrad degree, GMAT or GRE test results, an essay, two recommendations, and a resume. i would suggest putting in extra effort into the essay. you’ll be able to really appeal to the admissions committee and showcase your passion and dedication.

    best of luck, get after that HBS (whatever it means).

    xoxo,

    aska

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  • graduation

    so close to the end

    May 25, 2017

    Hi Aska,

    I am close to graduating and my goal has always been to graduate with ‘high distinction’. I am coming very close to a 3.50 and just about have 20.0 credits. However, I am wondering if I can take additional courses (more than the required 20.0 credits for graduation) in order to raise my CGPA and graduate with high distinction. Or do only my first 20.0 credits count towards getting that distinction? When and how is this determined?

    Thanks!

    ———————————————

    hey!

    congrats on being almost done! any course that you take, even those beyond the required 20.0 FCE, count towards your CGPA. this means that if you choose to take more classes to boost your CGPA, they will count towards getting that high distinction.

    get that degree!!

    xoxo,

    aska

     

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  • bad times,  gap year,  lost,  petition,  probation,  suspension,  UTM

    you need some good ‘ol r and r

    May 24, 2017

    hello aska,

    i read through a lot of your answers that were tagged with relevant terms, but I still hope I am not repeating someone’s question

    im a utm student about to be put on suspension… last school year i was negligent with my studies and so getting on probation was my fault entirely. this fall semester my marks have been abyssmal (i failed 3 courses) and I know it is my fault too, but there was also a  situation that happened during november (2016) that I could argue affected my marks.

    im not used to persisting to get exemptions or extensions (since ive never had problems that werent at least partially my fault) so I did not do anything about it at the time. now I am wondering if it is worth/possible pursuing or if it is too late. it was stressful and time consuming situation and unfortunately I do not have any official documents regarding the situation, maybe a few witnesses or pictures and onesided attempts to a file report…

    i am just grasping for any straws right now if you cant tell, just looking for a way to return to uni this september. ive read that students improved after a year off but i do not see how I will be able to cope with suspension and the burden of crushed expectations during the forced year off. needing to repay my school loans once im not full time also scares me.

    if my winter semester gpa is a great deal higher than my fall gpa this year is there a chance i could file a petition to return to school in september since I showed improvement?

    im probably hoping you could gauge my chances of returning in september and relay to me some good news ;; although I didnt mention it a lot, I do know how much of the blame for this situation is on me.

    im scared to reflect on it too much so i am trying to keep moving by looking at my options. the only hope I have right now is to ace every single one of my upcoming exams 100%..

    thank you for your time with these answers

    ———————————————

    hello,

    first of all, i’m really friggin’ sorry that i didn’t get to this question in time. sometimes it’s hard to get through everyone’s questions in time for the end of the semester, but we (yes we, i’m not alone in my efforts anymore!) are working our way through them as fast as we can.

    also, thank you for taking the time to see if this question has already been answered. we really appreciate it.

    when you emailed us, you mentioned that you were about to be suspended. i’m assuming that the suspension has now taken effect. again, i wish i could’ve offered you some advice earlier but it really wouldn’t have had much of an effect on your situation.

    so, how do we move forward from this? it sounds like you’ve had a tough year.

    first: i cannot stress this enough. go to your registrar’s office as soon as possible. even though it might seem too late, they may be able to help you file a petition to lift your suspension. please keep in mind that these kinds of petitions are reserved for very special circumstances will only be approved if the committee on standing believes that there were extenuating circumstances affecting your ability to meet the demands of school. your chances of continuing school in september will depend on whether or not your registrar believes there are sufficient grounds to file a petition. don’t lose faith, there is still hope!

    i’m not 100% sure about the timeline/deadlines on these types of petitions since they are very rare, but i would go the registrar’s office as soon as you can.

    regarding asking for extensions from profs: this is definitely hard. it took me a long time to get used to doing it, but you really need to think about it like this: you’ll never know until you ask. at least do the bare minimum and ask. if you don’t feel comfortable with asking for extensions from your profs, registrars are also capable of sending emails on your behalf.

    on the other hand, taking a year off might seem like the worst thing right now, but maybe it’s just what you need. you can get a job doing something you like and work towards paying off your student loans. the time off could be valuable for you in terms of re-evaluating your goals. a year without school might be good for your soul. think about it. a year of no readings, no essays, and no assignments sounds pretty nice tbh. relax and recuperate. it seems like what you went through was a little traumatic to say the least. don’t beat yourself up if you need some time to get back in the groove of things.

    wishing you all the best,

    aska

    *we are always here for you if you need us for (somewhat delayed) support* <3

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