• current student,  leave of absence,  withdrawal

    drop it like it’s hot (unless it’s your gpa…)

    October 29, 2022

    Hi! This year has been rough so far (who am I kidding the past 3ish years have been garbage), and I’m not doing so hot right now. I’ve been considering taking time off from uni for a while now but much more seriously recently. Since we are mid-semester how would I take a leave of absence (if that’s what it’s called) and would it mark all my current course as incomplete/failed? That would tank my GPA which I can’t afford. I’m at UTSG if that makes a difference. Please and thank you!

    hey there,

    i’m sorry to hear that and given midterm season right now it’s definitely hard not to feel at least a bit like everything’s a whole dumpster fire. but i really hope things get better and less garbage for you, and some time away could help for sure.

    This Is Fine GIFfrom This Is Fine GIFs

    for starters, here’s a bit of good news — there’s actually still a two two weeks left until the course drop deadline, which is on november 16th this year. as long as you drop your courses by then, they’ll completely disappear from your transcript without affecting your gpa.

    Ghost Ghosted GIFfrom Ghost GIFs

    if you drop all your courses now, you’d be able to cancel your registration on acorn and take a leave of absence, no problem (more info on that here). okay actually, don’t do that right now, just hear me out first…

    the not so good thing is, you’ll probably still be charged for those courses because the “program/course freeze date” for fall and full year courses was on september 21st, and usually you’d be charged for any courses you had enrolled by that date. it might still be possible to ask for a refund, but you’d have to speak with your registrar for the details.

    on the other hand, maybe CR/NCR would be a better option? the deadline for that is december 7th. if there are some courses that you think you can pass, you can add it as CR/NCR on acorn so that it doesn’t affect your gpa. if you’re able to complete these courses and get the credit, this could save you some money and time in the long run so that you won’t have to retake them in the future. but as you may know, you won’t be able to use CR’d courses for program requirements, and you can only choose CR/NCR for maximum 2.0 FCE in your degree, so those are just a few things to keep in mind.

    in any case, i’d definitely recommend talking to your registrar asap to go through all your options, whether it be possible refunds, withdrawals, CR/NCR, whatever, you never know until you ask.

    best of luck,

    aska

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  • bba,  co-op,  co-op management,  prospective student,  tuition

    co-op tuition: bba-lling on a budget (yes this is the best i could come up with)

    October 23, 2022

    Hi everybody! I am a prospective BBA Co-op student. I am supposed to take three study terms the first year. What would I be charged for it? The website says that the annual fee is 60,000 CAD. Now is that for two terms or three terms?

    hello!

    unfortunately, i’m not a bba co-op student — but lemme try to give you some advice anyway.

    i’m looking at the bba co-op websites for utsc, and yes, the international bba co-op tuition seems to be about 60k for first year. from what i understand, each year in the co-op program has three terms: fall, winter, and summer. it’s a bit different from programs without co-op, which don’t usually include a summer term. this makes me think that your 60k per year tuition probably includes all three terms in a year. but again, not a bba co-op student! so take this with a grain of salt. many grains of salt.

    the other thing you might have to watch out for is the co-op fee, which is paid on top of your tuition, apparently. for example, for a typical bba co-op program at utsc, you’d have to pay about $500-600 in co-op fees at the start of each term, for the first 8 terms of your degree — and that’s regardless of whether you’re doing a work or study term in that period.

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    i hope my absolutely 100% accurate and factual information clears things up 😉 but do confirm this with your registrar and/or department. they’ll definitely be able to help more and could probably even give you other advice and resources!

    good luck,

    aska

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  • current student,  suspension

    surprise, you’re… suspended?

    October 18, 2022

    Can you be retroactively suspended 9 months after finishing a final exam. From a course mark being amended and causing your SGPA to be below 1.7 in a previous academic year? Like after you finished a Summer Semester and are now right into a new Fall/Winter Semester?

    hi there,

    i don’t know of any cases of ‘retroactive suspensions’, but if it did happen that wouldn’t be the first time something i didn’t know came around and screwed things over (*cough cough* midterms). so i guess what i’m saying it could happen and you really gotta ask your registrar or academic advisor to be sure.

    according to the artsci website, your academic standing is evaluated twice a year: once at the end of the summer session and once at the end of the fall/winter session. the evaluations are based on your cgpa and your gpa from that session. so you might be able to get away with it if the exam was from the 2021-2022 fall/winter session, or summer 2022, in which case you’ll just be evaluated by your cgpa and sessional gpa from now until the end of the current fall/winter session.

    The Past Is The Past Past GIFfrom The Past Is The Past GIFs

    also, you’re probably aware, but suspension would only happen if you’re already on probation, and there’s a bunch of different rules on how those academic standings are determined based on your gpa and past academic history — here’s a refresher in case you need it.

    good luck,

    aska

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  • Transferring,  UTM

    seeya sauga

    October 12, 2022

    Hello, I got refused from uoft art and science. And got admitted to UTM physical and chemical science. But the major I want do is not offer at UTM. Is there any chance that I transfer to uoft art and science. If yes what should I do, like would it matter the courses I’ll take in my first year at UTM? Please help. And thanks ?

    hey there,

    yup, you can definitely transfer to uoft artsci after first year. you’ll have to apply as an internal applicant on ouac. just so you know, the application deadline for early consideration is november 7th and the final deadline is january 12th next year.

    it looks like the main criteria for transferring is your gpa (what else is new) and you should aim for at least a 2.7 cgpa, which is around a B average. you’ll also need the high school and university (first year) prerequisites for the program you’re interested in.

    one possibly good thing is that as an internal transfer, you can carry over some of the courses you’ve completed at utm so that they go towards your uoft artsci degree — these are called “retained credits”. the confusing part of all this is that there isn’t actually any firm guideline out there on which utm courses correspond to uoft artsci courses, so you’ll have to do some guesswork.

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    i’d recommend looking up the uoft artsci major(s) that you’re interested in and checking out the required first year courses. if you see any utm courses in the “exclusions” section of the course description, that usually means that they have similar content or overlaps with the course you’re looking at, and there’s a good chance that they’ll count as a retained credit for your transfer. you can also try to pick courses that match the timeframes of the utsg courses you’re interested in, like picking full year Y courses versus semestered S or F courses.

    of course, you don’t have to load up on all the courses for your future major in order to transfer, the most important thing is probably keeping a good gpa and taking the prerequisites you need for POSt.

    anyways, i hope that helps. best of luck!

    aska

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  • GPA,  Transferring

    gpa is forever (mostly)

    October 4, 2022

    Hi,

    I was wondering if gpa resets when you transfer within campuses at uoft? let’s say i transferred from utsc to utsg, will my gpa reset or remain the same?

    hey there,

    so first of all i know this is really late….. i’m sorry!! but i’m BACK and i am here to stay.

    now onto your actual question: it depends. you actually can get a gpa “reset” if you transfer into utsg artsci from some other faculties at uoft. your transfer credits would not have any marks associated with them, and they can still count towards part of your degree or program requirements.

    Im Not The Person I Once Was James Saito GIFfrom Im Not The Person I Once Was GIFs

    BUT the catch is, utm, utsc, and daniels faculty don’t count. if you transfer from a different campus or daniels and go into utsg artsci, your previous courses will be “retained credits” and they will be part of your cgpa. and no, you cannot refuse these retained credits. 🙁 … or maybe 🙂 if you’re really happy about your marks so far i guess.

    all the best,

    aska

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  • current student,  management,  programs,  UTM

    if at first you don’t get into post, try try again

    September 22, 2022

    Hi, I’m a UTM student and wasn’t able to make the management pOST or meet some requirements. Would it still be possible to redo the year and graduate within the four years? I’m going into second year with another program, just wondering if attaining that first choice would still be possible. I struggled with economics and math courses as they aren’t my strong suits but the second program doesn’t require them and is something I find more interesting rather than practical. What would you suggests?

    hi there,

    it’s technically possible to reapply to the POSt and graduate in four years, but honestly, it’ll probably be very difficult. it also depends on the number of courses you’ll need to retake to improve your grades for POSt. retakes to improve your marks for POSt are allowed, but they’ll be considered “extra” and won’t count towards the 20.0 FCEs you need to graduate. so, if you need to retake all 3.0 FCEs that are required to get into management, you’ll need to also squeeze in an extra 3.0 FCEs of other courses that are not retakes. that means taking up to 23.0 FCEs of courses total (since the 3.0 retakes don’t count… hope that makes sense :/)

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    if you really want/need to graduate in four years, you’ll need to take courses in the summer or overload during the school year (take more than 5.0 FCEs) to finish all those courses on time. the other thing you might have to worry about is whether you can fit all the upper year management program courses in your third and fourth years. some courses might have prereqs or are only offered in certain semesters, which can be kind of annoying to plan around. i just gotta plug the degree explorer, as always, because it’s honestly just a great tool to plan out all the courses you need.

    of course, graduating “on time” is totally subjective anyway and plenty of students take five or more years. if you’re dead set on doing management and it’s feasible for you to take an extra year, don’t feel like you have to finish in four.

    btw, if you’re looking to do a “practical” major that’s related to management/business etc, you could look into applying to other related POSts too, which might increase your chances. for example, the utm commerce major or economics programs might cover similar things related to management, and they seem to have the same prereq courses as management, so it probably wouldn’t hurt to shoot your shot at a good handful of programs.

    i’d also recommend meeting with your registrar — they could definitely give some more in depth advice based on your transcipt and personal experiences so far.

    best of luck!

    aska

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  • admissions,  grades,  prospective student

    grade 11? i don’t know her

    September 16, 2022

    hi, i just finished grade 11, and i ended with mid 70 to high 60 for my courses. i recently moved here from alberta and in albertian uni’s, they check both gr11 and 12 marks, but here, i’ve been told that they dont look at gr11 marks as much. i was wondering if that was true, like if they dont really care about gr11 marks unless you pre-enroll(which i am not). also, is there like a certain average i should have in gr12 to sort of ‘cancel’ my gr11 marks? the course i wanna get into is bio-med, ty

    hey there,

    welcome welcome! yes, it’s true. most ontario unis only care about your grade 12 marks, not grade 11. each uni posts their own admissions requirements (the uoft one is here) but they usually only judge you on six of your grade 12 courses, which include any required courses for the program you’re applying for, and other electives where you got the highest marks. pretty sweet, i know.

    Bless You GIFfrom Bless GIFs

    grade 11 marks only really matter for early consideration, if the marks for your required grade 12 courses aren’t available yet, and scholarships. even for really competitive programs, i’ve rarely seen ones that use grade 11 marks for admissions (at least for regular acceptance).

    the admissions averages can vary for different programs and unis but if you’re interested in something like uoft life sciences (biology etc), you should be aiming for at least mid to high 80s, which is pretty similar to biomed type programs at other unis from what i remember. so don’t sweat it, just focus on working your ass off this year because the past is (mostly) in the past.

    Were Past It Lets Move On Danni King GIFfrom Were Past It Lets Move On GIFs

    good luck,

    aska

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  • current student,  prereqs,  psychology

    psych major questions make a comeback (ft. high school prereqs)

    September 15, 2022

    I have been trying to find an answer to this question everywhere, but it seems like not alot of people have been in this situation. Long story short, I have yet to be accepted into the PSY major (intend to graduate with a double major in PSY + SOC); however, I will complete all the required courses for both programs by December 2022. The issue is, I do not have the HS courses required for the PSY program. Will I still need to complete those to be accepted into program?

    hey there,

    so you’re right, i don’t have experience with this personally — but my guess is that you probably do need to get those hs prereqs. for example, the utm psychology website says, quite emphatically, that hs prereqs are “NEVER waived for any reason”. utsg psychology hasn’t put up any info about waiving hs prerequistes for their programs but seem rather strict about not waiving psy course prerequisites. i haven’t seen much about utsc, but… you get the idea. i’d definitely recommend emailing the psychology department to ask directly and make sure, but the general vibe that i’m getting is that they probably won’t accept you without those prereqs.

    Shrug Really GIFfrom Shrug GIFs

    luckily, missing hs prereqs aren’t all that uncommon (i’m lowkey drawing stuff from this other post with a very similar issue) and if you do need the hs courses, you can take them in summer school or night school with the tdsb, or any other school board that offers it. maybe not the most fun times, but at least you won’t be stuck with that missing prereq forever.

    hope that helps and good luck!

    aska

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  • life science,  prospective student,  rotman

    the elusive rotman transfer

    September 14, 2022

    I am a prospective UTSG social science year 1 student. I am interested in Rotman commerce(accounting) and life science(biology). Is taking both programs’ required courses too overwhelming? If I only take RC’s required courses in year 1, I have 2-2.5 credits left. Any recommend courses that is helpful for me to enter for RC? If i failed to enter RC, can I still take ls’s required courses in year 2? If so, then I will be enroll in year 3 in ls? Any drawbacks except delay graduate?

    hi there,

    i’m assuming that you’re in year 1 of the social science stream and planning to transfer into rotman. if you’ve got your sights set on rotman, i’d recommend really focusing on the 2.5 credits of 1st year rotman prerequisites that they list here and making sure to get good marks in those courses and a high gpa overall.

    Exams Exam Memes GIFfrom Exams GIFs

    i’m not personally in rotman, but usually gpa is king when applying to programs, and even students who are already in the rotman stream need to maintain certain marks in the prerequisites to stay in the program. not to stress you out or anything! gpa isn’t everything — but it can definitely help your chances.

    in terms of courses, i’d recommend trying to play to your strengths. ‘bird courses’ can be different for everyone depending on what you’re interested in or good at, so while it’s nice to get some reviews from people about different courses, i would take it with a pinch of salt and also consider what you’re most interested in/confident with. if you’re good at bio, you could try bio120 or bio130, which can be used for lifesci programs. 1st year seminars are also another way to take some more interactive, fun courses (which are often mark boosters). picking ‘easier’ courses can also hopefully take off some of the stress from school and leave you with some time to do extracurriculars that might add to your rotman supplementary application (yes, you need that too…).

    if do you get into rotman, i’m not really sure how manageable it’d be to do a biology program too because, well, again, i’m not in rotman. technically it’s doable, but you might have to opt for a bio minor to fit all the required credits. you could also take more than 20 credits (possibly taking longer to graduate), or just take some bio courses as electives.

    luckily, the bio programs are all open enrolment, meaning that anyone with 4.0 credits completed can enrol in the program — you just have to apply at the end of first year. apparently rotman transfers are really rare though (again, don’t let that scare you! still give it a shot) so if you don’t get into rotman it’s good to have a backup, and there are a ton of other programs to choose from in artsci. you can apply to any other combination of programs in artsci in your upper years, including lifesci, social sciences, or economics if you’re still interested in something that’s kind of commerce-related.

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    btw, if you’re worried about upper year courses and being able to fit all your program requirements, i’d recommend using degree explorer to plan things out!

    best of luck,

    aska

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  • campus life

    going back to back

    September 9, 2022

    What do I do if the only schedule that works has a bunch of back to back classes? Am I just going to have to be late all the time?

    hi there,

    if you’re new to uoft, you might not know about our so-called ‘uoft time’ — let me explain. pretty much all classes (lectures, practicals, tutorials, everything) actually start 10 minutes after the official time that’s written. for example, 2:00 on your timetable actually means 2:10 for the actual start time. most if not every instructor follows this (i’ve never had any profs that insisted on starting at the written time).

    this will hopfully allow some travel time between back to back classes! in my experience those 10 minutes have been enough to get to my classes, but it might still be a bit difficult to get there on time if you have to walk all the way across campus. i’ve seen some people commuting with bikes or skateboards, so if that’s something you’re into you might want to give it a try. it can be kind of a pain to get around campus in the winter though especially, as snow and ice get in the way of things.

    Run Snow Shoe GIFfrom Run GIFs

    i would definitely recommend making a route to get from class to class and doing a practice run beforehand to get familiar with the area and see how long things take. this uoft map is pretty handy when you’re trying to decipher the building names and where they all are, and there’s apparently an app, too. i’ve found that google maps and other map apps usually recognize uoft building codes too, e.g. typing ‘uoft msb’ will bring up the medical sciences building, which is pretty cool.

    hope that helps and best of luck finding your way around campus!

    aska

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  • current student,  FLC,  humanities

    course conFLCs

    September 8, 2022

    I was pre-enrolled in ENG140 for my humanities FLC but I’ve found that it conflicts with a course I need to apply for a program I’m interested in. If I drop ENG140, will I also be removed from the FLC?

    hey there,

    unfortunately i haven’t personally been in a FLC, but according to their website, you are allowed to drop courses that they enrolled in without being removed from the FLC, it seems.

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    although, speaking from experience, eng140 is an amazing course, so… tough decisions. either way, you’ll still be able to experience that FLC camraderie without being tied down to the pre-enrolled courses (hooray!). you could also email flc@utoronto.ca directly for any other questions!

    Stromman Excited GIFfrom Stromman GIFs

    good luck! 🙂

    aska

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  • current student,  wait list

    yes, you can be keen even on the waitlist… (jk this question is p valid)

    September 6, 2022

    Hi! I have a question about protocol re. a waitlisted course. I’m an incoming first year, and have been waitlisted for a course. It has a very high drop rate from what I’ve heard, so I’m fairly sure I’ll get in eventually, but probably not immediately. It’s supposed to be difficult and fast moving, so I’m somewhat concerned about playing catch-up. Am I permitted to attend the lectures in the meantime? What should I do about assignments?

    hello young one,

    unfortunately if you’re waitlisted, you won’t get access to the course quercus page, assignments, or online lectures (if any). but if the lectures are taking place in person and are fairly large, nothing’s really stopping you from sitting in. from my experience, most first year lectures are too large for profs to take attendance or notice a few extra students lurking around, and unless things have changed drastically in covid, it’s not like there’ll be bouncers out front trying to check if you’re actually in the course or not.

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    you will probably miss a few practicals/tutorial sessions though, if your course has those, and some assignments. usually, you can get in contact with the course coordinator to ask if assignments from before you joined the course could be dropped or replaced with other assignments. some courses also allow you to drop a certain number of assignments without penalty.

    something that could really help is to get your hands on the course syllabus — try to see if you can find a copy floating around on the internet, or make some friends in the course and ask them for some of that insider info — that’ll give you a better idea of the course policies on assignments, topics covered, textbooks and other things you might have missed out on. if in doubt, definitely communicate with the course coordinator and see if you could work something out. btw, your registrar could also help out if you’re having any trouble negotiating things with your prof!

    best of luck!

    aska

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  • current student,  dropping courses,  tuition

    courses, tuition, and google classrooms but not really

    September 2, 2022

    hello first year student here! I haven’t started fall 2022 semester yet and wanted to know if I could drop a course I’m enrolled in without paying the tuition for that course (stupid question but I wanted to make sure). also, is there a website for students to use when professors post class materials and such (like google classroom but not really)?? Thanks!

    hello hello hello!

    so the way that tuition works is a bit weird. if you take 4.0 – 6.0 FCEs (full course equivalents for you newbies) in the fall/winter year, you’ll pay the program fee. so whether you’re taking 4.0 or maxing it out to 6.0, it doesn’t matter, financially — you’d pay the same tuition.

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    if the courses you drop bring you down to 3.5 or less FCEs total, you can pay course fees, which depend on your number of courses, and ends up being cheaper per course. everyone is charged the program fees at first, and the extra amount for students on course fees will be refunded later in the year.

    but be careful: if you are planning to switch from program fees to course fees, make sure to drop your courses by the last date to enrol in them, otherwise, they will still be counted in your total course count. for example, a fall session course has to be dropped by the last day to enrol in F (fall) courses, which is september 21st this year. if you have any concerns or questions about this, definitely check out your registrar for advice because it can be tricky to keep track of all the different dates and how the payments work and everything.

    in terms of the course materials and stuff, yes! it’s called quercus and it literally is google classrooms but not really. uoft just had to get a ~quirky~ name for our whole oaks and acorns theme.

    Treehugger Vegetarian GIFfrom Treehugger GIFs

    i wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve started getting bombarded by email notifications from quercus already but don’t worry if you haven’t, because profs are slow, and you will be hearing from them… soon. 🙂

    best of luck!

    aska

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