• grad school

    askacanadiangradstudent?

    March 23, 2017

    What grades do grad schools usually look at? 3rd and 4th year grades? last 10 credits? last 10 credits with focus on senior level courses, etc… Also, is there any websites or resources that can explain the applying to grad school process to me (not just specifically uoft but Canadian grad schools in general)? I’m feeling a little lost as to what grades schools look at, where/when I should apply, what documents do i have to send in, what documents does uoft need to send in etc.

    ———————————————

    hello,

    grad schools normally look at your 10 most recent credits. they won’t necessarily focus on “senior level courses”, but they may pay more attention to courses that are more relevant to the program that you are pursuing. then again, i can’t speak for all grad schools because it really depends on each school. i wrote a post recently which answered a question very similar to yours: check it out here!

    in terms of online resources for grad schools, the only one i can really recommend is OUAC, which is useful if you are applying to law school, medicine, rehabilitation sciences, or teaching in ontario. if you are applying to a discipline outside of the aforementioned (or if you are looking for something outside of ontario), you’ll have to look into each individual school to see what the process is, since they all have different deadlines and requirements.

    unfortunately, i haven’t come across any websites that i feel comfortable with endorsing on here. the websites i HAVE seen tend to only “feature” some schools while completely ignoring others. super frustrating.

    it would be much better/ safer for you to just go directly to the source. trust- that’s the best advice i can offer you!

    peace and love bruh,

    aska

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  • academic offense,  other schools (boo!),  suspension,  UTM

    no secrets

    March 22, 2017

    Hello,

    I started at the campus of UTM in 2010 and got to second year by 2014 – I
    know, not something I’m extremely proud of. In 2014, I got suspended for
    one whole calendar year for failing too many courses. Subsequently, I also
    got suspended for a plagiarism allegation for 3 and a half years. Right now
    is 2017 and my suspension is up in the summer of 2018.

    Would it be wiser for me to just ditch U of T and apply to another
    university with my high school grades? Or is that not allowed?

    Thank you!

    ———————————————

    hey,

    wow, sounds like you’ve had quite a wild ride. school ain’t easy, that’s for sure.

    if you choose to ditch U of T, you can’t apply to another university with just your high school grades. if you try applying for another university, you’ll need to show records from every previously attended institution, and if you refrain from disclosing information, there will be pretty severe consequences.

    your best bet, if you still want to pursue your degree, would be to wait out your suspension and continue on at U of T. we still want you if you want us too!

    hope everything works out for you!

    cheers,

    aska

     

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  • grad school,  summer

    summer grades matter

    March 22, 2017

    Is it true that grad schools don’t look at summer terms (grades)? I’ve taken a summer term every year since I started at uoft and that’s whats enabling me to graduate early in 3 years instead of 4

    ———————————————

    hi,

    not sure where you heard that…

    but it’s not true. most grad schools will look at your most recent two years of schooling. if that includes summer school, you’ll be okay!

    cheers,

    aska

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  • academic offense

    no public shaming here, my friend

    March 21, 2017

    Hi Aska,

    So i screwed up really badly- i commit and academic offense which is now reflected on my transcript (as a GWP). I recognize and understand the seriousness of this and completely accept responsibility. At the same time, i’m trying to turn my life around and want to apply to other UofT opportunities. My question is: can the registrar/prof/TA who are involved in my academic misconduct case reveal the reason for the GWP on my transcript? Can they share info on me behind the scenes? The position I’m applying for requires an application and transcript copy which obviously will show the GWP, so it’s not like i’m trying to hide the incident- i would just like to explain it myself, rather than have the faculty discuss it among themselves.

    Thanks so much

    P.S i’d really appreciate the lack of preaching about the wrongs of cheating. i’m not at all assuming that you’d do that, its just that, like i said, i understand what i did was wrong and came to aska to avoid the public shaming people have received on other advice sites- this has really affected me, as it should, and i just want to move forward

    ———————————————

    hey,

    first of all, i think what you’re referring to is a GWR (grade withheld pending review).

    regardless of what position you are applying to, if the university was contacted regarding your transcript, they technically, (according to the rules of FIPPA) cannot confirm if you even go to the school. the university abides by a pretty strict code of confidentiality so you don’t have to worry about this kind of information getting out.

    if your academic misconduct case results in a sanction, then your transcript might say something like “sanctioned for academic misconduct“, but again, the university still won’t be able to release any information on whether or not you attend the school or the reason of your sanction.

    aska strives to be a lot of things, but we do not strive to be preachy. we realize that sometimes people make mistakes, which sucks, but we want to help you get back up so you can learn from your mistakes.

    i’m not sure if proud is the right word to use here since i don’t want to sound patronizing, but i’m very glad/proud that you are willing to take full responsibility for your mistakes. sometimes the hardest part is admitting to your mistakes. it takes a big person to admit that.

    anyways, public shaming sucks.

     

    you’ll be okay in the end.

     

    wishing you all the best,

    peace and love,

    aska

     

     

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  • breadth requirements,  failing,  prereqs,  probation

    the consequences of failing a course

    March 21, 2017

    hey,

    I wanted to ask that if I fail a course which I do not need for my program
    of study and have just taken it as a breadth requirement, what will the
    consequence be?
    will I have to retake the course? will I be put on probation? will I be
    kicked out of uni?
    So I just wanna know what exactly will happen since I don’t need it as a
    pre req for my program of study!

    thanks

    ———————————————

    hey,

    great question. since it’s not required for your program, you won’t have to retake the course unless you really wanted to retake THAT specific course. in terms of how many times you can retake the course, you’re allowed to the retake the course as many times as you want until you pass the course (but why would you do that unless you need to). once you receive a passing grade in the course, you won’t be able to retake it to achieve a higher grade without the permission of a registrar.

    if you fail a course, a grade point of 0.0 will be assigned for that course, but you’ll only be put on academic probation if your CGPA is lower than 1.5. academic probation is a whole other story but they have a helpful chart to show you how it works.

    don’t worry, you won’t be kicked out of uni!

    cheers,

    aska

     

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  • dropping courses,  weirdness

    let’s not do that

    March 20, 2017

    Dear aska,

    It got me curious. What happens when everyone drops one specific course that there is no students enrolled in the course any more in the middle of the semester? It is merely a hypothetical question.

    Thanks in advance!

    ———————————————

    hi,

    lol, that would be both hilarious and quite sad.

    disclaimer: everything i am about to say cannot be backed by actual facts, i’m merely hypothesizing.

    i honestly have no idea what would happen. i asked my colleagues who have been here decades longer than i have and none of them had ever heard of this happening at U of T.

    i hope that you’re only curious and that you’re not actually planning on organizing a course-wide drop because that would be pretty bad….a**.

    i’m assuming that the department would try to conduct some sort of an investigation into why this class sucked so much and then take the appropriate measures to make sure it won’t happen again. like i said, there really is no precedent for this kind of situation so you’re allowed to use your own imagination????

    reactions spongebob imagination GIF

    idk man.

    peace and love,

    aska

     

     

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  • arts & sciences,  colleges,  fees,  incidentals

    program fees vs. course fees

    March 15, 2017

    Dear aska,

    I’m a fourth year student and I want to take an extra semester of courses to improve my gpa for Masters applications. I’m an Education and Society minor and I need to finish 0.5 credit internship before I can graduate. I’m planning on doing it in fall 2017, not taking winter courses and graduating in June 2018. You answered a question (entitled: i have LOTS of problems) that basically encapsulates my situation as well. But what I’d like to know is that if I am a full-time student in the fall (probably taking 3-4 courses) and I don’t take any courses in the winter term, would I still be a full-time student. And do I still have to pay full year’s tuition?

    Regards,

    Struggling Student

    ———————————————

    glad to know someone’s reading our wee li’l blog!

    arts and sciences will assess your status by looking at the full session (both fall and winter), meaning that if you are only enrolled in 3-4 courses in one semester, you’re still considered a part time student.

    let’s assume that by taking 3-4 courses, you mean 1.5-2.0 FCE’s. according to the faculty of arts and sciences, you’re still considered part time and you’ll be able to pay per course fees. the link above explains everything in excruciating detail ^

    you will also be paying reduced incidentals, which are specific to your college: <— select which college you are part of and you’ll be able to see what fees you’ll be paying.

    basically, as long as your course load is 3.5 credits or lower, you’ll pay course fees.

    hope this helped!

    peace and love,

    aska

     

     

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  • career choice,  GPA,  grad school,  jobs,  research

    should i stay or should i go

    March 10, 2017
    For the past 4-5ish years at uoft,lets just say I didnt work as hard.I thought a BA would get me pretty far in life,but sadly,I was told I needed a masters to get a decent job in my field. The issue is that most master programs in canada have the standard 3.0+cGPA requirement.I dont mind staying back to boost my cGPA but will it affect my application?do schools look at the #of years uve been in school?Not exactly sure what to do…
    ———————————————
    hey,

    while working hard is usually a good statement to live by, sometimes it just doesn’t happen for some of us (lol me) and that’s okay. there is always room for change!

    because every school is different, i can’t say for sure that they won’t look at how many  years you’ve taken to get your degree. i do know that they will be looking at your most recent academic performance and because of that, it wouldn’t be a terrible to thing to boost your cGPA. however, if you are really far away from a 3.0 cGPA, you might want to reconsider staying behind. you may end up spending too much time (and a lot of dough) trying to get that 3.0 cGPA.

    my feeling is that if you have experience with research in your field, it can definitely improve your chances of being accepted because it shows that you took the initiative to look for these opportunities. even if it isn’t a formal job, experience is always beneficial to your application.

    remember that getting a 3.0 GPA doesn’t guarantee entry into a masters program! there are other factors that will be considered during the admissions process, so don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

    if you haven’t already, check out the career learning network to see if there are any jobs open now that you are interested in!

    hope all of the above makes sense, i’m sorry i couldn’t give you an absolute answer since they do handle each application on a case by case basis. your best bet is calling the schools directly. (or emailing their askastudent) 🙂

    Distractify the clash

    (click on the .gif for the song. its a classic)

    peace and love,

    aska

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  • admissions,  GPA,  med school,  medicine

    gurl bye (revised)

    March 8, 2017

    Hi Aska! So I’m in my fifth year and hoping to go to med school. I’ve heard about the u of t weighing formula, and how they eliminate your lowest FCE for every year of full time study. I did a full course load for 4 of my 5 years (one year I did even did 6 FCEs), but for one of the years I did only 4.5 FCEs. Does this mean they won’t apply the weighing formula to me at all 🙁 Thanks so much in advance!

    ———————————————

    the original march 8th published version of this post contained incorrect information. please disregard the original post. it has since then been revised. please see below for the post. my sincerest apologies for the mistake!

    hey,

    this is a great question.

    what you’re referring to is the weighted GPA formula that we have at u of t for the MD program.

    you should be able to have your lowest 5 FCE’s removed from the calculation of your GPA since you completed 5 full years of undergraduate study. 4.5 FCE’s from fall to winter is still considered full time, so it looks like you’re good! if you want to triple check to make sure, you can always contact them directly!

    (fyi: full-time status= a student enrolled in 3.0 full course equivalents or more for the fall-winter sessions is considered to be full-time.)

    also, the frequently asked questions section of the MD program does state that if you have five years of undergraduate study, you are allowed to eliminate 5 of your lowest FCE’s from your GPA calculation. so there you go!

    since you are applying to med school, check out the OMSAS page on U of T if you haven’t already!

    say bye to those crappy breadth courses you almost failed

    peace and love,

    aska

    aska edit: shortly after posting this, i was notified of a mistake that i had made when looking at what counts as full time. i used the arts and sciences definition of full time when answering your question, and it ended up being drastically different than what medicine considers full time.

    so, as i’m sure you know, from the standpoint of medicine at u of t, in order to be considered full time, you need to be in 5 FCE’s. since you didn’t have 5 FCE’s in your last year, it may throw off your weighted GPA calculation and you may not be eligible to eliminate any of your lowest FCE’s. however, this is up to the discretion of admissions, so contacting them directly is the only way you’ll get a solid answer.

    i sincerely apologize for the mistake and any inconveniences (false hope) it may have caused! this is a student run website and sometimes we make mistakes but we always encourage you to contact the source directly. since your case is a unique case, please please please give them a call or shoot them an email: here is the link to their contact information: http://www.md.utoronto.ca/contact

     

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  • environment,  ethics,  subject POST,  switching

    the amount of garbage i produce is probably not good for the environment

    March 2, 2017

    Hi there
    I am in third year currently, and one of my two maajors  is environmental studies major (ASMAJ1254) I am attempting to plan out my academic future as practically as I can. I have been looking at the environmental ethics major (ASMAJ1107). I am more academically pulled towards the humanities and the philosophy courses offered with the env. ethics major. However, I want only to switch posts if this is a ‘smart move’ – which would mean the courses I have allocated thus far for my environmental studies major to transfer easily to a environmental ethics major.
    Being in third year, I am fine with staying put in my env. studies major. However, seeing the requirements, for both, I wanted to know, if I can apply for a type 1subject  post at any time. Is there any way I can (myself and not my registrar) map out, if I were to switch majors that are so similar,  if Id be further along to my degree (meaning my env major courses thus far would have transferred) or if this would this set me back, with me needing to take extra courses, and thus be behind in post requirements?
    Ive already written my registrar first for academic advice regarding subject posts, but until I go in to see them I thought Id ask here.
    Thank you for your time!

    ———————————————

    hey,

    thanks for writing in!

    switch if you are more interested in environmental ethics! do it! if you’ve figured out what you like, just go with it.

    whether or not it’s a smart move really depends on the courses you’ve already taken. you can definitely map out whether or not it’s logical with the picture below:

    while i’m sure you’ve looked at the calendar already, having visuals is nice so i compared the requirements of the two majors for you. the highlighted courses are courses that are overlapped in both programs. as you can see, there is quite a bit of overlap, but again, you would have had to have taken only highlighted courses for there not to be any setbacks.

    as for when you can switch: you can do this without the help of your registrar, however, i highly recommend that you schedule a meeting anyways, just in case you’ve missed something. it would suck majorly if you switched to a new major (lol) only to realize that you missed a requirement and need to take some extra classes. if that is the case, sometimes departments can make exceptions for you.

    the subject post change period for a type 1 subject POst (environmental ethics major) will be between april 1st and september 30th, which means you can log onto rosi or acorn, drop your environmental studies major and then type in the appropriate code: ASMAJ1107 to apply.

    since i don’t know what courses you’ve taken, i can’t map everything out for you, but i hope i’ve provided you with enough information as a stepping stone to figuring it all out.

    if you have any further questions, do contact your registrar’s office for support!

    peace and love,

    aska

     

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  • other schools (boo!),  probation,  Transferring

    u of t questions only please!

    February 27, 2017

    Hey Aska,

    I’m super worried right now and need your help. I’m currently in first year in U of T and am an architecture student. I have a couple of problems I need to discuss with you guys and please don’t mind the fact that i am about to go on a somewhat emotional rant. So, here’s my story:

    First thing I did in my fall term was that I decided to choose 6 courses for my double major, 4 architecture related and 2 actuarial related, and to add to that, each one was extremely difficult, but I learned that the hard way. Now, apparently 2/6 of the courses were on wait-list and i got in them after 1-2 weeks into the term, so I had to catch up. Initially it was going well until BAM, the course load hit me hard, like a meteor, and I returned that with a punch. however, meteor>punch, so yeah it didn’t go so well. I had to juggle between written assignments, readings (TONS of readings ), quizzes, Practice problems, Problem sets (I HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE Problem sets) and practical work and it was a huuuuuuuuuuge mess. I did one thing, left the others, did another thing, left the others and this was technically my routine. After a while, it got so bad that I had to drop one arch course (the practical bit) cause i was being late on my deadlines, and had a discussion with my prof. about my situation. It was only after he said that what I was doing was reckless and super difficult  that I figured out that I was messing up stuff. At the end, I was just trying my best to survive in the courses. My results have come out for Fall term and I really hate myself… (My GPA is 1.4). So in conclusion, I messed up really really really badly and it feels so not good……

    Right now, after a lot of discussion with my parents, siblings, and stuff, I decided that i am going to drop architecture and solely focus on actuarial science. I am planning on transferring to western university doing an actsci course over there that im really interested in. According to western, i need a min of 70% GPA overall and a good first year or semester grade, plus my highschool transcripts. Now, i want to ask is:

    1)I am in my winter semester right now, and planning on starting as first year in western fall semester 2017. I have found out that if I do good on both winter and summer terms that i am taking, i can get increase my GPA to 3+. Can I transfer to western for fall 2017 provided that i am taking a summer term of 2017?

    2) How does the whole transfer thing work anyway, can someone give a brief view on that.

    3) Also, suppose I don’t get accepted in western, can I continue at UOFT provided my GPA increases?

    4) when is the deadline for the transfer application?

    Thanks

    ———————————————

    hey,

    dude, i got so stressed out just reading this.

    since i am not affiliated with western, i won’t be able to answer any questions about admissions or transferring there (questions 1, 2, and 4). so sorry. my suggestion for you is to contact the school directly with any questions you might have. i technically could do all the research on the western website and link it to you, but i wouldn’t be able to provide any advice aside from what is written on the websites.

    i wish i could answer all of your questions but because it is about another school, i am not clear on their policies and processes. don’t worry, it’s not because we don’t want you to leave, we have your best interests at heart and if leaving is going to benefit you in the long-run, you absolutely should. U of T isn’t going to stop you!

    if you need support from us in your transfer process, i would recommend going to your registrar’s office to discuss your options. they’ll be able to guide you through the process since they do work with students that are transferring out.

    i am, however, able to answer one of your questions!

    3) since your GPA is 1.4, that means you are currently on academic probation, but:

    -if improve your grades up to a CGPA of 1.5 or higher and annual GPA of 1.7 or higher you’ll be back in good standing, meaning that you’ll be able to continue at U of T! 🙂

    -if your grades continue to be lower than a CGPA of 1.5 but your annual GPA is 1.7 or higher, you’ll continue for another year on probation. :/

    -if your grades fall under a CGPA of 1.5 or an annual GPA of 1.7 after one year of already being on academic probation, you will be suspended for one calendar year. 🙁

    get those grades up! i believe in you!

    for more info about how the academic probation thing works, check out the calendar rules on academic standing.

    hope this helped you!

    good luck with the rest of your semester and the summer! don’t feel discouraged by bad grades, it definitely took me a very very long time to figure out how to do “just okay” in school. it’s going to take time and a lot of discipline. keep pushing forward after obstacles gets you down and you’ll find that, in the end, you’ll have the strength to climb up obstacles that you never knew you could climb before! (sounds like a disney song lol)

    peace, love, and solidarity,

    aska

     

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  • graduation

    congradulations

    February 8, 2017

    If my last semester at uoft is in the Summer which convocation ceremony would I be a part of, November or June? And what about if my last semester was in the Fall? Also when should I start with preparing for things like convocation tickets, grad pics, would it be the semester before your last semester or during your last semester?

    ———————————————

    hello!

    congrats on almost graduating! you’re almost there! if your last semester is during the summer, you’ll be part of the november convocation ceremony (hey, me too!). if your last semester is in the fall, you’ll have to wait until june.

    don’t forget to request graduation! check out the sessional dates here to see when you can request graduation on ROSI/ ACORN.

    convocation.utoronto.ca has all the information about when to get tickets. since your expected graduation date is not the upcoming one, the deadline for RSVP won’t be available yet, but you’ll have quite a long time to RSVP and reserve tickets on ROSI/ ACORN when the time comes.

    contact your registrars office to see when grad photos will be taken. each college has different grad photo slots, and you can even get yours taken outside of your college at any studio of your choice. at each college, there is usually one grad photo slot for people graduating for both june and november. if you’ve missed the photo-taking period in your college, you can try contacting the studio which does U of T’s grad photos.

    good luck with everything!

    peace and love,

    aska

     

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  • music

    music is a right

    February 7, 2017

    Does uft offer music instrument lessons? If not is there a way to find a student to teach you a particular instrument? (lessons are so expensive!!!!)

    ———————————————

    hey,

    i love that you asked this question. i answer so many questions about GPA’s and transfers that it leaves my head spinning! finally, a question about music!

    on a side note- musician rant: charging people a lot for lessons is totally justified!

    i agree with you that lessons ARE expensive, but they are expensive for a good reason. as someone who took music lessons for about 15 years, i was reminded by my mother on a daily basis that lessons cost a ton! if i were to teach now, i’d definitely charge a lot to make up for how much i had to pay when i was a student. getting certified as a teacher under the royal conservatory of music is an expensive and arduous process- it’s hard to put a price on the hours and hours of practicing and studying for theory exams, but if you had to put a price on your musical education, it makes sense that it would be quite hefty.

    ***most of this rant stems from my frustration at not being paid enough as a hired musician at weddings and other functions. always pay musicians generously to play at functions!***

    anyways, my answer for you is: U of T doesn’t offer music lessons for students outside of the faculty of music. (boo.) while there are tons of clubs for people who play instruments such as string ensembles and orchestras, i haven’t been able to find any music lessons that are offered by the school.

    i asked my friends in the faculty and even reached out to pedagogy profs about your question but no one gave me any advice as to how to go about looking for cheap music lessons. i was hoping that there would be some kind of online resource where students in the faculty of music can advertise their teaching services, but unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to exist.

    so behold: here are some askastudent ways to solicit music lessons:

    1) university settlement music and arts school. this school provides affordable music lessons to people of all ages and incomes. their philosophy is that music is a right, not a privilege,
    (which i think is a fantastic philosophy) and that people shouldn’t be limited if they don’t have the means to pay for expensive lessons. how wonderful. be sure to check them out.

    2) U of T facebook groups. people who frequent these groups are always happy to show off the fact that they play an instrument and are good at it. make a post in one of the many U of T facebook groups (accepted: class of 2019) and ask if any one of the 10,737 people in the group are willing to teach you an instrument. sit, wait and watch the comments will roll in.

    3) find a jam session happening at your college. my college has a club where everyone brings instruments to jam and most of the time, students end up teaching their peers how to play certain instruments. it’s definitely a good place to start.

    4) BUNZ. bunz is a free website/ app/ community where you can trade items and services. the good thing about this is that no exchange of money is allowed, which is perfect for people who can’t afford lessons. people on bunz really like food so you could probably trade a couple of jars of pasta sauce for a lesson! the possibilities are endless.

    5) kijiji and craigslist. pretty self explanatory, but use these with caution. these can be super sketchy.

    6) good ol bulletin boards. bulletin boards on campus often have flyers for music lessons. vocal lessons are probably the ones i’ve seen the most, but i’m sure if you dug deep enough, you’ll be able to find what you’re looking for. some notable bulletin boards are located at hart house (basement, near sammy’s student exchange cafe), robarts 2nd floor, and the faculty of music building.

    WARNING: be smart about meeting up with people from the internet. take all the steps to make sure that they aren’t going to kidnap you. meet in a public place first and have a friend hanging around to make sure you are safe.

    i hope this helped at least a little bit. definitely look into the university settlement music program- i’ve heard good things!

    if all else fails, i’ll teach you!

    peace, love, and happy major chords all around,

    aska

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