• awkwardness,  choosing,  fees

    sad, but true

    August 26, 2016

    Hi,
    I currently have an unconditional offer from University of Toronto, but I’ve also gotten an offer from another university which I’d prefer to go to. I can’t seem to find a way to contact University of Toronto that I won’t be going to their university this year as I do not currently reside in Canada, and they seem to be very slow at responding to my emails.
    I still haven’t paid any fees to University of Toronto. If I don’t contact University of Toronto about my withdrawal, would there be additional fees I need to pay?
    In a nutshell, Do I need to contact the university about my withdrawal? if so then how?
    Thanks for your time

    ———————————————

    hi!

    if you haven’t accepted the offer or paid any fees, you will not be registered. there are no additional fees that you will have to pay if you have not triggered registration. in not paying your fees, you’ll be sending a pretty obvious message to the school that you won’t be attending.

    however, there should be an option on the OUAC portal for you to decline your offer to uoft. if you can’t find that, it may be that your acceptance of another’s university’s offer automatically declined your offer to every other university. don’t make any assumptions though. you should definitely contact enrolment services to get some help in formally declining your offer.

    we’re sorry you’ve chosen another school, but we wish you the best of luck in your endeavours!

    *but seriously, i bet your new school doesn’t have an aska, which automatically makes it worse than U of T. sad, but true.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • frosh

    too busy for orientation

    August 26, 2016

    Hello! Just wondering but I have a lot of other stuff to do during what would be frosh week, (such as shopping for supplies, getting my Tcard etc etc), and I was wondering if I should register for frosh week regardless? Will I be able to do both/get my “money’s worth”? Thanks ^^

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    as a long-time grump and misanthrope, i can testify that frosh week can be fun – even for people like me. it takes some doing to make me enjoy an event like orientation, which is loud, busy, and crowded. however, cheesy as it may sound, it’s a great opportunity to make friends. this is especially true if you won’t be living in residence and won’t have as much of an opportunity to meet new people.

    also, orientation (when done right) is a positive experience, and those don’t come often around here. there is an incredible pessimism about university, especially at uoft. while you are in it, it’s difficult, you’re often in over your head, and you want it to be over as soon as possible. this feeling is amplified by the thousands of students around you – in your classes, in your friend group, on facebook – who feel the same way. orientation week is a way to kick off four years of pessimism with a joie-de-vivre that is pretty difficult to conjure up once school actually begins. and that enthusiasm, as hokey as it may seem in the moment, makes a difference.

    if i can’t get you with the emotional argument, there are a lot of practical positives to orientation as well: it helps you get familiar with campus, there are relevant info sessions as well as (largely irrelevant) fun activities, and you can ask questions of your frosh leaders, who are upper year students that actually want to give you advice!*

    and finally: you will have plenty of time to get your TCard, buy textbooks, and do everything else you need to do even if you participate in frosh week.

    all that being said, if it still sounds like something you just don’t want to do, then hey, you don’t have to! orientation is just one week. you have four years of decisions ahead of you, so you may as well start off on the right foot by making a decision that you are comfortable with. do you.

    i hope that helps!

    aska

    * outside of orientation, this is rare. most people just want you to stay out of their face as they try to get through lecture on three hours of sleep.

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  • jobs

    job eat job world

    August 24, 2016
    Do you think it will be hard for me to get a decent job straight after graduating university with BA Honours in Political Science?
     ———————————————
    hey there,

     

    ehhh, probably? i’m typically averse to answering questions about how ‘hard’ things are, because then i would have to ignore all the million things that make your situation unique, and pretend that your idea of a ‘decent job’ and of ‘hard’ are the same as mine – which, they are probably not. i do think it’s safe to say, though, that nobody finds looking for a job easy. it requires real effort, and it can be very discouraging if you don’t hear back from a lot of places.

     

    however, as a recent graduate in English and Political Science myself, some of the things i have to say may actually be helpful in making this all a bit easier on you. here are my tips for job-searching out of an undergrad:

     

    1) the wider you cast your net, the easier a time you will have looking for jobs. this doesn’t mean ‘apply for every and any job you come across.’ apply for jobs that you find interesting, that require skills that you already have. don’t fall into the trap of applying for everything. that will just tire you out, likely with little result.

     

    the key is that you apply to a lot of the types of jobs that actually suit you. look at a lot of different job-hunt sites. use the CLN. if you know someone who works somewhere that you want to work, let them know you’d be interested in a position there. don’t be afraid to apply to jobs that you think you’re not ready for – the worst they can do is say no.

     

     

    2) start early! start thinking about what kind of job(s) you’d be interested in at the beginning of your fourth year. don’t discount this step just because ‘thinking’ doesn’t sound like a real thing you have to actually do. determining exactly what kind of job you’re after is essential to a successful job hunt. as an undergrad in poli sci, you’re not graduating with any kind of professional designation, which means you actually have to research what field you’d like to go into. the nice thing is that you have a wide variety of options available to you. the flip side is that you’ll have to convince every place you apply to why you’re qualified for the job. and before you can answer that question to employers, you have to answer it for yourself: what are you good at? why do you want to do what you want to do?

     

    begin browsing for jobs as soon as you’re done your thinking stage. doing this will get you ready for the actual job hunt. bookmark companies or opportunities that might be of interest to you. that way, in December/January, you’ll be all ready to start actually applying for jobs.

     

    3) if you know you have a weak spot when it comes to job application (writing resumes, interview skills, actually finding jobs to apply to, etc.), see if the career centre has some resources for you (spoiler: they probably do). they can coach you on writing your CVs and resumes, interview skills, and lots more. also, you can use the career centre free of charge up to TWO YEARS after you graduate, which is nice.

     

    4) customize EVERYTHING. i know it’s hard. i know it’s annoying. but DON’T send standard, copy/pasted resumes, because that is the easiest way for an employer to decide which candidates to discard. make sure to quote the name of the job in the CV. talk about why you’d be a good fit for the organization you’re applying to. address your cover letter to the hiring manager/employer. as someone who’s been on the other side of this, believe me, these seemingly small details are crucial.

     

    finally, a word of caution: i know it can feel impossible to find a job in a time when every job seems to require highly specialized skills. if the field you want to get into really does seem to require a college certificate or graduate degree, consider doing that. however, don’t get a college certificate/graduate degree because you hope it’ll give you better odds at landing a job. that’s a waste of time and money.

     

    job-hunting is labour intensive, and emotionally draining. but it can be done.

     

    good luck!

     

    aska
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  • other schools (boo!),  transfer credits,  Transferring

    :-(

    August 18, 2016

    Hello, so I’m currently on academic probation after my first year and due to personal family issues, my father asked me to transfer for a year to St Marys university in Calgary, and then come back to utsg. Will I be able to get transfer credits for the courses I do at the other institution and do I have to reapply or can I just re-register for courses for the semester I come back for?

    Sincerely, a very sad confused person

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    as long as you have a mark on your transcript (and you must have, because you can’t be put on academic probation if you don’t have any marks), you’re officially in uoft.

    wow, how vague. what do you mean by that, aska?

    i mean that once you’ve received a mark at uoft (specifically, in the faculty of arts & science), you can come back to uoft anytime you want. so if you leave, get into another university, and come back after a year (or two, or five), all you have to do is get re-registered (and cough up twenty-five bucks) and sign up for courses.

    that being said, if you are on academic probation at uoft, you cannot receive transfer credits from another university. that means that if you were to follow through with your plans to transfer to St Mary’s, none of the credits you received there could be transferred back to your UofT degree.

    a little bit of unsolicited advice for you: don’t plan so far in advance. if you think it’s a good idea to transfer to St. Mary’s, do it. maybe you’ll really like it and decide to stick around there. that’s great! maybe not. maybe you decide to come back to uoft. that’s great, too! try to take life as it comes to you. changing schools is always a scary thing, but it’s going to be ok.

    and uoft will always be here (very like another ancient school), if you ever decide to come back. i hope that makes you a bit less sad and confused.

    best of luck with all of it,

    aska

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  • first year,  friends,  international students

    f is for friends who do stuff together

    August 18, 2016

    Hi I’m starting at uoft soon and I’m an international student so I will literally not know anyone when I start! Any tips on how to make friends?

    ———————————————

    hey,

    first of all, welcome to canada! i hope you love toronto as much as i do.

    “how do i make friends” is a question we get a lot on askastudent, so if it feels like i’m repeating stuff i’ve said in the past, i apologize. since you’re asking this question, i assume you haven’t read those entries. no worries!

    orientation week (or the less politically correct ‘frosh week’) is a place where you’ll be bombarded by hundreds of people from your college. even if some events seem lame, i highly recommend you attend orientation week. people will be talking about it for years and you’ll feel like you missed out on an important aspect of the university experience. this is your opportunity to take your pick. play the field, mingle, and be cool. if you aren’t cool, don’t be cool. just be yourself so the friends you make will know who you are as opposed to who you’re trying to be. after frosh week, if these friends stick, they’ll probably be the ones who will stick around for a while.

    if they don’t, that’s okay, it just wasn’t meant to be. here comes option 2 if frosh friends are a no-go.

    if you live in residence, attend res events. take advantage of floor bonding activities because they’re literally there for you to meet friends. bond with them.

    if you aren’t living in residence, that’s okay too!

    participate in an extra-curricular activity or two! u of t has clubs for everything you could possibly think of. join a choir, throw a frisbee around, or play chess! you’re bound to find a club that you’re interested in.

    lastly, don’t be afraid to talk to people in class. it’s always good to have a friend in a class in case you decide to sleep in for one of your 9am classes. But you know, aside from using these people for notes, you can actually try be friends with them!

    personally, i make friends with people when i find out we dislike the same things. ‘dislike’ is a strong word and emotion but i feel like it’s very easy to make friends if you complain about the same things. but that’s just me. maybe don’t do that. love one another and be kind, like ellen.

    not to be a debbie downer, but remember that friends are easy to make but hard to keep. it’s going to take some effort to keep some of these friendships going, just like it’ll take time for you to get used to having long distance friendships with people back home. don’t forget to make an effort to reach out or see each other some time. let them know you care! soon enough, you’ll have a squad, if that’s your kind of thing.

    peace and love,

    aska

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  • math,  repeating course

    again and again…and again

    August 16, 2016

    Hi, since I need MAT135 up to a 60% for cs major but i only got a 50% during the school year, but i am not doing too well this summer, now i wonder what will happen if i fail this course during the summer, will it still count in my gpa or no

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    those differential equations giving you grief, eh? i feel you on that one.

    according to the Rules & Regulations in the course calendar, it looks like you can only repeat a passed course one time. i’m specifically looking at the line that says: “Students may not use this one-time-only allowance to subsequently repeat a passed course again after having repeated the same course for reasons noted in i) above, i.e., they may repeat a specific passed course only once.”

    that seems pretty clear cut to me, however, since these repeated courses must be added by your registrar’s office, it’s possible that your college registrar could make an exception in certain circumstances. or maybe not. i dunno. best thing to do? talk to them about it.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • degree requirements,  engineering,  graduation

    i feel bad for engineers, i do

    August 15, 2016

    Dear ASKA,

    If you stop taking courses mid-degree to do other stuff, perhaps for years, can you come back and finish university?

    The APSC faculty has this time limit in which you have to do all your courses:

    “To qualify for a degree, a student must complete a full undergraduate program as outlined in the Faculty Calendar within NINE calendar years of first registration, exclusive of mandatory absences from his or her program.”

    There doesn’t seem to be anything relevant in the A&S calendar besides this:

    “Re-Registration in the Faculty Students who were previously registered as degree or non-degree students in this Faculty, who have completed at least one course in the Faculty, and who wish to return after an absence must submit a “Request for Re-registration Form” (charge $25) through their college registrar’s office. Re-registration is necessary for students who have not registered in this Faculty within the previous 12 months.”

    So, what is the expiration date on taken courses? Or do all art-scis have all the time in the world?

    This is the only concern I could think of – if there are others, please let everyone know!

    (Category: degree requirements)

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    you’re right, arts & science students have no time limit on their degree. they can take off as much time as they want, and come back to complete a degree at any point. if they are away for more than a year, they just have to pay a $25 fee to get re-registered.

    as far as i can tell, the information you found is correct. looks like engineers only have nine years to complete their degree. so, you can take time off, just not an indefinite amount. i guess it’s more important for an engineer’s knowledge to be fresh in their mind than it is for me to clearly remember the finer points of Bezukhov’s character in War & Peace on convocation day.

    so there you go! one more thing engineering students can add to their ‘woe is me’ repertoire. you’re welcome, nerds.

    cheers,

    aska

    P.S. i know how to categorize posts, my dude. i appreciate the help, but there’s no need for backseat blogging here on askastudent.

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  • OSAP,  UTAPS

    a grant is granted

    August 10, 2016

    Hello,

    So. This is my first year back after about 10 years, so I’m a little rusty. I took 1.5 credits this summer, and have just dropped a half-credit (0.5) course.
    Last week, before I dropped said course, I received a top-up from UTAPs, and was fully intending to continue on in the course, but life happens and an advisor told me I should LWD from it rather than risk failing (which was highly probable). So as of now:
    1. Will I be on academic probation with OSAP (first time offender),
    and,
    2. will I have to pay back the extra top up provided the university? I haven’t spent it all but definitely paid some rent and bought groceries and ttc etc.
    Much appreciated!

    B
    ———————————————

    hey there B,

    1. since you need to be in/pass at least 1.5 FCEs to be making “sufficient academic progress” in the summer, then yes, you will likely be put on OSAP probation at the end of the summer term. if that happens, you’ll need to write a letter to OSAP explaining what happened and how you’ll make sure that it won’t happen again in future. if you want help with that, you should definitely contact enrolment services. i mean, you definitely don’t want my help with it. as soon as i can’t link to stupid GIFs in a written medium, i’m at a loss. stick with enrolment services, for sure.

    2. UTAPs is a grant, so you shouldn’t have to repay it to the university after you receive it. the only instance in which this might happen would be if you dropped all your courses before you got an instalment. from what i understand, that’s not what happened in your case, so you should be a-ok.

    feel free to follow up with your registrar’s office and/or enrolment services with all this, so they can guide you through this process.

    best,

    aska

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  • graduation

    a sad fifth year

    August 9, 2016

    Hello,

    I am sadly going to be doing my 5th year in the fall.

    Is there any way I can graduate in June while taking my last course in the summer? I really don’t want to wait another year just to graduate.

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    you’ll be taking courses until summer 2017, you mean? if so, then no, you can’t graduate in June 2017. the next best thing you can do is graduate in November 2017, which is a wait time of only 2 months after you finish classes. not too shabby, if i do say so myself.

    and hey, if you get a job or something in those two months and you don’t yet have your degree, not to worry; after you finish your courses, the faculty can confirm that you are eligible to graduate and have completed your program requirements.

    peace,

    aska

    P.S. don’t be so sad about doing a fifth year! it won’t be so bad. maybe you can join a club or something to help the time pass? just a thought.

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  • subject POST

    *gloria gaynor voice* YOU WILL SURVIVE

    August 9, 2016

    Hey aska!

    I’m entering my first year at the UofT for humanities and in second year I want to be in the health studies and employment relations program doing a double major. Both program say that there is limited enrollment. I even visited the campus and talked to a prof there and he said he doesnt know too much about the health studies program but knows they only take in 40 people from around 200 applications.

    I talked to the Health Studies student union on their facebook page and they said from what they know the program accepts everyone who qualifies so that was confusing cause online it says its limited enrolment. In health studies you can take any course to get in but you should have some science courses and social science courses. However, for the employment relations
    program they want you to take economics and the sociology and psychology courses.

    I’m really worried I may not get in the programs and I know people say “have a backup” but those are really the only 2 programs I am into and I want to work in a hospital or business as a coordinator or human resources manager or perhaps in health policy. I really do not want to transfer into York U second year for their health management program because I like UofT
    much much better. From your experience, have you seen people who did not get into their program? Did you get into the program you wished to be in? And finally what advice would you give me?

    Thanks so much for your time!

    ———————————————

    hey!

    welp. i feel you like you’ve already done more research than i have on this one. i don’t want to disagree with so many sources, but i believe your initial information was correct. the employment relations major is indeed a type 3 (which means there is limited enrolment), and the health studies major is a type 2L (also limited enrolment).

    i’ve never heard that stat about health studies before, so i can’t confirm it, but who am i to contravene a professor? what he said certainly makes more sense than what the health studies union said, since program enrolment is definitely limited for the health studies major. maybe they meant it as a consoling platitude (like, “don’t even worry about it! pretty much everyone gets in who applies!”) rather than an actual fact.

    but let me back up for a second here: you’re only going into your first year. i feel like you’re worrying about things that are way, way out of your control right now. i know you’ve got your heart set on this path, but you never know – you may end up hating it. i’m not saying you will, just that it’s a possibility. you may change your plans entirely. or you may absolutely CRUSH your courses and be basically a shoe-in to both your majors. right now, you can’t know for sure which way it’s gonna go.

    in the face of that uncertainty, what i would do is stick to your plan and focus on doing as well as possible in your courses, to increase your chances of getting into the majors you want. try to focus on the now.

    nonetheless, i’m feeling that you have a LOT OF ANXIETY about this, so i’m gonna go along with you on your hypothetical for just a minute. let’s assume the worst case scenario: you don’t get into either one or both of your majors.

    i have seen lots and lots of people not get into their program of choice, and while i admire your drive, there is one thing and one thing only that distinguishes success from failure: being able to adapt. that doesn’t mean giving up on your dream. but if (worst case) you don’t get into one or both of your majors, you can STILL ACHIEVE YOUR GOAL of working in human resources/health policy – you just might have to go about it a different way.

    for example, maybe you don’t get into employment relations, but you still make sure to complete the required courses to gain CHRP designation, making it easy for you to go out into the world and do human resources for a living. instead of health studies, you pursue a global health major; very similar, but it’s a type 1, meaning you’re guaranteed enrolment.

    or maybe you do a Master’s of Industrial Relations and Human Resources after your undergrad, and then go into the working world.

    there are many, many more options that can all take you to the same place. and if you need some help figuring out which options are available to you, you can always book appointments with your registrar’s office throughout your time at uoft.

    see? even your worst case scenario is survivable.

    all the best for your first year,

    aska

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  • hard,  polisci

    how many politicians per campus have we produced

    August 8, 2016

    is it easier to get good marks for political science at uoft mississauga or uoft scarborough compared to uoft st geroge? thanks!

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    i have a documented dislike of these kinds of questions, because i feel like there’s no sufficient way to answer them. who’s to say what would be easier or harder for you? i don’t know you. i don’t know YOUR STORY. and there’s no acknowledged hierarchy that i can refer to in order to, like, rank them.

    i won’t play dumb. i know that the downtown campus has a reputation as a more academically rigorous campus than the other two. i don’t know if it’s the professors or the workload or just the fact that st. george is so much bigger – and therefore seems more intimidating – than the other campuses, but it does have that reputation.

    that being said, i don’t have any actual numbers or facts to back up this bad (or good? depending on how you look at it) rap that st. george has as a ‘hard’ school. i have no way of comparing grades across the three campuses, or anything like that. in addition, i’ve only ever been a student downtown. my own experience was that i never found it that difficult. challenging, for sure, but survivable. one of my POSts was poli sci at the downtown campus, and i didn’t ONCE cry over my notes in a library. yeah, that’s what you call a winner.

    that being said: no two people have the same university experience, and you shouldn’t base a decision like this on what some anonymous blog is telling you.

    if i were trying to decide between the three campuses, i wouldn’t make the decision based on something as ephemeral and quantitatively groundless as “easiness.” instead, i would consider things like: what courses you need to take for each campus’ program, which campus is closer to where you’ll be living, which campus you like best, and whether any of the campuses offer special programs.

    for example, UTM offers combined specialists in economics and political science and history and political science, and UTSC offers a co-op program in public policy that may interest you. meanwhile, UTSG has a stellar faculty. UTM and UTSG both require 10.0 FCEs for their specialist, while UTSC requires 12.0 FCEs. small differences like this can be what you base your decision on.

    i know i didn’t actually answer your question, but unfortunately, there was no way to do that without a lot of wild guesses, and askastudent is about the HARD FACTS, son.

    have a groovy Monday ~

    aska

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  • Transferring

    transfer^2

    August 5, 2016

    Hey aska! This June I transferred to UTSC from York University and got admitted as a second year student, if I transfer to UTM next year will my credits took at York be accepted by UTM?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    wow, you really can’t decide on a university, huh? you’re like a frog, hopping from one academic lilypad to another.

    i called the scintillating folks at the Student Recruitment & Admissions Office at UTM, and they let me know that both your UTSC and York U credits would be assessed all over again, and then you would receive a certain number of transfer credits towards your UTM degree. your previous transfer credits would be disregarded.

    hope that helps. have a swaggy weekend.

    ribbit,

    aska

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  • masters,  rotman

    MB, eh?

    August 4, 2016

    I’m working towards a bachelor degree in psychology and communications, could I apply for mba?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    i’m going to answer this question using the uoft MBA program as a guide, because your undergrad degree is probably not from uoft (seeing as we don’t have a communications program), and you didn’t say where you want to get your MBA, but i have to assume something about this question is related to uoft. it’s in our URL, after all.

    MBAs, like JDs and MDs, are surprisingly lax in their undergraduate requirements. you don’t need to have a specific degree or a background in a certain area in order to apply. your bachelor in psych and communications would not disqualify you.

    what you should take a look at is all of their other requirements for admission, of which there are quite a few: GRE/GMAT scores, a competitive GPA, (typically) at least 2 years of work experience, an admissions essay and an interview, and possibly a few more things besides. if you’re wondering what you’re up against in terms of competition for admission, take a look at the current class profile. you can find out the average admissions GPA, average GMAT score, and other helpful information to give you an idea of what the school is looking for.

    in short: the world is your oyster, future expensive tie-wearer! go forth and apply. i hope all your dreams come true.

    cheers,

    aska

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