• enrollment

    non. (degree)

    December 11, 2015

    Hi,

    I was wondering if there were any conflicts/downfalls or perks/upsides to?registering as a non-degree student at UofT in order to enrol in summer?undergraduate courses prior to registering full-time in September.

    Some background – I am currently finishing my masters out-of-province this?spring, and am “starting over’, or at least from the bottom, in psychology.

    Thanks!

    ???????????????

    hey there,

    the main downfall is that it’s typically not allowed.

    non-degree is only available to students who have already been enrolled at uoft and graduated, or for students who have applied specifically for non-degree studies.

    if you have never studied here and you’ve?been accepted for a degree program starting in 2016-2017, then you’ll most likely only be able to begin in september 2016.

    however, you can always talk to the registrar’s office at the college you’ve been accepted to to see if a special arrangement can be made for you to get started early. there’s no guarantee, but since you already have a master’s degree and you’re starting over, it may be a possibility.

    if they do allow it, there’re no real academic repercussions. you’ll have to pay a little more, since tuition fees for fall/winter don’t cover summer courses, so that’s annoying and also may or may not be possible depending on the funds at your disposal.

    another thing to consider is that the courses you want to take may not be offered in the summer term. take a look at what was offered last summer to get an idea of the usual course offerings.

    other than that, if it’s allowed and you want to do it, go forth and prosper (i.e. die slowly indoors while everyone is outside enjoying their summer).

    good luck with your new degree! i hope it serves you well.

    aska

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  • subject POST

    whose POSt? *MY* POSt?

    December 11, 2015

    is it hard to get into your POST after first year?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    which POSt are you talking about? this POSt? that POSt? my POSt?

    the difficulty associated with getting into a POSt all depends on which POSt(s) you want. usually, you can still apply to a POSt after your second or even third year. however, getting into that POSt could be very easy, or very hard, and it all depends on what you want to study. so lemme break it down:

    subjects POSts can be either level 1’s, 2’s, 2L’s or 3’s. level 1 POSts only require that you’ve completed 4.0 credits to get in. level 2 POSts have certain additional requirements, but as long as you meet the requirements, you’re guaranteed admission.

    level 2L POSts have specific requirements but limited admission, which means that meeting the requirements is no guarantee of admission. finally, type 3 POSts have specific requirements, limited admission, and you have to submit an additional application outside of ROSI.

    so it all depends on the POSt. you can find out what type your POSt of interest is here.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • dropping courses

    drop ’em like their exams ARE WORTH 65%

    December 9, 2015

    I seem to be in a bit of a Jam. I’m currently enrolled in 3 English courses this semester and with the upcoming deadline for dropping courses approaches on the 19th of November I’ve decided that I want to drop EngB05. I did it last summer but I ended up failing it and listed it under the credit no credit option so it’s listed as no credit on my transcript. Also I’m not doing so well in the other courses and might probably fail them both. I’m aware that if I drop one my 3 courses my status will probably change to part time but what are the possible repercussions of that? Also would it be wise to simply select the credit no credit option for the other two courses just as a precaution? and if I do would my cgpa for this semester simply be a 0.00 because I dropped B05 and failed both courses?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    well, that deadline is long gone now. i hope you spoke with your registrar before dropping.

    i guess the major repercussions in this case kind of depend on your other courses. if you had dropped these three english courses before november 19th and you were not in any other courses, there wouldn’t really be any academic consequences. it would just mean you wouldn’t have a GPA for this semester and your fee situation might change.

    if you dropped them all after the deadline, you’d just have a bunch of LWDs on your transcript, which wouldn’t affect your GPA, but would require some explaining in future grad/professional school applications.

    if you failed two courses and dropped one, however, your sessional GPA would be a combination of those failing grades (and the grades in any other courses you took this semester). and if your CGPA drops below 1.60 after that, that means that you would go on academic probation.

    academic probation means that you have one semester to raise your GPA above a 1.60, or you’ll be put on suspension. if you are put on probation (you’ll receive an e-mail about it, and it’ll be noted on your transcript), then you have one semester to raise your GPA above a 1.60 before being suspended.

    if you do go on probation, i’d recommend you find some time to talk to your registrar’s office about it before starting next semester, so you go in with the best possible chance of getting out of probation.

    best of luck,

    aska

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  • admissions

    an especially early highschool freak-out

    December 4, 2015

    Hi
    I am in grade 11, but i took my advanced functions this year. I am in the AP class, and I currently am only getting an 81 in it. Since it is AP, we have already finished all of the work for the course, all that is left is the exam. Is an 81 good enough to be accepted into u of t life science if all of my other courses are in the 90s? or will that one mark ruin my chance of being accepted, since it is a required course for the program?
    Thanks

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    first of all: this is an inherently flawed question, because there’s no way to even?guess at whether you’d be admitted based on one mark. that being said, this answer is going to be limited to GENERAL PLATITUDES that will hopefully calm your soul a little bit in this troubling time of exams and winter slush.

    FIRSTLY:?an 81?is not a bad mark,?especially in AP. it may lower your average a little bit, but?if the rest of your courses will be?in the 90s (or even the high 80s), you’re still on the right track.

    SECONDLY: it is very hard to say every year what the cut-off for admission will be in every program, because so much of it depends on the competition – how good is everyone else who’s applying compared to you? however, there are trends, and they might be more comforting than you would imagine.

    the admission grade range in life science for?Fall 2015 was in the low to mid 80s?- which means that even your ‘bad’ mark is within the admission range for this past year.

    this does not mean that i am guaranteeing that you will be admitted to life science, or even to uoft. i have no way of knowing that. all i am saying is that you are doing well, and if you continue to work hard, you will likely have a good chance of being?admitted.

    finally: university is four years of non-stop stress. i don’t want to invalidate the stress you are feeling in high school – because it is very real – but i do want to give you a gentle reminder to stop and smell the roses, when you can. acknowledge your successes. try and enjoy what is left of high school. allow yourself to be at least a bit excited about university, along with being anxious about it. have a cookie. go for a walk in the crunchy fall leaves. take four deep breaths in and out after finishing this post.

    and best of luck 🙂

    cheers,

    aska

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  • degree requirements,  history

    as many 400-level courses as your heart desires <3

    December 4, 2015

    Hey aska,

    A few questions for you on degree planning:

    1. I am enrolled in a History and Classical Civ double major. In total the 300+ credits that I will accumulate between majors is 4.5 credits; however, according to the faculty’s degree requirements, I must have at least 6.0 300/400 credits to graduate. To accomodate this, I plan to do an additional 1.5 300 credits distributed between the majors (1.0 to HIS, 0.5 to CLA) that keep me within the 15 ‘three-letter designator’ limit but take me to 6.0 300/400 credits total. My question is, do you know of any problem with going above the required credits for a program in order to accomodate additional 300/400 credits? I am aware that for both majors I cannot do more than 0.5 400 credits, but I see no problem doing more 300 levels, unless ACORN bars me from doing so. I cannot think of any other way to gain more 300/400 credits as I wouldn’t take electives at so high a level. Any thoughts?

    2. How is it determined which courses are counted towards a particular program (major)? On degree explorer I’ve seen CLA160H counted towards the HIS major sometimes as a Related course, and at other times I’ve seen other applicable HIS courses count. As long as I have an acceptable combination of courses to complete a program, it shouldn’t matter which courses are counted towards which program, right? I would like to count CLA160H towards the HIS major – is there a way to indicate this on degree explorer?

    3. This is probably obvious, but CLA160 will not count as a three-letter designator course towards History, right? It doesn’t start with HIS…

    Many thanks!

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    1) that’s not a problem at all. also, i think you’ve misunderstood the calendar requirements: you need to take a minimum of 0.5 400-level FCEs for your history major, not a maximum. you are totally allowed to take more than 0.5 400-level FCEs (though maybe don’t take too many if you?still want to be sane in your fourth year).

    2) you can learn all about which courses count as related courses here. HIS courses won’t count as related courses, because they already count towards the degree, but CLA160H1 should count.

    i think your confusion is mostly about how degree explorer functions: degree explorer uses as many credits as needed to satisfy a requirement, and then it stops. from what i can tell, which credits it uses is mostly arbitrary – so even if CLA160H1 could be used to fill a program requirement, but you took some other course that also fills it, degree explorer may use that other course instead of CLA160H1. that doesn’t mean you did anything WRONG – it’s just how the program works.

    for example, let’s say you took 1.5 credits in pre-modern history – the major only requires 1.0 credits, so degree explorer is going to discard 0.5 of your credits, but that doesn’t mean you haven’t filled the requirement, or done anything wrong. so, to answer your questions: no, it doesn’t matter which courses are used for any requirement, as long as the requirement is met.

    if you want to make certain that all your requirements are being filled and degree explorer is being confusing, you can always book a ‘grad check’ appointment with your registrar’s office in your fourth year, and the advisor will make sure you’re filling all your requirements.

    3) like i said, it can count as a related course in a few capacities. you may want to ask the history department whether it can be used to fulfil whatever specific requirement you’d like it to fill.

    hope that helps, amigo ~

    wishing you a merry merry exam season,

    aska

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  • dropping courses

    drop that nightmare of a course!

    December 2, 2015

    If I dropped a course before the deadline, will it show on my transcript/academic record?

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    what a timely and relevant question! and the answer is:

    nope

    the deadline to drop F courses from your transcript and GPA was november 8th. if you dropped before that, there will be no record that you were ever in the course on your transcript.

    after the 8th, if you drop the course, it is called a ‘late withdrawal‘ and will show up on your transcript as LWD. you have until the last day of classes to LWD, and you’ll just have to go in to your registrar’s office to do that (try not to do it on the very last day if possible, because it will be MADNESS in there – that’s a little inside tip for ya).

    cheers,

    aska

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  • registration

    coming home (coming home), tell the world…

    December 2, 2015

    Hey so i was enrolled in the 2013-2014 year for my first year in social sciences and after that year I felt like I didnt know what i wanted this affected my grades since i only came out with one credit so i took a break. Its november of 2015 and i think i finally decided I want to pursue mathematics.

    So what i was wondering is do i have to do anything special to begin enrolling again or do i just wait till we begin enrolling in courses for next year again and rejoin the crowd?

    My account is in good standing since i dropped most things and it still says active on rosi.

    Also if i wanted to enroll in a couple classes this upcoming winter semester is it too late? Just something to wet my beak so Im not thrown into a full semester after so much time out of school.

    Thank you in advance

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    glad to hear you found the time off helpful and that you’re coming back! take note, anxious first years: time off is not the end of the world, and you will come out alive on the other side.

    all you have to do to come back is re-register. that requires you to go to your college/faculty registrar’s office, fill out a form, pay a $25 fee, and then boom! you’re “invited,” which means you can enrol in courses again when course enrolment starts in june.

    if you have any outstanding fees, you’ll have to pay those off probably before you enrol, and you’ll need to keep in mind deadlines for making payments for next year.

    the process is the same for the winter semester, though it will be difficult (though definitely not impossible) to find courses that aren’t full already. i would recommend perusing the course calendar and seeing what’s still available/interesting to you before going in to your registrar’s office to re-register.

    hope that helps! good luck with your RETURN.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • CR/NCR,  grad school

    a smorgasbord, and #7 twice

    November 25, 2015

    Hi,

    I am a 3rd year Arts & Science student who needs some questions answered!

    1.) Is it better to graduate and then come back for a 5th year, or post-pone graduating and do a 5th year?

    2.) Will postgrad schools look at my 4th/5th year grades instead of my 3rd/4th (considering I know that they typically look at our last 10)?

    3.) If I want to re-do a course, that is one of the prerequisites for my postgrad program, do they ONLY look at the better mark? (and is re-taking courses looked down upon?)

    4.) If I have more than one of the prerequisite options for a postgrad program (ex; must have 0.5 credits in X or Y- but I have both), do they just look at the course I received a higher grade or both?

    5.) If I want to CR/NCR a course that is not mandatory for my major/minor, can it still be used to satisfy the x amount of courses I need to successfully complete my major/minor?

    6.) I am NOT a Psych student, and was told that I am unable to do summer school psych courses because of this. Is that true?

    7.) Do summer school courses count towards the last 10 grades that postgrad schools look at?

    7.) Does having a transfer credit look bad?

    Thankyou!!

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    a good old omnibus question – i love it. as always, let’s not waste any time and get RIGHT TO IT:

    1. it really depends on your situation. if you want to add a subject POSt to your degree, it may be easier to postpone graduating, get that subject POSt on your transcript, and then graduate. however, if you want to take some courses that are a little bit different from what you did in your degree, or just increase your GPA, you may want to graduate and take an extra year as a non-degree student.
    2. depends on the graduate program. typically, they’re looking at your past year or two of study, as opposed to a specific year. however, you should take a look at the requirements for the specific schools/programs you’re interested in, because it varies. the “last ten credits” rule you quotes doesn’t always hold true – sometimes it’s more, sometimes it’s less, and sometimes there’s a cooky, alternate system of ranking credits that is non-chronological.
    3. retaking a course is never great, but again: whether they will only consider the higher mark or look at the transcript more holistically depends on the school and program.
    4. see #3.
    5. if you want a course to count towards a subject POSt in any capacity, it can’t be credit/no-credit. even if it’s just, “you need 7.0 PHL courses.”
    6. most psychology courses are behind an enrolment control, which means that only certain students (in this case, students in a psych POSt) can access them. once the summer timetable comes out next term, you can take a look and see if any of the courses would be available to you, but in the meantime, the fall/winter timetable should give you a good indication of what the summer one will probably look like.
    7. typically, yes, but if it’s the last summer directly before entering grad school, that gets kind of dicey. again, you have to contact the specific program in question.
    8. not usually.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • admissions,  americans,  med school,  other schools (boo!)

    strap on your toque, yankee, you’re in for a wild ride

    November 25, 2015

    Hi, I am a US student thinking of applying to U of T. I’ve heard many many rumors of the soul crushing undergraduate experience at U of T. As a hopeful medical school applicant, would I be better off grades wise in a top university in the US or is Toronto not as terrible as it seems? I’d really like to go to Toronto but I’m worried….
    Thanks!

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    that depends on which U.S. universities you’re thinking of, my friend. are we talking state universities or Ivy League? even within state universities, there’s a lot of variety in terms of quality. the comparison you’re making is going to be very different depending on which other schools you’re thinking about.

    i can’t tell you how well you’re going to do at uoft. i wish i could, but it would be disingenuous. the best i can do is give you a couple of factors that will influence your experience here, and that you can consider before making your decision:

    1. uoft is one of, if not the, most academically intensive universities in canada. i won’t go so far as to say that it’s the “Harvard of the North” (because we gotta stay humble out here in the 6ix), but it is very academic. uoft is an institution focused on research, and that goes right down to the undergraduate level. from day 1, you will be required to treat your school like a full-time job. if you excelled in high school, if you’re willing to work hard, and if you’re interested in the material, that is by no means impossible. but it does require a serious commitment to focus on your academics.
    2. uoft is very big – and i feel like you can’t really understand the real implications of that bigness until you actually get here. it can be very isolating. there are lots of wonderful, small communities within uoft where you can feel connected and valuable (your college community, residence community, seminar courses, extracurriculars, etc.) but if you don’t search all that out, you can feel a little stranded. and, trust me, if you feel distanced from and unappreciated by your school – like you could skip class, not do the assignments, etc. and no one would notice – that can have a very real effect on your schoolwork. a lot of U.S. universities have that small, collegiate feel throughout the entire institution, but at uoft, you have to do some digging.
    3. two positive points now: keep in mind that if you are graduating from a world-class university, medical schools are going to know that your GPA will not be as high as people who graduated from less academically rigorous schools. they will factor that into the application; everyone’s GPA is not equal.
    4. second: GPA is not the only factor medical schools look at! MCAT scores and extracurricular experience are also important parts of your application. that’s where toronto is ideal. we have a lot?of hospitals here. a?lot. “hospital alley” is within walking distance of uoft, and there are lots of opportunities to volunteer and gain valuable experience at each of them.
    5. finally: i know that americans think canada is just, like…cold america, but keep in mind that culture shock can be a difficult thing to manage, especially in first year (that’s not to say that we don’t have people to help you deal with that – because we do). you’ll be moving far away from home all on your own, meeting all new people and learning to stand on your own two feet, even more so than domestic students, who might just be a car ride away from home.

    i know that’s a lot of information, but keep in mind that you have time to mull it all over. uoft is a wonderful place to be. it’s in the middle of an amazing city, it’s a nexus of?research and innovation and exciting student life, we have cool people and exciting courses and i am so glad i’m here. BUT it’s not for everyone. so do think carefully about it.

    one last piece of advice: if you can manage to get up here and tour the place a bit before deciding, i find that’s often helpful.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • Transferring

    gettin by with a little help from my transfer credits

    November 25, 2015

    hi! I was just wondering, and this might sound dumb but I’m at western right now and the drop date for full-term courses is Nov 30, and i want to drop one of my courses. I want to transfer to u of t for my second year but i’m not sure they’ll accept me with 4 credits. So, my question is, can I drop a course and make it up in the summer, or do I have to have all 5 credits in order to get in to u of t?

    ???????????????

    hey there,

    if you transfer over as a student with 4.0 credits, and those credits transfer as some combination that can get you into a subject POSt (subject program of study), then you absolutely do NOT need to take a fifth credit in the summer before you come in.

    if you have between 4.0 and 8.5 credits, you are a second year student. you’ll probably have to make up that fifth credit at some point?- either by taking more than 5.0 credits one year, taking a credit in the summer, or doing a fifth year – but it doesn’t have to be right away.

    so if you think the course in question is going to negatively impact your average, it is much smarter to drop it than to get that sinker mark on your transcript just for the sake of having 5.0 credits.

    that said, your credits may not transfer over as a combination that can get you into a program. if that’s the case, it doesn’t mean that you’ll automatically be banned from uoft. it just means that you may be admitted as a program-less student, and you’ll need to take a few credits while at uoft before you’re eligible to pick a program you’re interested in.

    you can figure out whether you’re likely to get into any of the program(s) you’re interested in by checking what uoft credits you’ll (probably)?get for your western credits on transfer explorer, and taking a look at the prerequisites for whatever subject POSts you may like to take on the course calendar.

    you may want to?talk to a registrar/academic advisor at western and see what they advise. if you think you’re definitely going to fail that class or do very poorly, then dropping it might be a good idea. otherwise, maybe you want to hang onto the course.

    finally, here’s a handy list of the requirements to transfer into uoft.

    best of luck with your application! you’re gonna love it here. it’s so much harder to walk across campus and our school spirit is stunningly?low. we love it, though – it’s endearing despite its slight lack of functionality. like a three-legged dog.

    cheers,

    aska

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  • Transferring

    where oh where should i go?

    November 18, 2015

    Hello!
    I am a second year biochem student at Carleton univeristy, and now I have?realized that I really want to transfer and have applied to transfer at?utsg for their biochem program.?I only have 70s and one 60 :(?do you think i would realistically get in as a transfer student?

    If not, would it be better to apply for utsc’s life sci program? Would i?have a better chance of getting in.

    Thanks a bunch!

    ???????????????

    hey there,

    obviously, i can’t provide a definitive answer to this question. however, according to uoft, you typically need a solid ‘B’ average to be a competitive applicant. depending on how high your 70s are, you could be right at that benchmark, or slightly above it. i’m not sure. you’ll have to calculate your own GPA.

    this applies to all three campuses, by the way, so you may not have a much better chance at utsc than at the downtown campus. however, it never hurts to increase your chances. if there’s a program at utsc that you like, then go for it.

    you should note, however, that life science is a program area, not a subject POSt proper. so, if you apply to the general stream of life science at UTSC, but not to any particular POSt, then yes, you might have an easier go of getting in, because you’re basically applying to enter as a general, program-less first year.

    after two years in university though, you probably don’t?want to come in without a subject POSt. take a look at which programs are available, and apply to one that interests you.

    that aside: i really don’t think you’re going to have a significantly higher chance of getting into one campus over the other. you are just at the benchmark for being competitive in terms of GPA, so giving yourself options is useful.

    if you’d like some advice straight from the horse’s mouth, i’d recommend talking with enrolment services. they’re the people who handle admissions, so they might be able to give you a more definitive prediction.

    best of luck with your application!

    aska

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  • athletics,  fraternities & sororities

    sports & sisters

    November 12, 2015

    Hey,

    I’m coming in as an exchange for 2nd semester (winter) and was wondering if I can join a sports team as a beginner during this term? can you join a sorority if your coming into the 2nd semester as an exchange?

    Thanks!

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    varsity is finished tryouts for the year (though i doubt you would want to join varsity as an exchange student anyway).

    however, intramurals – from what i understand – can be joined on a rolling basis. here’s how to do it. (keep in mind that as an exchange student you will likely be a woodsworth college student, so you would want to be contacting the woodsworth intramurals representative).

    as for sororities: you can e-mail them to ask, but it seems like recruitment typically happens in september, and i’m not sure if you would be able to join when half the year’s already gone by. also, i don’t know if it would be worth it – sorority fees ain’t cheap, you know.

    hope that helps, and i hope you enjoy toronto! (it’s gonna be absolutely frigid when you get here. i hope you’re prepared).

    cheers,

    aska

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  • financial aid

    i’m such a glamorous traveller

    October 30, 2015

    Hi! So, i’ve been accepted to a volunteer abroad program aimed at students (operation groundswell) for the summer of 2016. However, i can’t afford to go without financial aid of some sort. If i apply to bursaries? through the program itself, i may be able to shave off the cost of flying in and out of Peru, but that won’t be enough. I was wondering if there are any bursaries, grants or anything else of that nature that UofT could offer? Any info would be appreciated.

    Thanks,

    ———————————————

    hey there,

    honestly, i doubt it. most colleges have a fund held in reserve to issue emergency grants, but i doubt this would count as an emergency. you can always ask your college registrar about it, but it’ll most likely be a waste of your time.

    i mean, it would be great if the university could fund all our trips abroad, but i’d probably spend more time eating macarons in Paris or punching some toothless lad in Manchester than actually doing work, so it’s probably better that they don’t.

    uoft does have some scholarships available to help fund travel, but for most of these, you need to be either in a uoft exchange program, or working on a uoft course, either by completing it abroad or conducting research in another country.

    however, here are some of the scholarships available to you. have a look through and see if you can wiggle your way into being eligible for any of them.

    have fun in Peru!

    aska

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