{"id":29392,"date":"2026-02-16T22:12:55","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T03:12:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/askastudent.utoronto.ca\/?p=29392"},"modified":"2026-02-16T22:12:55","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T03:12:55","slug":"a-fail-too-shall-pass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/askastudent.utoronto.ca\/?p=29392","title":{"rendered":"a fail, too, shall pass"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have failed SOC101 and am\u00a0<\/span>wondering if<\/span>\u00a0what do I do now.\u00a0<\/span>I failed it in my first semester in my first year of university and am absolutely horrified.<\/span>\u00a0The prof teaching the course just made the content and course in general not enjoyable. I\u00a0<\/span>don’t<\/span>\u00a0know how to tell my parents. I worked so hard and messed up two big assignments which led to\u00a0<\/span>the failure<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>Im<\/span>\u00a0so scared on what to do next. It feels like the end of the world. I\u00a0<\/span>wan<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>t<\/span>o<\/span>\u00a0major in psychology and want to be a psychiatrist and am\u00a0<\/span>genuinely<\/span>\u00a0worried that this will\u00a0<\/span>effect<\/span>\u00a0my\u00a0<\/span>future plans<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

heyyo,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

aw im sorry to hear about your situation :\/<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

first of all, i want you to know it’s totally normal to fail a course, especially in first year. you’re just getting used to what uni is all about, there\u2019s a lot going on, it can be overwhelming. a lot of other people are in your boat, and it absolutely isn\u2019t the end of the world. hell, one of my professors once told me that they failed a first-year course in the same discipline that they\u2019re now teaching. as for your parents… i’m no expert but if you have a good relationship with them it might help to talk to them to get that burden off your shoulders; it may be hard but it\u2019ll feel better in the end. if not, don\u2019t panic, because i promise you this doesn\u2019t derail your whole uni career.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

i’m assuming you\u2019re referring to soc100 at utm or utsg, since there doesn\u2019t seem to be a soc101 on any campus? either way, both soc100 courses<\/a> aren\u2019t requirements for the psych major.<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

now ok, it\u2019s a bit weird i’m so enthusiastic about this, but that is actually awesome news. because this means you have a lot more choice! it’s up to you if you want to take the course again or not. imo, since it\u2019s not necessary for your program, you may not want to redo a course you\u2019ve already struggled with. though, if you ever want to minor in soc or take upper year courses in it, you may have to take the course again. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

if you do decide to take the course again (and even if you don\u2019t, tbh), it might help to figure out how you could improve your assignments in the future. guessing it was prolly a paper of some kind (?) in which case you could always bring <\/span>it to your college\/campus writing\u00a0centre\u00a0to get some\u00a0feedback!!\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

also, if\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0worried about med\/grad\u00a0school admissions since you mentioned wanting to be a psychiatrist,\u00a0i\u00a0have more good news for you: the grades you get in your first semester of first year are the LEAST important thing about your academic career.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

despite\u00a0being a bit late in response to this\u00a0i\u00a0reallllly\u00a0hope this helped and that you feel a bit better about\u00a0everything!!<\/span> have courage my friend, and know aska is cheering you on from the shadows.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

cheers,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

aska<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have failed SOC101 and am\u00a0wondering if\u00a0what do I do now.\u00a0I failed it in my first semester in my first year of university and am absolutely horrified.\u00a0The prof teaching the course just made the content and course in general not enjoyable. I\u00a0don’t\u00a0know how to tell my parents. I worked so hard and messed up two big assignments which led to\u00a0the failure.\u00a0Im\u00a0so scared on what to do next. It feels like the end of the world. I\u00a0wan\u00a0to\u00a0major in psychology and want to be a psychiatrist and am\u00a0genuinely\u00a0worried that this will\u00a0effect\u00a0my\u00a0future plans. heyyo,\u00a0 aw im sorry to hear about your situation :\/\u00a0 first of all, i want you to know it’s totally normal to fail a course, especially in first year. you’re just getting used to what uni is all about, there\u2019s a lot going on, it can be overwhelming. a lot of other people are in your boat, and it absolutely isn\u2019t the end of the world. hell, one of my professors once told me that they failed a first-year course in the same discipline that they\u2019re now teaching. as for your parents… i’m no expert but if you have a good relationship with them it might help to talk to them to get that burden off your shoulders; it may be hard but it\u2019ll feel better in the end. if not, don\u2019t panic, because i promise you this doesn\u2019t derail your whole uni career.\u00a0 i’m assuming you\u2019re referring to soc100 at utm or utsg, since there doesn\u2019t seem to be a soc101 on any campus? either way, both soc100 courses aren\u2019t requirements for the psych major.\u00a0 now ok, it\u2019s a bit weird i’m so enthusiastic about this, but that is actually awesome news. because this means you have a lot more choice! it’s up to you if you want to take the course again or not. imo, since it\u2019s not necessary for your program, you may not want to redo a course you\u2019ve already struggled with. though, if you ever want to minor in soc or take upper year courses in it, you may have to take the course again. \u00a0\u00a0 if you do decide to take the course again (and even if you don\u2019t, tbh), it might help to figure out how you could improve your assignments in the future. guessing it was prolly a paper of some kind (?) in which case you could always bring it to your college\/campus writing\u00a0centre\u00a0to get some\u00a0feedback!!\u00a0 also, if\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0worried about med\/grad\u00a0school admissions since you mentioned wanting to be a psychiatrist,\u00a0i\u00a0have more good news for you: the grades you get in your first semester of first year are the LEAST important thing about your academic career.\u00a0\u00a0 despite\u00a0being a bit late in response to this\u00a0i\u00a0reallllly\u00a0hope this helped and that you feel a bit better about\u00a0everything!! have courage my friend, and know aska is cheering you on from the shadows. cheers,\u00a0 aska\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[90,168,84],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-failing","category-repeating-course","category-sociology"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/askastudent.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/askastudent.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/askastudent.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/askastudent.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/askastudent.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/askastudent.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29392\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/askastudent.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/askastudent.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/askastudent.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}