UofT Cuties

Hey there!

Thanks for the love, I appreciate it very much! Honestly, the only way I can answer this question is by saying that the choice is completely up to you. The awesome thing is that you don’t have to choose your Subject POSt (a.k.a your major(s)/minor(s)/specialist) until after you’ve completed your first year. The university does this knowing that coming into first year, most people don’t quite know exactly what they’ll want to study for the next four or so years yet. So the best thing you can do is to take whatever courses interest you in your first year so that when it comes to finally being able to choose your major or minor or specialist at the end of the year, you’ll have a much better feel for what you’ll want to study. It’s not ‘better’ or ‘worse’ to choose a double major, or one major and two minors, or a specialist - it all just depends on what you want to study! You might decide that you love the IR program so much that you want to specialize in it and focus the great majority of your degree studying it, or you might decide that you really love english and poli sci too, and decide to double minor in those while you major in IR. Or, there’s always the possibility that you’ll eventually find that the IR program just isn’t for you and you want to major in something totally different than you imagined at the start of your university career.

And don’t forget, you can always change your Subject POSt if you realize that the one you chose is no longer for you. At the end of my first year, I decided to do a double major in history and political science. But during my second year, I realized that I wasn’t nearly as interested in the political science courses as I was in the ones offered by the history program, so I ended up switching to a history specialist. The moral of the story is - don’t feel that once you’ve chosen a major, it’s a done deal for the rest of your UofT days, because it isn’t. It’s all about the freedom of choice, y’all!

Again, don’t sweat this decision yet and remember that choosing one is not necessarily ‘better’ or ‘worse’ than the other! It all depends on what you like and what you feel you’re best at! Thanks for the question and feel free to shoot me another if you need! Hope this helped!

Best,

Hey Anon,

    The short answer to your question is this: tutorials are mandatory unless otherwise noted. The ones currently listed in the timetable for first-year English courses require you to sign up for and attend them. I received a similar question a while back about the difference between lectures and tutorials, so I’ll re-post that answer below. Hopefully this helps you out! :) 

Tutorials are different from your lectures, but they will accompany them. Here’s the deal: many courses that you enroll in will make you sign up for a tutorial. Tutorials are classroom-sized meetings that occur at different intervals - usually once a week, or once every two weeks - and are commonly run by a teaching assistant (TA). They are designed to review class readings and material, and also to clarify and reiterate the most important parts of lecture. In tutorials, you can be and will often times be assigned reports, presentations and essays which you will turn into your TA, who marks everything that you hand in. Tutorials are extremely important when it comes to your attendance and participation, not only for the benefit of your overall understanding of the  material, but also because you could (and very, very likely will be) marked on these two factors. Only some tutorials are listed in the timetable along with their accompanying lecture. I’ll use the example of philosophy for tutorials that are already listed in the timetable along with their lecture. It looks something like this:

PHL100Y1 Y Intro to Philosophy L0101 Y TR12

                                           T0101    M10

                                           T0102    M10

                                           T0201    M11

                                           T0202    M11

And the list continues all the way down to T1701 for that meeting section. Any time you see a long list of meeting sections with the beginning letter ‘T’ following a lecture (beginning letter ‘L’), it is indicating all the tutorials available for that particular course. As you can probably tell from the timetable, it gives you plenty of options for tutorial times that you should be able to fit into your schedule. Once you choose one that best fits your schedule, you will enroll in it the same day as you enroll in courses on ROSI. When you enter in your course code for enrollment (in this case PHL100Y1 Y), the site will redirect you to a page with a list of all the tutorial options seen in the timetable. You will select your desired tutorial, and it shall be done! You’ll have successfully enrolled in both the course and tutorial without breaking a sweat. However, some of your courses won’t give you tutorial options to sign up for in advance. But don’t panic, as this is probably the route that many of your courses will take you down. When classes commence in September, your first lecture in each course will be a lot like the first day of classes high school - they will go over the syllabus and explain to you the expectations of the course. There they will either provide you with a list of tutorials during that lecture, or explain to you how/when they decide to post the list in the near future. So no need to fear, you will get into a tutorial.

I hope this helped to clarify! Message me about any further questions you may have!

Best,

Hey Anon,

    You don’t need to get a new T-Card every year. You can use the same T-Card throughout all of your years at UofT unless your card becomes lost or is badly damaged (if the photo or info on your card becomes unrecognizable, you’ll have to get it replaced).

Best,

Hi anon,

    Moving from a small town into a large city like Toronto is an experience that many students face when choosing to attend UofT. You said it yourself - UofT and Toronto itself are incredibly diverse - meaning that there are likely many people just like you, as well as different from you. My current roommate, for example, was in your situation when she came to UofT. She now loves being in the big city, and actively enjoys the diversity that Toronto offers, and the opportunities that it can provide. That being said, she knew before attending UofT that gaining different perspectives outside of her small-town bubble was something that she really wanted to gain from university. 

     I cannot say whether or not you will have the same experiences as her, or the same experiences as many others who have come from smaller towns (including myself), and have really grown to call Toronto home. I will say though, that I don’t believe that being integrated into a culture that relies on the diversity of other peoples and cultures is ever a bad thing. In fact, I believe that one of the many reasons UofT is considered a world-renowned institution is because it benefits from being situated in the heart of one of the most diverse cities in the world. Integrating yourself into a community consisting of brilliant international and local students is part of the greater learning experience that the University of Toronto can offer. You will have a vast array of differing views and opinions from around the world all located in one place. That experience alone really gives UofT students the ability to expand their knowledge to include and give value to perspectives that they may never have encountered or considered otherwise.

    With all of this in mind, ask yourself what YOU would like to gain from your post-secondary institution. Also, be honest about what you are comfortable with. It’s okay to be intimidated, concerned by, or even plain not interested in big city living. If at all possible, try to visit Toronto and the school’s campus and get a feel for what you’ll be getting into. Follow your intuition to decide what school will best suit your needs and desires. As previously mentioned, I can’t really tell you what your experiences will be - only you can determine that!

     Just keep in mind that many have dealt with your situation and continue to deal with your situation and do so successfully! Another thing to remember is that UofT does offer ‘smaller’ communities which might help you to cope. Becoming involved in clubs and organizations is probably one of the easiest and most rewarding ways to deal with the ‘cold’ feeling of a big city by forming small communities and close relationships among a large student population. Check out https://www.ulife.utoronto.ca// for listings of clubs, organizations, and well as volunteer and career opportunities if you want to get that ‘small town’ feel in a big town university. If you have any other questions, please feel free to write again. I hope this helped!

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/01/31/university_of_toronto_reality_show_to_be_a_mix_of_survivor_and_big_brother.html

Welcome to my blog! Don't be afraid to leave your questions in my ask box! As for those who have recently submitted questions, you can look forward to seeing some answers on your dash after the weekend! Thank-you all for your continued support.

Hey there,

   UofT is actually a fantastic school when it comes to gender/sexual equality and self-expression. Each campus has a 'positive space' program that works towards creating safe go-to spaces for LGBT students when/if they ever need to talk or ask for advice. You can learn more about the 'positive space' initiative here: http://www.positivespace.utoronto.ca/ .

   Furthermore, the St. George Campus is home to the Sexual and Gender Diversity Office which was established to meet the concerns of LGBT students across the campus. The office holds counselling services, safety centers, and hosts events throughout the year in which the community may participate and attend. The office is also your go-to place if you ever need to report harassment or bullying. To learn more about all the wonderful services the Sexual and Gender Diversity Office has to offer, click the link provided here: http://www.sgdo.utoronto.ca/

   UofT is also home to many LGBT clubs, groups and committees that you may join. There's the "Sexual Education & Peer Counselling Centre", "Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Trans People of the University of Toronto (LGBTOUT)", "LGBT Dance at UofT", and "The L Film (TLF)", just to name a few. To check out more of these awesome student organizations and what they have to offer, check out the ULife website and browse campus organizations or specific areas of interest. https://ulife.utoronto.ca/

   Finally, to address your question concerning whether or not there are particular colleges that are "more inclined towards people of queer sexualities," the answer is simply yes. All colleges at UofT will accept people of all sexual orientations, but their individual support groups may be lacking or struggling to obtain a voice. So, what I will say is that perhaps the two colleges that might be considered the 'best' for LGBT open discourse and support would be University College and Victoria College, both of which really advocate for positive space. University College is, however, the ultimate base for this LGBT discourse as it is in fact the home of the school's Sexual Diversity Studies program which is run by some pretty incredible contributors in queer-Canadian research (I'm a pretty big fan of Professor Green). You can learn more about the SDS undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as student resources, events, and the SDS coordinators here: http://www.uc.utoronto.ca/content/view/284/1809/.

   UC's Sir Daniel Wilson's Residence also accommodates LGBTOUT's Drop-In Centre, which you can learn more about here http://www.lgbtout.com/dropin/. And if that all isn't enough, UC's Frosh Week is all about sexual diversity and the acceptance of varying sexual orientations. UC very much prides itself as a centre of acceptance for all walks of life.

Hey anon,

Many students take second-year courses in their first year of study, so it isn't an uncommon practice. That being said, it shouldn't be too difficult for you to take and pass those Classics courses. However, I will warn you that the buzz around the Classics major is that the courses are very difficult in terms of testing, so if you have little to no prior knowledge of the ancient societies or their languages, I would suggest taking the recommended first-year course, CLA160H1.

If you do have some experience, but are still unsure about the level of difficulty of the two second-year courses, then my suggestion to you is to attend the first few lectures of both and look over the syllabi carefully in order to understand what is required and expected of you. If after some analysis, you determine that you will be unable to take both courses along with the rest of your classes due to the amount pressure, then switch out of one and opt for a combination of CLA160, along with which ever one of the two second-year courses you found easier. That way, you will feel less stressed about your ability to achieve high enough grades to get into the program, while having a balanced schedule.

I hope this helped, anon. Good luck!

Hey anon,

Unfortunately, I did not take this course, however I do know someone who did. When I asked him what he thought of the course, he told me that it was relatively easy, despite the fact that he isn't a science student, and that the material was quite interesting. The work load is fairly minimal for a half-year course and that if given the chance, he would retake the class in a heartbeat. The ASSU Anti-Calendar for 2010-2011 also provided a 69% retake rate among students who participated in the survey. For more information concerning the student's thoughts on HPS210H1, here is the link to the ASSU Anti Calendar website: http://assu.ca/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/HistoryPhilosophyHungarian.pdf

If you have any more questions regarding this particular course, don't be afraid to put them in my ask box and I will consult my friend and/or other sources for more detailed information. I hope this helped you out, anon! Good luck!

Hey anon,

Thanks for the love! That  message generally means that your professor has not updated the tutorial schedule to blackboard yet, which happens pretty often. You'll usually have to wait until your first class starts to obtain instruction regarding how and when to sign up for tutorials. So don't worry - you haven't been left out!

Good luck with your first week, anon!

Hey there,

Con Hall is one very, very large lecture hall. As soon as you enter, you'll see many doors, but they all lead to the same room, just different sections of it. There really is no getting lost in Con Hall!

I hope you enjoy POL101 (it was my favourite first-year class)! Good luck!

I hope you all enjoyed your orientation week and that you've become settled and familiar with your new home!

As you know, tomorrow marks the beginning of your academic year at U of T. If you're nervous, don't be! You'll soon find that the fun doesn't have to end just because frosh week did! On Monday, you'll be introduced to new and exciting fields of study, new curriculums, and some amazing professors that are leaders in their field! If you're feeling a little unprepared, take some time today to get ready for the week ahead:

* With a friend, walk around campus and get familiar with the locations of each of your classes in order to avoid awkwardly bumping into people while holding a map and trying to figure out where BT101 is. 

* Make sure binders/laptops/notebooks are organized for each class before actually going to class.

* Ask your friends about classes they're taking to see if any match yours. Forming a study group now will help you keep on the right track with class work later.

* If you haven't already, look your professors up on sites like http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ to see what kind of prof you'll be dealing with this semester.

* Purchase an agenda/calendar. Tomorrow, you'll be given a list of important due dates for all of your assignments throughout the year. Writing them down in advance on a calendar will help you to remember when they are due and how much time you should allot yourself to complete them.

* Relax. It's the last day before classes commence, so make sure to have a relaxing afternoon and get a good sleep tonight (because you'll miss it come midterm time).

Good luck tomorrow everyone!

Hey anon,

A lot of students wonder about this same question, so you're not alone! Whether you commute, or live on campus, what you’ll need to bring to class is the same. The difference however, lies between what needs to be brought to lectures, versus what needs to be brought to tutorials.

For your lectures, you will need to bring either your laptop or a notebook accompanied by pens/pencils. Within the first few classes, you'll figure out whether or not you're the kind of person who needs to type their notes in class or write them. If you get distracted easily, keep the laptop at home - you may end up lurking facebook mid-lecture. Or if you find that your writing can't keep up with the pace of the lecture, then it may be best to ditch the notebook for a keyboard. Once you find what works for you, note taking will seem easy! If you do choose to bring your laptop, however, make sure you check its battery life - especially if you commute! If you have a six hour block of lectures and tutorials, but your laptop battery only lasts for 3 - 4 hours, you may want to bring a notebook instead - or at least one for backup. Nothing is worse than getting stranded on campus with a dead battery and no other means of lecture survival.

For tutorials, you’ll need to bring either your notebook or laptop (depending on the preference of your T.A.), as well as any textbooks or readings that were assigned to you during the week. Tutorials are designed to help guide students through the readings of the course, not necessarily to go over the lecture material. Thus, you may want to make some notes while you read, or perhaps prepare a list of questions or points of reference before your tutorial. Participation in your tutorials is worth 10% of your final grade, so doing some prep-work before your tutorial begins will make getting those marks that much easier.

The above are the basics of what you’ll need to bring to your classes. However keep in mind that every course, as well as every professor, is different, so you may need to bring some extra materials for class. For example, some professors may require you to purchase an ‘iClicker’ and bring it to specific lectures for quizzes and polls, while others may want you to bring along your course reader. Whatever the case, your professor will inform you of their requirements within the first week of classes.

I hope this helped answer your question, anon! If you have any other questions, just pop them in the ask box! Good luck with your courses and have fun!

Hi db87,

Unfortunately, typing in a course's activity and section code into ROSI is the only way to check available space in a particular course. I know it seems tedious, but keep trying! Students drop out of classes all the time, even after classes have already started because of schedule conflicts, or just because they're not as interested in the material of a course as they thought they would be. If there's a particular course you're primarily interested in getting into, join their wait list as opposed to just skipping over it to see if another course has availability instead. Getting on that waitlist will give you the best chance of eventually entering the course.

Also, if you're a first-year, try entering course codes for some first-year seminar classes if you haven't yet. Find a couple that interest you (or that cover some breadth requirements, perhaps) and check their availability. Most likely, there will be some courses still available for registry which may fit with your schedule.

Always check back to the timetable to see if your course has multiple meeting sections as well. Make sure to check any priorities, restrictions and other enrollment indicators that may be on a course to determine whether or not you are eligible for regisrtation. If you find that another meeting section is available, try joining it on ROSI, provided that the meeting section fits with your schedule. The class may not be at the desired day and time that you originally wanted, but sometimes the sacrifice is necessary.

I hope this helped you out a little bit, db87. Good luck with your course search!

Hey anon,

I took both SOC102 and SOC103 offered at the St. George Campus. To be completely honest with you, they're both really similar, so if you're looking to take just one, then you should pick the one that works better with your timetable in either first or second semester.

Personally, I enjoyed SOC103 more because I prefered Professor Green's teaching style in comparison to Professor Tepperman's. I felt that his lectures were more organized and his tests were relatively easy. He was also very good at using modern day examples (like the cast of Jersey Shore) as points of reference and comparison when explaining some sociological theories, which made the material easier to understand - and a lot less dry! Of course, this is just my opinion, so take what I say with a grain of salt. Check out the course descriptions in the calendar to determine what course might interest you more (http://www.artsandscience.utoronto.ca/ofr/calendar/crs_soc.htm#SOC102H1), or visit ratemyprof.com to see what other students say about teaching styles.

Hope this helped! Good luck!

Hey anon,

Unsurprisingly, a lot of people ask this same question. But the thing is, there is no such thing as a bird course at U of T. They are entirely non-existent. There are courses you may take that are 'easier' for you than others, but that is relative to each person's particular talents and abilities. For example, if writing has always been a strong point for you, then ENG100H5, which is a general writing course at UTM, might be the 'bird course' that you're looking for. Due to the fact that I don't have any knowledge of your academic strong points, I can't really suggest any specific courses to you. But what I can do is provide a link that will walk you through what you should do in order to pick courses that might be easier for you. The student life blog, UpbeaT published a great post about this very topic a few years ago, which I think might be of great use to you. On a side-note, the one thing that they list that won't apply to you is looking through the anti-calendar, as it seems that UTM hasn't updated theirs in quite some time.

Here is the link for the site: http://blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca/UpbeaT/2008/12/11/everybody-loves-a-bird-course/

I hope this helped! Good luck choosing those courses!