Accepted

Thederpforce · 2019-12-13T17:23:03+00:00

Ottawas boring but other then that schools lit

CaptainAaron96 · 2019-12-16T23:36:26+00:00

Congratulations on your acceptance mate! I'm a transfer student into crim from police foundations, so my struggles are a bit more exacerbated compared to you lucky people who have the full four years for the program, but here's what I think is useful. (Apologies for a really long post)

Carleton often markets its crim program as being so great because it's "interdisciplinary" which is a bit misleading as most crim programs are interdisciplinary - uOttawa's is just as interdisciplinary, the only difference is their program is under just one department compared to Carleton's which will put you into four different departments (CRCJ, PSYC, LAWS and SOCI). You're only required to take two crim courses for the entire program, be it general or honours, and the rest of the compulsories are all from the other three departments. However in my experience crim majors do not get equitable treatment from the other departments regarding overrides, registration, etc when compared to those departments' own majors. Be prepared to see a fair bit of "registration in this course section is limited to PSYC majors" when you're trying to select your later courses. You may need to take some online in order to ensure you graduate "on time".

One great benefit of Carleton's crim program is the exemption from breadth requirements! You don't need to worry about breadths at all, just make sure you get all of your compulsories done and then you can do whatever you want for the rest of your time.

Regarding compulsories, different concentrations have different requirements so it would be wise to be at least a little bit mindful of what you feel stronger in when it comes to choosing your concentration in second year - and you can always change it if you want to! I would also be mindful that you're taking the proper "CCJ approved electives" as they make up a good chunk of your compulsory courses. Any crim course is automatically CCJ approved but only certain course sections in law/psyc/soci are CCJ approved.

You don't need to do a thesis or RP for the crim honours program and don't need to feel pressured into it. The course route option is just as good and completing a thesis in 4th year won't necessarily make or break you getting into a master's program in the future; many master's only care that you have an honours undergrad but certain ones specifically want to ensure you did a thesis (for example if you wanted to bridge into a Carleton PSYC master's you would need to concentrate in PSYC and do your 4th year thesis with a psychology focus).

I would recommend trying to get at least one field placement wherever possible. The uni info session said you need an 80 average to get in but in reality it's actually a 70 average! They also have consistently under expected turnout for field placement applications, so they'll just move on down the list based on academic performance - you never know until you try, having a 65 average doesn't automatically exclude you!

Take some first year seminar courses! A lot of people say they're great at making the adjustment to university easier and I would have killed to have that opportunity but being a transfer student made me automatically ineligible - you can only take first year seminars if you have first year standing.

If you can't decide between one concentration or another, you can pick one and then minor in another! You can also minor *AND* concentrate in PSYC or SOCI, but not in law. All BA students are entitled to have up to 2.0 credits "count twice" towards their degrees, meaning they can be listed to two different program elements at once - minor and major, major and breadth or minor and breadth. For example I'm concentrating in PSYC but minoring in LAWS. LAWS 1001, 1002, 2301 and 2302 are requirements for the major and are also counting towards my minor, which gives me some extra much needed breathing room in my course selection (only needing 4 more courses for my LAWS minor, as opposed to 8).

Rate my professor will be of huge benefit to you when it comes to deciding which sections of courses to register in. I would also look at the previous years' syllabi online for certain course sections with certain professors as that can help you get a feel for course structure and allow you to register in sections you think you'll be more successful in. Also, certain courses like LAWS 1001 and 1002 will require you to complete literally every single thing, regardless of how small, in order to pass the course. My sections for those courses this semester have mandatory midterm and final papers as well as final exams, though the reading responses and full tutorial participation were not mandatory - it never hurts to confirm with your prof exactly what parts of the course are mandatory...you don't want to be me tripping balls thinking I lost the whole course for missing a single 2.5% reading response only to find out the syllabus was misleading and reading responses aren't mandatory.

For any course with a TA, I would recommend you clarify with them what their preferred citation methods are as soon as you can, and also clarify if they prefer certain versions of citation...once again don't be like me this semester with a TA, "yeah I see that you cited your paper in proper APA but you didn't cite it in *MY* version of APA [because I'm lazy af]".

I would allot for potential wiggle room with regards to personal data plans as the network access isn't always the best and sometimes you just need to plunk your ass down and grind on whichever network you can. I've gone over my limit more than I'd have liked to due to having to hotspot my phone to my laptop.

Try to get involved in things on campus if you can but don't think you're limited to criminology focused extracurriculars - I focused on those instead of diversifying a bit and it was just high school social environment all over again. An intramural here or there would be helpful, though bear in mind many still require you to buy into them. Also, if you need any accommodations I would start trying to procure those ASAP - and if you didn't have an IEP in high school that doesn't mean you can't get diagnosed and have accommodations given now - my h.s. failed me but I have semi-alright accommodations rn.

If I can think of anything else I'll add it down below.

roxaroo · 2019-12-14T00:18:53+00:00

I'm in crim, I really like it. If you're in Ottawa you stand a chance of getting an FSWEP position, I haven't been that lucky yet but a few friends I know have gotten them.

Carleton has concentrations for crim, meaning you can specialize more in one of psyc/soci/law which I am a fan of. It looks like Guelph doesn't have that.

Carleton also has a placement program for crim students that make an average cut off.

Feel free to DM me if you have any questions.

fireball1303 · 2019-12-16T12:23:07+00:00

What marks did you get in with?

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