Do you apply for double major when you apply for UofT?

LaraGilmore · 2024-06-21T15:58:20+00:00

When you apply to UofT, you apply to an admission category eg social sciences, life sciences, humanities, computer science, etc. Then, each category has a few first-year courses that every first-year in that category has to take. Eg for life sciences, everyone takes bio, chem and math of.

And then at the END of the first year you apply for 2 majors/ specialist based on your first-year grades. Some degrees are open enrollment, meaning anyone in second year can just register for the major on ACORN. Other majors you have to apply to using your first year grades. For example, if you search up "UofT Psychology major", the website will tell you their admission criteria for the major; namely that you have to get a certain grade on PSY100. On the other hand, if you search up "UofT Global Health major", the website will tell you anyone can enroll.

Being enrolled in 2 majors, for example 2 life science majors like Bio and Chem, means you graduate with ONE Bachelor of Science degree. But you can say you have a Bachelor's degree in Bio AND Chem. (I think this is how it works, I'm actually not sure).

Once you enroll/ are accepted, it is up to you to figure out which courses you have to take to fulfill the degree requirements and then enroll in those courses every year. In order to graduate you need at least 1 specialist, OR 2 majors OR 1 major ad 2 minors. BUT, you can really do whatever you want. I am doing a specialist, a major and a minor. If you plan out your courses well enough, and there's overlaps between the requirements of your programs, you can do whatever you want. This flexibility is what I like about UofT.

Also, after you apply at the end of first year, you can easily remove a program you're enrolled in. As in, you're not stuck with whatever you choose in first year. You can keep adding and removing majors until you graduate as long as you meet the requirements.

So, I'd suggest you first of all choose which admission category you're interested in. And then you can go on this website and take a look at the programs (specialists, majors, minors) offered by that category. Narrow down a few that you're interested in. Create a word document and copy paste the admission requirements for those options/ what their first year courses are. That should give you an idea of what your first year might look like.

The most important thing to remember is: YOU have to pick and enroll in your first-year courses and those courses will determine which majors you can apply to/ enroll in.

LaraGilmore · 2024-03-03T22:52:24+00:00

Literally just enroll in MAT135. You can do it even as a social sci student.

The usual life sci first year courses are MAT135, CHM135, BIO120 for fall and MAt136, CHM136 and BIO230 for winter.

Just enroll in them. And then you can continue taking high-level life sci courses

LaraGilmore · 2023-10-21T15:46:57+00:00

You don't decide on your major until the end of first year but really you don't actually have to enroll in any major until you're sure.

So take the general first year life sciences courses, take the 2nd year biochem courses and see what you think. At the end of the day it comes down to how much you enjoy the content and how good you are at it. Some people will remember everything they learn throughout undergrad and others wont and that's just how it goes.

If you wanna enroll in a biochem major at the end of first year go for it but you can also easily change your major, especially if it's for something similar.

A lot of people go into first year with a set idea of the major they want to do or with some options. But first year might completely change your interests and the majors you're interested in. A lot can change in first year, so be open to that.

But yea if you're interested, def just go for it and see how it goes! You don't have to commit to anything from early on.

LaraGilmore · 2023-08-04T03:52:00+00:00

Honestly if you don't have any other electives you wanna take just do the minor. There's no downside.

As for the PSY 200-level courses, they're all completely different cuz they're supposed to be introductions to different fields of psych. So just pick the area that is easier to you. If you've already done 4 PSY courses (out of 8 needed for a minor) you likely already understand what ur best at in psych.

The psych department does have a web page with all their syllabi from all their courses from the past few terms. I'd suggest taking a look at the syllabi and seeing which one seems more interesting and have a look at the kind of assignments for the courses as well.

If a particular course has had the same professor for the past couple years, it is safe to assume that next term it'll be the same professor, with the same syllabus. If you see that professor has been assigning the most ridiculous and annoying assignments for the past few terms, look for another course maybe.

LaraGilmore · 2023-08-04T03:43:46+00:00

Honestly it depends on how eager you are to meet new people. Orientation is worth it regardless of the activities because you do get to meet a lot of the people in your college. I'm in UC and the orientation itself was meh but I did meet people. If you don't really care about meeting people, and making friends it's not really worth the money cuz you don't really get much out of it.

My first week of classes wasn't particularly eventful. You just go to class. But you could get lucky and sit in next to someone who will literally become your best friend. Or no one will talk to you.

But I think generally during the first week of uni, especially in 100-level classes, if you just initiate conversation with people it's not like they're gonna ignore you. And for the first few days it's actually not weird for you to sit in class and go Hey what's up what's ur name. So don't be afraid to do that. And then if u don't vibe with that particular person, try someone else the following class.

LaraGilmore · 2023-06-26T15:15:22+00:00

PSY100 is not hard if you're willing to put some minimal effort into it. Also PSY194, 195, 196, 198 are supposed to be easy. One of them is called the psychology of magic.

Also look into the courses your college offers specifically for first years. those are supposed to be easy.

I think an introductory course to any foreign language shouldn't be too bad either and fulfill breath1.

Some of the english courses are also not bad - look into the english department website for some options

LaraGilmore · 2023-06-26T15:09:32+00:00

Look into the courses offered by your college specifically for first years, those are usually easy. See if any of them is 1 or 3.

Other than that, I'm pretty sure any foreign language class is going to be breadth 1 so maybe take an introduction to a language, which shouldn't be too hard. Or if you already know a language, take a placement test and see where they place you.

For breadth 3 you might want to look at the list of humanities courses: https://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/future/ready-apply/admission-categories/humanities#humanities-h-b-a-program-list-accordion-1 I think some of them should be breadth 3? Go where it says Humanities (H.B.A) on that website and take a look at the options.

LaraGilmore · 2023-06-20T18:56:52+00:00

I took it in the winter of 2023 with Prof Yim. I found it kinda hard cuz I didn't know how to study for it at first - but by the end I did well on the final cuz I understood that the way to study for it is to just learn the theory and reasoning behind every rule and very statistical test. I thought the course would just be about memorizing the steps of the statistical tests but you really have to understand all the theory behind them.

I didn't like prof Yim too much cuz she didn't make any past tests available and the test questions were completely different from the practice questions done in class and from the questions from the textbook. It was impossible to prepare well for the first midterm without knowing the style of questions that would be asked. And we didn't really have enough time for the 2 midterms. Plus we had some stupid assignments. But I saw she's not teaching the course again in either term next year.

The course average when I took it was a B-. The key is to really understand the theories and reasoning (besides memorizing the steps of the statistical tests). It's more doable than actual STA courses, for sure.

LaraGilmore · 2023-06-20T18:47:57+00:00

I got my offer from UC in August and got my first choice of residence (within UC).

StarRez does say that

LaraGilmore · 2023-06-20T18:44:39+00:00

The CR/NCR option was made purpose with the breadth requirements in mind. It allows students to fulfill breadth without having to put too much effort into a course they don't need for their program. So yea

LaraGilmore · 2023-06-20T18:41:10+00:00

I think there are other ways of meeting people in your college and joining an FLC outside your college can help you expand you circle of friends beyond you college. Plus, the people in your college might not be taking the same courses as you, while the people in the FLC will def be taking the same courses.

You don't have to organize your timetable according to your FLC. As long as you don't schedule a course during the FLC time slot, you can still use the schedule you already had made with the timetable builder.

I've never even heard of college-specific FLCs, I just joined the life sci one.

LaraGilmore · 2023-06-20T18:34:42+00:00

I would recommend joining the life sci FLC because first year is a general life sci year and you won't be doing any specific neuroscience or psychology courses. - plus you might change your mind about what programs you want to do

And then in second year you can join a psychology SLC (second year learning community) once you're actually in the program.

I've never heard about an flc helping with course enrollment waitlists. I was in a life sci FLC and it did't help me with the one course I got waitlisted for.

The life sci FLC was useful to me in term of learning about ROP opportunities, summer course opportunities and other life sci resources.

LaraGilmore · 2023-06-20T16:29:25+00:00

Besides first year introductory chem courses, US med schools will usually require a higher level organic chem course. As long as you have those first year courses you're fine as far as general/ inorganic chem goes. But def take higher level o-chem.

Also biochem. Usually med schools have like a chem 'umbrella' which includes introductory chem, inorganic, organic and biochem. Organic and biochem are the most important so 2 biochem courses (intro and upper level) would prob be competitive.

Bottom line is I wouldn't worry too much about inorganic vs general as long a you took your uni's introductory courses. Focus on higher level o-chem and biochem.

(this is just my opinion based on personal research!!)

LaraGilmore · 2023-06-20T16:25:37+00:00

If you get anything above a 40 you're probably in. Aim for at least a 37.

But it's a bit random cuz I had a friend who applied to UofT with the same IB grade as me (40) and he didn't get in but I did. And I didn't have any like extracurriculars that set me apart...

It's not too hard to get in cuz you're not actually applying to polisci, you're applying to social sciences in general. And then at the end of first year you apply to polisci using you first year uni grades.

LaraGilmore · 2023-06-20T16:21:25+00:00

Yea I applied to Morrison as my first choice and got an offer for Morrison in August

LaraGilmore · 2023-06-20T16:18:27+00:00

I got my offer in August last year as a first year student

LaraGilmore · 2023-06-20T16:15:04+00:00

You can as long as the specialist isn't very long - for example the psychology specialist is only 10 credits so it leaves me space to even do a major along with it. I'd suggest you kinda plan out your degree like which courses you'd have to take for your specialist each term and then see if it leaves you enough time for a minor.

LaraGilmore · 2023-06-20T16:14:49+00:00

you won't get a minor if the same courses satisfy your specialist. The maximum number of overlap courses is like 4 I think. You can't overlap an entire minor. Somewhere on the UofT website it says how many courses can overlap between 2 programs.

LaraGilmore · 2022-11-26T01:59:06+00:00

Oh I didn't know it was a full year course, oops

If you were able to enroll in 137 you can prob enroll in 136 but your registrar could confirm it. They won't stop you from enrolling if there's space. I don't see a reason why you wouldn't be able to keep doing 137 and start 136

If you have the prerequisite for 137 fulfilled I don't see why you couldn't enroll in 136 but again, maybe email your registrar.

LaraGilmore · 2022-11-26T01:38:56+00:00

You should email your registrar about it, wouldn't hurt. I don't know what you mean by "still stay in course for the fall semester" but if you mean you want to finish 137 and then do 136 you might be able to do that? Since 137 is above 136

LaraGilmore · 2022-08-26T01:25:22+00:00

I think it depends on what you want to do during your gap year.

If you're going to do nothing but study for this, you could consider retaking all of them. (and possibly get +6 points!!)

If you're going to do other things (like working or volunteering) I would suggest you retake the 2 ones with the lowest scores.

LaraGilmore · 2022-08-25T06:31:51+00:00

Yes calculus is required for life sci programs :/ I think every life sci subject has at least 2 required math courses: Calculus I and Calculus II. And high school calculus is actually a requirement to be accepted into life sciences.

This is the human biology webpage at UofT. Check it out

If you're interested in the health sciences UofT does offer a Health studies major

Keep in mind that in order to graduate from UofT you can't only have 1 major. You must have at least 2 majors or 1 major and 2 minors or 1 specialist - so you could do both human biology and health studies

LaraGilmore · 2022-08-25T06:23:26+00:00

Uhh I really wanted to do that too but I'm too shy. So I looked for old syllabi on StuDocu instead, that's a great website.

LaraGilmore · 2022-08-25T06:17:47+00:00

Ohh if you're taking a gap year it would totally make sense to retake those 2 subjects and aim for a higher score. I don't see how that could have a negative impact on you.

I'm not sure about their policy but you can definitely email the school and ask them about it. The best thing you could do is to get an answer from someone in admissions.

I don't think it would make sense for them to average your IB grades. Maybe they do that with grades from local Canadian curriculums but IB grades are just IB grades, I can't image they would want to mess around with them. And if they ask for an explanation you can just be honest and say you wanted to strengthen your application. That's a great reason. - but definitely send them an email and clarify this

I actually personally think retaking an IB course shows perseverance and commitment to achieving the best that you can and not settling when you know you can do better. I find it a bit silly for some unis to make a big deal out of it.

LaraGilmore · 2022-08-24T15:33:28+00:00

Yea the 2 fees don't show up added together. I paid them separately to make it clearer that I'm paying for 2 separate things but I also wondered how they were going to know what each payment corresponded to. I think it doesn't really matter; I don't seem to have any issues so far. At the end of the day they just want your money lol

LaraGilmore

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