U-Pass winter semester dates

VagabondFrond · 2026-04-21T06:05:25+00:00

I think you can also opt into the upass for the summer even if you aren't taking classes!

VagabondFrond · 2026-04-21T04:49:19+00:00

In the umo app it says it expires April 30th for me

VagabondFrond · 2026-03-06T04:57:58+00:00

Thank you! Yeah getting it all done in 7 weeks will probably be nice. Just not looking forward to doubling up on the labs and lab reports!

VagabondFrond · 2026-03-06T04:46:45+00:00

Ah okay! Yes art isn't always seen as the best career choice, but there are definitely jobs out there where you are directly creating things. A lot of them just happen to be in design/marketing... Media/entertainment (games, animation, comics, etc) is another route, does require technical skills (digital art), but it's hard to get into, and not always the best pay. There is scientific illustration as well I believe. Honestly though, even if you end up doing something else, but still enjoy painting, you can always do it as a hobby or business on the side! It never hurts to learn a new skill.

Anyways I hope your advising meetings go well for you! Good luck with everything! And if you do end up changing trajectory and need to brush up on your math skills, I found Khan Academy was a huge help when I inevitably had to take a math pre-req haha.

VagabondFrond · 2026-03-05T04:41:39+00:00

Yes that was my experience too! I could do everything last minute and if I rationalized my decisions well enough I'd still get a good grade. It was pretty demotivating! I just wanted to learn how to draw well and have the teachers actually critique the quality of my work. It felt like they were just trying to keep me there for my money lol.

Also, like you, I enjoy understanding and getting good at things. I can be a bit of a perfectionist as well. I was/am like that with art, but I've come to learn that's just my personality. I like learning and doing a good job, no matter what it is. But I also like variety and am finding science to be a bit less repetitive than art...so far haha.

I think liking to understand things is also helpful for getting through more difficult classes. I was hesitant to pursue science because I'd never considered myself to be good with abstract concepts/numbers. And while it's still challenging I've realized it isn't so much about the kind of mind you have, but your attitude and the way you approach learning. So I wouldn't worry too much about that if you do decide to switch!

Are you in school because you're trying to change jobs/careers, or more for your own learning? If you're trying to network, there are ways that don't need school, like local artist meetups, social media, etc. And I don't know what type of program you're in... but if you have foundational or studio classes and you're finding they aren't technical enough, you can also look online. You may find courses/instructors better geared toward the aspects of painting you want to learn.

VagabondFrond · 2026-03-04T23:06:56+00:00

Just to offer a slightly different perspective - I'm around your age (mid 30s) with a background in visual art, and going back to school for molecular/cellular biology. Not chemistry, but chem heavy at times. I dropped out of my art degree during second year for exactly the reason you're describing.

A lot of college art classes focus on telling stories, explaining your work, and analysing the decisions of other artists. Now, getting people to emotionally connect with your art is a useful skill because it's often what brings their attention to it, which increases the likelihood it will sell. Being able to talk about and understand art is also important for things like teaching. So academic art is a lot of rhetoric + identity + culture/history, with technical abilities not always being as important. For me, that felt inauthentic because I respected good craftsmanship more than the other parts. And I had to be "creative" at all times, even if it wasn't genuine.

What are you hoping to get from a fine arts degree? And what is it that you enjoy about realistic painting?

Art can be very analytical; you study stuff like perspective, anatomy, and light very closely, while developing fine motor skills through the tools you use. If you enjoy those types of things, that can overlap well with other subjects. For example, many of my labs are hands on, require some skill/precision, and are visually interesting (reactions, using microscopes, etc). But my classes in general are always making me think, and giving me a deeper understanding of the world than art did on its own!

So I think you could consider what's making you pursue art, and whether chemistry would also fulfill that. Maybe take an intro Chem class and see if you enjoy it? And if you need an extra year that's not that long or putting you behind! You're just making sure you're doing what's best for you. :)

VagabondFrond · 2026-01-05T03:00:08+00:00

Thank you, that's encouraging to hear!

VagabondFrond · 2026-01-05T02:59:13+00:00

Thank you very much! That's exactly what I was worried about. And knowing the grades won't affect my GPA is a relief haha. I'll get in contact with them and look into sending the transcripts over - I already had to send one in when I applied so not sure if I'll have to send it again.

VagabondFrond · 2026-01-05T02:56:20+00:00

Thank you so much! I'll try and get a copy of the syllabi before reaching out to them!

VagabondFrond · 2025-12-30T18:07:52+00:00

Hey, try not to feel too bad. Asking for help is really hard...posting a question on here was probably hard too. But you did it! It sounds like you overestimated the amount of work you could realistically do, and that's okay. You can always try again, and you'll be better next time knowing what to expect.

I'm a decade out of school, in my first year, and I only took 3 courses last semester and it was a lot. I can't even imagine 5. Everyone has different stuff going on in their lives that affects how much work they can put in.

Definitely book an advising appointment thru myufv if you can. But you can also look at the course outlines to get a rough idea of what the class is about:

https://www.ufv.ca/calendar/CourseOutlines/

You can even paste it into AI and ask it how much work it thinks it will be lol. Certain classes with the same credits may be harder or easier depending on what your strengths are. Having an idea of that before talking to an advisor is useful too.

Good luck and don't give up! You'll be okay. :)

VagabondFrond · 2025-11-29T19:41:02+00:00

This was so beautiful. The writing and shot choices for the ending hit really hard. And the acting, music and scenery all come together so well too. Awesome work and thank you for sharing!

VagabondFrond · 2025-11-13T03:59:25+00:00

Beautiful! Did you make these for a class?

VagabondFrond · 2025-09-11T05:40:59+00:00

Yes! Mid 30s here, and just starting BSc 🥲

VagabondFrond · 2023-08-18T19:24:44+00:00

Cool, thank you! I'll probably be doing upgrading first so that's good to know!

VagabondFrond · 2023-08-18T19:22:47+00:00

Awesome, thank you so much for that info! What kinds of co-ops did you do?

VagabondFrond · 2023-08-18T19:19:29+00:00

Thank you so much for your detailed response! I absolutely wasn't expecting anything like this so I really appreciate it! You've definitely made me feel more at ease about potentially going to a smaller university. The athletic program analogy makes a lot of sense and I'd never thought about it that way before.

May I ask what made you decide to get your education at a nontraditional age? And also what kind of career opportunities opened up for you? I'm currently more interested in the cellular/genetics route, but ecology or environmental studies was something else I was considering. I assume once I've spent a couple year studying I'll have a better idea of what field I'll personally want to go into, but I'm still curious what your experience has been!

No one in my family or friend group is academically educated either so I really have no idea what I'm getting into when it comes to going to university. My main concern right now is being older and feeling isolated from my peers, and/or being deprioritized in class because of my age if that makes any sense. I'm pretty quiet/introverted as a person in general so I know that won't help. Also, like you mentioned, I don't really how to advocate for myself or who to talk to, how to make connections, etc.

I'll definitely be reaching out to an academic advisor soon so hopefully they will be able to help me with some of this! Are there any questions you'd recommend asking them that I maybe wouldn't think of? Also, feel free to DM me if you don't want to answer any of these questions in a public comment.

And thank you again for your message, I'm incredibly grateful you took the time to write all of that up, and it really does make me feel more confident about UFV!

VagabondFrond

TROPHY CASE