UTSC Good or Bad?...

[CSR]

I feel bad for those in non co-op managment, ie. reg. management because they have to pay virtually the same as co op management students less the co op fee..

[mrgeo]

I go to UTSC atm. I can tell you from what friends tell me, coop is great if your in the management or comp sci programs, otherwise your on your own when finding a job for your coop term. You can however transfer to St.George from UTSC if you choose to as long as you meet the requirements.

In terms of grading schemes, from my experience anyways, that they do mark harder in the first and second year courses. It gets alot easier in the 3rd and 4th year courses, in my program anyways. I've been in courses with the class average being a B or B+. Mainly because classes are smaller and aren't restricted to the grading schemes that the larger classes have.

Feel free to PM me if you have questions

[JLei2k]

What most people said it's a commuter school and more like a high school than a university. However the co-op is the bright side. Depends on what program you are in.

[thephenom]

Your paying for the advantage of landing co-op jobs and the ~$8000/4months of incoming that comes with them, duh.

With the tuition you pay every yr, you pretty much don't have to pay any taxes for the co-op term, so you actually pull in $10-12k every 4 months. Which was good enough for eatting out during your coop term, gas/transportation money and tuition for the next semesters + books.

I just finished my 5th yr in co-op management, and I was glad to be in the program. By the last of my workterm, I got my coop contract extended from 4 to 8 months and eventually landed me a full time job despite not graduated yet. Ok, I could of finished my degree in my 5th year, but I found a job I liked and didn't want to over stress myself while starting out at work.

The co-op program itself is great, but only if you are looking for accounting/finance/marketing jobs, other business fields seems to be lacking in job offering. (Probably because majority of the co-op students are all in those 3 fields) Yes, you don't get your fancy i-bank or the dreamy consulting job postings, but these are probably among the elite of business school type jobs. The overall quality of job posting is pretty damn good, plenty of big enterprises, and pretty good job description. Most people I know who had co-op really enjoyed their time at their coop placement.

School life is kind of boring, you'll probably meet a lot more people in first 2 yrs, but once you get to 3rd and 4th year, you're pretty much stuck in the same classes with the same people in your stream. Which is typical doesn't matter what university you go to. Even if I go out with friends from other universities, all their friends are usually the ones in their streams/program. If you're looking for frat or serenity parties, then you went to the wrong school. But then again, you live in Toronto, there are plenty of parties in town for you to meet more people.

Can't say there isn't any social life at UTSC, there are people who have tons of friends in school, and there are also some who graduates with only a few friends they met at school, but at the end of the day, it's up to the person on what they make out of the university experience.

[tokajim]

there's a lot of truth to all the points everyone brought up.

i think it's more of an indictment on the people who attend utsc rather than the academic programs. the truth is a lot of people attend utsc en masse, i.e. they and 25 people they knew from their highschool all enter the same program. this makes for a lot of cliques, and makes it a bit more difficult to make friends early on. i'm not sure why this is the case. possibly because the students from local highschools who don't get into a waterloo or utsg end up all going to utsc for its proximity.

as far as the grades go, perhaps it has a lot to do with that fact as well. along with the commuting aspect, most people end up studying on their own. there are far fewer study groups, course forums. this all in turn, make studying a lot less interesting. but i don't really think it's because the courses are easier or that the students are dimmer.

the school is absolutely like an high school, has way too many students, and is lacking in facilities, lacking in activities, the commute sucks too.

but there's a positive that no one's really mentioned. because of the lack of interest in school and social activities. there's a huge opportunity to get involved if you're so inclined. someone said that school is what you make of it, that applies to utsc quite well. if you really want to get involved in leadership activities, scholarships, you have a great chance, partly due to the lack of interest.

i also have a word of caution about transferring. i do know people who's transferred to utsg and from utsg. however, make sure you realize that their curriculum are not the same. my program advisor warned me time and again against taking courses downtown that will not match & replace my core course requirements. there is a website that tells you the exact course equivalency of each and every u of t course to other universities. i don't know the url but if you dig a bit you can find it. make sure you check that site to find out which courses will translate over. don't wait and finish 2 full years at utsc and find out you only have the equivalent of first year courses at utsg.

[Nguyenmon]

I really don't know why people are talking about coop or mangement or anything like that, but w/e I just asked for opinions and you guys gave them I'm not gonna complain.

I'm planning to do Specialist in Human Bio, last time I checked that didn't have coop, only integrative bio had coop i think. So I just briefly looked over the coop posts and stuff.

Just trying to clarify with all the marking schemes and such.. and why people are saying that its a high school.

Two things stuck out to me, someone pointed out that since its a "communting school" No one sticks around for stuff like study groups. IMHO I got through grade 12 physics with one.. if there isn't going to be one like this in university.. I may be screwed .. UNLESS... No one commented on any tutorials or practicals yet..???? How are those? Particularly Tutorials, do they help? Or no? If so, then thats considered sort of like a study group, if everyone participates?

Second thing was:

i also have a word of caution about transferring. i do know people who's transferred to utsg and from utsg. however, make sure you realize that their curriculum are not the same. my program advisor warned me time and again against taking courses downtown that will not match & replace my core course requirements. there is a website that tells you the exact course equivalency of each and every u of t course to other universities. i don't know the url but if you dig a bit you can find it. make sure you check that site to find out which courses will translate over. don't wait and finish 2 full years at utsc and find out you only have the equivalent of first year courses at utsg.

I may or may not get screwed by that if I decide to transfer over, but even in my parents mind.. They already have it set that I'm staying at UTSC for the 4 years, then going on to grad school or something. Once/IFF I figure out how to transfer and IFF I meet the req's then I'll probably transfer downtown, since most of my friends are going there.. I've seen about 3 friends so far from high school going to UTSC, and I've made 2 new friends so far as well.. (got their msn's and such) thru the Get Started and Ready Set Go Events. Orientation.. I'll probably make some more friends..... then since most people are taking the same classes.. just diff lecture times.. shouldn't be hard to form study groups.. Since I have quite a few blanks in my shedule and so do they.

[alv077]

I really don't know why people are talking about coop or mangement or anything like that

Lots of talk about UTSC co-op management because it is, to my understanding, the pride and joy of the school.

Just trying to clarify with all the marking schemes and such.. and why people are saying that its a high school.

I don't think they meant that it is a high school in terms of marking schemes. The overall vibe of the school is like a high school - something to do with the cliques apparently.

Two things stuck out to me, someone pointed out that since its a "communting school" No one sticks around for stuff like study groups. IMHO I got through grade 12 physics with one.. if there isn't going to be one like this in university.. I may be screwed .. UNLESS... No one commented on any tutorials or practicals yet..???? How are those? Particularly Tutorials, do they help? Or no? If so, then thats considered sort of like a study group, if everyone participates?

I don't think UTSC has it that bad...

I thought a huge percentage of UTSC students lived close by? It wouldn't be as impractical to stay behind for a few hours as it would've been at UTSG.. right?

[acwong]

From what I heard UTSC is for those who are not good enough for St.George campus only.
Most people simply don't give any respect for grads from UTSC.

[dipple]

As far as student life goes I'm interested in seeing how this year compares to what everyone is saying. Although i keep hearing 'commuter school' everyone in res was offered 1600$ to cancel their res agreement because the residence is over capacity. I think there will be a good amount of people around all the time. Also goto the schools website and look at the massive club and sport list, there's a ton of things to get involved in. Everyone that had a ****** time always has more to say then people having a great time, so take everything with a pinch of salt.

[thephenom]

If you're going to UTSC for Life Science with grad school in mind. Work hard for ALLLLLLL 4 or 5 years because of UT's harder marking scheme and the fact they only give 4.0s to a small percentage of the students.

Remember, you are afterall competing with undergrads from York and the likes who will get higher GPA much easier than you can at UTSC. Grad school pays no attention to where you did your undergrad, just your GPA and a MCAT.

Practicals, you have to attend since that's where you do your lab experiments. Tutorial, some find it very useful since you can have some personal time with your TA, and some just skips all of them and still do fine.

[masterling88]

Hi guys,

I'm pretty new to these forums but I had to join (after getting the free appetizer from swisschalet) but also after I've heard all these discouraging comments about UofT Scarborough, as well as MESA and the Management program.

To be completely honest... I love it here. UofT Scarborough was for me, the most unlikely choice. Coming from Oakville, the likely choices would've been Queen's or Wilfred Laurier, however because of the inspiring march break event last year I chose UofT-Scarborough.

Coming here I learned that yes people are serious about academics. But how is that a bad thing? Having people that are dedicated to their studies just gives you even more motivation to try hard and do well.

Classes here are taught by really good professors. Yes you have a large class first year, but all universities do too. The cool thing is that 2nd year and onwards, the class sizes are really small! Almost all my professors actually know me on a first name basis, and they frequently have enough time to chat with me after class about anything at all.

Some people have claimed that it's easier to get into UofT Scarborough than St. George... if that were true then why is it that we constantly get some of the best students in all of Canada? With an 88% cut-off for co-op management, the majority of people in co-op management have averages in the 90s. Again this just ties in with the academics scene. People here at UofT Scarborough take academics seriously, and we have a program full of highly motivated and driven individuals. Being part of this scene is extremely exhilerating and challenging... a program I honestly wouldn't trade any other program for.

And finally... MESA. First and foremost, MESA is certainly not a clique. When I came here last September, straight from Oakville... I knew absolutely no one. I made a few friends, but I was certainly not part of any popular cliques or anything of that sort. I managed to get a MESA Associate position because I worked hard on my resume and practised for my interview.

As part of MESA, I learned a great deal about planning events. MESA really taught me how to do things effectively and efficiently, with a guiding hand from my own Executive/Mentor whenever I needed the help.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that, this program is awesome because I believe it is. I came here with an open mind, and truly found out what it was like. I didn't form pre-conceived notions about biases and ppl that are out to get me. Rather I was friendly to everyone, and everyone was friendly back.

If you want a crappy university experience, it won't matter where you go, you'll get one. If you want a great one, just be open to new things, and you'll be surprised what you find.

If you have any more questions or concerns I would be more than happy to answer them, christopher dot ling at utoronto dot ca.

I look forward to meeting all of you who have decided to come here in September!


-Chris.

[thephenom]

YAY!!! MESA propaganda!!!

Sorry man, MESA just doesn't do a whole lot for management students in general. Knowing you take part of our tuition as funding fees, not to mention the office you guys have which could of been a much needed study room.

And you chose UTSC over Queens?

[xmate]

I totally agree with Chris.
The university experience is up to the individual to create.
This experience comes from being active in school, meeting new people, and truly enjoying the program you are studying in.

As for MESA, they are a departmental student association just like the other DSA's on campus. All of the DSA's at UTSC have an office and a group of volunteers dedicated to providing a better representation of the program within and outside of the university and they provide a lot events throughout the year compared to other DSAs. It is a continuous improvement process, and the creation of DSAs have made the university a better place.

University means a variety of things for different people. Some people come here for the academics, meet new friends, network in order to find a good job. A co-op work term is meant for students to supplement the theory taught at school. If that is important for you, than UTSC will meet your needs and more.

[Error916]

wow...I'm going into UTSC co-op management program this coming September a, and well....after reading this topic it seems like I regret making my choice of coming to UTSC over UTSG. Who knows, I will only experience once I actaully start schooling.

BTW how important is the getting involved part of Uni for your management program.

[random256]

"Getting involved" is important no matter where you go, if you want anything more than just a degree out of school.