r/uoguelph • • Dec 08 '21

Talk to Your Program Advisor!

276 Upvotes

As a University of Guelph Alum, I wanted to offer some advice to current students in this sub. I have seen a great amount of posts in this sub recently, asking members of this sub for advice regarding decisions that can/will impact their academic future.

- "Can I transfer from this program to that"

- "Do I need to obtain this average for this program"

- "Why can't I register for this course"

- "I failed this course, what are my options"

- "When/Can I drop this course? How will this affect me?"

- "I am struggling, what can I do?"

This list goes on. The greatest piece of advice I received while I was in University was to set meetings with my program counsellor. In my first year I was in the chemistry program and was struggling massively. I failed killer Chem and was struggling in multiple other courses. I finished my first year not really caring or planning for the rest of my academic future at Guelph. I felt like I never really understood what exactly was going on with prerequisite courses I needed to take ect. I was going into my second year at Guelph with a sense of willful ignorance. To be honest, I didn't really care.

It was only after I failed another chemistry course in my first semester in my second year, where I actually reached out to my program counsellor. I realized I was further behind then I thought regarding the courses I needed to complete/take after I spoke with them. While this was a bit of a shock, after my meeting with him, I had a complete grasp on what I needed to do in order to graduate on time.

I preceded to schedule a meeting with program counsellor at the beginning of every semester. They assisted me with transferring to a different program in the Sciences, they offered advice of courses I should take, and assisted me with reworking my academic timeline when I needed to drop a course. I ended up graduating on time after taking a few summer courses.

This is what I always recommend to family and friends attending university. Meet with your program counsellor on a consistent basis! They are literally there to help you, and your tuition is paying their salary. They are the ones who have the best knowledge on what courses to take and how to navigate/plan the rest of your academic career. If anything, meeting with them regularly ultimately gave me peace of mind to know that I was on the right track.

Unfortunately, the university and its staff will not take the initiative to reach out to you if you are struggling or veering of course. It is perfectly normal to struggle in University but I think its important to know that you as a student have to take the initiative.

This sub is great for asking about the school itself, the campus, student bodies/club, general advice on what certain programs/professors are like, but this isnt the best forum to take advice from random redditors regarding decisions that will effect the future of their academic career (I see the irony in that last statement). When in doubt regarding questions about your program/courses/progress, I encourage any and all students to talk to the program counsellors first. That is why they are there.

Edit: TLDR: Dont take advice from random redditors regarding academic decisions. Rely on the advice of program advisors whose advice you can actually rely on and whose salary you are paying for.


r/uoguelph • • Jul 08 '24

How to rate your own schedule

133 Upvotes

There are lots of rate my schedule posts on this subreddit which are pretty pointless considering everyone learns differently so here's what to look for and how to rate your own based on how you learn best.

There are 5 things you need to pay attention to: the length of the class, the space in between classes, the time of the class, whether it's a lab, seminar or lecture, and how many days a week the course is. Also if you're commuting or disabled all of this changes.

How Long Your Classes Are

You likely have some idea of how long you can pay attention in lectures from high school. If you could barely follow for the hour that your high school classes usually were, don't go for lectures longer than 50 minutes if you have a choice. If you had no problem with 3 classes back to back and you'd prefer to just get a lecture out of the way, go for 3 hour lectures. If you're somewhere in the middle go for hour and a half lectures.

The Time of Your Classes

Secondly whether you're a night person or a morning person factors into it a lot. Will you be able to focus during an 8:30 lecture? Will you have any energy during a 3 hour 7:00PM lecture? A popular way to do courses is to do them in the morning around 9 to 10 when you're awake but it's still early enough to get all of your courses out of the way, so you can spend the rest of the day studying and socializing. I prefer this honestly, but if you want your mornings to yourself or can't focus at that time then doing the bulk of your courses in the afternoon or evening would be better. Just keep in mind most activities are in the evening and late afternoon, so you might miss out if you're in classes or lectures during that time.

Lectures, Labs and Seminars

Whether it's a lecture, seminar or lab matters a lot as well. Lectures will mostly be passive. You just have to pay attention and absorb information while taking notes. You might not even have to do that if the lecture is recorded. So even if you're sleepy in the mornings, you might still be able to do well if you're awake enough to passively absorb content. Though keep in mind there might be iClickers or TopHats where you have to answer some questions that are often graded. They're usually not too hard as long as you can pay attention. Seminars are usually social so you'll be listening but will likely do a lot of talking and group work as well. So if this isn't something you can do early in the mornings or late at night, keep your seminars in the afternoon or whenever you're usually ready to socialize. During labs you'll have to be actively participating and doing long projects that are marked. You need to have 100% of your brain on, so do these whatever time of day where you're usually 100%. They can be tiring as well depending on the course, so definitely avoid having 2 in a day if you can. Like apr1lshowers said in the comments, labs aren't typically every week. They'll usually alternate so this may factor in to what you're able to handle. If you can find a recent course outline for the course you're taking (post 2022 is usually safe), then you can get a sense of what the lab schedule may be. This means you might have more free time in your schedule.

Spaces In Between Classes

How you space classes will also be important. If you did well with your high school schedule you can replicate that by getting all your lectures out of the way and do them one after the other. If you typically get tired after a class try to space them so you'll have down time between each of your classes. If you're an introvert or non-social person, consider adding space between your seminars and whatever other classes you have so that you can recharge before going into a social situation. I'd recommend most folks to have some space before a lab so that you can prepare and relax before it cause you're gonna be working for the next 1 to 3 hours straight so you don't wanna be tired before hand, especially if you're working with chemicals. Some people also don't like having long space in between classes since it keeps you from getting them all out of the way at the same time. If you prefer a long break to study, recharge, and grab something to eat before having to deal with your next set of classes, then maybe you'd prefer a long break. If only having a 2 - 4 hour break to do what you want before having to do more classes doesn't appeal to you then try and trim it down to something more manageable. Regardless, you probably want at least a 1 hour break in there if you have a lot of classes in a day so you have time to get lunch.

How Many Days A Week You Go To Class

How many days of classes you have will determine how many free days you'll have to study and socialize. But packing certain days full of classes might not be manageable. So if you're someone who can deal with 4 classes and a lab in one day if you know that you won't have to deal with any classes tomorrow, then go for it. But if you could barely focus in high school for the 2-3 classes you had before lunch then that might be a bad idea and you might be better off having a few classes every day than a lot of classes every other day. Keep in mind though that when you've got assignments due and studying to get done, you really need free time. So you either need complete days you can use for studying or large sections of the day you can study with.

Commuting

If you're commuting take that into account too. An 8:30 lecture might mean waking up at 5 - 7 o'clock depending on how far away you live. If you're driving so you can't sleep on the way there, it might mean you'll never go to these lectures. Also a 7PM 3 hour lecture means leaving school at 10 and driving home tired. It might also mean getting home after 12 if you live far so you definitely don't want a 7PM lecture the day before an 8:30 lab. Also if you're commuting more days a week that means more commuting time and more gas money/bus fare you have to pay, so trying to get all of your courses done in as few days as possible is ideal. Long spaces in between classes when you're commuting isn't ideal either because you don't have a place to go relax. You'll likely have to sit up at a desk in the library somewhere for this time so if that's gonna be an uncomfortable or unpleasant experience then try spacing your classes closer together to avoid large gaps.

Disabilities

This one often isn't mentioned much, but make sure if you are disabled you're taking that into account for your schedule. I recommend being safe the first semester and trying to space out all of your classes. If afterwards you're fine and could handle another one after that class then take that into account during the next course selection. If you have a physical disability, remember you only have 10 minutes to get to your next class, that can be a far journey, so spacing can help you get there on time, especially for things like labs where if you're over 10 minutes late you can't get in. Thd location for each building is given. You can look up the full building name and then see how far it is on google maps to see if it's manageable for you to get there on time. If you have an energy or social disability, I very strongly recommend having space in between seminars/labs and all other courses. Cause these are often mandatory so if you miss them you can miss marks for projects and you can only miss so many for certain courses before you fail the course. Lectures can be draining if you have a social disability because it's a large room filled with lots of people that can be loud and sometimes you might have to interact with others. So going from that to an environment where you'll have to do a lot of social interactions can lead to issues depending on what your triggers are. Labs can also be very physical if you have a physical disability so you may need time to rest afterwards.

Let me know if I forgot anything or if I should add something else. The point is your schedule very much depends on you. What works for others may not work for you and vice versa so you've just gotta know what to look for so you can make the decision yourself.


r/uoguelph • • 17h ago

Help towing my car 5-10 feet down my own driveway (lol)

Thumbnail
gallery
72 Upvotes

Edit: SHE’S FREE! Thank you for the concern folks :)

Hi folks!

Grad student fighting for their damn life here.

Long story short, I bought a car that was ✨fraudulently safetied✨ and rapidly became utterly undriveable. I am pursuing legal action (at the serving papers point!) but obviously have to hold onto her in the meantime. While trying to move it further down the driveway and into car time-out in the corner of the property (in front of the trailer in the photo), it somehow got… stuck? I think part of her undercarriage has bent and is catching on the now piled up dirt too which is of course so awesome. I’ve tried tractions boards, floor mats, wood panels, etc., but she just keeps digging in further to the earth.

If someone has a truck and would be willing to tow me 10 feet forward in my own driveway so I’m not blocking my neighbour you would be my hero!

Located in the St. Patrick’s ward area! My apologies for the nighttime photos lol


r/uoguelph • • 31m ago

Physics quiz 1300

• Upvotes

So nervous. I keep finding myself getting at least one part of the answers wrong and my quiz is today, it’s so confusing 🫤


r/uoguelph • • 12h ago

This is not serious this is a joke

25 Upvotes

Guys stop taking the 29 bus there's always a line and I'm lowkey disabled and can't stand for long come on guys 💔💔💔


r/uoguelph • • 9h ago

Found someone's glasses near platform 3

Post image
11 Upvotes

Found at around 12:15 AM...please claim it if it's yours...looking thru the lens...this person seemingly might have presbyopia and must really be looking for it...so pls dont falsely claim it


r/uoguelph • • 6m ago

I don’t know what to do…

• Upvotes

I’m a first year student and I just got my Biol 1070 midterm back only to get a 55. I looked over the lectures and did the practice test only for the exam to be NOTHING like that. They would give a huge chart that’s the size of a page and we had to answer questions about it which I NEVER EXPECTED to be on the exam. I am really bad with working under pressure and have these small panic attacks during exams so I was never good with taking exams or tests. Now I have a Chem and book 1090 exam on the same day (on Halloween) and I can’t help with worry that the loop is going to repeat itself.

Any ideas? Am I the only one?


r/uoguelph • • 9h ago

BIOC2580 Midterm

7 Upvotes

Guys I only just started studying for the midterm… how cooked am I 😭
Is there even a point in trying or should I just drop the class atp. Seriously tho does anyone have tips on major things to focus on? Is there content that isn’t as important that i can maybe skip? Send help


r/uoguelph • • 6h ago

BIOC*3560 MIDTERM

2 Upvotes

Thoughts on bioc3560 midterm???? I took the midterm and found it hard honestly.... I am debating dropping it honestly this can't be good.


r/uoguelph • • 15h ago

Parking Tickets in P15?

Post image
9 Upvotes

Question for the people in P15 that just park next to the available parking spaces, are you getting ticketed?? I labelled the photo above so you can see what I mean.

I always see people parked on the ends of the rows where there are no more yellow lines, I would never do that because I would be afraid of getting a ticket but I understand the frustration of paying for a parking pass and not being provided with enough spots. The fact that there are cars parked in these areas every day makes me think they’re not giving out tickets for this, but maybe the uni is just making bank off of tickets every day, and then new people continue to park there because they have seen so many other people do it before them and no one has shared that they got ticketed for it.

I’m not asking because I want to start parking there, I have just been genuinely so curious for so long.


r/uoguelph • • 11h ago

Student Quality of Life Study

Thumbnail uwo.eu.qualtrics.com
4 Upvotes

You are invited to participate in the Long Haul Campus Study, the purpose of which is to gain an understanding of:

(1) the quality of life of university students in Ontario with Long COVID compared to students without Long COVID;

(2) the lived experiences of students with Long COVID; and

(3) what students with Long COVID perceive as needed to support their well-being and academic success. Participants will be asked to complete a short questionnaire that will take 10 minutes or less to complete 
 
To be eligible to participate in this study, you must:

(a) be enrolled as a full-time or part-time university student in Ontario (undergraduate, graduate, or professional student);

(b) be able to read and write in English; and

(c) have access to an internet-connected device.
 
To access the study’s Letter of Information and questionnaire, please visit the following link: https://uwo.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_dm7nGtfTcubGTjg

This study has been reviewed and received ethics clearance through a Western University Research Ethics Board (REB #129457)


r/uoguelph • • 18h ago

Loud People on the Bus

14 Upvotes

Why do people blast their phones if they don't have headphones with them? Its just inconsiderate. If you dont have headphones with you, turn your volume all the way down. You dont need it to scroll through insta.


r/uoguelph • • 11h ago

Math1030 garvie

3 Upvotes

The first test was alright as I did the generated practice test he provided. But I’m a bit worried as it’s only 12 questions for the second test and gives me more room to mess up. How should I study/prepare for this? (I’m already doing the practice test he provided as well as the homework)


r/uoguelph • • 21h ago

What is this, how hard is it to just find a diagram online?

Post image
13 Upvotes

r/uoguelph • • 20h ago

Counselling Services

6 Upvotes

What are peoples experiences with them? Do you find that they actually help?

I’m thinking of booking an appointment but I don’t want to do that if it’s just a waste of my time


r/uoguelph • • 11h ago

DEF exam grade release

0 Upvotes

I took my deferred exam 3 weeks ago (next week it will be a month) and I still haven’t received my final grade. It was an online multiple choice exam so idk what’s taking so long lol.

Anyone else experience this? Should I reach out to my professor? I’d like my grade back


r/uoguelph • • 20h ago

Mathematical Science

4 Upvotes

Can anyone in the program tell me how their experience with it has been so far? I’m in CS and I’m thinking of switching as I’ve really enjoyed all my math courses and I’m not the biggest fan of the cs department here. The new data science AOE looks good and I just want to ask the people in math science what their career plans are with the degree?


r/uoguelph • • 1d ago

Busses not showing up

11 Upvotes

I typically take the 56 to campus and yesterday at around 10:30 the bus was supposed to come and just didn’t. I ended up having to drive myself and pay for parking on campus because otherwise I would have been late waiting for the next one.

Can anyone tell me why they just don’t show and how to check if they’re not gonna come?


r/uoguelph • • 17h ago

Looking for a Study Group for Psyc 2450 MT

1 Upvotes

Hey,

I'm looking for people in the ( DE or In person section) with flexible schedules and would like to meet up next week to study for the MT either on the 4th or 6th of Nov or shortly before the MT.

I've been struggling to find a study group and would think it would be beneficial to study with people and go through the quizzes as well.

Dm me or comment if you're interested, and I can put together a group chat.


r/uoguelph • • 20h ago

BIOL 3020 midterm

0 Upvotes

I had to defer the exam so I was wondering if anyone wrote it how it went for them. Like would you consider it to be fair or focused heavy on certain topics? Please let me know i’d really appreciate it!


r/uoguelph • • 21h ago

Anyone taken PBIO*4070

1 Upvotes

Just wondering about difficulty/course load!


r/uoguelph • • 1d ago

What's the culture like at Guelph?

3 Upvotes

I'm currently deciding where to go for post-secondary. I'm interested in pursuing a degree in mech eng and thinking about entrepreneurship as a career path. From engineering being an accredited program, I've gathered that the biggest differences between schools are the people and culture. As a learner and human, I experience the most growth through type two fun and competitive environments. I enjoy throwing myself into the deep end.

I'd appreciate some insight into both the social and professional culture (general and engineering specific) at Guelph. Is there any startup culture? How competitive is the academic culture? To what extent do students challenge each other? I recognize that the university experience, or any life experience for that matter, really depends on what you as an individual make of it. However, knowing what/who you're working with is helpful nonetheless. If you have any relevant stories or insight, I'd love to hear them.


r/uoguelph • • 1d ago

Bachelor of Arts Psychology program

3 Upvotes

Hi! I'm a current Grade 12 student. I had an 84.875% average in Grade 11, and with the courses I'm taking this year, I'm more likely to have an average in the high 80s for my senior year. The estimated average range to get into UofG's Bachelor of Arts Psychology program is 80-86%.

As of now, I'm taking 5 in-person classes and an online course in a non-semestered school (1 art, 1 social science, Biology, Data Management & English), and took three Grade 12 courses last year and finished with low 90s in all (90, 92, and a 93 respectively) that can be counted towards my top 5/6.

Does my Grade 11 average make me competitive, or should I look at other programs? I have two other schools I'm considering right now, but Guelph is by far my top pick.

Any feedback or answer would be appreciated!! Thank you!


r/uoguelph • • 1d ago

Molecular bio & Genetics alumni

5 Upvotes

Any MBG alumni here? Looking to hear some stories about your career path after graduating. I’d like to get exposed to different areas other than lab work & research and really see what career opportunities are out there after getting my degree.


r/uoguelph • • 1d ago

How was quiz 3 compared to 1 and 2 - PHYS1300

8 Upvotes

Lmkkk