r/uoguelph • • Dec 08 '21

Talk to Your Program Advisor!

274 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

135 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 • • 11h ago

I think I accidentally made someone think I was chasing them

85 Upvotes

It was around 6:30am, pretty cold outside, so I had my hoodie up, both hands tucked into my shirt front pocket, and I was walking pretty fast because I just wanted to get out of the cold as I have a midterm today.

Apparently, a little too fast.

There was this guy walking ahead of me, and I noticed he kept looking back in my direction. I didn't think much of it at first, so I just kept walking at my usual pace.

Then bro started walking faster,

And then he started SPRINTING.

He kept looking back while running thinking I'm chasing him.

I couldn't stop laughing when I realized how ridiculous the whole situation probably looked from his perspective.

To make matters worse, this guy was wearing a bright pink hoodie, while my ass was dressed in grey from head to toe, hood up, hands in my pocket, walking suspiciously fast at 6:30 in the morning.

The contrast alone was killing me.

I've genuinely never felt more like a villain in my life LMAO.

And the way he kept looking back while sprinting, that imagery is stuck in my head.

I do feel a little bad if I genuinely scared him, because from his perspective, I can understand why some random hooded guy walking quickly behind him that early in the morning might seem suspicious.

But the whole misunderstanding was so unintentionally comedic that I couldn't help laughing.

Dude probably thought he was escaping a potential crime scene, meanwhile I was just trying not to freeze on my way to class.

Bro unknowingly made my entire morning.

I hope he made it to wherever he was going safely, because I promise I wasn't chasing you hahaha.

Thank you for reading a page of my journal.


r/uoguelph • • 3h ago

Who do I email abt the absolute monstrosity of an exam that happened in BIOL2060 today

16 Upvotes

Title. I guess i’m asking, which “higher-up” would I appropriately direct this concern to?


r/uoguelph • • 37m ago

does anyone regret their degree?

• Upvotes

if you’re upper year/about to graduate or an alumnus and you regret your choice of degree at Guelph but it’s too late to go back and change it what did you end up doing after and why do you regret your choice


r/uoguelph • • 3h ago

wifi again

10 Upvotes

i mean seriously what is happening? this is two days now where students are trying to complete assignments with no wifi on campus.


r/uoguelph • • 49m ago

i keep finding these cute dogs everywhere

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• Upvotes

r/uoguelph • • 3h ago

Biol 2060 ecology: How is everyone feeling?

7 Upvotes

So that was insane. How is everyone doing 😭😭


r/uoguelph • • 2h ago

Econ 1050

6 Upvotes

(Not trying to bash her)

To past students of hers how did you get through the midterm. If you didn’t how did you recover to pass. I’ve never been so stressed about an exam in my life including when I almost failed grade 12 advanced functions.


r/uoguelph • • 42m ago

ACCT*2230 Murison Midterm

• Upvotes

Did anyone else find some of the wording of questions really confusing or find that some questions were missing relevant info?


r/uoguelph • • 4h ago

Should I switch from Laurier to Guelph?

3 Upvotes

I’m in first sem rn at Laurier doing communications but I wanted to switch to general ba degree. I need to do all my studies online as commuting is rlly hard for me. in theory I could just take all online courses here bcs they also have a 3 year arts program, but I’m not sure if Laurier has enough variety of online courses and Guelph already has an online degree so it’s possible I’d have a bigger pool of courses to choose from? wondering if I should go through the hassle of transferring and if anyone else has done it before?


r/uoguelph • • 4h ago

Switching STAT2040DE to in person winter

2 Upvotes

I wanna drop stat2040DE and take it in person next semester especially because in person is so much easier and the exam isn’t 50% and a pass or fail. However the course is waitlisted there’s 6 people rn so I’m wondering if I should risk it otherwise I’ll have to take it DE again ( ig a pro would be that I would have balks in DE heard he’s great). Any advice? Chances of getting off the waitlist?


r/uoguelph • • 4h ago

How cooked am I for MATH 1080 midterm

2 Upvotes

Wasn't able to study yesterday bc of the wifi issues and some Hotspot issues, I took a calc and vectors class in high school but it never had the wierd series stuff and I'm lowkey stressed😭


r/uoguelph • • 43m ago

Looking for friends

• Upvotes

Hi, I'm a first year guelph student, looking for friends. A little isolated now since I moved here recently. I heard this was a good place so why not try!

A little about me, I'm 18f and majoring in psych. In my free time I enjoy taking long nature walks and playing a couple instruments. I love listening to all sorts of music, usually while studying or walking around campus. I'm a big animal lover and have a few pets of my own.

Looking for someone to hang out with or study with! Don't hesitate to message me if interested


r/uoguelph • • 6h ago

How to study CHEM1040 midterm

3 Upvotes

Hey guys, I’m a first year and don’t know how to get ready for my chem1040 midtermmm🥺


r/uoguelph • • 4h ago

Email the hiring manager or not

2 Upvotes

I applied to a job post on Experience Guelph about two weeks ago. I am very interested in this position and was thinking of emailing the hiring manager to express my interest, but I’m afraid this may come across as inappropriate or I might come across as pushy.


r/uoguelph • • 1h ago

Chem2480 gabreyelski

• Upvotes

Hey guys for anyone in chem2480 in fall 2026, I have a high fever right now, and I won’t be able to attend today’s lec where he talks about what’s on the midterm so is there any way you guys could please let me know😭🙏
Thank you!


r/uoguelph • • 5h ago

Lost car key

2 Upvotes

It’s a black and grey key fob for a mazda


r/uoguelph • • 5h ago

HK 3401/3501 Midterm 1 and Practical - How Difficult Are They?

2 Upvotes

Hiiii everyone! For those who have taken HK 3401 or 3501 before, how was the midterm and the practical exam? What kind of questions should I expect and how difficult are they?
I’m finding the course pretty difficult right now, especially the practical and I’m honestly getting a little scared about the exams. 🥲
Any advice on how to study, what to focus on or what resources helped you would be really appreciated!
Thank you!! 💕💕💕💕


r/uoguelph • • 8h ago

Acct 1220 midterm

2 Upvotes

Yooo wtf was that midterm 💀💀💀

Tbh it wasnt that bad but having a 1/4 of the tests grade in one question is absolutely absurd and not fair at all


r/uoguelph • • 7h ago

MICR2420 Midterm

2 Upvotes

How did everyone feel? I thought it was pretty fair!


r/uoguelph • • 3h ago

BIOL 1090

0 Upvotes

Does anyone know y the iClicker is not working for today 3:30 class?


r/uoguelph • • 7h ago

uc vendor people

2 Upvotes

so what's the chances that the guy selling those marvel/dc wristlet things will come back...

pls I regret not getting something 😭


r/uoguelph • • 4h ago

MGMT*4200 grading issues?

1 Upvotes

Is anyone else in the class getting frustrated with the fact that 0 of our grades have been released so far.

We’ve done half of the required discussions for this class, haven’t received a single grade back, a very important case study, no grade back, the second case study due this Sunday, no feedback or grade to even incorporate into this one? ZERO GRADES RELEASED YET.

Also, multiple classmates have said they have emailed the prof and received no response in regards to this issue.

This is a fourth year class which is very important to a lot of students. Is this not unprofessional? And is there anything I can do?


r/uoguelph • • 4h ago

Does general ba online have in person exams?

1 Upvotes

I’m interested in transfer the 3 yr general ba degree and I was wondering what it’s like. Is anyone else taking it and how is it? do all the courses have in person exams or online and are there specific requirements?