How to stay at U of T for longer than 4 years: the Victory Lap!

So you love U of T so much that you just can't seem to register yourself for convocation. While this is probably not the major determining factor for most students who end up taking the glorious "victory lap" (euphemism for "Ughhh I'm not graduating this year"), it doesn't matter, because the more the merrier! So far, through my many visits to my Registrars Office and some supplementary reading from the Calendar, I've discovered two main ways that you can keep on being a student at this school after 4th year: 1. Get degree now, take courses later If you decide to convoke because you already have fulfilled all your degree requirements, then you can simply return as a non-degree student and continue to take courses. After your convocation, or even during the summer of, the school system will automatically switch your student status from degree to non-degree when you enroll in more courses. In other words, you won't have to actually do anything about the switch. The system will keep your information for one year, after which you will have to re-register if you want to take more courses (i.e. your ROSI account will be shut down after one year). A major downside to switching to non-degree student status is that you will get the lowest priority in terms of course selection. For example, for the 2010-2011 Fall/Winter course enrolment this August, priority enrolment for degree students ends on August 4 and the P indicator is removed August 6 so that non-degree students won't be allowed to enroll in courses until August 13. Knowing how badly ROSI tends to behave during the Course Selection War Time Zone, if you plan to enter the battle as a non-degree student, I've been told by a veteran to prepare a list of as long as 20 courses for backup so that you will not have to resort to an FML situation. Keep in mind, though, that if you plan to take courses this Spring/Summer semester while also having registered for convocation in June, you're technically still considered to be in your 4th year of study because you will have 14 or more credits underneath your belt. From the table below, you can see that you'll still get theĀ highest priority for course enrolment.
Year of Study Start time for course enrolment
4 April 6, from 6:00 a.m.
3 April 6, from 7:15 a.m.
2 April 6, from 11:00 a.m.
1 April 6, from 2:30 p.m.
Non-degree April 6, from 4:00 p.m.
a 2. Take courses now, get degree later Your second option is to push back the date of when you want to obtain your degree. If you are currently registered to convoke in June but want to stay as a degree student past the current Winter semester, simply let your Registrar's Office know of your change of plans. I was told by the Innis Registrar's Office to notify them of any change of heart before April 30. Should you decide to do this, you will remain a degree student as you head into new semesters and all distribution requirements and limits regarding extra courses will still apply (e.g. no more than 6 FCEs at the 100 level can be counted towards your cGPA). Depending on what your purpose for taking additional courses is, you might find this to be a more plausible option simply because of how much pain and anxiety it will save you during course selection. Remember that even if you've applied to graduate school and are still waiting to hear back, there is no immediate need to graduate by June if you are not sure of any acceptances yet - since you will have fulfilled all your degree requirements, taking any extra courses won't prevent you from being eligible to accept any offers. Should you end up with an offer in hand by, say, June (congrats mate, at least that will make one of us!), it won't be too late to request for convocation in November. Good luck everyone! As usual, hit me with any questions and I will try my best to provide you with a good response! -Lucy

5 comments on “How to stay at U of T for longer than 4 years: the Victory Lap!

  1. Lucy, do you know if one can get a timetable/calendar package from the registrar even if they’re graduating this June?

  2. Yes definitely. I was registered to convoke this June but decided against it recently. When I went to pick up copies of my calendar and timetable *last week* (? can’t remember…it was very recent) my name was on the list they check off (for calendar/timetable) even though my name is still in their system for students registered for convocation.

  3. That’s interesting. I was wondering, is it possible to take first term summer school (may-june) and still graduate in June?

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