Thursday, August 8, 2013 - 6:02 am:
Stephen: No, No! It says it’s ‘Temporarily Out of Service’! Is yours working?
Leah: It’s loading!
Stephen: Mine’s not even loading!
Leah: I’m on!
Stephen: You are?
Leah: NOO!
Stephen: What happened?
Leah: It kicked me off, said my ‘Session has Timed Out’! If I don’t get into these courses I am going to explode!
Stephen: Mine’s still out of service.
Leah: It’s frozen!
Stephen: Must be really flooded.
Leah: It’s official. I hate ROSI.
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It was nice to hear that many of you first years had an easy time with course enrolment. I hope you enjoyed it. For all the rest of you second, third, fourth (and even fifth) year students—
I hear it!
What is the secret to getting that perfect schedule? (
#startUofT Ever had a perfect schedule?) The schedule that just works, all the classes you want, not too early, not too late, evenly distributed, no back-to-backs, no rushing across campus, each class as interesting and engaging and worthwhile as you thought it would be. And maybe you even get Fridays off!
![http://www.orkugifs.com/en/graphics-comments-friday-gif-931.html](http://blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca/lifeatuoft/files/2013/08/Friday-2.gif)
I have never had a preplanned schedule work out completely. Try as I might, there always seemed to be some kind of conflict, or missed prerequisite, or ‘the meeting section was full’. But that is not to say that I have never had a perfect schedule.
There is a secret to it. Here, let me tell you.
In my first year I thought it wise to take Latin. The intro course, however, was offered Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 8:45 am. If that’s not a proactive discouragement, I don’t know what is!
![http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/gif%20by%20me%202?language=it_IT](http://blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca/lifeatuoft/files/2013/08/cancel-latin-rushmore.gif)
I did not take Latin. Instead, I took a first year economics course and a seminar in the psychology of music.
Note: Neither economics nor psychology was to become my major. But the scheduling difficulties allowed me the opportunity to re-examine the course offerings and discover two new, very interesting subjects. Now I say things like, "An improved economy depends on higher worker productivity” and “The word timbre refers to the quality in a sound that is particular and unique to the thing, such as the particular sound of someone’s voice.”
In second year I planned to take a creative writing class, but failed to notice the May 15 application date.
FYI: Nearly every creative writing course at U of T requires that you apply
early. I took
How to Write English Essays instead. Boring, right? But it turned out to be one of the most useful, worthwhile courses I have taken so far.
By third year I was privy to how things worked. I planned early, I applied for things, and I got into the creative writing class. I did not, however, get into ENG308—timetable conflict—and so I had to take ENG302!
![](http://blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca/lifeatuoft/files/2013/08/Michael-no.gif)
But it turned out to be one of my favourite classes. The professor,
David Galbraith, was enthusiastic and engaging. We read Thomas More’s
Utopia and Shakespeare’s
Sonnets. And I met a really awesome girl named Leah (the same Leah who battled ROSI with me this morning). All because of a "problem" with my so-called "perfect" schedule.
Here it is: The secret to the perfect schedule is that there is no such thing as a perfect schedule. Even if
I’m up all night to get lucky with ROSI, I will probably encounter some issue.
And so I try not to worry about it. I’m discovering that every course at U of T has something worthwhile to offer. It’s not about getting the perfect schedule. It's about making sure I take something away from each and every course I
happen to fall into.
The Rolling Stones really
said it best!
- Stephen
'Til next time! Stay diamond!
-Stephen.
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