The Official Unofficial Guide to Laurentian

Helping all students of Laurentian University make the most of their time here!

[survivinglu]

Questions RE: “Easy Electives”

Some of the disappearing and unanswerable asks we’ve been receiving lately on the blog are questions about easy electives.

We do not answer this question on this blog.

The thing about the concept of “easy” is that it’s subjective; what’s easy for one person may be difficult for another. We all have different concepts of easy that include various factors, including the subject - we might find subjects we enjoy and/or are good at to be easier than others - and the teaching style of different instructors. As a result, we cannot recommend for anyone any “easy” electives because what might be easy for me (Ryan) - history courses with long essays (as writing is my strong point) - may be very difficult for people who don’t like to read a lot, struggle with writing, etc.

If you want to know what might be easy for you, consider these factors. Look first at subjects you know you enjoy and/or are good at, and then reach out - either to this blog or other avenues like UMentioned Laurentian on Facebook - to ask about the instructor teaching the course. It’s far more effective to give feedback on a professor - what sort of assignments they give, how strict or lenient a grader they are, etc. - than it is to assume we know your academic strengths and weaknesses.

And, as mentioned in some previous posts, asks are not working properly right now. I’m not entirely certain why. So, if you have any questions, you’ll have to reach out to me (Ryan) on other social media.

[survivinglu]

This blog has been a little defunct for a while. Life has gotten in the way, and it’s been difficult to continue running this myself between work, teaching, my PhD research, etc. However, I wanted to post a list of all the programs that Laurentian has currently discontinued - and these are just those offered by LU themselves, not the federated universities (with whom LU already terminated partnerships) - as a result of their insolvency situation.

This is absolutely terrible and my heart bleeds for all the students whose programs were cut and futures uncertain, all the faculty members who were terminated today through group Zoom meetings, and even those who may not have been affected greatly - like myself, whose PhD program appears to be safe (and whose supervisors’ programs appear to be safe, suggesting I MAY be lucky enough not to lose them) - but who are so tightly connected to the LU community that this still weighs on them greatly.

We are a community and we are all in this together. I must put my mental health first so I cannot promise I will be there to listen and give advice, but if anyone wants to just vent about this situation or share their feelings, feel free to send some anons and I will post them so we can all feel with you.

[survivinglu]

Issues with Tumblr Asks

Hey everyone! This blog has been having some issues over the past several months with asks, in that we are getting the notifications for them but whenever we go to answer them, they are no longer there.

If you would like to ask a question, I encourage you to reach out to me on other social media outlets: • Twitter. • Instagram.

This ensures that I am more likely to receive your message. Unfortunately it will not be anonymous, but you can also email me at [email protected] if you would like to ask anonymously (and have an email address without your name on it). I can also posts answers to any emailed or private messaged questions here on the blog if anyone would be.

Thanks! ~ Ryan.

[telegraphavekiss]

10 basic tips for academic success in college / uni

The new school year is beginning (or has already begun), so I figured I’d write a list - from the perspective of a PhD student (someone who’s been doing this forever) and a university educator - of some tips for academic success in college / uni to help new students:

Read your syllabus. Many of the questions students ask throughout the term can be easily answered if they would read their syllabus. If you feel the syllabus information is not clear enough, though, absolutely ask the question because it’s better to ask than assume.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Your profs would much rather you ask and understand rather than assume and then do poorly and struggle throughout the course. They are there to help you learn, so if you need to ask to learn, then that’s what you’ve got to do.

Clarify your professor’s expectations of you. Profs have varying expectations so what might get you an A in one class will only get you a C in another — figure out what your professor wants and work to meet those expectations. When you write / present, you tailor to your audience and in this case, the professor is your audience.

Reach out to your professor if you have outside issues affecting your school work. Sure, not all professors will be understanding of mental health issues, family issues, etc. so it’s not always helpful, but if you explain why you’re struggling or perhaps having difficulty even attending class, some professors will absolutely attempt to accommodate you.

Find out where your school’s accessibility services are and how to use them. The name may differ depending on the school, but this is where you can get academic help due to issues that affect your focus — anything from mental health issues to learning disabilities to juggling school with employment. They can provide further accommodations for you if necessary.

Make an appointment with a mental health counselor or therapist on campus. Sometimes they are very busy so they can’t take anyone unless someone is in crisis, but if they are available, it can be helpful to talk things out with a trained professional. You don’t need to be falling apart yet — they can help you keep from falling apart.

Also make an appointment with an academic advisor. If you’re not sure what to study - whether it be for your whole degree or even just specific classes - then they can help you figure out what you might want to do. If you’re a non-traditional student this is 100x more important because they can create an academic game plan with you.

Speak to your program director. Advisors don’t always know exactly what is required in a specific major / program because those details can change from year to year, so your program director can help ensure that you are on track and taking the right classes.

Build a rapport with at least one student in each of your classes. This is important because if something comes up and you need to miss class, then your professor will not always be able to give you notes for what you missed — some will tell you to ask a classmate, so this ensures that you have someone to ask. This also helps when you have to do group work, so that you’re not suddenly stranded.

Visit your student association. In many cases student associations are in charge of things like your student health plan, some of the support services on campus, etc. and will even walk you through and support you in administrative processes such as reports or appeals.

There are far more things I can tell you about success in college / uni such as joining clubs (socialization and gaining leadership experience), internships or research / teaching assistantships (for valuable experience on your résumé — you cannot graduate and expect your degree alone to get you a job, this is how you gain experience before graduating), etc. However, I figured that I would start with some of the very basics that some students never think about because you need to think about them.

You’ll notice a theme in almost everything: speak to someone. You want to build connections with your community, because those connections will help you when you need them most, both during your education and after you graduate. Even the most socially anxious person needs that community, but you can start with the counselor if need be.

[survivinglu]

Registration Guide 2018-2019

Hello all! I have written a registration guide a couple years in a row now (save for last year), and while not much has changed to warrant a new guide, I decided to write a new one anyway and attempt to simplify it. This will still be long, but each point will be...well, straight to the point.

Firstly, you will be creating your Laurentian account sometime before registration opens. When you register on WebAdvisor, you will already have created your account, so you should already know your login credentials (username - NOT student number - and password). Once logged in, you will be brought to this page:

From here, you click on “Student.”

You will then click on “Register for sections.” This is the only link where you can actually register for any courses -- “Search for Sections” allows you to search through courses currently offered, but not register for them.

From here, you want to click “Search and Register for Sections.” This will allow you to search for the courses, and then select them for registration.

On the following page, you will have a number of search factors open to you. I would suggest not choosing anything besides the Term, Subject, and Course Level -- you do not know what sections will be offered when registering, what time they will be offered at, who is teaching them, etc. The more detail you put into the search, the fewer results you will get, and potentially miss the courses you need. You can choose the language of the course if you wish not to see results in either English or French.

Under term, you will focus on three specific terms: 2018 Fall Term, 2019 Winter Term, and 2018 Fall/Winter Term. You register for the entire school year at once, so you do not want to simply register for the fall and not for the winter -- you can make changes after registering, up until the end of the second week of each semester (with late fees after each semester begins).

Your course level is reflective of the number of the course code. Some programs require you to take a second year course (2000-level) during first year, so note that you will not find that course if your course level is not “Second Year.” Your course code is also where you find whether the course is on-campus or online. If the two digit section number at the end is 10 or higher, the course is online. Below 10 means it’s on-campus.

You need to know what courses you have to look for. Your MyLaurentian portal may tell you this, however if you are unsure, you can check your program page on the Laurentian website. You must register for your required courses, you are not automatically registered for them. As for electives, you must choose each class individually based on the requirements you might have (such as six credits in science, or six credits in Indigenous content).

For information on what counts as scientific literacy, Indigenous content, or linguistic awareness, please view this regulation document on the Laurentian website. You can also view this document for any other information on BA and BSc degrees. For information on what subjects sit in what specific categories, you can view this image below (updated because it was produced in 2015 and there have been changes in that time):

Three credit courses are offered in the 2018 Fall Term and 2019 Winter Term, and six credit courses are offered in the 2018 Fall/Winter Term. What is the difference? The fall term and winter term are the individual semesters, and the fall/winter term is the whole school year (save for the spring and summer terms). Some courses are offered straight from September to April, and thus are often six credits. Most courses are offered from September to December or January to April, and thus are three credits.

You will be asked, once you have selected your search criteria, to confirm your information. This includes your program, you student association, your gender, and your Francophone status:

If you have not already been assigned to a student association, this is where they will assign yours. Generally, students who identify as Francophone or are in a French program will be assigned to the AEF (the Francophone student association) and all other students will be assigned to the SGA. As a graduate student, I am a member of the GSA (or, as they categorize it, GRAD). If your information is correct, you’ll click “submit” at the bottom of the page.

To register for courses, you simply click the box next to the course you have chosen.

Note that the “Meeting Information” will tell you the days, times, and locations of these courses. Sometimes your meeting information will fill the entire box, and will leave off on ellipses -- this is often because the class meets twice a week, either at different times or in different locations. You can see that the title and course code of these courses are links, they’re blue -- click on the link to see the meeting information in full (as well as any prerequisites for the course, and the professor’s contact information).

Once you have selected a course and pressed “submit” at the bottom of the page, you will be brought to the “Register and Drop Sections” page.

In order to register for the course, you simply select “Register” and click “submit” at the bottom.

Courses that are offered at the same time conflict, and WebAdvisor will not allow you to register for conflicting courses, so if you attempt to then you will receive an error message. If you have not completed the prerequisites for a course, you will also face an error message. You can only register for a total of thirty credits during the year (in most programs, select programs allow you to register for more) so if you select more than thirty credits, you will also receive an error message.

Once you are registered for your courses, you can click the “Main Menu” button at the top of every page, and click the “Student” button again.

From here, click on “My Class Schedule.” This is where you will go to see your actual schedule once you are registered for your courses. You will have to select the proper term for each course, as in the term for which each course was found in registration (2018 Fall Term, 2019 Winter Term, 2018 Fall/Winter Term). You can view your entire school year by clicking the 2018 Winter Academic Term (not viewable below since registration has yet to open):

You class schedule will then be presented to you in the form of a list (this is my current 2018 Spring Full Term schedule because it is the only one currently available to me -- courses are removed from previous schedules once your final grades are submitted):

You are unable to access the schedule in a calendar form, this is not offered on WebAdvisor. Many students create their own calendar schedules using programs on the internet or spreadsheets on their computer. For example, I use Numbers (the Mac version of Excel) in order to create a calendar schedule where I can view my courses better. Here is an example of a schedule that I created in Numbers during my undergraduate education:

All this is a gross simplification, since different programs will have different requirements. You may want to speak to an academic advisor prior to registration, or even the program director -- you can also feel free to ask me questions, and I can walk you through registration. I have done this for many students in the past, spending many hours on the phone or the internet to help find courses and create schedules with students -- I cannot promise to have an everlasting knowledge of what is required for each program and I will consult the Laurentian website, so your program director or academic advisor may be able to do more for you. What I offer, however, is instant responses and availability outside the working hours of the school (8:30AM to 4:30PM). I am available on Facebook, Twitter, or by email at [email protected]

I still recommend that you contact your program director or academic advisor even after having gone through registration with myself. Note that there is sometimes a miscommunication, and students do not receive the same information from their program director as they do academic advisors -- in this case, you always go with the information that your program director gives you. There are changes often, and the advisors in the Centre for Academic Excellence are not always updated instantly.

In the previous year, I also made an OSAP application guide video. OSAP applications have changed slightly in the past year, and therefore my video is already outdated, but you can take a look if you are currently applying for OSAP. I also highly encourage you to read my OSAP FAQ because this information is still rather current -- and do so soon, I recommend applying for OSAP (if you need apply) by the beginning of July since OSAP applications can take six to eight weeks to process. You do want it to process before school begins.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me! Make sure to take a look at the Laurentian website in the next couple weeks before registration opens so that you can see what will be required of you when the time comes!

Ryan Michael Wildgoose, M.A., B.A Ph.D. Student in Human Studies Sexual and Gender Diversity Commissioner of the Graduate Students’ Association Co-Director of Pride Laurentian / Co-Directeur de Fierté Laurentienne

[survivinglu]

Student solidarity event draws large crowds in support of striking faculty

The student solidarity event took to the picket lines on October 2 as students show support for professors during the university’s labor disruption

[survivinglu]

Following up the OSAP application video that I made a couple months ago, I figured I would write a quick OSAP FAQ for students so that you can have any questions you might have answered here directly. Note that you can contact me if you’d like a more detailed explanation for your exact situation, and you can contact [email protected] for information pertaining directly to your application.

• To guarantee your funding arrives on time, you must apply for OSAP up to two months before the semester begins. OSAP states that applications can sometimes take six to eight weeks to process; students who apply less than two months before the semester begins risk having their funding arrive late. Laurentian is understanding if funding arrives late if you applied more than two months before September, since in that case any late funding is OSAP’s fault and not yours, but they are not as lenient about funding that arrives late because you simply applied late. The school is understanding, however, if you have an individual situation as to why your application was submitted so late (for example, last year I had some issues with my SIN and could not apply until mid-September, so my funding didn’t arrive until October).

• OSAP is released at the beginning of each semester, sometimes the weekend before this, however it can take one to ten business days to actually arrive. This is the reason why OSAP students who have selected on their application to have OSAP pay the school directly have a deadline of the second week of each term to pay their fees (September 15th specifically this year); sometimes you will see your remaining OSAP (what’s left over after your tuition is paid) in your bank account as early as one day after OSAP is released, sometimes you won’t see it for two weeks (weekends do not count as business days).

• OSAP is released in two different groups: federal funding and provincial funding. They will not appear in your bank account at the same time, so do not fret if you do not have all of your OSAP (what’s expected after tuition is paid) in your account at the same time; one will often take several more days, sometimes even a week, longer to appear in your bank account. This is completely normal, and you do not have to panic or call OSAP when you notice that you have less money in your bank account than you were expecting.

• As already mentioned, students who selected on their application to have OSAP sent directly to the school to pay their fees have a deadline of September 15th to pay their fall fees. If you selected instead to have your OSAP sent directly to your bank account, you must still adhere to the August 4th deadline for tuition. The only reason that the deadline is September 15th otherwise is because students are then waiting for OSAP to come in before they can pay their fees; students who select to have the funding sent directly to them are believed to be using OSAP for purposes other than tuition (such as rent, school supplies, living expenses, etc). If you would like to change this on your application, email [email protected] before August 4th.

• Some people have received scholarships or bursaries after they applied for OSAP, and therefore they are not included on their application. Do not worry about contacting financial aid to update this; OSAP will demand at the end of December that you update your income for 2017, which includes updating whether you received any scholarships or bursaries. This will potentially decrease the amount of funding you receive for second semester, as you will suddenly need less money in their eyes, so if you know that you have received a scholarship or bursary already, plan to save whatever OSAP you receive in your bank account after tuition is paid in September to carry over second semester. You can also contact financial aid if you need additional funding requested (OSAP will accept such requests if there is an emergency situation).

• Scholarships and bursaries are not typically received before school begins, and therefore will apply to second semester’s fees. Entrance scholarships and Dean’s Honour List scholarships are typically released into your Laurentian account in October, and any bursaries received during the fall term are released into your Laurentian account in December; the bursary application will open in early September and be available until mid-October, and you will be notified in late November to early December whether or not you are receiving one. You are able to apply to up to thirty bursaries; even if you do not qualify for some, it is highly recommended that you apply for thirty nonetheless, as if you are the highest qualified applicant, you may receive one anyway.

• If you receive any extra money in your Laurentian account before OSAP comes in - more so in second semester than first - and your OSAP is set to be released directly to the school, do not fret: your OSAP will be released directly to you if your fees are already paid to the school. They will confirm how much you owe when the term begins, and if that amount is already paid, then they will direct the money straight to your bank account; if that amount is partially paid, then they will still pay the remainder, and everything that is left over will go straight into your bank account. In some cases, the OSAP still ends up in your Laurentian account - such as if you make a payment after OSAP is released but before it is received - in which case you can email [email protected] to request a refund.

• You can apply for OSAP until ninety days before the end of your study period, so typically up to ninety days before the end of the school year. Although most students apply during the summer, some find themselves in financial binds after school has begun and suddenly need assistance to get them through the school year; if this happens, you can still apply for OSAP even after school has begun, but just remember that it might still take six to eight weeks for your application to process.

• There is currently a no-loan option on the OSAP application; the amount given in a grant has increased in 2017 due to the ‘free tuition’ offered by OSAP, and therefore they attempt to cover your tuition with a grant while giving you a loan separately. In the past, this grant may have been anywhere from a few hundred to a couple thousand dollars, whereas now it can equal or exceed the amount of your yearly tuition. If you want to receive only a grant so that you have no loan that needs repayment afterward, there is an option on the application to receive only the grant, and this can be changed on the OSAP website after your application has already been submitted (on your Funding Summary page). You do not need to email financial aid for this.

• You can only receive full-time OSAP if you are taking 60% of a full course load or higher (40% if you are a student who is registered with accessibility services for issues such as a disability), which translates to eighteen credits (twelve if registered with accessibility services) or more in the school year. A full course load is thirty credits for most programs, and as full-time first year students many of you will likely have full thirty credit school years, but note the amount of credits needed for full-time OSAP; if you find yourself stressed out and need to drop courses and take fewer during the year, you will need to have your OSAP application updated with financial aid should to drop below eighteen credits. This is also nine credits per semester (six if registered with accessibility services); if you intend to remain a full-time student, you cannot take fifteen credits one semester and six the following semester, but you must still take at least nine credits each semester. This applies for both your student status at the school and for your OSAP application.

• If you choose not to receive OSAP in following years, you will still be required to fill out an application on the OSAP website under ‘Continuation of interest-free status’; this is simply to notify OSAP that you are still in school and therefore are not starting repayment, since you are not required to start repayment until six months after the end of your study period. This not only staves off your need to enter repayment, but prevents interest from being added to the amount you owe.

If there is anything that has not been covered by this FAQ, feel free to contact me directly either on Facebook (Ryan Michael Wildgoose), Twitter, or by email at [email protected]; I have been receiving OSAP for seven years now (with a two year break at one point, during which I was in repayment) and have encountered a number of different situations with my own funding and applications, so I have quite a bit of experience that I can share with you to help answer your questions in great detail. Note that you should contact [email protected] if there is specific information pertaining to your application that you need addressed, and for confirmation of anything I might tell you (since OSAP does change over time, and while they do update their website, the school sometimes changes processes and does not provide that information online).

I hope this helps everyone out, and enjoy your first year at Laurentian!

~ Ryan.

[survivinglu]

An OSAP application guide recorded by me personally to walk students through the basic process of applying for OSAP. This is a half hour in length, however if you have never applied for OSAP before, this may help you understand what to do. It is very basic in that I only walk you through my personal application, but you can contact either me or the Financial Aid department ([email protected]) for more information that pertains directly to your application. I hope this is coherent enough for you!

~ Ryan.

[survivinglu]

7 Things to Do Before Classes Start

You’re all likely going to be hanging around campus way before classes ever start, so there’s a few things you definitely should make sure to do: it’ll end up making your year go really smoothly.

7. Explore Your School

Whether alone or with friends, take some time to look around and find things. There are so many great places on campus for you to find. If you’ve never been on campus, now’s a great chance to get a tour. However if you want a great tour filled with insider info, make friends with an upper year student who can show you their favourite spots.

6. Double Check Your Schedule

Sometimes things happen where classes move or time slots get moved around. It’s always a great idea to look around and make sure you know where you’re going. A lot of people think blowing off the first class is a good idea, but it’s the best time to get an idea of what kind of class you’re enrolled in.

5. Go See Your Student Association

Your student association’s are actually super important. Unfortunately, I hear too many upper years who still don’t actually know what the association does. Well, your first week on campus is a great chance to meet the people who represent you and to find out about all the great services they offer.

4. Meet Your Professors. 

I can tell you now that the secret to a great education at the university level is getting to know your professors. Some departments will have an event for all students and professors during the first few weeks, however, if yours doesn’t, it never hurts to send a quick email to your professors to introduce yourself before the semester starts. Being on good terms with professors encourages discussion and makes you more excited to learn. It also means that they’ll know you more and be able to think of you as a person and not just a number when they grade you.

3. Go Get Food Off-Campus

You’re about to spend several months of mostly being on campus and no matter what you get at Subway, it’ll all start to taste the same after a few months. Now’s your chance to take advantage of your free time and try out some new restaurants in a new city. Come exams when all you’ve eaten for two weeks is Kraft Dinner, ramen and peanut butter, you’ll be happy you did this.

2. Go To Events

Seriously. the events are there specifically to welcome you to campus and introduce you to student life. Don’t miss them, it’s a great chance to meet people and have fun before you have to bunker down in the library for a few weeks. Plus, there’s often a lot of freebies, from food to pens to water bottles. They also give out a lot of free condoms, which can save you an awkward trip to the pharmacy later on.

1. Unpack and Get Settled 

Stop procrastinating. You may think you’ll have time later, but this is likely to be the only week of the year that your room is actually clean. Take some time to make your living arrangements feel like home and not just a room you sleep in. When you come back your place after a stressful exam, you’re going to be happy that you hug up some posters and unpacked that teddy bear. 

All in all, take this time to get ready for the crazy ride that you’re about to hop on. It’s going to be a long few years, filled with stress and fun and craziness, and starting it on the right foot can make all the difference.

- Astrid Fournier

(P.S. Tune into TheDROP on CKLU Tuesdays 9am-11am starting September 6th for more music, comedy, news and general mayhem than you’ve ever heard on radio before.)

[survivinglu]

Registration Guideline 2016-2017

Alright everyone, registration opened up this week so I decided to write for you a brand new registration guideline! The first thing you need to do is figure out what you need. That information should have already been made available to you, however if it has not, take a look at your program page on the Laurentian website to figure out exactly what it is you need - and even if you have all that information, I would double check the program page anyway. You can never be too careful, right? Some of you may need some social sciences, humanities, and science electives - you cannot search for those subjects as is on Laurentian’s WebAdvisor system, so here is a chart of what subjects are included within those categories:

The Laurentian Centre of Academic Excellence messed up last year and put ‘Environmental Science’ under both social sciences and science - the social science equivalent is actually ‘Environmental Studies’ and they did rectify that, however I never received a copy of the updated chart. Everything else on this chart is accurate, though (besides that Classical Studies is now referred to as Ancient Studies in the Laurentian system).

If you’ve already made your Laurentian ID, you can head straight over to WebAdvisor to get started. If you have not, then take a stop at AccessLU to make your account first. It’s quick and easy but you will need a working LU account in order to register for your courses. Once you’ve logged into the WebAdvisor with your Laurentian ID - which is your username (not your student number) and password - head straight to ‘Students’ on the main page. All of these screencaps will be linked within the text in order to assure you can zoom in (as I can’t quite figure that one out here on Tumblr).

From there you will head down to where it says ‘Register for Sections’ under Registration. You cannot select your courses from ‘Search for Sections’ (it only allows you to search and see what’s available) nor can you from ‘Register and Drop Sections’ (as that’s where you will complete registration but you cannot search for courses there), so make sure you click the right link.

Once you have clicked that link, you will be provided with another series of choices. These are all different methods in which you can complete your registration, however for a first year student or anyone who may have difficulty with the system, it is highly recommended that you use ‘Search and Register for Sections’. I’m a graduating student - hopefully a graduate student next September (2017) - and I still opt for that option as it’s the easiest method.

Now that you’re searching for your sections, you’ll have to choose which terms you’re searching under. The spring and summer terms are for the classes currently being conducted, so you will want to ignore those terms. For the 2016-2017 school year you’ll be searching under the Fall 2016, Fall/Winter 2016, and Winter 2017 terms. Three credit courses will often be found under the Fall 2016 and Winter 2017 terms respectively, while a six credit class (which is to be taken for the entirety of the school year) is found under the Fall/Winter 2016 term. Make sure when you’re searching to check all three terms for your courses, as some three credit courses are combined into a six credit course some years, while some six credit courses are deconstructed into two separate three credit courses some years.

Now that you’ve chosen your term, it’s time to choose your subject. In most cases the subjects are pretty straightforward, however if you’re unsure which subject a course code falls under, you can check the ‘Courses’ section of the Laurentian website. This section does not tell you all the courses offered this year, but it is rather a selection of possible courses you can register for at Laurentian - some courses listed there are no longer offered just as some are only offered every two to three years, so do not search there for your courses before registering for them. It’s best also to only search for one subject at a time to avoid becoming confused or lost.

Here is where some of the process becomes a little tricky. Do NOT put in your course number or section when searching for courses, because the more information you put in, the more limited results you receive. This may seem better however if you put in any information incorrectly - which is easy to do since you don’t know what sections are available yet (and therefore do not have a section number yet) - then you will find no results when there could be dozens. You can put in your course level, however I find it’s best not to simply because Laurentian DOES sometimes make mistakes, and sometimes a first year course will appear under the second year course level by accident. You also should not put in the time of day or day of the week since again, you do not know when the course is offered, nor should you put the academic level or instructor’s name. You may use keywords but only if you are searching for a course in which the course code may have been changed (and the information you were given was therefore outdated). I highly recommend you use the factors such as language and location to search for courses as well, since as Sudbury students you cannot be searching for Barrie courses and as Barrie students you cannot be searching for Sudbury courses. ‘Distance education’ courses are online, so only select that if you specifically wish to search for courses you do not have to attend on-campus.

Once you have submitted the different factors to search for a course and have clicked the ‘search’ button, you will be asked to choose your student association. Since I am already a member of a student association I am unable to show you how that process works, but once you have confirmed your student association, you will be allowed onto the search results. Each time you search for a course you will be required to confirm this information, such as in my screencap below, to make sure everything is in order.

Now you will receive your selection results. You have to remember to check the course code and the course name when searching through them, as sometimes course codes change just as sometimes the names of the courses change. You also must pay attention to the course code in terms of location - as long as you’ve chosen a location factor in your search then you should be fine, but remember that ‘EL’ courses are conducted in Sudbury and ‘EG’ courses are conducted in Barrie. The L stands for Laurentian and the G for Georgian (as the Barrie courses are held at Georgian College). If you are searching for French courses then you’ll receive selections such as ‘FL’ or ‘FG’ - I think it goes without saying that the E stands for English and the F for French. If you are searching for science courses, you may find some that have ‘ELL’ in the course code - a course with an additional L is a lab (which is what the letter stands for), and if there is a lab associated with the course code of the course you’re searching for, in most cases you WILL be required to take the lab. It is not worth any credits but will be required in order to pass the course. That goes for many science courses, in addition to some select language courses (some core French classes require labs as well). If you do not see any information in the time slot, take a look at the course code - the two digit section number at the end will be 10 or higher if the course is an Envision (aka online) course. Very rarely will Laurentian post a course without a time slot, so it’s not a case of the time and day being added later - it’s very often a case of the course being an Envision course. ALWAYS CHECK THE COURSE CODE.

In my selections below, I have chosen a fourth year history class (just because it’s a course I wish was offered when I did my fourth year classes this past year). You select the class by clicking the little box beside it, and then click the ‘submit’ button at the bottom.

Once you have submitted your selection, you will be brought to the ‘Register and Drop Sections’ page. You will click the drop menu beside the course and click ‘register’ in order to register for the course. If you do not possess the prerequisites required for the class, or it conflicts with another course you have already registered for, you will be unable to register for the course. Once you have chosen to register for the courses, you will click ‘submit’ at the bottom, and the page will refresh to show the course in your list at the bottom. The courses you currently see on mine are my summer courses (as I am graduating this fall after I complete those last fifteen credits).

After you have done that, you can keep searching for more courses. You can return to the main menu after you have registered for all your courses, and to confirm that your registration went through, you can click on ‘My Class Schedule’. You will not receive an email confirmation of any sort so this is your own personal method of making sure you’re all registered.

Once there, you’ll have to select a term. If you wish to see your class list for the entire school year - as you will have to register for both your fall classes and your winter classes before the school year begins (however you will have the option to change classes around before the winter semester begins in January) - then you’ll want to pick the ‘2016 Winter Academic Term’. To see your courses in their separate semesters, you’ll pick the Fall 2016 and Winter 2017 terms respectively, and any full year courses will appear under Fall/Winter 2016.

As I had mentioned, I am graduating in the fall, so I do not have a schedule for the Winter Academic Term to show you. In order to show you what the class list will look like, though, I am providing you with my current 2016 Spring Academic Term class list. There are no class times given because they are all online courses - most spring and summer courses are (unless you’re taking science courses) - however your class times will appear within the list in the same manner that they do in all the searches you have just done.

Remember that all the course titles are links - if you want to see a summary of a course, or if there are any prerequisites, you should click the link before actually selecting and registering for a course. You should do this anyway, however, because sometimes there is not enough space to make the full time slot visible in a search, and you may need to confirm what days/times your class is held at. Some classes are held in one three hour period, and some in two separate one and a half hour periods, and sometimes when there are separate periods, they can even fall at different times during the week (and that will be too much information to show in a simple search). Many students try to register for conflicting courses and don’t understand why WebAdvisor tells them the courses conflict, and that’s because they did not open the link to read the full time slot before registering for the course.

In addition, as first year students, PLEASE remember only to register for courses where the course code is a 1000 level course (eg. HIST-1206). First year courses are designed to help you transition from high school to university, and therefore second year courses in many cases are much harder, even if they don’t seem like they will be. Sometimes they are pretty easy and you can take a second year course as an elective, however it is not recommended. The course levels 2000, 3000, and 4000 are second, third, and fourth year classes, and anything higher than that would be within graduate studies (and you would be unable to register for those courses anyway).

This does not explain everything, of course. Some programs have a lot more details that you need to understand when registering. Don’t hesitate to contact me on Facebook (or Twitter however a small tweet won’t often convey everything you need to say) for any help, as I will personally be willing to walk people through registration and help them find all the courses they need. You can also email [email protected] for help, especially if you’re in a situation where course codes may have changed. You will also not be provided with an actual timetable - all you have is that list that you can view in your class schedule - so many students use programs such as Excel or Numbers (or websites elsewhere on the internet) to create timetables. Here is my fall 2015 timetable from last year as an example:

Happy registering! I hope I’ve helped you out even a little bit, and keep up to date with the blog - this is where we write out detailed answers to questions that multiple students have, as well as post stuff about Laurentian in general. Although I will not be a student at Laurentian in the fall, I will certainly be around the campus from time to time - if not working then by keeping involved with Pride@LU as well as helping out students (and possibly sampling graduate classes) - so I hope to see some of you around!

Yours truly, Padawan Ryan of the V’tosh Ka’tur

[survivinglu]

Pride Week at Laurentian!

Hey everyone! Pride Week here at Laurentian University just began today so we figured it would be a good idea to make a post introducing students to the whole experience! Pride@LU is a pretty open and inclusive group, anyone is welcome to take part in Pride activities or visit the Pride office. Although Laurentian itself is pretty supportive - the Gender and Sexuality Diversity Committee helps with that as well - there is still quite a way to go before there is total acceptance within society, so Pride Week is a necessary part of bringing attention to the issues, showing support, and even introducing people to Pride@LU in case they happen to be uninformed.

As a little introduction to what Pride Week entails, this is the poster for Laureitna’s 2016 Pride Week. For more information on any of these activities, or even just Pride in general, you can link to the Facebook page. Astrid is also live-tweeting the Pride events on her Twitter account.

Remember, Pride is not specifically for queer students - as long as you’re an ally, then you’re welcome too! I hope to see everyone showing support for Pride@LU and the queer community at Laurentian for years to come, because the more support you can provide, the closer we get to crushing the stigmas within society associated with all things queer.

Much love to all, Ryan. xPadawanRyan on Twitter.

[survivinglu]

The Official Unofficial Guide To... #ReplyGate2016

The fact that this is a thing I actually have to make a blog post about is nothing short of embarrassing. However, I can’t really say I’m surprised. Really, the ability for a group of university students to take a small everyday mistake and make it into a thing is astounding.

What is #ReplyGate2016?

The result of a small everyday mistake, a lack of understanding of how emails work, peer pressure and love of causing problems. But how did that get to the point where we’ve gotten a few hundred emails, a bunch of harassment and a heap of anger? Well, this is where things start sounding ridiculous and I start being embarrassed for us.

This all started when someone accidentally added the SGA mailing list into the To: box instead of the Bcc: box when sending a routine email blast. Now, this is a tiny mistake, one that literally anyone could make, and whoever made it is in no way, shape or form responsible for this, and if anyone has given them, whoever they are, a hard time about this, I want you to do two things: forgive them, and remember that the majority of people don’t even know what the Bcc: box does.

Now, knowing that most people don’t know what Bcc: does, it should come at no surprise that some people don’t know the difference between Reply and Reply All or really how most functions of an email work for that matter.

So when one person received the original email, which was aimed towards graduating students, they asked to be removed from the mailing list, however, they hit Reply All, and everyone received it. This started an avalanche of other people doing the same, which created a flurry of emails. Which then, because people don’t understand how emails work, started spawning emails from people wanting to be removed from the email. This accomplished nothing, while simultaneously making those people part of the problem.

Then It Got Worse

After finally dying down for a few weeks, and seeming as though it was over, someone decided to Reply All again. This started an outpouring of people continuing the same behaviours, however now with added “jokes” and filler material, meant to keep the emails coming without actually having anything to add to the conversation. Then someone’s email accidentally set off the Barracuda service, which sent an email out to every recipient on the email chain and succeeded in creating a brand new email chain.

What then happened is appalling, wrong, and honestly, completely not okay. I seriously expected better from our students. Some of you, not naming names, but you know who you are, started blaming other people who were on the list of being the root of the problem and starting sending rude emails towards people who were no more involved than anyone else. These emails quickly escalated into harassment towards some people. This is not okay.

The only people responsible for this are those who continue to reply all to the email for no reason other than continuing the chain.

What Now?

The solution to this is very simple. Stop sending replies saying you want to be removed from the list. Stop sending replies about Superbowl plans. Stop harassing people, because even if they were the cause of the problem, which they are not, they don’t deserve to be harassed.

Just stop replying to the emails.

[survivinglu]

Navigating Your Way Around Your New Home: Sudbury Transit

So as I'm sure you all have heard by now, one of the great things included in your student association fees as a full time undergraduate student at Laurentian is a bus pass - your student card works as a bus pass for the school year (beginning of September to the end of April), for which you can ride any bus at any time...well, provided there is a bus available at that time, of course.

I am not going to lie to you: the Sudbury transit system can be rather annoying. While we have plenty more routes than somewhere like North Bay (I dreaded their transit system when I was in college), we do not quite have a transit system like Toronto’s or any big city’s transit system. Our buses do go outside of Sudbury to nearby towns in the Sudbury district, such as Copper Cliff and Hanmer, however the schedules are not as frequent as some might like. There are frequent enough buses for busier areas of town, though, such as New Sudbury, and there is a Laurentian bus every fifteen minutes or on during weekdays before 6:00pm.

The first website to know about is the Sudbury Transit website, where you can look at the schedules and maps for the buses. Maps are available in PDF form once you’ve clicked on a route. The second website to be aware of is the MyBus website: Sudbury Transit stops have a four digit number on each of them, and on this website, you can enter in the stop number to see how long until the bus comes by that stop. This website is especially handy because you’ll know when your bus is running late, and if it’s -40˚ or below outside, you can also avoid running out early to make sure you don’t miss the bus. There are also some apps you can download on your cell phones for which you can check the bus times and maps, however I find the website to be the most reliable since sometimes the information does not show up properly on the apps. If you are interested in checking out the apps, though, there is one called Sudbury Bus on the Apple app store as well as one called Laurentian Bus (which is the same thing but only showing bus times for the stops at the university), and I believe the Android version is called Sudbury Transit.

Sudbury is not quite as big a place as say, Toronto, however it can be easy to get lost sometimes in Sudbury when you’re riding the bus. Some bus drivers will not be as helpful as you’d like them to be. As someone who lives in Sudbury and has never owned a car in her life (and doesn’t even have a valid driver’s license), I ride the bus absolutely everywhere - I have been on every single Sudbury Transit route at least once, and 75% of them more than once. Because so, I am willing to answer any questions students might have about what bus to take to get to a specific place. Back in high school a friend of mine fondly referred to me once or twice as ‘the bus guru’ because I always know the bus schedules, bus times, etc. If you’re uncertain if when to go outside to catch an LU bus, I know many stop numbers by heart and can check for you from my computer if you message me (or even my own mobile web if I am on the go myself).

Sudbury Transit is easy enough to figure out when you’re riding regularly. When I was in North Bay for college, I was able to figure out almost their entire transit system within two or three weeks because it was necessary for me. You’ll figure it all out pretty quickly. But if you need any help, I’m here. Remember that your bus pass is only activated during the school year, so if you intend to stay in Sudbury during the summer, you will have to purchase a student 31 day pass from the transit station.

If you are bringing a car to residence, you are unfortunately not eligible to opt out of the bus pass - yes, your student card bus pass does cost you extra money, but they add it to your tuition with your student association fees, so you won’t even notice. You are only eligible to opt out of the bus pass in your student card if during the school year you are living in an area where you have no access to the transit system (such as if you’re a student from the Sudbury area living out in Whitefish or Wahnapitae).

- Ryan

[survivinglu]

How to Date While in University - Part 2: Online Dating

Hey everyone! It’s now time for part two of our series on dating, and this time we’re delving into the crazy land of online dating. If you haven’t yet read part 1, where we talk about meeting people now’s your chance, even if one of the tips completely invalidates this entire article.

So, whether your dating app of choice is Tinder, Grindr, OkCupid, POF, Scruff or something completely different, always remember these simple tips:

1. People always tell you not to judge a book by its cover, but then suddenly forget to follow their own advice once they get onto a dating app. So, always put your best face forward and choose a great profile picture. However, there are a few rules, most notably, your picture has to include your face, be less than six months old, and show you happy and smiling. 

2. Always remember to be your most confident you. You are great and awesome, and anyone would be lucky to date you. Even if you don’t find someone right away, you’ll eventually find the person for you.

3.  ALWAYS be honest. Don’t pretend to be someone you aren’t, because eventually people will figure it out. Then again, remember not to be too honest. Remember rule #2, there’s a bunch of awesome shit about you, go with that. And don’t ever pull a Costanza.

4. Be open to all sorts of people. So, you don’t normally date redheads. Well, there’s a lot more to a person than the colour of their hair, and if you’re so stuck on a specific “type”, than you might miss out on all sorts of new things.

5. HAVE NO EXPECTATIONS. Otherwise you’ll always be disappointed. Go in expecting to have tons of messages every day and you’ll be horribly disappointed all the time. Expect nothing, and whenever a cute guy does message you, it’ll feel all the more exciting.

6. NEVER meet somewhere in private. Always meet in public and make sure that someone knows where you are. Remember that there’s never any obligation to stay on a date or go somewhere with someone who makes you feel uncomfortable. 

7. Always be honest about your intentions. Don’t make someone think that you want a serious relationship if all you want is a casual fling. There’s no worse feeling than that of being used.

8. Don’t get too obsessed by online dating or you might miss out on things that happen in the real world. Let life happen and don’t force anything. Also, if ever online dating stops being fun, just stop. Don’t let your phone become a source of bad feelings. 

So that’s it for this part of the series, the next part will be up soon. Oh, and remember:

There that should keep the censors happy 

- Astrid

[survivinglu]

How to Date While in University Part 1: Meeting New People

Hey everyone! Something that occasionally becomes a big part of people’s lives while at university is dating. That’s why we’ve decided to create a series of features to help you navigate the great big world of relationships!

We’re starting this series all the way at the beginning: meeting new people.And here to help us with this aspect of life is Jess Findlay! Here are her tips:

Rule number 1. NO tinder. NO grindr or the like. Be social. This is university, it's the time to come out of your shell and stop hiding behind your phones.

Rule number 2. Go say hi to people, and take a chance. Worst case the person isn't interested and you move on with you life. You could even maybe find your soulmate or your newest best friend. 

Rule number 3. Keep it Simple.  Be yourself and don't overthink things. 

Rule number 4. Explore the world outside of your comfort zone. Go to parties. But always avoid drunken/under the influence decisions because believe me, those tend to lead to mistakes and disaster!)

***DISCLOSURE: drinking under the age of 19 is considered illegal and I am in no way encouraging underage drinking or drug use of any kind***

Rule number 5. Make new friends! Don't concentrate on looking for love.... You may miss out on all the other awesome things. Hangout with your floormates (NO FLOORCEST), or with people from another floor, or even another residence. Just don't be afraid to explore and meet new people. Be a social butterfly! Make friends!

Rule number 6. Most importantly, keep your eyes open and don't overlook someone just because they're not the kind of person you would normally go for. Like I said, take risks! And have fun!

Stay tuned for the next part of the series, which will cover the wild and weird world of online dating. Ooooh Aaahh

 - Astrid

[survivinglu]

Registration Guideline

Alright guys, here is my long article on registration! Unfortunately since registration is not yet open, I cannot show you the fall and winter terms on the WebAdvisor, but I will do my best to explain it to you as easily as possible. By the time registration is open you will all have been shown how to create your Laurentian accounts so I’m not going to explain this here - I will make a post on the Facebook group on account creation (it’s not complicated but I will explain it for anyone who does not know what to do).

Anyway, to start off, once your account is created, you are given access to all your student portals. LUNET is the big one, where you can link to your Laurentian email account, D2L (online class resource for profs and students to use), and the WebAdvisor. The latter is where you can access your account summary (how much you owe), bursary applications when they’re open, your class schedule (which is NOT in a timetable form, it will only be in a list), and where you register for your classes. To start off, you will have to log in to the WebAdvisor:

After you have logged in, you’ll click on the ‘Students’ link:

For class registration, you want to next click on a link that says ‘Register for Sections’. Right above it is ‘Search for Sections’ which allows you to search and see what’s available, but you cannot register for them there. Below it is ‘Register and Drop Sections’ where you can go to register for your classes after choosing them, or drop them if you decide to take something else. For actually choosing your courses, though, go to the middle option:

After you have done that, you’ll come across a page like this with tons of different options. To search for your courses, you’ll want to click on the first one, which says ‘Search and Register for Sections’:

Once you click on that, you’ll be brought to a page that looks like this. You absolutely MUST choose a term in order to search for classes - to search for a three credit class, you’ll search in either the 2015 Fall Term or the 2016 Winter Term (which are not in the picture but will be shown once registration is open), and to search for a six credit year long course, you’ll search under 2015 Fall/Winter Term. You’ll want to know ahead of time what you’re searching for, and the LU website can tell you whether a required course is six credits or three, however it never hurts to check in all three of the terms (because the Laurentian website is not always 100% correct):

This is now where it gets a little complicated - you will want to choose your subject and course level (first year for most of your courses however some students may have one or two second year courses required in first year). To know whether one of your required courses is first or second year, look at your course code - a course code where the number starts with 1 is a first year course, 2 is a second year course, etc. As an example, HIST-1206 is a first year course, but HIST-2026 is a second year course. You will not want to search the course number or section, though, because if you put in TOO much information, then you will get less results, and often times, no results at all. You can choose language and campus, though, and it’s recommended that you click on which campus you’re looking at so you don’t try registering for courses at another campus (it won’t let you but it might make things complicated for you). Also ignore everything at the bottom, because you don’t know what profs are teaching the courses or when they’re offered yet - and remember, the more you put in, the less of a chance you have of getting results:

Also note that in ‘subject’ you will find subjects that say ‘Social Science’ or ‘Humanities’. You cannot search for social science or humanities courses in there - I’m not even sure why those subjects exist but there are nothing in them. You have to search for them by the direct subjects - anthropology, history, English, philosophy, etc. To know which is a social science and which is a humanities subject, refer to the list I posted on my last long post (the one about knowing what you need before you register).

When you first go to register, it will tell you to pick a student association. As I have already picked one ages ago, I cannot show you what the choosing page looks like, however after you do that, every single search you do when registering for courses will bring up a page confirming your program and student association:

After you have done that, you will come up with some results. For this, I simply searched for history courses in the 2015 Spring Full Term without putting in a course level. During the school year you will find many more results, and they will have your class location as well as the time it is offered (so make sure to pay attention to that, as you are unable to register for any courses that conflict). You will click the little box next to the course in order to select the one you need:

As an example of what it will look like to see what time and location your class is offered at, here’s a general search for 2015 Spring First Term courses. You’ll see that it mentions a building, a classroom, the days the class takes place, and the time. If your selection says ‘(more)’ at the end of it, that means the class is also offered at a completely different time on another day, and you actually have to click the link in order to see the full information of when your course is offered. It is imperative that you do check this, as you will not be able to register for conflicting courses, and if you don’t check then you may not understand why the WebAdvisor is telling you that your courses conflict. Also make sure that you remember which building each is offered in - many students do have to run across campus in the ten minutes between classes because they have required courses back to back on opposite sides of campus, but if you have the option, classes in the same building or close buildings are the easiest to handle. If you have to run from the classroom building to the School of Education, you may be late for class:

After you have made a selection, it will bring you to this page. You can either register right away or you can do another search and register for everything together at the end. As I am all registered for my summer courses, it does not show anything for me to register for, however you would officially register for your course by clicking the menu beside the course and clicking ‘Register’ and then clicking the submit button at the bottom. Once you are registered for the course, it would show in that list below (as you can see, the four courses I am currently registered for):

If you’re worried that the registration did not go through, then you can go back to your main menu, and go down to ‘Class Schedule’ so you can see whether the course appears on your schedule:

I only have Spring and Summer terms available to choose from here, however you will have four additional terms to choose from - the 2015 Fall Term, 2016 Winter Term, 2015 Fall/Winter Term, and the Winter Academic Term. The first of those three will show you the specific courses in that category, however if you choose to click on ‘Winter Academic Term’, you will see every course in which you are registered for the 2015/2016 school year (regardless of which semester they’re in, or whether they are all year):

Once there, you will see a list of all the classes you are registered for in that category - I’ve blocked out my student number however you see here the list of classes for which I am registered for the 2015 Spring Academic Term:

If you have any questions with that entire process, don’t hesitate to ask. It may seem a little complicated for you when you’re reading it for the first time, but it’s actually not very complicated at all once you get into the hang of it. Although I’m almost halfway through third year technically (as far as my transcripts say), I was a new LU student last year, so I registered for the first time amongst others such as Eric, and as a new student I was still guiding everyone through registration because I worked out beforehand how to register for courses. I’m sure everyone will be able to register for their courses with little issue, however as there always will be some complications that arise, contact me (or Eric) immediately and we can help you! We still do not know when registration will open - the school is currently saying sometime in late June, however last year it did not open until early July and some years it didn’t open until August, but this way you are prepared as soon as it does open!

- Ryan

[survivinglu]

A few notes on choosing courses!

First off I’d like to thank Ryan for making an awesome article!

Secondly, I’d like to add a few things!

1. If ever you really don’t know what courses to take, ask upper year students, not only do we know the courses and the program, we can also let you in on how the profs are.

2. Sometimes, the best thing you can do is send an email to the director of your program. Especially when courses conflict with each other. Thanks to doing that, I was instructed to take Baby Clown instead of history. (And no, I kid you not)

3. If ever you choose a course and after the first class when you get the syllabus is doesn’t turn out to be what you thought, you have the first two weeks to change your schedule. Just be warned, profs won’t take pity on you because you decided to join their class two weeks late.

4. University is a great time to try all sorts of new things. Studying engineering or? Why not take an Italian class? Or gender studies? Theatre? Not only will you develop skills and learn things that your program doesn’t normally cover, you might also find something you love!

- Astrid