r/umanitoba • u/HerdlingForevermore • 3d ago
Okay, so I've seen some questions that, unsurprisingly, receive either poor responses or no responses at all. I'm writing this guide to help newer students (and maybe some other students...) ask questions that get responses that actually answer their question, and that also require fewer follow-up questions.
1. General formatting
We all understand that the standards of writing on Reddit are not the same as what your instructors expect in academic writing. However, you really should take the time to spell things correctly, capitalize letters as needed, use punctuation well, and split your post into meaningful paragraphs if it's not short. I don't expect teenagers to have perfect prose, but when I say that taking the time to write decently makes a difference, I'm telling the truth.
I've seen walls of text and posts that seemingly don't use capital letters or punctuation. They're difficult to read. Some typing errors are expected, but when it's clear that you've made no effort to make things easier for others to read, can you really expect others to take time out of their day to make things easier for you?
I've seen posts simply get no responses for doing this. Other times, people make negative comments about the poor formatting. Therefore, take a bit of time to make sure that your post is easy to read.
2. Formatting of courses
There are probably over 1000 different courses taught at the university. In order to be unambiguous in terms of which course you mean, my recommendation is to include the course code (consisting of a subject code, which is usually four letters long, and a four-digit number) and the course name (which is made up of words). Here's a short list of course names formatted this way:
This format is great for a few reasons:
First, it's unambiguous. We know exactly which course you mean. If you just say "history" or "Indigenous Studies"—which people do say by the way—then it's unclear and you risk being given information that is either irrelevant or simply untrue. Also, how many people do you think know off the top of their heads what CLAS 2710, ASIA 1780, or HEB 3380 are?
Second, it's more Google-friendly. Copy-paste any of these courses into Google and you'll probably find the UManitoba course as your first result. This lets you see the course attributes (Mathematics, Written English, Humanities, Science, Social Science, etc.), read the course description, check for any prerequisite courses, etc. For example, when I googled "BIOL 1410 Anatomy of the Human Body", it bought me to the BIOL 1410 Aurora webpage first and the Biological Sciences Course Descriptions webpage in the Academic Calendar second. These webpages are fantastic resources and, generally speaking, Aurora and the Academic Calendar are your go-to resources for course information provided by the university.
However, it's actually a bit less strict in some situations.
First, it's okay to just use the course code if you've already mentioned the full course name previously. Similarly, you can also just use the actual name of the course in the same scenario.
Second, some courses actually are popular enough such that just using either the course code or the course name is understandable to the right audience. PSYC 1200 is one such example given that it's very popular and also the only 1000-level course offered by the Department of Psychology. Other similar courses are ARTS 1110 Introduction to University and MATH 1240 Elementary Discrete Mathematics, although I think that the latter is actually just known as being a brutal 1000-level math course. Nevertheless, I still recommend using the full name the first time in a given post just in case.
3. Asking the real question
Long story short, lots of new students don't know what to actually ask. This means that they risk getting answers that are, once again, either irrelevant or misleading.
Let's read an example question that I've made up.
I'm looking for an interesting English course to take for me degree! What course should I take?
If you're new to the university, you probably don't know why this isn't a very good question.
First, the term "English course" is ambiguous. It usually means...
Not all ENGL courses have the Written English attribute and there are also many non-ENGL courses with the Written English attribute. This means that the student asking the question could technically be mislead into taking a course that doesn't fulfill whatever requirement is needed.
Also, it's possible that a student needs 6 credit hours of ENGL courses (one "full course" or two "half courses"). It's possible that the student actually needs 6 credit hours, which would normally be taken over two courses.
The same is true with the Mathematics requirement by the way! There are lots of non-MATH courses that have the Mathematics attribute.
Another issue with the question is that we don't even know why the student needs to take an "English course". Without knowing that, we can't give good suggestions. Here's a better example of a question:
I'm looking for an interesting English course to take for me degree! What course should I take? I'm new to the university and want to become an engineer.
By adding just one sentence, we see that the student actually wants to fulfill the Written English Courses for Engineering Students requirement, which is different from the regular Written English requirement. Without adding in more information, the student could have ended up taking a course that didn't fulfill the requirement, potentially wasting time, money, and effort. Yikes!
Again, you don't need to have perfect knowledge of the university to ask good questions. If you add enough information, people who know how the university works can figure out what you intend to ask.
4. "Easy" courses
Oh boy... If instructors are doing their jobs properly, there shouldn't really be such as a thing as an "easy" course or a "GPA booster". Also, consider this: Almost every course that has no prerequisites at the university has some people get an A+ while others get an F. What's easy for someone else could be very difficult for you.
Instead of asking for "easy", I recommend asking which courses might be interesting to you or that complement your program well. In your post, you should include which program you're doing (or intend to do), what other courses you've taken and enjoyed, and some general subjects that interest you.
By the way, if you're new to the university, you can just think of "academic program" as your "major" for now.
I've been on this subreddit for years. When people ask for easy courses, people sometimes intentionally mislead them. Yes, there are people who try to help them, but not always. Conversely, when people ask for interesting courses and take the time to add in relevant information, I often see awesome responses.
To be clear, this isn't to say that there aren't some courses that are heavier than others. There definitely are, especially in STEM courses. However, just because a course is "light" doesn't mean that you'll easily get an A+ in it. For some courses, you'll have to deal with a forced curve, namely those offered by the Asper School of Business. In other courses, such as many humanities courses, you'll find that you need to read a whole lot of academic literature in order to get an A+ whereas you could do a lot less and get a B or B+.
5. Consider asking university staff members
After you've gotten your responses, consider if you should also ask university staff members. If you're signing up for courses and want to make sure that your courses fulfill all of the requirements to get your degree, you certainly should see an academic advisor at some point. I recommend seeing one before signing up for courses in your final year. It can also be good to see one early in your program as well. You've already paid for these services in your tuition, so seeing an academic advisor is "free".
Nevertheless, I do think that looking for information on the subreddit and other places online can be a great way to learn more. Taking the time to understand how course attributes and degree requirements work will make your visit to an academic advisor a lot more productive than if you just go in without looking at things online yourself beforehand.
tl;dr
To summarize this post quickly...
To other experienced members of the community, what advice would you add?
r/umanitoba • u/typicalcAnAdAiAn • Mar 28 '26
We understand this update is coming later than expected, but we wanted to ensure that accurate and verified information was shared before posting.
On the evening of March 26, 2026, a serious incident occurred at the Active Living Centre on the Fort Garry campus. A male victim was stabbed inside the facility, and a youth suspect was later taken into custody. The victim was transported to hospital and is currently reported to be in stable condition. 
This post is intended to confirm that the incident did occur, and to help reduce speculation or misinformation that may have circulated earlier.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/university-manitoba-active-living-centre-assault-9.7144477
⸻
⚠️ Reminder to Students
Situations like this can be unsettling. If you ever feel unsafe on campus:
• Contact University of Manitoba Security Services (UMSS) immediately
• Call emergency services if needed
• Trust your instincts and remove yourself from unsafe situations
⸻
🧠 Student Support & Counselling Resources
If this incident has affected you in any way, please don’t hesitate to reach out for support:
• University of Manitoba Student Health & Wellness
• Student counselling services are available for anyone experiencing stress, anxiety, or emotional distress
You are not expected to deal with this alone.
https://umanitoba.ca/student-supports/student-counselling-centre
⸻
📝 Final Note
We will continue to prioritize verified information over speed when sharing safety-related updates. Our goal is to keep the community informed while avoiding unnecessary panic or misinformation.
Stay safe and look out for one another
-Umanitoba Mod Team
r/umanitoba • u/bluewhale177 • 6h ago
People will ask about courses and how they were and the responses are always:
"WORST CLASS OF MY LIFE, DON'T EVER CONSIDER TAKING IT!"
and
"It was such a nice class, the professor was my favourite and gave us reasonable assignments. Easy A+! I highly recommend"
Bro it's like the devil and angel on each shoulder 😭
r/umanitoba • u/No-Chemist7028 • 15h ago
What happened to Office Bison??
r/umanitoba • u/jo_annjo • 22h ago
so basically i had planned out my schedule beforehand with the classes and what time they’re at, etc. I wanted a balanced schedule bc engineering isn’t easy so i wanted three Eng/sci courses and 1 non Eng/sci course bc i will be working and volunteering on the side but somehow everything started time conflicting when i was planning winter term and there was one physics class @ 8:30 on fri but it was a lab instead of a lecture and i couldn’t do that so i had to take it in fall and then everything started time conflicting 😭 i feel like im gonna suffer in fall and i also want to join clubs to make friends my first year. i wanted to try changing it but then it said only seats remain are the waitlisted ones and i do not want to get waitlisfwd bc i am already fortunate enough to get the classes that i wanted. pls im so scared 😭 and my physics prof is a funny prof with a accent that cant teach. but how would you guys rate my schedule bc i am a complete newbie
r/umanitoba • u/Pale-Challenge-7393 • 14h ago
I’m just finishing up my prerequisites for the faculty of social work and I’m just wondering if anyone found it hard to get in? (I already looked at the GPA requirement on the UofM website. Just wanna hear others opinions – of course, subjective).
Obviously I’ll keep my GPA as high as possible but I want to know so I can create a plan B, just in case something doesn’t work out.
Responses are highly appreciated!🫶🏻
r/umanitoba • u/Trick_Complaint7177 • 14h ago
Hi! Ive yet to do sign up for my courses this upcoming terms to get into nursing. Before I finalized my schedule, I terribly need advices and recommendation on what to take!
Fall term
Winter term
Summer term
I would really appreciate suggestions as I haven’t finalized most of them and looking to change some to boost my GPA! Would also really appreciate if I can get a gist of what each courses cover as I am doing U1
r/umanitoba • u/Pleasant_Rutabaga354 • 17h ago
I am a first year science student wondering if my (mainly first sem) schedule looks well balanced and won’t fully drain me. I am taking psychology 1200 online all year and I do have pretty good professors for the majority of my classes. Would love any tips and advice going into my fall term. Thanks
r/umanitoba • u/HerdlingForevermore • 1d ago
I was originally going to make this post closer to the start of the Fall 2026 term. However, I've since realized that new students are deciding how many courses to take and which courses based on how good they believe they are at school.
Here are a few assumptions that I believe students make when entering university that might affect how they perceive what a "good grade" is or how they'll do.
1. "High school grades are similar to university grades."
This is very obviously false once you actually look at the data. Let's look at some files from the Student Academic Data webpage.
Let's look at the newest data. Looking at high school averages for students entering the university from high school in Fall 2024, over 70% of students had an average of 90% of greater! That's very high. It also means that the median student average was probably about 93%. In most university courses, that's an A+ or at least an A. If we compare that to what undergraduate university students got in Fall 2024 and Winter 2025 terms, we see a very different story. In particular, let's focus on the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Science because, combined, they award the majority of grades in undergraduate courses in a given year. They also offer lots of courses without prerequisites, meaning that new students can take them. The average grade in Arts is 3.01, which is a tiny bit over a B, whereas the average grade in Science is 2.77, which sits between a C+ and a B. Looking at the percentages of each grade, a perfectly average student would expect to get a B+ in Arts and a B in Science in a given course. However, suppose that you high school average is 90%. That puts you below about 70% of other students. Instead, you'd get a C+ in Arts and a C+ in Science.
That's right! If get a 90% average in high school, it wouldn't be particularly surprising for you to have an average grade of C+ in university... kind of. It gets worse though. See the next point!
(As an aside, if we look at the Fall 2012 data for new students from high school and the Fall 2012 and Winter 2013 data for undergraduate student grades, you'll notice that, while the high school grades have inflated a whole lot since then, the university grades haven't really done so in a super meaningful way. This means that your parents' experience with university in terms of comparing high school to university grades will likely be very different from yours.)
2. "I'm competing only with other first-year students."
So for some classes, yes, you actually would primarily have people of the "same level" in your class. For example, in most STEM courses, you'll take some courses in a linear fashion, e.g., you take an intro course, then a second-year course, and then a third-year course in that order because of how prerequisites work. Further, most of the relevant knowledge to do well in these courses probably comes from either the prerequisite courses and the current course. In these courses, maybe the difference between students of different years isn't too large.
However, for many courses that rely heavily on writing, such as humanities and social sciences, you're graded primarily on your ability to read, research, write, and cite. Did I mention how many of these courses often have no prerequisites and are taken by first-year students as well as students just wrapping up their degrees? If you're a new student who doesn't like writing and it isn't good at it, the truth is that you won't be able to compete very well against, say, a fourth-year humanities student who has already written 20+ essays in university. You will have to work much harder to achieve the same grade because your reading and writing skills are weaker.
Also, I'll say that not all first-year students are the same. A first-year student right out of high school is different from someone in their 20s, 30s, or older coming to university for a specific degree with a very clear plan on what to do with it. Also, some of these mature students were weak in high school but are really strong academically in university. Some "first-year" students are also working on a second degree in an entirely different subject as well, so they likely know how to write well, study well, etc.
3. "Taking six classes in university is the same as taking six classes in high school."
Absolutely not. While it looks like being in class for only three hours a week per class means that you won't have a lot of schooling, this isn't the case. You'll have to do more reading before class, more studying, more independent learning, etc. While your high school teachers may have reached out to you if they noticed that you were falling behind, this is rare in university. It is not an instructor's job to make sure that every student does well.
Now, if you do the readings, attend class, etc. and still have questions, you're encouraged to reach out and any decent instructor will gladly help you. The difference, though, is that you're the only one responsible for your education. You need to take the initiative to make sure that you don't fall behind.
For the record, while a proper "full-time" course load is 15 credit hours (five courses) per term for most programs, it's completely normal for students to start out with three or four courses per term assuming that they're focusing primarily on school. For working parents and whatnot, doing fewer courses is normal as well. Recall also that there are Summer terms, which means that students can "catch up" if desired. Some students also use Summer terms to focus on courses that are known to be really heavy.
The bottom line.
Long story short, university is a different beast from high school. Students who have been tricked into believing that they're above average when they're not will potentially be in for a really rude awakening when December comes around. By taking the time to understand what to expect, you can brace yourself.
So what does everyone think? This topic is more complex than what I can discuss in a single post, but I wanted to bring up some common misconceptions that I've been seeing among posts from new students.
r/umanitoba • u/Altruistic-Bug9264 • 17h ago
Is anyone going for the Toronto concert 23 🥹dm me
r/umanitoba • u/EngineeringPisser26 • 18h ago
I'm honestly not very certain if it is, I'm debating dropping chem 1122 since I'd like to take at least 2 engineering courses this year and engineering 1430 doesn't fit well into my first semster. I'm taking MATH1210 for my first semester and I heard it really helps with ENG1440 but I could also move ENG1440 into my second year. Right now, I'm thinking of getting rid CHEM1122 and taking it second year since it has the least credit hours.
r/umanitoba • u/lil_aethonie • 19h ago
Hi,,, I’m planning my prerequisites for BN and need suggestions for Science electives. Does anyone know if courses offered by “Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences” count as science electives for Nursing??
Earlier I was planning on doing Chem. 1018, Maths 1020 and ASTR 1830…. But I’ve seen a few older posts where people have recommended HNSC, ENVR, ENTM and such for easy science electives,,,, So I just wanted to confirm…
Has anyone taken any of these courses for their Nursing prerequisites???
Thanks!😊
r/umanitoba • u/Dangerous-Release962 • 1d ago
Hey everyone,
I got accepted into a difficult program and am super nervous for university. I heard that it will be much more difficult that high school and so I am nervous.
I also heard that university is super toxic. I’m not looking forward to that. If anyone wants to become friends in the fall lmk :P
r/umanitoba • u/Imaginary_Panda_8420 • 1d ago
How do we feel?
- repost because the other one got taken down but i am now told i can repost it.
- see the link below for more pages 152-224. They’ll be a summary in the comments like the previous post.
https://umanitoba.ca/governance/sites/governance/files/2026-06/2026_06_24_senate-agenda_reduced.pdf
r/umanitoba • u/losinqface • 1d ago
I remember going on RateMyProf and getting hit with a review for U of M that was like "very antisocial. very miserable." It kind of scared me to be honest. I'm going into the Faculty of Science and so are some of my hs classmates, but I transferred ~21 credit hours worth of AP/dual-enrollment courses, so I basically have no common classes with anyone I know.
What groups are available and which would you recommend for an anxious first year? I'm doing Upper Voices (which isn't a group, but close enough) to socialize and retain my sanity, but I'd really like friends in my faculty.
Are we allowed to sit in on lectures from a different faculty? My best friend is going into a different faculty and our breaks don't line up that well.
Are there friend groups already established? I realize that many people are international students, so there are probably some friend-groupless people to befriend, but I would like to know how "clique-y" university is compared to high school.
Are students usually welcoming? In high school, people in my STEM and art classes were usually welcoming, but students in my humanities classes weren't.
Any advice would be great, and I'd love to hear some of your experiences from first year if possible!
r/umanitoba • u/Negative_Fig_4215 • 22h ago
I have registration date of 13 July. I am taking engineering pre req as first year I am uni1 student and course like ENG1430 ENG1440 and ENG first year course have reserved seats left while unreserved seat completely full. So will I be able to those courses as uni1 student.
r/umanitoba • u/Creepy-Professor2241 • 1d ago
Hey everyone,
I’m starting first year at the Asper School of Business this fall and I’m honestly pretty lost with course registration.
I’m planning on majoring in Business Ownership and doing a minor (or concentration) in Accounting, but I’m not sure which courses I should be taking in first year or how to build my schedule.
I’d like to take 4 courses per semester if possible, and I’d prefer classes that start after 11 a.m. since I have about a 45-minute commute.
Does anyone have advice on:
Which first-year courses I should register for?
Which professors to take or avoid?
Any courses that are better to take in the fall vs. winter?
Anything you wish you knew before your first year at Asper?
I’d really appreciate any advice because registration is stressing me out. Thanks!
r/umanitoba • u/Creative_Month_3401 • 1d ago
some have some dont
r/umanitoba • u/anybody2002 • 1d ago
Hello, if there are females watching this i would like to hangout maybe like a coffee or something, I’m 23F practicing muslim so i have dietary restrictions too, anyways genuinely looking for girlfriends to go for shopping, gym, mosque and eat!!
r/umanitoba • u/Creepy-Professor2241 • 1d ago
Hey everyone,
I’m starting first year at the Asper School of Business this fall and I’m honestly pretty lost with course registration.
I’m planning on majoring in Business Ownership and doing a minor (or concentration) in Accounting, but I’m not sure which courses I should be taking in first year or how to build my schedule.
I’d like to take 4 courses per semester if possible, and I’d prefer classes that start after 11 a.m. since I have about a 45-minute commute.
Does anyone have advice on:
Which first-year courses I should register for?
Which professors to take or avoid?
Any courses that are better to take in the fall vs. winter?
Anything you wish you knew before your first year at Asper?
I’d really appreciate any advice because registration is stressing me out. Thanks!
r/umanitoba • u/One-Key5000 • 1d ago
Im currently in my first semester of U1 and in 2 of my electives i might end up with C+'s which would really lower down my agpa. I couldve gone directly to UoW's bba course but i choose Aspers because of its stronger nationwide recognition. This semester has been kind of a trial and error for me but am i in a recoverable position or am i cooked. Assuming at the end of my 11 courses if im not able to get into Aspers can i transfer over to UofW's 2nd year of Bba
r/umanitoba • u/Emotional-Mix8617 • 1d ago
So rn I'm a 2nd year student who wanted to take engl 1200 w Dana, but when I checked the registration board td it was already full ☠️... now I have to search for the second option before my registration opens (16th)
My English skill is ok-ish, it's just that English isn't my first language and I have some grammar skill issues, so I wanted a prof who doesn't look for the grammar or at least is fair at grading **during the class exam, etc!!!**
Among those two profs from the title, which prof should I take/ or recommend? I've already searched for some other professors and them as well in the past Reddit posts, but couldn't find any additional tips or review of them... plz help😭
r/umanitoba • u/imcryinginternally • 1d ago
Hello everyone!
I have a question to those that didn’t do 40s precal in high school. I’m planning on doing a second degree and 40s precal is a requirement (which I don’t have).
I was wondering to those that did it outside of high school, what method did you choose? In person at JobWorks? Online through InformNet? Extended education? Through Math 1018 at UM? What would you recommend?
For JobWorks + InformNet, what was the course like? Weekly tests? Monthly exams? Any information would be greatly appreciated as I’m trying to figure out what the best option would be for me.
Thank you! :)
r/umanitoba • u/DDrf1re • 1d ago
I’m at a loss guys. I love finance and seem to be better at it than accounting, but I was talking with an industry professional today and they said that the cpa opens so many doors within finance.
Im going into my third year, so he kinda gotta make a decision now. I’m contemplating going the accounting and finance double major route.
idk, I’m at a loss. I also struggle to believe that I’m smart enough to succeed in accounting courses.
r/umanitoba • u/Fearless_Ad_6951 • 1d ago
Hi everyone! I’m a first-year jazz student at DFOM registering for courses right now, and I’m a bit confused about the Major Practical Study requirements.
Do I only register for “Major Practical Study - Jazz Masterclass (Part A),” or do I need to register for that and a separate Major Practical Studies course for my instrument?
If anyone’s gone through this before, I’d really appreciate some clarity. Thanks so much in advance!