r/UofT is my academic advisor

In times of doubt and crisis, we often strive for some semblance of security. A sense of security looks different depending on the experience and the individual, but it’s usually stabilising; it provides clarity in times of uncertainty and balance in times of disorientation. At the University of Toronto, students exist within an omniscient-like institution where it is extremely easy to feel obsolete and insignificant. In these situations, a sense of security can help ground us. We just need to look in the right places to find it.

As I was entering my first year, I was thrown into an abyss of information. There were so many services and websites at my disposal, and I had no means of looking through all of them before the school year started. A baptism by fire, some would call it. It would be inaccurate to say I simply felt overwhelmed—I felt incapable. I felt alienated and perturbed. At the largest school in Canada and one of the largest research institutions in the world, it was pretty easy to get lost in its ubiquity.

In this moment of confusion, I strove to find stability. I needed answers, and I needed to prepare. I refused to remain stuck.

And thankfully, there was a place where I could find answers. In this space, incoming students bonded over similar fears of entering a new environment. Fourth-year students could express their stresses about graduating on time. Alumni discussed the horrors of the current job market. There was even room for prospective students —albeit annoying— who could ask about their chance of being accepted to the school. This space provides space for discussions, questions, answers, experiences, stories, and debates. It’s probably one of the most easily accessible services at UofT (no two-week wait times). It’s run by students for students; it’s blunt and honest, but most importantly, it’s informative. 

I speak of none other than r/UofT, the school’s very own Reddit page and my go-to for academic and social advising. As with any social media app, you can choose your level of participation and engagement. There are lurkers who creep through the shadows of the page, quietly downvoting posts that irk their spirit. Or, if you want your voice to be more represented, you can be a poster. Posters are the foundation of the forum, providing the basis of everday discussion and asking questions we may feel too shy or nervous to ask.

On a serious note, as stated previously, UofT is an obnoxiously large institution, which means that despite being split up into multiple faculties and colleges, a lot of services are not easily accessible to students. But students need to have a space where they can receive information about the school and ask personalised questions relatively quickly. r/UofT provides a space where this can be done. In a way, the Reddit forum has relinquished some of the excess burdens from the school since students can ask basic questions on the forum that would otherwise be resolved by academic advisors.

That is not to say that the page cannot also be harmful and disingenuous. Like all social media platforms, users have the autonomy to post as they please (for the most part). This means users can lead others to believe inaccuracies and misinformation. Those who are active on the page are aware of this, often referencing the unrepresentative sample population on the forum, which can skew answers. The most common example can be seen when prospective students ask about social life at UofT; they are frequently met with two responses. The first response is often a plea, begging these students to save themselves before they are subsumed by the black void that is UofT. The other is often in response to the latter, essentially calling them losers who are unrepresentative of the offline student body. While the purpose of this article isn’t to debate the politics of UofT’s social life, this contention represents how the sample population on r/UofT is perceived. That is, with a grain of salt. So, while it makes sense to use Reddit as a starting point, it should not be the end of your research.

The Reddit page is extremely helpful. I’m more of a lurker, but that’s not to say my own questions and concerns were not reflected on the app. So many students at UofT share similar struggles, and seeing this represented online by posters provides a sense of student solidarity that makes me feel so much more secure.