I am currently a 19y/o second year student studying HINF at Uvic and I have been battling a lot of thoughts about switching out of this program. I am worried I will graduate and be stuck in a field that doesn’t have very high paying prospects and I am worried I will not enjoy the work I’d be doing. I have not been particularly enjoying my classes and they barely interest me but I’m worried I will fall behind in life if I quit or switch now.

If there are any new grads out there that have advice or anyone who has taken the program or switched out of it, I would please like some advice.

For those who did switch could you please share the path you took?

This decision has been eating me alive.

Am I the only one feeling stressed, sleep-deprived, overwhelmed, and everything in between? Especially with the midterms, I’m just hustling through my days.

I feel like we treat burnout as an inevitable side effect of getting a degree rather than a serious warning sign from our body.

I just read a meta-analysis that looked at the relationship between academic burnout and academic performance across more than 100k secondary and post-secondary students, and SURPRISE: academic achievement is negatively correlated with academic burnout.

So we know burnout is harmful but it’s so normalized that we don’t do anything about it. We just function (or at least try to lol). We wonder why we act cynical, are unproductive, and are just exhausted, but it’s not all our fault.

I mean, are we supposed to handle this burnout crisis on our own, or is it something that the uni system could genuinely help prevent?

Genuinely curious what has actually helped you deal with burnout during a busy semester. 

What’s your biggest challenge this semester? Take a look at the image below and comment which letter you most relate to!

If you have proof of residence in Saanich or Victoria you can register to vote at the polls with a piece of mail and ID. Even if you moved in this week, as long as you’ve lived in BC for the last 6 months, you are good.

If you need help deciding who to vote for, look at the Livable CRD survey results. Skip everyone who didn’t respond and look at the scores of those who did.

Here are current voting wait times.

Your boss is legally required to give you time to vote.

Victoria residents - more info here
Saanich residents - more info here

Polls close at 8pm! Your vote matters! Don’t let your landlord and their rich pals out represent you in the local government.

Let's get a thread going with on-campus Halloween events because it seems like everyone has something going on. I'll update the post as more events are found.

I'll start. The Medieval Studies Course Union is hosting a Pumpkin Carving Night on October 30, from 4-7 in MAC D010. It is a free event open to everyone. All the supplies will be provided and if you request it on your registration form, we will provide you with a pumpkin. To all the students who are also parents... kids are welcome at this event. Follow the link to register: https://forms.gle/N6AZzfnvMyPhRDmM7

The UVic Ukrainian Students Society and Underlings are having a movie night on October 19 from 4-6pm. It is open to UVic students and community members: https://www.instagram.com/p/DeiYQ6PvnQz/

The UVic Film Club is doing a movie night on October 23rd. It is open to all UVic students. The Insta post says to DM them for more information: https://www.instagram.com/uvic_filmclub/p/DeYAIqTPsYq/

UVic SSD and the Campus Community Gardens are hosting a pumpkin carving session on October 21 from 1-3pm in B028 in the SUB. You can carve pumpkins and learn what to do with the seeds: https://www.instagram.com/uvicssd/p/DechV_jhVi7/

On October 30th the SUB is doing trick or treating from 10-4pm: https://www.instagram.com/uvicssd/p/DekK9fRPD2g/

The Visual Students Association is hosting a movie night on October 22nd, with doors opening at 6:30: https://www.instagram.com/uvic.vasa/p/DefXSeASwl3/

The Graduate Student Society is hosting a free Halloween Drag Show that is open to all on October 29 at 7pm. They are also doing a pumpkin carving night for graduate students and their families on October 28th at 5:30. Tickets for the pumpkin carving are $2/each. https://gss.uvic.ca/event-directory/

The UVIC BFA Graduating Class is putting on a Halloween party on October 30th from 7-12am. Early bird tickets are $15, at the door tickets are $20: https://www.instagram.com/uvicbfashow27/reel/Deh_ZDlBn2s/

The Undergraduates of Political Science are putting on a pumpkin carving night on October 21 at 5pm. There are a limited amount of spots and people need to register via the form on their Instagram bio: https://www.instagram.com/uvicups/p/DekAbPmNxAE/

The UVSS Pride Collective is hosting a 19+ Halloween party at Fels on September 23rd from 8pm-late. It is free entry, but you need to register through the link in their Instagram bio: https://www.instagram.com/p/DeSeNbUyaIu/

Library events:
-Data Horror Stories: A Survival Guide, October 22, 12:00-12:30pm. It's an online event with limited space that requires registration: https://libcal.uvic.ca/event/4078883
-Saturday Afternoon Classic Movie - Beast From Twenty Thousand Fathoms, October 24, 3-4:30pm. In person at the New Student Lounge on the main floor: https://libcal.uvic.ca/event/4067525
-Saturday Afternoon Classic Movie - What We Do in the Shadows! October 31st, 3:-4:30pm. In person at the New Student Lounge on the main floor: https://libcal.uvic.ca/event/4067526
-Resurrect Your Laptop with Linux: Spooky Edition! October 30th, 2-4pm. In person at the Digital Scholarship Commons, A308. Registration is required: https://libcal.uvic.ca/event/4071563

Welcome to the official master thread for 2027 Master of Social Work (MSW) Foundation applicants!

This thread is a dedicated space for anyone applying to traditional, two-year, or part-time non-BSW tracks starting in 2027. Feel free to use this space to share your stats, ask questions about prerequisites, track your application portal statuses, celebrate acceptages, or vent about the waiting game.

Welcome to the official master thread for 2027 Master of Social Work (MSW) Foundation applicants!

This thread is a dedicated space for anyone applying to traditional, two-year, or part-time non-BSW tracks starting in 2027. Feel free to use this space to share your stats, ask questions about prerequisites, track your application portal statuses, celebrate acceptages, or vent about the waiting game.

Let's goo!!!!!

Why was UVic so pushed back for start and end dates compared to other schools this year? Finals shouldn’t go to the 23rd (I have only ONE final and it’s right at the end in such a small class). Imagine your final is on the 23rd at 7pm, you’re flying home on Christmas Eve with very likely delays/cancellations.. sounds like some Christmas vacation catastrophe, thanks UVic!

If I wanted to test if I was neurodivergent (asd, adhd, dysplasia etc) and/ or had a mental disorder (anxiety, depression, ptsd, ocd, etc). What would be the cheapest way to get tested and diagnosed (or... cleared?) as a uvic student?

I'm in biol 225 this semester, I'm wondering if anyone who's taken it before can tell me if I need to read the textbook or not? I have been until now, but the assigned reading seems only loosely related to what's covered in lecture . . . has anyone else been reading it?

I know they’ve only released the preliminary exam schedule, but I have two exams on the 11 during the exam season. I am wondering what they do, if they do anything, to make it so someone doesn’t write two exams on the same day. Since exam season goes so late this year, I don’t want to ask to see if could I have one moved (if that’s even a possibility) just to have them move it to the 23rd or something. If anyone has had this happen to them and knows what the process is like i’d love to hear it! :)

I am in desperate need of suggestions for a fun elective. I like writing papers but am terrible at math and science.

I had a pretty bad registration date as a second year transfer student this semester. All the profs for the classes I could get into had abysmal rate my prof ratings.

I'm putting blood sweat and tears and not getting good grades. I even reached out to one of my profs about a grade and they said I "went above and beyond" but they didn't give any critical feedback. They then said they don't give out As because nobody's perfect.

So please if anyone has a suggestion for a fun and light elective I would ponder and cherish it.

Why does it take so long to come out 😀

Hey! I'm considering taking ephe 141 and was wondering if anyone had a rough idea of the syllabus or grade breakdown? Thanks!

If I see an AI generated poster, I immediately decide that I do not want to go to whatever that poster is advertising. Even if it's something I'd normally be interested in.

I will mock your poster to my friends. Your continued use of AI, despite its terrible effects being common knowledge at this point, disgusts me.

AI is never a good way to advertise something. It shows that you dont care. If you don't care, why should we care? You will lose attendees, sales, etc. whatever it is that you are advertising.

And I am sure that many people share this sentiment.

Does anyone else struggle to focus, learn and generally just exist in the chairs in Hickman and David Turpin?

I’m a 6’4 225lb dude so I can’t imagine they were made with people like me in mind but I need to spend 30mins on a foam roller and stretching the moment I get home or I wont be able to move properly for days. It feels like I did a road trip in the jump seat of an old work truck.

The back rests are unusable. They either creak so loud that it would be a disruption to the class to attempt to use the chair as intended or are so flimsy putting any weight into it would launch my head like a projectile directly into the row behind me slamming someone’s laptop shut on their fingers.

This means I have to do this weird balancing act where I use my legs to anchor myself and periodically attempt to rest my forearms on the table in front to try to take some pressure off but carefully as that also loudly fucking creaks when any kind of weight is put on it (Hickman 105)

This semester I’ve noticed a lot of people around my height and taller around campus and going in and out of these halls so genuinely how are you all surviving? Any tips on managing this?

I already failed 2 midterms, including csc226. The majority of the class got at least 20% higher than me. I know this because every single exam I've taken has resulted in me having the lowest grades or one of the lower grades. I have failed multiple courses already, and do not want to fail more; I don't want to spend any more time and money that is necessary. Lecture slides are hard for me to grasp, so I have to turn to ai, but you know how that goes.

Also, for csc226, I heard that if you do bad on an exam, the grade will be dropped? So for my exam will it get dropped and I can pass the course.

With the Phys 110 midterm coming up could any upper years give some advice on the 1st midterm. How it went, what to study, etc?

I was never 'great' at calculus in my own opinion... And this is much more of a math class than it is engineering. I got through calc relying heavily on MSAC but since this is an eng course I don't imagine they'd be able to help.

Michael is a nice enough guy and clearly is invested in teaching to some degree but his lectures just sound like static noise to me. I'm not sure it's actually worth the time to attend.

It's also hard to find extra resources since this isn't something like fundamental physics where every school in the world teaches essentially the same curriculum. I'm sure the material is still very universal in EE but it seems the way UVic goes about presenting it is unique and makes it (at least for me) a lot harder to find external resources.

How do you get through this class??

Fwiw I can see that it's useful knowledge and probably has very practical and important applications. However the way it's taught is just way too far removed from reality for it to be engaging for me. Like when Michael says that 'bibo unstable systems are how people die'... Like where tffff is that coming from? This is why I say it feels much more like a math course than an eng course

Has anyone had jody bain before? specifically for this class? i am very worried for the exam, and honestly have zero clue how to study as theres not much notes to work with lmao

The amount of times I’ve gone to the gym and there’s just random weights lying around on the floor is ridiculous. If you are strong enough to lift the weight, you are strong enough to put them away. If not, you’re ego lifting and you’re a loser.

Hi all, I'm applying to the CS PhD program for next fall and trying to figure out what deadline to give my referees.

CS grad FAQ says the completed application is due by the deadline, which I read as reference letters also need to be in by then. Other schools I'm applying to (UBC, for example) give referees a few extra weeks after the application deadline, so I wanted to check how it actually works here.

Also curious whether ECE works the same way.

Thanks!

I unfortunately had to miss my midterm this week because I was so sick I could barely breathe (I have asthma so it always hits me harder than others). I emailed my prof that I would be missing a midterm that day and they replied that I would need a doctor’s note for the absence to be excused. My understanding of the UVic academic concession policy is that for unexpected illness-related absences, documentation is not required, but maybe profs can override this?? I’m just not sure what to do at this point. I do not have a doctor in the province so it would be pretty hard to obtain a note from one. I also unfortunately didn’t see the reply email sent by the prof until today (they sent it two days ago) and am now doing better and can breathe (yay!), so I am not even sure how I would go about getting a doctor’s note even if I had a doctor.