What Ontario’s rising high school grades mean for university admissions
A recent CBC article tackled the question of what Ontario’s rising high school grades means for university admission.
The average grade 12 marks of students enrolling in first-year programs at Ontario universities have been rising steadily upward, and more and more students are now entering university after obtaining Grade 12 averages in the 95%+ and 90-94% ranges. This trend is evident across the board but is particularly apparent in the highly competitive programs of business, engineering, and biological sciences.
What do rising marks mean for students trying to gain admission in Ontario’s most competitive university programs?
It can be challenging for schools to sort out admission decisions when everyone applying to a program is an A or A+ student. In the most competitive programs, only about 4-5% of applicants at any one school are offered admission.
So what’s a student to do?
It’s important to apply strategically – don’t just apply to your “dream” school… apply there and also apply to a few programs that you know you’ll get accepted into, so you have something to fall back on in case you don’t get into your #1 choice.
With universities moving to a more holistic admission process that often includes supplemental applications and/or interviews, your extracurricular experiences and how they are presented in an application are becoming even more important.
Need help? At Career Solutions, we work with students to figure out which schools and programs would be a good fit for them based on their unique circumstances. We also help students prepare supplementary applications and prepare for admission interviews, teaching them how to present autobiographical information effectively to achieve success in university admission processes.
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