Grade 12's applying this year...

Thought we should have a thread for them.

Anyways, here's a brief time-line.

• November/December - PINS are in, that means you can choose programs. I reccomend starting on the 1st day of Winter Break, so you can work on some supplementaries as well.
  - Some keeners who apply the moment they get them might receive an acceptance in a week or two, assuming they had good grade 11 marks. Schools like UOttawa, Carleton, etc sent them out early.
• January 10th (could be 11th this year) - You best have applied or you're in trouble If you wanted to apply to the name-brand programs such Mac Health Sci, Schulich, Queen's Commerce, UW AFM, etc and some Concurrent Programs (where you earn a B.Ed at the same time) expire on January 10th.
• February - Most of the time is spent working on supplementary applications, if you chose UW AFM you are invited to the AFMAA (Admissions Assignment). Offers might be coming out here and there, none of those name brand programs though. Early acceptances come out most of the time.
• March - A bit more into the heat, schools such as Mac, WLU, Guelph are sending out offers. Open house and tours are starting. UW AFM, Queen's Commerce sent out offers around this time.
• April - Heat is on, lots more offers. However, some schools send offers in 2 rounds so don't panic if you don't receive anything. They usually start from top to lowest.
• May - Now or never, expect all the days leading up to the 28th to be really tense if you didn't get anything. Schools like UofT and UofW have a tendency to wait close towards the end.
• May 28th - You must commit to a school, you might get 3-4 days lee-way from some schools. After that they take away their offer.
• Post-exams - Make sure you meet their minimum requirements...otherwise goodbye

You're going to have mark transmissions throughout the year, they get there about 3 weeks after the report card, sometimes well over that amount. Any other questions, just ask in this thread...

Not sure if its relevent to this thread, but besides early acceptance, do 'great' grade 11 marks give you any other benefits towards University? Mine weren't so great, but then again the courses I was taking in grade 11 are much different than what I am taking in grade 12. Any advice would be appreciated. =)

Originally Posted by cell567

Not sure if its relevent to this thread, but besides early acceptance, do 'great' grade 11 marks give you any other benefits towards University? Mine weren't so great, but then again the courses I was taking in grade 11 are much different than what I am taking in grade 12. Any advice would be appreciated. =)

Very rarely do they look at Grade 11 marks when it comes out to regular acceptances. Grade 11 marks don't mean much overall, just comes down to Grade 12 marks.

Thanks for the quick reply! My exact situation is I have been an honors student throughout elementary and up until grade 11 where I received a 77-78% average throughout (slacking off hardcore, not a good reason, but its the correct one and it didn't help that I took courses I hated). Say I get a 90% average in grade 12. Will business schools such as Schulich automatically deny me entrance because of my grade 11 marks or will they overlook them and base my regular acceptance on my grade 12 marks. Thanks again!

Originally Posted by cell567

Thanks for the quick reply! My exact situation is I have been an honours student throughout elementary and up until grade where I recieved a 77-78% average throughout grade 11 for example (slacking off hardcore, not a good reason, but its the correct one and it didn't help that I took courses I hated). Say I get a 90% average in grade 12. Will business schools such as Shulich automatically deny me entrance because of my grade 11 marks or will they overlook them and base my regular acceptance on my grade 12 marks. Thanks again!

Nope, they'd never do that. But, when the first set of marks go in, if you're at a semestered school...they may not send an offer. Why? Because they might only have 3-4 marks, and sub-par Grade 11 marks. But during the 2nd round (I beleive they even have a 3rd round) they will make an acceptance*.

I hear for Schulich, they look at your extra-curriculars first then marks; the cut-off this year was around 91-92%.

Thanks for the quick reply once again! I have many extra curriculars and loads of volunteer experience. I am also bilingual and started my own club at school. I hope these contribute to my acceptance to such a school. Also, I am in a non-semestered school so I hope that works in my favor. Any other advice man?

Originally Posted by cell567

Thanks for the quick reply once again! I have many extra curriculars and loads of volunteer experience. I am also bilingual and started my own club at school. I hope these contribute to my acceptance to such a school. Also, I am in a non-semestered school so I hope that works in my favor. Any other advice man?

Starting a club is great, what's it about though? Try to get some positions as a treasurer within the school, and also outside of the school. I know you need a couple of reference letters as well, so figure out where you'd get that from Bilingual, that's definitely a plus. The more significant your EC's are the better. I went to a non-sem. school...only thing I can say is that make sure you're taking the right courses that you'll do well in. See if you can get your hands on some supp. apps from people who have gotten in...those could be invaluable.

I remember reading a thread about how you were interested in International Exchanges, I think the iBBA program is what you're looking for but the cut-off is generally higher. Don't rule out other schools such as Queen's, UofT or McGill...York is a commuter school so you don't get much of a social experience as I'm told.

Hey, nice time line there, thanks.
Just want to know how much universities look at your volunteering/extracurricular activities? I am thinking of engineering in mac/uw/ut and although I do have some extracurricular and volunteering experience (basically the 40 hours for high school), its not a lot. Will this have any major affect on my admission in the universities?

Originally Posted by rijet

Hey, nice time line there, thanks.
Just want to know how much universities look at your volunteering/extracurricular activities? I am thinking of engineering in mac/uw/ut and although I do have some extracurricular and volunteering experience (basically the 40 hours for high school), its not a lot. Will this have any major affect on my admission in the universities?

For UofT and UW, I'm pretty sure they only look at extra-cirrics and volunteering stuff, if you're on the borderline marks-wise. They use that extra stuff you did to add a few % to boost your mark up. If your marks are good, then they may not even bother looking at your extra curriculars. It can only help you. Anyone wanna back me up on this?

i don't know if the mandatory volunteer hours will put you at the head of the line. but certainly extra-curricular activity does nothing but help you. i don't think it's just based on marks though. plenty of people make the cut-offs, but when everyone has 95% how do you separate them? more extra-curricular stuff on your application will differentiate your app from someone who's done nothing except get A's. i would join as many activities as you can handle, especially if it's a position of responsibility within the club. my friends and i started a bunch of random clubs for our application. when you're the seniors at your school, it's not all that intimidating to get involved.

i know personally for me, a good recommendation letter from my teacher got me a fairly early acceptance. i'm not sure if they still do all the math/physics/biology contests but if you are good at that kind of stuff they might be pretty impressed.

Originally Posted by skuric

For UofT and UW, I'm pretty sure they only look at extra-cirrics and volunteering stuff, if you're on the borderline marks-wise. They use that extra stuff you did to add a few % to boost your mark up. If your marks are good, then they may not even bother looking at your extra curriculars. It can only help you. Anyone wanna back me up on this?

Yup. However, if you're looking at getting scholarships it'll be good to have that. But, UofT does ask you to list whatever clubs you're apart...so atleast have something to put down.

Are you allowed to apply to only one program per faculty?
And about rejections, say, I apply to Mcmaster Health Sciences, if I'm rejected, will I get an offer for another program or nothing at all?

Originally Posted by LegiT

Are you allowed to apply to only one program per faculty?
And about rejections, say, I apply to Mcmaster Health Sciences, if I'm rejected, will I get an offer for another program or nothing at all?

I don't beleive McMaster gives alternate offers. I'd apply to Science I or Life Science as a backup, just another $33.

Originally Posted by LegiT

Are you allowed to apply to only one program per faculty?
And about rejections, say, I apply to Mcmaster Health Sciences, if I'm rejected, will I get an offer for another program or nothing at all?

Yup, you will get another offer from another program. My friend got rejected to McMaster Health Science with like a 89/90 avg, but got accepted into Radiology or something like that at Mac. He didn't want to take that so now he's going into Life Sci @ UTSG.

LOL, awesome...conflicting replies.