How does university select students with different marks from different schools?

so student a in an easy high school with an average of 95, and student b in a harder high school with an average of 85. WHich one would the university choose? Do they actually look marks differently depending on the school?

the 95

Generally, marks are more important than anything else. Some schools require a supplementary application and look at extracurriculars. Making adjustments for certain harder high schools is not very common. It might happen if the university is in the same city as the high school (I've heard UofT bumps up marks from North Toronto Collegiate). Or, if it's a really well-known private school (Upper Canada College, University of Toronto Schools).

But a 95 compared to an 85? No question any university would take the 95. Even considering extracurricualrs or adjustments, we're talking about maybe equating a 92 with a 95.

Provinces with good educational systems have standardized tests.

Originally Posted by eliteblaze

the 95

no.

I know people that did the IB (International Bacculaureate) program and got into programs that require 95% averages with 85%'s


universities know which schools inflate marks, which provinces inflate marks, and which grades mean more in comparisson, they do not simply look at two numbers

Originally Posted by mystro

no.

I know people that did the IB (International Bacculaureate) program and got into programs that require 95% averages with 85%'s


universities know which schools inflate marks, which provinces inflate marks, and which grades mean more in comparisson, they do not simply look at two numbers

Nope. When it comes down to it, you're selected into a program based more or less entirely on your marks. And marks from student A, in general, are treated no differently than student B. Personal information statements etc are only looked at for borderline cases or for exceptional programs (whether made exceptional by purposely limiting enrollment or really because they're good is debateable).

They are able to judge IB students differently because IB is heavily standardized. But there's absolutely no way they have modifiers for every Ontario high school lol.

I know Waterloo does grade adjustment, and that's basically dependent on the previous people that came from your high school. Waterloo monitor's their performance and from what I've been told comes up with a max of +/- 3% for each high school. So if yu're from a highschool that tends to be harder, chances are waterloo will tack on a percent or two to your incoming average.

This is what I've been told, but I don't really have any concrete proof.

Also IB is completely different can of worms to open... all I can say is that if you want to go into Engineering, or otherwise know what you want to go into, skip IB, I did, and that's also what my councilor recommended.

--Mark

Schools also look to see if you've shown improvements. If you're consistently averaging a 60 in previous years but progressively rise to finish with an 85, that'll definitely put you in a good light with the school, and put you ahead of other 85'ers.