Applicants from Canada, a question

[nbachris2788]

<p>Newbyreborn,</p>

<p>Wow, that's an absolute foreign concept to me. In my experience, which is basically two different high schools, math was pure testing. If the teachers did not have confidence in their students, then maybe a miniscule homework mark might've been slipped in. I'm having a fantastic year in math right now. For some reason, I had trouble with grade 10 math, but I'm breezing in grade 12. Transformations, logarithms, sinusoidals, infinite series, etc. I'm getting a fricking 99%! Unfortunately, my SAT math mark tends to hover slightly below or above 700.</p>

[jpps1]

<p>My math teachers NEVER curved marks...</p>

[hypoxia]

<p>I'm not exactly sure what some of you guys are talking about. </p>

<p>You sure as hell don't need 95%+ UW to get into the ivies lol. A 92% average = 4.0 GPA. The ivies usually require around a 3.7 gpa. </p>

<p>With a 92% you can get into the top Canadian schools without a problem (including McGill, Queens, Waterloo, etc).</p>

[Newbyreborn]

<p>depends on major, but i only have 85% avg, GPA is 4.0 UW, and 4.2 weighted</p>

[nbachris2788]

<p>Being a Canadian student sucks if you want to apply to the States. For one thing, American schools start prepping their kids in grades 9 for top colleges, while in Canada, nothing really picks up until grade 11. I tend to agree with the Canadian system, as grades 9 and 10 are IMO "fluff" years that hardly predict the next Rhodes scholar, but I'm betting admissions people don't see it that way. Plus, when everybody else on this board is talking about 3.7 or 4.0 GPAs, I can't really apply the same standards to myself because Canadian grading is very different. Even though I have straight A's, I can't consider myself having a 4.0 UW average because then a lot of kids at my school would have it as well. Isn't a 4.0 supposed to very rare? It seems to me that the Canadian system was not designed for the 4.0 grading scale.</p>

<p>I'm going to finish with around a 96% average this year, and I'm considering making Queens my safety school. I don't know how wise that is, but Canadian schools only look at grades 11 and part of 12, and I'm pretty sure a 96 is very strong.</p>

[jpps1]

<p>Wow, 96 seems really high (unless you're the top kid in your class).</p>

<p>In my CEGEP program, which is a pretty competitive honours group of 70 kids, you'd easily be ranked #1.</p>

[nbachris2788]

<p>I'm the third, but the top three are separated by mere decimals. I'm not really at 96, it's more like 95.5, I just rounded. The next guy's probably at 95.7 or something.</p>

[hypoxia]

<p>Chris, I think our problem is that school comes easy to us.
My first semester avg is also 96%, and it's not like I actually tried or anything.</p>

<p>Looking at the rest of my class however, it quickly becomes apparent that 90%+ is difficult for most to attain.
In my entire graduating class, there are five of us with 90%+, and two of those students are taking slack courses (avg is UW). </p>

<p>This means that 3/130 students in my class have a genuine 4.0 GPA on a rigorous curriculum. I guess that makes it kinda rare. <em>Shrug</em></p>

<p>I'm sure they will take the differences between schools into consideration. Keep in mind that generally the admissions officers in charge of Canadian applications only look at Canadian and other international applications. This means that we aren't really being compared to Americans as much as other international students.</p>

<p>If they don't, I'm screwed due to our semestered block-scheduling. Taking four courses at a time makes it hard to fit in the courses you want, let alone AP courses. Not that my school offers many. We have the following APs: Chemistry, English, Calculus (and Psych if you want to take it alone like I am). How can they compare this with kids who have the option to take like 10 ap classes and have the time to do it?</p>

[nbachris2788]

<p>Where in Canada are you? I'm in BC.</p>

<p>At our school, there's this special honour roll that's reserved for 90%+ students. It shrinks as it progresses from grades 9-12, and it also depends on how brainy the grade is. Our current 12's are notorious idiots/party animals, hence their short list. Our grade is much more academic, and there's probably around 14 guys who will graduate with a 90%+ average, give or take a few. At our school, fluff courses like Art are also included in your GPA, so it's not entirely accurate. Still, with all my Band and Media Art marks taken out, my GPA is almost exactly the same.</p>

<p>PS What do you think our chances are to get into Queens University in Kingston? It's my favourite Canadian institution, and should I get rejected from every U.S. school, I would be more than happy to go there. Since they only look at grades 11 and 12, and do not consider ECs, recs, or essays like American schools, I'm thinking people like us are pretty much guaranteed admission. I was thinking of making Queens my safety school, but that seems ludicrous, placing what may be the finest Canadian school as a safety. But seriously, what are the chances of rejection? Unfortunately, there's no Canadian CC, so I'm pretty much in the dark here.</p>

[hypoxia]

<p>I'm in Manitoba. Our 'Gold' Honour Roll (90%+) always has about five students but two are usually taking slack courses. I know whatcha mean... My GPA would actually go up if I took out mandatory courses (they're boring, so I don't do the work) and just left the tough ones.</p>

<p>My school, oddly enough, is only grade 10-12. It seems stupid to include grade 9 marks on our transcripts because they come from a different school. This means that my CVS (K-9) marks are being compared with my AMHS (10-12) marks, which is really dumb because there's a huge disparity between them.</p>

[hypoxia]

<p>Chris... (re your post to Newbyreborn)
Yah grade 12 precalc is really easy. You'll find calc equally as easy, I'm sure. It seems strange that I had a 98% in precal and a 96% in calculus, but I only got a 650 on my SAT Math lol. You should definitely take the ACT (the higher level math makes it easier).</p>

<p>PS: I think you'll definitely get into Queens with an average like that. Just get on your teachers' good sides so the recommendations will be good. What American schools are you planning on applying to? If I were you, I wouldn't worry about it at all........ BUT, **** can happen, so apply to McGill or somewhere else just in case. I really wish there were a Canadian CC lol. That'd be awesome.</p>

<p>I love the Canadian college system. It's so open to everyone and makes it easy to get into colleges. Plus it costs like 1/10th as much as the American schools. A great education at a great price makes me :D However, getting into an Ivy would be fun times. lol</p>

[nbachris2788]

<p>I don't like McGill because I think it's too big and impersonal, and UToronto is even worse. My other Canadian school may be UBC or SFX. I'm practically guaranteed admission to UBC because I live 10 minutes away and my dad's a professor there. I like SFX, but my parents don't want to send me into the heart of Nova Scotia. "Too Canadian" I guess. I'm pretty sure I'll get into SFX, because a friend of mine in grade 12 who definitely not what you'd call an academic type got in easily. </p>

<p>As for American schools, my top choice is Amherst. I plan to apply also to Vassar, Brown, Dartmouth, Middlebury, and Williams. I may also apply to Swarthmore and UChicago, but I don't know about those two. What about you?</p>

[hypoxia]

<p>Sounds awesome =] Good luck with all of those schools! I hope that you get to choose between them, as hard as it would be.</p>

<p>Winnipeg is my safety school (as a precursor to Issy Asper), but Yale is my dream school. </p>

<p>I also applied to Dartmouth, McGill, and Stanford... But I pulled my applications because I won't be attending any of them.</p>

<p>I know whatcha mean about SFX lol. Nova Scotia wouldn't be so much fun imho. I'm not much of a fan of eastern Canada, actually.</p>

<p>It's good that you're here in grade 11. There's a lot one needs to learn about the American college process, and this is a good place to start. You might want to pick up a few books as well. I learned so much from them. If ya want the names of a few good ones, just drop me a line.</p>

[a-bomb]

<p>hey guys, all this talk with marks seems mostly about semestered schools. What about non-sememstered nightmares like ours lol! does it make a difference?</p>

[schrodinger_s_cat]

<p>i live in BC, Canada too...........but i dont understand the basis of your discussion as school here is wonderfully easy. granted, most kids are either lazy or are honest dummies; conversely, if you try hard, the Canadian system loves to worship the exception to the rule. At my school i have a 97% average without breaking a sweat. i might be able to push it to 98% if i drop a coupl ec's, however thats not the point. what i am trying to say is that it seems to me that if anything, we've got it easy on this side of the border, especially regarding course material (not based on my knowledge of the US' courses, merely on the simplicity of our own). Shouldn't high school be harder than this???</p>

[Newbyreborn]

<p>I live in toronto, calc is easy, but teacher finds ways to nail us, so far i have 95% 2nd in class. avg is 66% and only 2 people in the 90%
4 in 80% rest are low!
keep in mind, i got 800M, 780 IIc
math contest top 25% (10%ish) every year (1 year was almost 5%)
and i am still getting butchered!</p>

[hypoxia]

<p>schrod... It all depends on the school, I guess.</p>

[nbachris2788]

<p>Schrodinger, since you're Canadian, are you going to Shad Valley this summer? It's a really good program for science types. I wish I had tried out, but I thought it was too science based, thus irrelevant to my direction in university. Still, it would've given me something to do and somewhere to go. My only consolation is that everybody who applied at my school got in, and except for one guy, none of them are academically exceptional (just your standard high B-low A types), so it can't be that selective. I'm still regretful that it may hurt my chances come admission time when compared to all these guys who spent their summers doing a lot of stuff.</p>

[CC_Admin]

<p>Canadian universities suck...period.</p>

[lynda]

<p>whoa harsh?</p>

<p>I'm from BC also, and luckily my school's IB so I'm applying with my IB predicts instead of my actual grades (thank goodness) which should be weighed the same as other IB grades so the admission won't have problem measuring it. I think the reason (at least for me) Canadian grades are lower is because of the marking on essays. Out of two schools I've been in I noticed that rarely anyone gets perfect on essays and the important ones are marked out of 6 (and 5 is not a 90s mark). just my expirence with marking anyways.</p>

<p>reading the grades of people on this forum is really scary lol.</p>

<p>o yea does anyone know the IB diploma avg score for UC and ivy admits?</p>