@Canuckguy wrote
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Yes this is the thing international students need know about applying to universities in Canada. For the most part students apply from high school for admission to a specific major. Acceptance is determined by demand so more in demand majors have more stringent requirements. Admission averages for students can vary widely between faculties at the same school though those who attract the strongest students to their in demand majors also tend to attract high performing students in their other faculties as well. While admission averages to the less in demand majors, like those in Arts and Social Sciences (it’s all about STEM here at the moment) will be lower by virtue of demand, they will still be higher than at other schools, increasing the reputation of the university over all. This is one reason why in general U of T is not viewed to be that prestigious at the undergraduate level, because outside of Commerce, Engineering, and Computer Science, admission to the other faculties is not that competitive. Their first year retention rate is pretty high (91.7) but their over all graduation rate isn’t (79.1), showing that they weed out a lot of students along the way. Schools that tend to attract students with higher stats to all their faculties are the ones perceived to be more prestigious. It’s all about the grades.