going into grade 12 and nervous as heck.

[mizermalice]

being school president is good, join the debate team, play on school sports teams, junior achievement is a good thing to do. iunno just throwing stuff out there.

o btw. u need at least a 90 average for the BBA @ schulich and if you dunt have at least 97 dunt even bother for the iBBA

Don't listen to this moron. I got into the ibba with a 92 average. Your extra-curriculars don't even need to be that impressive, just do well on the supplementary form. All you need is good english and some talent in stretching a story, capiche ?

The only university you should worry for when it comes to extra-curriculars is Queens. Queens decides a cutoff average, and from there all the applicants who pass are graded upon their extra-curriculars, it doesn't matter if you have a 95 average, if you have nothing else but your average, queens will reject you.

And if you need to pump up your university resume, join a bunch of clubs, any. Most universities would applaud you the very same way if you had a list of clubs joined as opposed to a bunch of school teams joined.

[jvangilst]

For Schulich Engineering at UofC, extra curriculars mean absolutely nothing, at least when I got in four years ago it didnt. I had maybe 90%, but ZERO extra curricular stuff. As long as you get the scholars advantage, which is maybe over 85%, you're basically guarenteed. I wasn't even worried about university or even knew what I wanted to do until the Spring of grade 12.

[Headhunter]

You're way ahead of the curve in terms of extracurriculars, Schulich admittance is based almost entirely on your grades.

[lingenfelter7]

Like previous posts mentioned, your current extra curriculars are more than enough. I really don't know why high school teachers etc stress the extra curriculars so much, they have no idea what universities expect. They expect marks.
I think I had a 93 avg around mid-term (what universities first look at) and finished with a 91 final. No extra curriculars at all other than hockey I believe.
I applied and was accepted (in 2004) at Schulich, U of T commerce, U of T Scarborough BBA Co-op, Queens Commerce, and Ryerson (who can't get in there).
Personally I chose U of T Scarborough because they have a superb co-op program - I am on my second work term at CIBC right now and I think it will give me an edge when looking for full time work.
That said, if I was closer to Schulich I would have gone there, can't argue with their program.

Bottom line: Bring up those marks. Grade 12 is nothing to be worried about, honestly.

[Truemana]

My biggest problem with how you're dealing with this is the simple aspect that it's high school. I'm a 3rd year electrical engineering student, I worked really hard in grade 12 and got an 88% overall. Took 4 academic courses in my final grad semester and it wasn't too bad (vs 6 courses now).

Seriously if you're getting this nervous this quick, take a chill pill and realize that once you're in, no one cares about anything you did in high school. Forget what your learned because they will tell you it's a gross assumption that only works in special perfect cases.

Finally, have some friggen fun. Most care-free, innocent times of your life are in high school. Funnest times of your life are at university. It's not the end all if you don't get into the school you want, because really it matters where you are happy. Don't listen to those reps at the post secondary day. Take a look at the school's website, does it have any links to any student societies or services on the main page? That's a good indicator of student involvement and influence.

Trust me, I go to a school where a rivalry is evident between us and the massive school across the pond. They have their "amazing academics", but I have fun here. We get drunk on the steps of the engineering wing, we buy beers for our profs and we have a student society second to none. I chose to go here, it wasn't my plan B.

Anyway that's my input

[Eyies]

For sciences try to get 70+. Engineering 75+. I've heard really lame instances of friends who got into ECE at UofT with like 71 average or something.

But really really listen to this point. Above all, prepare yourself for university. They don't lie to you when they say high school is university preparation. Stress less about marks and more about knowing the material well, and to a deep understanding. Getting into university is not hard at all, but not getting kicked out and actually graduating is the hard part. Best of luck to your coming year.

[pirate]

im in the same boat... i can get a 90+ avg but the extracurriculasrs are a prob.. i only finished my 40 hours this year....and have only 1 prior club in which im just a memeber and not on any exec. i was thinking of starting my own club to increase my extra-curriculars but i dont know yet. You guys think its a good idea?

[duckling.]

High school material barely prepares you for university. It's the study habits. If you don't start with a good study habit, it'll be extremely hard to "suddenly" convert into a goody2shoes. You seem to be on the right track, so I wouldn't frown.

Edit: Minus Algeo to the above statement

As for extra curricular... in the end they probably only matter moreso for scholarships and awards, but if you're really nervous about it (and don't want to interfere with your school marks), then doesn't your school have those parent-teacher interviews? Ask to be a secretary/the "male" equivalent It's an easy job done during the least stressful times of the school year.

[greenapples]

For grade 12 ... I was the president of the student council, plus three other clubs. That landed me a $6000 scholarship that is renewable each year. I had a low 90s average.

Well, my friend who attended the same high school as me, had a mid-90s average. He received a $20,000 scholarship, plus other scholarships. In his first year, after paying tuition and all that, he still had $9000 remaining.

I'd say ... if your school or a company you know (such as Toronto Star's Honderich Award) offers great scholarships for top marks .. FORGET THE COMMUNITY WORK. If I worked my butt off a little harder on my marks ... I could have received that prestigious award. You know?


As for university ... if you don't know what you'll get into .. don't worry about it. Chances are, you'll change your major when you enter second year. Universities usually do not make you declare your major until second. Just make sure you get into university, learn what it's all about, which is totally different from high school, and get the hang of it. When they say "it's all theoretical work" .. trust me ... it is.

To ease your mind ... I think university is much better and easier than high school. A university school year runs from September to April. You would usually only have classes four days a week. Each course only has one or two classes per week. That's very little compared to a high school year. You have to take the same course everyday for the whole semester. Also, each course requires you to write probably two essays and an exam. There's no friggin homework!

I hope I did some help here!

[i-o_o-i]

gr.12 isn't that difficult, 2nd semester after I got my car I'd skip like every other day and just go eat and play mj everyday, I didn't do much hwk or studying except for projects and assignments that need to be handed in, you should work harder first semester because universites tend to judge first sem makrs for early acceptance then semester 2 can be very relaxed...

[DrLee]

Seriously if you're getting this nervous this quick, take a chill pill and realize that once you're in, no one cares about anything you did in high school. Forget what your learned because they will tell you it's a gross assumption that only works in special perfect cases.

Finally, have some friggen fun. Most care-free, innocent times of your life are in high school. Funnest times of your life are at university. It's not the end all if you don't get into the school you want, because really it matters where you are happy. Don't listen to those reps at the post secondary day. Take a look at the school's website, does it have any links to any student societies or services on the main page? That's a good indicator of student involvement and influence.

Dead on... relax already. You're going to have some serious issues when you reach university and realize what a big deal you've made some things out to be. In terms of life-end goals, the majority of your extra-curric's and high average will likely just get a nicer entrance scholarship than anything more.

When you enter the professional arena, you're just as likely to have a boss that had a 75% average in highschool and from a average university with minimal extra-curric's than for you to be his boss. This will become more and more increasingly apparent to you mid-way through university: when you are working you're ass off, and seeing most ppl slacking or hitting for average achieving the same end results. I'm not saying that you should start slacking, but achieve what you need to achieve to get what you want and live a little or you'll really regret it later. Take it from someone on year 5 of their 12 year university career.

I think I had a B to B+ in highschool, got into a decent university... got a honours and 3.8-4.0, and now i'm in one of the top international research centres (in Canada that is) doing my Masters with a scholarship that makes my friends that had a 4.5 Univ. GPA jealous. How? Be smart about what you do and concentrate on what you have to. Most people in my program had much higher marks than me, and guess what.. I'm there too with more funding. I concentrated where it counted, 1) my UG thesus 2) innovative ideas in my field.... the end. Long story short, work smart not hard... once you are in Univ, 2nd year... you'll start learning what working smart entails.

[glacier76]

When it comes to simple admission, it's all about the grades. The extra-curriculars have more to do with scholarships and grants (also, they're fun! At least I enjoyed them!).

And really, don't worry about it so much! Universities across Canada are all generally the same in terms of quality anyway. Unless you know exactly what you want to do, then go to the specific school. You can shine anywhere in Canada, if you work hard enough.

But I think it's the non-academic stuff that make a school--the weather, the commute, the public transportation system, the food, expenses, how good-looking the student population is. That's what I remember about my undergrad experience--not whether a school had a coop program or had a tutorial system. Who cares?

[Mems]

Hey, I was wondering if any of you knew if Universities actually care if you're bilingual or not. Does that affect their decision in the slightest?

-Mems

[glacier76]

Not in the slightest. How would they know? There are students who can barely speak English/French.