<p>hi guys!</p>
<p>i live in ontario, Canada where a 5th year of high school is optional in our system</p>
<p>i'm kinda at the point where i have to decide whether i should take that extra year</p>
<p>i came to this country in gr 9, so during my early years here I was not informed at all about many things, esp schedule and stuff, I would love to take more science classes in HS and practice on my english by taking a gr 12 writing course, which cant be fit into my schedule if i take only 4 years</p>
<p>this extra year is completely optional, and it is quite popular at my school</p>
<p>I know it does not look bad to Canadian universities that you are taking the 5th year, (waht we call OAC), please give me your opinions on how US universities look at it. I appreciate your help. =)</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>hum...considering that you came over from china in 9th grade, i think most colleges here will be understanding and won't really hold anything against u. i would recommend you that you email them and ask for their opinion lol...</p>
<p>has anyone here applied with one extra year?</p>
<p>some kids in the US who attend boarding schools will repeat a year and it doesn't seem to be detrimental. some kids who study abroad take another year of school to meet all the requirements for graduation.</p>
<p>If you have a good reason for a 5th year, which you do, it won't be an issue. On top of that, school evaluate your transcript based on your situation and school -- and the 5th year is an option at your school. I would suggest you do it!</p>
<p>the ontario system is very tricky in that almost everything is optional!
sighhhh</p>
<p>so if i do take that year, do they look at both my jr and sr year? since i'm applying the year after my sr year?</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>bum[p~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p>
<p>yes ? no? good? bad?</p>
<p>any canadians in the house?</p>
<p>thanks!</p>
<p>I would only do it if you're pretty self-restrained. </p>
<p>I did a fifth year and most of the goals that I had this year went out the window. I pretty much just had a light load from December to now... </p>
<p>I wouldn't really recommend it if you can finish in four years, finish in four. </p>
<p>But to answer you question, I took a fifth year and it had no effect whatsoever in my applications to universities in Ontario and the US. I got into all of them... the only thing that really matters is if you keep your marks up. If your marks are fine then really, a fifth year is not really detrimental.</p>
<p>What part of "Get off CollegeConfidential" do you not understand?</p>
<p>To answer your question, what exactly can you do in a year that'll make such a huge difference? I myself have exhausted the Ontario curriculum after 2 years in HS, and I really can't imagine anyone taking a 5th year just to improve their credentials. The only people I know who took a 5th year lacked credentials prior to graduation.</p>
<p>There's nothing you can do about not having access to difficult courses, and I highly doubt a person like you would be challenged with a 5th year. I think you are good enough to graduate in 4. Ask yourself, is that 5th year really going to challenge you?</p>
<p>i partially agree with Big Brother. first of all, the curriculum here in tdsb is not rigourous at all, so repeating a year will definitely Cyou. second, using another year to improve on marks, such as SAT or AP is very obvious to the adcoms and i think they'll realize that. lastly, is it really worth it "wasting" a year of your life trying to get into an ivy risking the chance that you might still not get in cuz a lot of it is luck. also, once you get in to an ivy, becuase you took another year to boost up your marks or ecs, you will definitely struggle competiting with those other 99% who finished HS in 4 years.
a lot of the universities here in canada are great, as i have now realized. so for me now, ivies isn't a must, instead, it's an opportunity to try and see if it is suitable for or not. so don't put too much pressure on yourself, if you don't get in, it's not the end of the world. remember, there's always grad school =P</p>