Help me decide Schools

Student Lounge International Students
1

<p>I posted this in Canadian version of this forum studentawards but that forum is lackluster at best so I decided to ask the CC members instead.</p>

<p>Hi, I will be entering grade 12 this fall and need some help ranking my schools.</p>

<p>Background info:</p>

<p>98% average last year</p>

<p>Completed grade 12 and AP Bio, 5 on exam
Completed grade 12 English, Math, and Pysch</p>

<p>*Average for these 4 classes is a little higher than 98%</p>

<p>Will be taking mainly AP courses next year but my top 4 grade 12 marks are already set and should have little trouble rounding out top 5 or top 6 with similar marks. Is it really true that Canadian Unis won't even consider course marks outside of the top 5 or 6 (I think this is a ridiculous policy)?</p>

<p>Aside of UBC Biomed and Waterloo Biomed, outliers, rest of my choices are going to be for science programs in preparation for med school and would like some advice and anecdotal info about the science faculties and general info about the schools that I'm considering:</p>

<p>Queens
UBC
Mcgill (a little skeptical about budget cuts, bureaucracy, difficulty switching programs, poor student services, etc)
Waterloo
U of M (in-province)</p>

<ul>
<li>all for science</li>
</ul>

<p>I may apply to a couple others but these are the top 5. Also, please don't say I missed Mac BHSC and it is "the best"; I don't see anything special about that program. So, how would you guys rank these schools, how significant is grade deflation and/or inflation, and what are your opinions about attending the "easiest" university (in this case U of M which is in-province) in order to get a higher GPA, I personally don't support this but there are others that advocate this method. Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Depends what you’re interested in. Each university has it’s perks which you can research on your own. For instance, UBC has a particle accelerator. I’m a business student, so I couldn’t really give a ■■■■, but if your a physics buff, that might be cool for you.</p>

<p>Really, we’re talking about five schools that are basically on a level. It’s all about personal preference. Big schools like UBC and McGill have some facilities and research opportunities that other schools might not have, but for UG this isn’t a huge deal. </p>

<p>The top six policy is true, except for UBC it might be top four. Also, they won’t take just any programs: English and Math will both be factored into your average, even if they aren’t top 4/5/6/ Also, Queen’s and UBC require and stress supplemental apps, so you might get undermined if your ECs/ writing skills aren’t up to snuff. No offence, but your school clearly inflates grades.</p>

<p>I could write a much longer comment outlining the many strengths and weaknesses of each school, but frankly bro, that’s your job. Decide what you want, what your priorities are, and find out which school best meets them. Between any of these five schools your grad prospects will be roughly the same.</p>

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<p>Personally, I would go with Waterloo Biomed, since it gives you more flexibility if you end up not going to medical school (however, keep in mind that this program doesn’t have all of the medical school prerequisites, so you’d have to use your electives to cover them).</p>

<p>I know for a fact that UofT and McGill are known to deflate grades (also, at McGill, your AP Bio exam mark will be applied to get advanced standing automatically I think).</p>