admissions,  scholarships/bursaries

your annual admissions smorgasbord answer TM

Hi, Thanks in advance for answering! I just had a couple of qts- first off, is a 91-92 average (aiming for more but we’ll see how it goes) enough to get into the engineering science program, life sciences program and any other engineering program? I do a decent amount of extracurriculars. Also, what exactly is early acceptance and do you have to apply for it? And do i have to apply for any admissions scholarships for uoft? What are some admission scholarships that i can apply for or that are available to me? THANK YOU!!

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hey there,

pretty presumptuous of you to say ‘thanks in advance for answering’ to an admissions question. it’s not often that an overzealous highschooler comes away from one of my admissions answers feeling satisfied. but alas, maybe this time, it will be different.

the cut-off for admission to eng. sci. is high 80s to low 90s (everyone thinks that’s unreasonable until they see what the program’s like) and low to high 80s for the rest of engineering, depending on the program. for life sci., the cutoff is low to mid 80s.

as you probably already figured out, the cutoff grade is not the mark it takes to get in, but rather the mark it takes to be considered. take a look at the the average admissions ranges this year; they can give you a good estimate (just an ESTIMATE, mind – aska doesn’t give out guarantees) of what you’ll need for fall 2015 admission.* want more specific answers? i’m afraid i can’t give that to you. no one can.

also, you didn’t include the sentence ‘i do a decent amount of extracurriculars’ as, like, a clause to anything else in your paragraph, so just in case you don’t know, extracurriculars are helpful for your Student Profile Form when applying to engineering, but it really won’t have an impact on your application to the artsci. sorry.

early admission is just when kids apply super early (like now) and they get admitted to the university in december. early admission is not better or worse than regular admission – it’s just earlier.

unless you have some personal timeline that would benefit from knowing what uoft’s admission decision is super early, it shouldn’t affect you at all. except for in terms of, like, peace of mind.

you’re automatically considered for a $2000 scholarship if you have at least a 92% average at the time of admission. there are also separate admissions scholarships through each college, for which you’re considered automatically (go to your college website to read about the specific amounts etc.).

otherwise, there are lots of application-based entrance scholarships offered through the university of toronto, and even more offered by private companies outside the university.

one trick i used in grade 12 was to google any major corporation i could think of along with the word scholarship (e.g. ‘nike’ scholarship. i don’t know if there’s actually a nike scholarship, it’s just an example. please don’t sue me, nike).

most big, heartless businesses have scholarship programs to make it seem like they have a soul. it’s a veritable treasure chest for desperate grade 12 students.

best of luck, and hope to see you at uoft next fall!

aska

* oh god, is it almost 2015 ALREADY? my life is SLIPPING AWAY LIKE SAND. *rushes to Shoppers to buy orthopaedic slippers and knitting needles to fully embrace the little time i have left as a grandma*

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