Hi aska!!
This is my first time stumbling onto askastudent, and I’ve been able to gather a lot more info on uni, which thanks sm!! 😛
And for my question(s), I was wondering if it matters that I fail a course? I’m in grade 11, and I actually have 5 credits right now (that is if I don’t fail one of those courses ?). The subject itself isn’t important to me since it’s a yearbook course, and I’m planning on going into the social sciences or politics, preferably in St. George (or other campuses I’m still debating ?). But I also know UofT (and I’m gonna guess other unis as well) looks at grade 11 courses, which is kinda freaking me out 🙁 I do have a 86% average right now (without the course I’m failing since there hasn’t been a grade out for it yet…. ?), I’m doing decent-ish in my courses, esp w my current mental health and constant missing school for counselling or other issues ?.
I also wanted to know if universities would care that there’s a sudden boost in my grades for gr12 (hypothetically, if I could even manage that ?). I’m only doing pretty poorly now because of my current family situation and from missing a bunch of school, I obviously plan on doing much better in gr12 and I was planning on taking Virtual school for the maths because I work better at my own pace, but I’m worried UofT would think I’m cheating and not that I’m actually able to lock in or something like that because my 85% in math is suddenly 90% or more (My mom keeps telling me this so I’m kinda scared ?) and a lot of people keep telling me a lot of different things like grade 11 doesn’t matter only gr12 does, or that gr11 really matters. And then I get told if I fail a course, or get my average under 85% I can’t get into any “good” programs, so I really just don’t know what to believe, and I can’t exactly trust everything Reddit says all the time ? What should I do aska I’m really scared ?
heyyo,
yowza, this is a lotta words. hey, no shame in that, yappers are great because they give me lots of info to work with!
oh, and i’m super glad to hear that aska’s been helpful for you! i was in the same boat as you once so it’s always nice to hear i’m helping others who were in my shoes.
nooooow first things first: failing a course, especially in grade 11, does not spell doom for your admission chances. for social sciences, uoft will be looking closest at your top six grade 12 u/m courses (assuming ontario?), including english. yes, they will look at your grade 11 marks, but failing a non-required course when you have an otherwise good record won’t be the end of the world.
also, side note…. yearbook course? maybe i’m just dumb, but i’ve never heard of yearbook-making as an actual, for-credit class. crazy times we live in, huh…
as for virtual school, that’s totally fine as long as it’s accredited (i’m assuming you’re referring to ovs here) or through your school board. and a jump from 85ish to 90ish is absolutely not a problem, in fact the admissions people often really like to see improvement! a jump of that much wouldn’t be suspicious. breathe easy, you will not end up on uoft’s most wanted list just for showing improvement. uoft doesn’t even HAVE a most wanted list… well, as far as i know.
you seem to be doing quite well regardless, but if you have any concerns about how missing school or a tough mental health stretch will affect you, you could also always fill out a request for special consideration after you apply.
finally, i hate to admit it but i am kind of a redditor too. yeah yeah, throw the tomatoes.
so, being an unfortunately chronic reddit user, i too was on r/ontariograde12s at your age and saw all the people absolutely losing it when they got, like, an 83% in a course. don’t let them convince you that an 86% average is somehow bad. that’s still within consideration for most utsg programs, is safe for a lot of utm/utsc programs, and is absolutely enough to get into “good” programs all over ontario. you just gotta remember that most of the people you see on those forums are equally clueless to how unis actually work, OR, if they’re in uni, they may only be aware of their specific circumstances. plus, i hate to say it, but there’s a lot of keeners on there. don’t feel bad comparing yourself to the worrywarts with 98% averages.
anyways, i don’t wanna yap for any longer than i have, but i hope i hit all your questions! best of luck with everything!
cheers,
aska