Question about students applying from another coutnry

Hello,

I hope this is the right forum to ask this; if not, I apologize/apologise.

I am a guidance counsellor in an Ontario, Canada high school and have a student interested in applying to university in the UK. We are both wondering if universities look at marks from years other than the final year of school before university. We go up to grade 12 in Ontario, and that's the year Canadian universities look at, for the most part.

A different way of getting to the same information would be: In terms of applying, does it matter if a student does poorly in a grade 11 course?

Thank you!

Reply 1

jnss.7

Big fan of Canada (I was going to do an exposé on Québec politics before they canceled the exams).
This is the perfect place to write to!

I'm unsure about international students but in the UK students applying to University would have done 1 round of important exams in year 11 out of 13 (aged 15/16) called GCSEs and another in year 13 (aged 17/18) called A levels. Depending on the Uni, they look at GCSEs to varying degrees, mainly looking at English, Maths or (rarely) foreign languages, even if seems unrelated to the course. I think it would depend on the University, but I have also applied to internationally (Bocconi in Italy) and they asked for year 11, 12, and 13 results. Do you want to apply through UCAS or directly to the unis (if you want to do it through UCAS I believe the deadline is around now)? Surely it would say on the prospective Uni's website? Maybe try sending an email to the prospective Uni's admissions department?

Reply 2

ageshallnot

Original post by OntarioGuidance

Have a look at the qualifications expected at a variety of UK universities with regard to Canadian applications. For example, Cambridge:
https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/canada

Reply 3

OntarioGuidance

Original post by jnss.7

Do you want to apply through UCAS or directly to the unis (if you want to do it through UCAS I believe the deadline is around now)? Surely it would say on the prospective Uni's website? Maybe try sending an email to the prospective Uni's admissions department?

Thank you for that information! The student is in the year before their final year, so there's no rush in applications. I'm guessing they would apply through UCAS; I wasn't aware that students could apply directly. In Ontario, they must apply through the UCAS counterpart, OUAC. If they apply to a school outside the province, they apply directly.

I don't know which schools the student is applying to, but I'll let them know to contact each school individually.

Thank you for your help!

Reply 4

OntarioGuidance

Original post by ageshallnot

Have a look at the qualifications expected at a variety of UK universities with regard to Canadian applications. For example, Cambridge:
https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/canada

This is helpful information! The student and I will look at individual schools.

Thank you!

Reply 5

ageshallnot

Original post by OntarioGuidance

This is helpful information! The student and I will look at individual schools.

Thank you!

Happy digging!

Reply 6

123tidetogo

Hi! I am a King’s College London student that applied from Toronto using the Ontario diploma in 2019.

Back at my high school, everyone who applied to UK universities used UCAS instead of applying directly. On UCAS the student will be able to apply to five universities (including either Oxford OR Cambridge, can’t apply to both) using one personal statement instead of writing different personal statements for each university. There is also only one payment of £25. Overall, the application process is very similar to OUAC except the letter of recommendation written by a teacher or a guidance counselor and personal statement.

As for marks, the student themselves will need to enter their marks on their own on UCAS. I recommend putting down all their marks starting from grade 9, despite the universities really only look at grade 12 predicted marks unless if the student chooses to apply to really competitive universities like Oxbridge, London Universities, St Andrew’s, Edinburgh.... Finally, when the student firms their offer, the university will ask for their final transcript, which the school will need to send to the university unless if the university asks the student to send to them directly.

Also, it’s important to note that some universities also have different entry requirements for Ontario students despite showing the same A-level minimums. For example, UCL’s ABB is 83% while Edinburgh’s is 80%. So it’s definitely a good idea to look at the requirements for each university the student is planning to apply to. As harsh as this is, if they don’t have the minimum, there is no chance that the university will accept them.

Hope this helps! And if you have anymore questions please don’t hesitate to ask!