Importance of Predicted High School Grades for Universities in Canada
It is said that one should boost their knowledge and skills to be successful in the future. But to get admission to top universities in Canada, the assessment of your knowledge plays a key role and that is done based on your predicted scores.
Every aspirant wishes to get admission to a good university to improve their skills, but in the universities of Canada, the scenario is a bit different. As Canada has a good number of prestigious universities where students from all parts of the world aspire to get an admit to, they start applying early so that they have a good amount of time to work on their applications in advance.
Most Canadian universities start their admission process in mid-Jan and accept applications until late March. When you’re applying to undergraduate degrees, Canadian universities consider 12th grade scores. But if you’re from India, 12th grade scores aren’t released until mid-Summer. Because of this, Canadian universities ask for predicted 12th grade scores in addition to the other details on the application.
Getting into detail about predicted scores, most of the universities consider the marks of 10th and 11th grade final exams and see if it reaches the overall score required which is usually somewhere between 60% to 70%. Then they will ask for your predicted scores which are normally supposed to be given by your school. Sometimes Canadian universities may offer a conditional admission letter. This means that the university may revoke your admission letter if your final result fails to meet your predicted scores.
Normally, students should find out the minimum score requirements set by various universities for the program of their choice and then do a self-assessment to see if they can score enough to meet the eligibility criteria. Although the number of seats is limited, the university accepts more applications than the number of spots available and processes the application while waiting for the students’ final results to be announced.
The table below contains the details of minimum scores required to be eligible for applying in a particular course, be it in Arts stream, Engineering or any other Science stream (B. Arch, B. Pharm, B. Sc., etc.) of the top 10 Canadian Universities. With this, you as an aspirant can strive to achieve more than the minimum required grades set by the Canadian universities.
| Rank (In Canada) | University | Minimum Entering Grade: Arts | Minimum Entering Grade: Science | Minimum Entering Grade: Engineering |
| 1 | University of Toronto | 75-84% | 75-91% | 85-93% |
| 2 | University of British Columbia | 75% | 86% | 85% |
| 3 | McGill University | 86% | 91-93% | 92-96% |
| 4 | McMaster University | 75% | 85-90% | 89% |
| 5 | University of Montreal | R score of 22.2-25.2 | R score of 22-29.2 | R score of 25.4-30.6 |
| 6 | University of Alberta | 70-80% | 83-88% | 85-90% |
| 7 | University of Ottawa | 73-78% | 75-84% | 80-85% |
| 8 | University of Calgary | 70-78% | 78-90% | 85% |
| 9 | University of Waterloo | 80% | 80-92% | 88% |
| 10 | Western University | 83.5% | 83.5% | 87% |
Source: https://www.macleans.ca/education/canadian-universities-minimum-entering-grades-by-faculty/
Now a common question arises: How important are predicted scores and how much should you predict? Firstly, it is mandatory to submit predicted scores as, without them, the application can’t be processed. Another reason why this is important is that most Canadian universities require 75% to 80%. This means that only 25% to 30% of top students get easy admissions. So, while predicting scores, you can get an idea of the chances of admission to your desired college. This also requires your school to be honest in predicting your grades without inflating them too much. Not only will this help you get into your dream university but also save you from disappointment if you don’t reach the predicted grades.
As the prediction of your scores is one of the most important and mandatory steps in the process of applying to Canadian universities, you should take this more seriously and try to improve your current academic performance for your school to predict as well as get good grades in your final exams. UniRely has student mentors studying at top colleges in Canada. You can connect with these student mentors and get to know tips on improving your application by signing up for free on UniRely.
Mohit Raina
This is super useful, especially to those planning to study in Canada for their college years. Great work, Srishti!
Jordan
I am glad my scores are at par.