Proof There's Grade 12 Marks Inflation

According to a study released by the University of Saskatchewan, high school students from the province of Alberta did better in first year at that university than their peers from British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Saskatchewan. The study followed 12,000 incoming students over three years and found that Alberta students’ grades dropped 6.4 percentage points while students from the four other provinces saw a decrease of 19.6 percentage points. Read why Maclean's think Alberta students are better.

The results of the study have led to the University of Saskatchewan adjusting their admission requirements for Alberta students. A few other universities are also looking at Alberta high school students more favourably, namely Carleton University, St. Francis Xavier, Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of British Columbia.

The study also confirms what many of us in admissions suspected or knew anecdotally – grade inflation is common and the best students come from Alberta high schools.

The best outcome from this study is that Alberta students may no longer be disadvantaged in university admissions and entrance scholarships across Canada not just at the five universities mentioned above.

However, I worry that the issue of grade inflation in the other provinces is tougher to tackle. If there is as much as a 20 percentage point decrease in marks, this suggest that students from British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Saskatchewan need a 90% high school average to have at least 70% or B average in first year!

More analysis of the data or further study is required. The study suggests that grade inflation is province-wide in the provinces tracked, but are there variations between cities or school boards? Also what about the individual applicants? How would you feel if universities lower your high school average by a few percentage points causing you to not be offered admission or a scholarship? Is this not a vicious cycle, universities adjust grades which lead to higher cut-off averages which causes more grade inflation?

Perhaps universities are already taking grade inflation into consideration and this may explain why the admission averages in most universities are quite high. Also, since the vast majority of admission decisions in Canada (unlike in the US or UK) are determined solely on high school grades, the students with the highest marks will be offered admission and with supporting data grades should be adjusted for disadvantaged groups.

In an ideal world, universities will make data-based admission decisions not just for Alberta students but for everyone.

Have Tweet will Follow

Here is an excellent list of university  twitter accounts from canadian-universities.net. There are 119 schools listed with the number of followers, number of tweets, percentage of change in followers from the previous week and the ratio of followers to tweets. You can also rank the list on each of these factors. Canadian-universities.net ranked the schools’ according to their twitter presence and they found that, “the main focus is on recruiting future students, servicing current students and providing news updates and event information for the university in general.”

You’ll see that McGill University (downtown campus) is the twitter king with 12,607 followers and 3,605 tweets followed by the University of Calgary (10,611 followers and 3,362 tweets) and York University (9,134 followers and 1,718 tweets). At the other end of the spectrum is Saint Mary`s University who have 10 followers and have tweeted only 8 times. Or the University of Alberta with 254 tweets but only 42 followers. 

It`s hard to avoid judging universities when you look at the list, but remember this is just twitter and each university may have a different strategy of connecting and staying in touch with future students.

As a potential student perhaps you`ll have a greater appreciation for the personal touch. There are other ways to communicate with future students, for instance snail mail, email and telephones. In fact, I found some of these to be more effective.

Here`s one letter that my son received where the admissions officer not only took the time to write a personal note and but also included a cute reference to one of his extra-curricular activities. It really made me feel that he was not just an applicant and hopefully will not be just a number if he were to choose this university.  

I follow practically all of the universities on twitter and I find it informative and highly recommend that you follow the schools that interest you. You’ll get a feel for what’s going on campus and will have a good sense of the university’s personality. Remember that this is the “official” twitter account so it usually positive news and university sponsored events. It does not include the weekend beer bong parties or keggers. But in my old-fashioned opinion, the personal touch will always trump twitter and other social networks.

High School Grades Predict University Marks

If you’re a Grade 12 student, it’s probably about two weeks since you received your mid-term report and hopefully you’re on track to where you’ll like to be. In case you don’t already know this intuitively, your high school average is the best indicator of how well you’ll do in your undergraduate degree! Well this statement is not shocking to the average person. Why are all universities requesting your high school grades? But data from a study at the University of British Columbia, School of Nursing now provides the proof that there is a correlation between your high schools grades and university marks. The study focussed on nursing students who have to meet other admission requirements in addition to their high school average.

The study, published in a journal called Nurse Education Today, followed about 250 University of British Columbia nursing students from admission to graduation and found that previous academic achievement was the best, most reliable predictor of nursing course grades and graduation from the program.

The results of this study may not only lead to admission changes in the nursing program at the University of British Columbia, but also programs in other universities that require supplemental information from applicants or, at the very least, change the weight that your average is given or how much the other criteria are considered.

Read more here.

Depending on your mid-term report this study may be great or not-so-good news for you. Obviously, if you’re a strong student, then you have a very good probability of doing well academically in university and can now do your happy dance. All of the tangible and intangible variables that are a factor in your current academic success will follow you to university.

Sadly, if you’re a weaker student this is one additional stressor that you really don’t need at this time. But don’t give up. Like any study, there are exceptions and you can work hard to get better grades now knowing that it will not only pay off this year but in the future as well. Get all the help you can to change the path that you’re on. You can do it!

Salary & Unemployment Rates for University Majors

Today the Wall Street Journal released “From College to Career". It’s a database where you can search the unemployment rate, earnings (median, 25^th percentile and 75^th percentile) and popularity by major. Its American data, but the Canadian figures may be similar.

But there are 3 important issues to bear in mind when you look at this database:

1.      It’s interesting but this is not the best way to choose a major. Remember that most of these majors are not a direct path to a career in that field. Likewise many students do not work in an industry directly related to their field of study. Also, a major can lead to many different careers with varying income levels and unemployment rates.

2.      You’ll also have to consider that there is a correlation between the reputation of the university and employability. It’s very likely that the average Harvard graduate in any of these majors have better career prospects than graduates from a university with a reputation that is not as high.

3.      There is also the individual graduate’s skills, experience and network that will strongly influence who gets hired and their salary levels.

I know it’s tempting to find a major which has a low unemployment rate and high earnings. But would you seriously choose to study petroleum engineering simply because it has the highest median salary ($127,000)? With my tongue firmly planted in my cheek, you can check out the Canadian petroleum engineering programs at University of Alberta, University of Calgary, Memorial University and University of Regina.

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Higher University Tution and More Financial Aid?

I read an interesting article in Maclean's, “Why Canadian students graduate with more debt, not less.” The article states that although US tuition fees are higher than Canadian tuition fees. Surprisingly, Canadian students graduate with more debt. Why is that? More financial aid is available from American universities.  

“In the U.S., average debt at graduation rose to $25,250 in 2010, according to a Nov. 3 report by the Project on Student Debt. Here in Canada, students were graduating with an average debt of $26,680 according to a 2009 report released by the Millennium Scholarship Foundation. If anything, the Canadian average is higher now.”

The US financial aid is from the federal government and the universities themselves. The writer further states that, “by charging students from wealthy backgrounds high rates, universities are able to provide significant aid for students from low-income backgrounds.”

Essentially the rich are supplementing the tuition of the poor. If you like this system, the powers-that-be will have to determine what is considered rich and low-income. In fact, parents’ income will be used to decide the students’ income level. Then a ‘fair’ means test will have to be devised and recipients will have to complete this test. And so, some will be judged ‘low-income’ and benefit and others will be deemed ‘rich’ and will be required to pay the full, published tuition. Of course, they will be a percentage of students and parents who will feel that they were unfairly labeled as rich.

Do you prefer to pay a lower tuition with less financial aid? Or a higher sticker price with the possibility of getting a reduction as a result of financial aid?

Canada's Top 50 Research Universities

Canada's Top 50 Research Universities

This list is just an FYI for those interested in being an undergraduate student at a 'prestigious' research institution. However, there are similarities between this list and other Canadian and global university rankings. Take a look at Canada's best and worst universities here.

Just remember that there is always more to choosing the best university for you. Click here for a list of other factors to consider.

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