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.

Western vs. Eastern Canadian Universities

Today I read an article with the headline Western Canadian universities outshining Eastern counterparts. Here's an excerpt:

A recent study by the Higher Education Strategy Associates (HESA) reports that Western Canada is the new epicentre for post-secondary education. The past two decades have seen the University of British Columbia, the University of Victoria, the University of Alberta, and the University of Saskatchewan out-compete prestigious Ontario schools such as Queen's, McMaster, and the Universities of Waterloo and Western Ontario for academic talent, as well as funding.

This was shown when the Canadian government created 19 Excellence Research Chair awards, new $10-million prizes to go to leading researchers who had established programs at their home universities.

Two researchers at both the Universities of Waterloo and Toronto received recognition, while other Ontario schools struggled, with the University of Ottawa gaining one and Queen’s failing to qualify for any. Meanwhile, the University of Alberta won four and UBC won a total of $24 million.

As a high school student or parent of a soon-to-be a first year student, you shouldn’t assume that this means these universities are better because they received these awards. The reality is that typically knowledge from these prestigious chairs and research grants do not filter down to the undergraduates. Quite frankly, these recipients probably have never and will never teach an undergraduate class. Notice they have been referred to as researchers, so if you hope to do research with these academics then these awards should be very important to you.  Otherwise, choose a university that meets all of your individual criteria.

The bottom line is that your needs as an undergrad will be different from your criteria as a masters student or PhD candidate.  I believe undergraduate students need great teachers; great researchers who have ‘won’ prestigious chairs and research grants are more or most important to graduate students. This, of course, is not to say that these universities in western Canada don’t have great faculty teaching in their Bachelor degrees.

This report also highlights how difficult it is to evaluate universities. There are many variables that should be assessed when rating a university as better than another. Receiving prestigious chairs and research grants is just one of them. In summary, you really do have to do your own research with your list of what’s important to you. Go west young man/woman or use your own best judgement!

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