How to Get High Marks of Grade 12 for Admission to University
How to Get High Marks of Grade 12 for Admission to University
What does “Top Six” mean for Ontario university admissions?
“Top Six” refers to the six grade 12 (4U/M) Ontario high school courses that are averaged (with equal weighting) to determine your “university admission average” by Ontario universities. ENG4U, MHF4U, MCV4U, MDM4U, SCH4U, SBI4U, SPH4U, SCI4U, AVI4M, LKBDU, BBB4M, BOH4M, HHS4U, HSB4U and CGW4U…
Which courses/grades are included in the Top Six?
Your Top Six average is calculated based on a combination of required and elective courses and your individual admission average varies from school to school, and even from program to program!
When you apply to an Ontario university, the admissions department will receive a list of your grades for all courses at the 11 and 12 level, but they don’t initially see all of those grades. Your academic transcript is reduced to a single admissions average by a computer calculation that takes into account only six of your Grade 12 courses at the “U” or “M” level.
All university programs require a total of six Grade 12 courses, but they generally don’t dictate exactly which six courses you must have. Typically, an arts program will have only 1 or 2 specific requirements, and the remaining courses can be any 12U courses, as long as there are six in total. Science programs, however, may specifically list four, five or even all six requirements, thereby limiting your ability to “fill up” your six credits with electives.
All the required 12U courses for your program will be automatically included in the Top Six. If your program requires 12U English, for example, then your English grade will be used in your “Top Six” (university admissions average). After all the program’s required courses have been included, then the university will take your highest remaining elective grades until six grades have been included. So, when it comes to required courses, you have no choice but to use those marks. As for electives, they will give you the benefit of the doubt and use the highest grades available to fill out your Top Six. Of course, if you only take six credits, all six will be used. It is only in the event that you take more than six credits that you have the pick of your highest elective marks.
To maximize your Top Six 4U/M Grades:
- Put your greatest effort into earning high marks in your program’s pre-requisites. These marks will count. Note that 12U English is a requirement for just about every program at every school.
- Take more than six 4U/M courses so that you will have electives to choose from. You may wish to spread these courses out over your Gr. 11 and 12 year, and/or use summer school, or online school like Toronto eSchool.
It is the time to upgrade your top six of 4U/M courses with Toronto eSchool to get admission to your dream university.
