Important year: making decisions for life after BA

  • University? College? Work/Apprenticeship?

Need to keep several things in mind:

  • Programs of Interest – research on Ontario Colleges site ( or on Electronic Info ( for universities info
  • Required courses… do you have every course you need in your timetable?
  • Required marks – often averages listed on E-Info are minimums and admitting averages can often be higher than stated there. See the CUDO site for last year’s actual admitting averages
  • Many students concerned about whether their grades will get them into university apply to both colleges and universities in order to have options.

Think about where you want to go:

  • Location, size of program, size of classes, etc. Co-op? Exchanges? Study Abroad?
  • Get as much information as you can – go to open houses, visit campus (request that your tour be led by a student from your program if possible)
  • Much valuable info can be found on CUDO – the Common University Data of Ontario ( including class sizes, gender breakdown of enrolment by program, tuition and residence costs, student satisfaction surveys, employment rates of graduates, admitting averages, etc.
  • Find the right fit and try notto rely too much on other peoples’ opinions – your school does not have to be right for everyone, just for you
  • Employers are concerned more about who you are and what you’ve done than which school you attended… can you distinguish or develop yourself at your chosen school?

Scholarships:

  • Get application from BA website ( – under Guidance and Counselling. Complete and submitto Guidance by October 1stor as soon thereafter as possible. This makes you eligible for scholarships which require a school nomination (very few… “the biggies”). Most scholarships do not require such nomination… so it’s up to you to do the bulk of the work
  • and allow you to build a profile; they will then e-mail you scholarships and contests for which you qualify and may be interested. Don’t rule out contests – they can require a little effort (write an essay, etc) but are accessible to many more students than scholarships are
  • a government site which aggregates info that can be helpful in planning funding for post-secondary studies. It includes info on loans, grants, bursaries, apprenticeship grants, grants for low-income students, middle-income students, students with disabilities, etc.
  • Also research “Searchable Scholarships” on to see what individual universities offer.
  • Scholarships can be based on grades, extracurriculars, financial need or some combination thereof
  • Community involvement, extracurriculars and leadershipvery important… often more so than grades

Marks/Applications/Offers:

  • When you apply(after we issue you PIN in early November) marks for every grade 11 or 12 credit you have completed are automatically uploaded to OUAC (so, yes, they see your grade 11 marks). Schools also see semester 1 finals and semester 2 midterms.
  • If you are not doing well in a first semester course December 1 is the last day to drop it or it will show on your permanent transcript and on OUAC. Keep in mind when thinking of dropping a course that all students must be enrolled in a minimum of 3 courses per semester (so you can only drop a course if you presently have 4 courses).
  • If you are doing a course outside of TCDSB night school or Saturday school make sure it appears in OUAC. If it does not see your Guidance Counsellor to upload it.
  • Do not worry if your friends receive offers of admission before you (or with lower grades); universities do not process applications in any particular order (highest to lowest, etc). They will get to yours.
  • If you want to REPEAT a course refer to review your school’s policy on how they factor this into their admission decisions

Facebook:

  • “Like” the Bishop Allen Student Services page on Facebook to receive vital informational updates – jobs, volunteer opportunities, scholarships, deadlines, contests, college and university open houses, etc.
  • Ontario Universities Fair at Metro Convention Centre September 23-25th. Ontario Colleges Fair Monday, October 17 (evening) and Tuesday, October 18 (all day). We have a fair here on October 4th (evening)

Twitter:

  • @BAAGuidance

This is your chance to make your own choices. We all have a sense of wanting to please our parents and do what others expect of us but you’ll be the one to go to classes and do the work and one day take your head off the pillow every morning to go to work. It’ll have to be something you love. You’ll be putting on your graduation gown before you know it so make sure to ENJOY this year to its fullest. Good luck!

What is a Major?

  • A full-time student at university will be enrolled in 5 courses for 4 years for a total of the 20 credits required for a degree.
  • In order to declare a subject area as your area of major concentration (your “major”) you will need to complete 6-8 credits in it (depends on the degree), at least 2 of which must be 3rd year or higher
  • In order to declare a subject area as your area of minor concentration (your “minor”) you will need to complete 4 credits in it, at least one of which must be 3rd year or higher
  • In order to be considered a “specialist” in a subject areayou will need to complete 12-15 credits in it (depends on the degree), at least 4 of which
  • Some Life Science, Engineering, Commerce, etc degrees are only available as specialist programs (13-15 credits) so students applying to those can be prepared for quite a full immersion in those subject areas.
  • It is possible to “double major” in two subject areas by completing 6 or 7 credits in each
  • It is also possible to declare a major and a minor
  • Many schools will allow you to apply to an “Undeclared Major” program, “General Arts and Science,” etc. All schools will allow you to change your major if your interests/strengths change.