Back to school

It will be 30 years next May that I graduated from high school with a Grade 13 diploma. 30 years ago this month I was busy contemplating my future wondering what university programmes I wanted to apply for as the application submission deadline rapidly approached.

Now 30 years later, my son Ryan, who is in Grade 12 (grade 13 having been abolished) is going through the same process. So I am now re-visiting this rite of passage a second time-- this time as a parent, rather than a student!

In some ways the process has changed but in many ways it is still the same.

The similarities:

Admission is still mainly granted based on your grade 11 and grade 12 mid-term or first semester grades.

There is still a central government agency that gathers up all the apps and co-ordinates the process.

The differences:

Due to grade inflation, the grade average you need to be admitted to the most popular programmes

A whole lot of the process is now done on-line thru the Internet. Back when I applied, the world wide web didn't exist, so it was wholly a paper based application process and you had to review printed course calendars and fill in paper forms.

The application fee the government agency charges to apply is way up (by, it would appear, more than the rate of inflation over the 30 year period). With the basic application fee, a student gets to pick three programmes to be considered for admission into. After that, additional per programme increments apply

There are some new universities in Ontario that didn't exist back when I applied (Ryerson was still a polytechnical institute (basically a glorified community college) back in 1979 whereas now it is a full fledged university with degree granting authority

I also don't remember attending a university fair or going to so many open houses or campus visits back when I was 17.

So far we have gone to a large university fair at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (why is it still called that when the metro level of government disappeared years ago?) back in September and to two open house / campus visits. Two weekends ago we went to UW in Kitchener. Last weekend we went to Queens in Kingston. Both schools have excellent reputations and have different relative strengths. The UW campus is nice but Queens is clearly nicer. the faculty we met at Queens seemed great but the student body at UW came out in force to show better spirit. I think UW holds an edge over Queens so far, mainly on account of their reputation in co-op placements. U of T is also still in the running but we missed their Open House (three weeks ago) because we were at Ryan's Queens Venturer's Award presentation at Queens Park that day.

I will post further updates on the process as it continues!