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[OnewingedDragon]

May I ask how one applies for college in Canada? In Australia we have an intensely complex system of rankings, marks and scaling of subjects that I won't even attempt to explain which eventually spit a number called a UAI which depending on how high it is, you submit to a university for a specific course and the top however many students can get in are accepted eg, for law at the University of New South Wales you need a UAI of about 99.5 to be accepted. I'm pretty sure that its diffirent over there though.

I'm mildly curious as to how it exactly works. And while I'm not certain about Canada, The US is fairly straightforward.

You fill out an application to the school you want to apply and they select students based on a series of criteria: Grades, attendance, extracurricular activities, racial equality, etc. There's a long rant related to that last one but I won't get into it.

[Gnaborretni]

Yeah, it's pretty much the same way in Canada. Considering the proximity of the two countries, it really makes sense. Americans sometimes study at Canadian universities and visa versa, so it's made to be quite similar.

One thing that Canada does not have however, is a standardized high school test (SAT), so academic recognition is a little bit subjective depending on the school that you come from. There are standardized tests for higher academic levels, such as the MCAT, which is the medical test, or the LSAT, which is the law test.

About the issue of racial equality, I have Anishinaabe heritage, so I can get some advantages from that. I'm not sure if it's as big of an issue in Canada as it is in the States, though.

[OnewingedDragon]

Bar exam and LSAT the same thing, just named differently?

I don't know for certain, but I got excluded from a couple of schools I was more than qualified for because I was white. It pissed me off and I kinda gave up on school for a while after that.

[interrobang]

Yeah, protecting minority rights is a tricky thing. Racism still exists (not to the extent it used to of course- but it still does) but it's easy to turn that into racism against whites/non-minorities. :/ It's a complicated issue.

[ScienceFair]

Also, DoR, if you can't afford college, there's always student loans and such. Also, don't exclude the idea of scholarships.

I used to work in the call center for student loans for the government in the USA... and all I gots to say about them is that if you're going to try to use them to pay for college you better attend locally.  Unless you wanna be responsible for a lot of interest, but if you're thinking of going but worried you can't afford it... I'd go and just get loans they're a good system. 

[Gnaborretni]

OwA: If the bar exam is what I think it is, then yes. I remember reading something about that in a Grisham novel, so LSAT = bar exam.

And as far as I know, MCAT is standard through both countries, as my brother can send off his MCAT scores to American universities.

[Halfling Daniel]

OwA: If the bar exam is what I think it is, then yes. I remember reading something about that in a Grisham novel, so LSAT = bar exam.

I always thought that a bar exam was an exam to see if graduates from law school could be lawyers? I've read at least six Grisham novels, and they always seemed to be something akin to that. Of course, I could be wrong, and I probably am.

[OnewingedDragon]

You're right. I went brain dead for a minute. The LSAT is to get into law school and the Bar Exam is to get out of school succesfully.

[WhiteRoxie]

Okay... Whitey explains.

At the end of Grade 10 you do something called the School Certificate. When you complete this you can officially leave school. However, you can carry on to do Grade 11 and 12 which are your 'Higher School Certificate' or HSC years. The HSC is the exam at the end of your Grade 12 plus marks you've been accumulating all year. From here, there is a little f*cking around with the marks and you are eventually left with a number between 1- 100 (this might be incorrect, I don't know where it starts... could be 20). It's some sort of ranking system, I'm not too sure- I haven't been paying attention when they explained it.  Anyway, this rank is called your 'UAI' and each course at a university (and I think tech. colleges too) has a certain UAI which you must get above to get into that course. Different universites have different levels of highness. For example, at Sydney University, you need to get a UAI of 99.55 to study Law. AND then, you also need to PAY to go to Uni as well.

Yeah... so that's how we get a tertiary education over here. :]

[OnewingedDragon]

Sounds like fun. If your masochistic. Enjoy your evil plans for world domination.

[RedAxie]

Um...good luck with your schooling, A-kun

...

I think you'll need it XDI think EVERYONE will need it :S
Even like.......I don't know who I can insert here...
My god. That sounds so brutal XO

[WhiteRoxie]

Yeah... I'm tempted to say 'it's not as bad as it sounds'... but damn, it sounds bad ToT. Luckily, Whitey isn't going to do Law. XD

[Gnaborretni]

All countries have academic programs that are virtually unattainable. Ivy League schools in the States spring to mind, and some of the faculties at Canadian universities require quite high grades and such.

It just means that they're highly exclusive. Keeps out the riff-raff.

[OnewingedDragon]

And that school over in England whose name escapes me at the moment.

[RedAxie]

Oxford?