Preparation for university
Preparation
- 47% felt that high school did not adequately prepare them for university, in:
- reading/writing skills (including writing knowledge)
- math/science skills
- academic expectations (including study skills)
- workload
- The majority of students were aged 17 (n=223) and 18 (n=285) when they completed their secondary school requirements;
- 12 students were aged 16 and one was 15,
- 27 students were aged 19, and 25 students were aged between 20 and 36 years.
- Most respondents self-reported grades of 70% or higher in their final year of high school, but some were in the 60% range and a handful were below 60%. There was no significant difference based on the university that students were currently attending. There were few differences in grade averages based on gender other than there were slightly more women at the 90% or higher grade average compared to men, and there were slightly more men at the lower end of the grade averages.
- 74% students from all backgrounds attended a publicly-funded secular school and 12% attended a publicly-funded Catholic school
- When this is separated out by self-identified ethnic background, publicly-funded secular schools were attended by:
- 81% of Indigenous students
- 75.5% of Canadian-born non-visible minority and
- 76% of Canadian-born visible minority students
- 61% of immigrant students, who were more likely to have attended a publicly-funded Catholic high school (19%) or a private school (secular – 9%; religious – 8%).
- When this is separated out by self-identified ethnic background, publicly-funded secular schools were attended by:
- 77% of women and 70% of men attended publicly-funded secular schools
- Men were slightly more likely to attend either a publicly-funded Catholic school (14%) or a private religious high school (10.5%) compared to women (respectively, 11.5% and 5.4%).
- The numbers for transgendered or other identified students were too few to be significant.
- 51% always wanted to go to university
- 29% went because their families expected them to
- 57% went to university directly after high school
- 27% attended another university or college first
- 14% took a break of 4 months or longer after high school
- 17% transferred credit from previous studies