Info from SFU's Counsellors' Conference

I was at SFU's Counsellor's conference on the 22nd. Many of you have probably attended SFU's info session on Post-Secondary afternoon, so some of the info here would be repeated info that you have heard already.

• Application Fee: Application this year is set at $75 for all faculties. Board-based admission is extra.
• Self-reporting: Like many post-secondary institutions, you can self-report your grades when you apply. The self-reporting portal of SFU opens December 15 this year. 
• Grade 11 courses: while the COMPLETION of some grade 11 courses is a requirement for various programs at SFU, your grades from these courses would NOT be used to calculate for admission.
• Challenge Exams: SFU is still accepting the grades you have earned from challenge exams towards admission calculation. 
• Faculty vs. Degree Requirement: Some SFU faculties offer multiple degree programs that have different admission requirements. For example, the faculty of health science offers both a bachelor of science and a bachelor of arts degree. These two degrees have a different math entrance requirement. It will be very important for you to check carefully the faculty and the degree you want to apply to make sure you have met the application requirements (or to make sure you are taking courses to fulfill these requirements)
• International Students: SFU uses a different calculation formula to calculate the admission averages for international students. The admission averages posted on SFU's website may not reflect accurately the marks international students need to have to be granted admission.
• Admission requirement for English and Math: In order to be admitted to SFU, students must obtain at least 60% in English 12 and 60% in one of the following math courses (Pre-Calculus 11 or 12, Foundations of Math 11 or 12). Please note: meeting the admission averages does NOT guarantee admission.
• English Requirement: All SFU students need to take an English-writing course (called a W course) as part of their degree requirement. In order to be eligible to take the W course, you must either obtain a 75% BLENDED mark in English 12, a 75% mark in English Literature 12, or complete a Foundations of Academic Literacy (FAL) course or the LPI. 
• Math Requirement: All SFU students need to take a quantitative and analytical skills course (called a Q course) as part of their degree requirement. In order to take a Q course, you must have a 70% mark in one of the following: Pre-calculus 11, Foundations of Math 11, Pre-calculus 12, Foundations of Math 12. For students who do not have 70% in one of those courses, you must take a non-credit course or write a placement test.
• Entrance Scholarship: SFU has changed the format of its entrance scholarships: for students who have a 96% or above average, an automatic entrance scholarship (no application required) valued at $5000 will be given. For students who have 90% or above (this includes those who have 96% or above), you can apply for the major entrance scholarship, called the Deans Excellence Entrance Scholarship, valued at $12,000.

I have some additional information obtained from several faculties. The general advice I have received from many of SFU's advisors is to check the SFU website regularly for updated information. Go to www.sfu.ca for more details!