Not only has the number of students applying to Ryerson gone up, their grades have as well. News Editor Rebecca Burton reports
Ryerson ranks first in the province with a nine to one ratio for the number of applications to the number of available spots for the fifth year in a row.
But the 70 per cent required average won’t cut it anymore as competition heats up to get the limited spots Ryerson can offer.
For the 7,000 available spots, the university received 63,642 applications this fall.
Among those applications the mean average of the 2011 class admitted for this academic year was 82 per cent.
Most of these averages were actually higher during the interim stages of checking marks, says Charmaine Hack, executive director of undergraduate admissions and recruitment.
Unique to Ryerson is the consideration they give to non-academic requirements in addition to marks.
The university still lists a 70 per cent average as the minimum requirement to be considered for a spot.
“Competition drives the actual average required for admission,” says Hack.
Mark Tonon, a second-year business management student, applied to Ryerson, his first choice, after high school with a 90 per cent average.
“I knew people that had gone to this program before and I thought it was better than anything else being offered out there,” he said.
He chose Ryerson over other programs such as York’s Schulich School of Business and Western’s Ivey School of Business.
Tonon said most students he’s met graduated from high school in the 80s range.
A friend of his graduated with a 79 per cent and didn’t get in to the business management program.
Business management receives the most applications with 10,000 applications this year alone.
It also accepts the most applicants at 1,200 available spots.
Since 2006, 80 per cent averages or higher when applying have increased by 45.3 per cent, at approximately 5,235 students.
Applicant with an average of 90 per cent when applying has increased by 104 per cent, at approximately 1,371 students.
During this time the amount of students applying with a 70-74.9 per cent average has significantly declined, said Hack.
Some smaller programs have even higher ratios than the overall 9:1 statistic.
In psychology there is a 25:1 ratio, criminal justice a 17:1 and nursing with 14:1, to name a few.
The Ontario government promised to increase enrolment by 60,000 new spots in post-secondary education by 2015-16 to reflect the expectation that enrolment will increase over the next several years, said Paul Stenton, vice-provost of university planning.
“Ryerson does plan to grow to help meet this increase in demand,” said Stenton. “The university has committed to increase enrolment by 1,600 full-time students by 2015-16.”
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