The Faculty of Science admissions process remains an exacting numbers game. Prospective students targeting biological, biomedical, and life sciences face some of the highest entering grade floors in North America. Applicants presenting Ontario Grade 12 or equivalent Canadian provincial curricula routinely require a minimum prerequisite average of 95% across advanced calculus, chemistry, and physics.
Over at the Desautels Faculty of Management, the focus centers on pure quantitative consistency. Unlike competitive business programs at Western University (Ivey) or Queen’s University (Smith) that heavily weight leadership portfolios, Desautels relies strictly on numerical metrics. An applicant’s top-six academic grade 12 courses, combined with strict mathematics prerequisites, determine their fate. A single low mark in senior-year calculus drops an applicant below the threshold instantly.
Arts programs have seen a different dynamic. Faculty of Arts enrollment numbers expanded slightly to absorb qualified bilingual candidates, offering a marginally lower barrier to entry. Even so, the humanities floor for students applying from outside Quebec stabilized around 88.5% to 90%, debunking assumptions that liberal arts tracks provide an easy back door to McGill.
