Admission and ranking of candidates

The Service régional d'admission au collégial de Québec has been mandated by its member colleges to conduct a certain number of activities on their behalf. These activities notably include organising academic information activities, managing summer course registration, publishing admission guides and processing admission applications. Thus, SRACQ receives admission applications from all candidates who wish to attend any of its member colleges.

Upon reception of their applications, SRACQ performs the operations that then enable college admission teams to select students for each of the programs open for admission during a given round. These operations serve to produce ranking lists.

The ranking lists are used to prioritise eligible candidates for all programs but also to identify refusal conditions for those whose applications are refused. Finally, the ranking lists are used to select, based on specific criteria we will discuss a little later, the best candidates for quota-restricted programs or when the number of candidates exceeds the number of places available.

To produce a ranking list, we have to enter the following data to build your file:

• Your admission application form;
• MELS data concerning your right to free tuition and information on your civil status;
• Your secondary school transcript for courses taken in the youth or adult sector;
• Earlier MELS transcripts, youth or adult sector; and
• Your college grades.

Ranking of candidates arriving from secondary schools: Four steps

First step: Calculate the weighted general average

The weighted general average is a calculation performed for all Year 4 and Year 5 secondary school courses in the youth and adult sectors. The average is weighted by taking into account the number of credits associated with each course.

This step produces a result known as the weighted general average. This score has a relative weight of 40% when calculating a given student’s secondary score.

Second step: Enhance grades obtained for all courses based on the variation from the mean

The grade received for each course is enhanced. For example, if a student’s French grade is above the group’s average and within the first fifth percentile or its percentile score equivalent, the student then receives more bonus points than students whose grades fall within the second fifth percentile and so on. This bonus point system is used for all Year 4 and Year 5 courses in the youth and adult sectors.

Third step: Establish weighting based on the rule specific to each program

We now calculate the preliminary score by taking into account the three or four courses that are most predictive of success for a given program.

For example, if a candidate has applied for the natural science program, we will calculate his/her preliminary score by taking into account the following courses: Year 5 Physics, Chemistry, NS or ST Mathematics and the Year 4 and Year 5 Language of instruction. In the case of candidates who apply for the civil engineering program, the courses taken into consideration are Year 5 Science and environment (or Science and environment technology), NS or ST Mathematics and the Year 4 and Year 5 Language of instruction.

The language of instruction (English for an Anglophone student) is always taken into consideration in addition to program pre-requisites.

This step produces a result that’s known as a preliminary score. This score has a relative weight of 60% when calculating a given student’s secondary score.

Fourth step: Enhance the score based on the number of credits obtained or about to be obtained

The fourth step is the easiest to see. We add bonus points based on the number of credits the student has obtained as set out in the following table.

Candidates who obtain 72 credits receive an additional 6% while candidates who obtain 85 receive an additional 13 %. These bonus points are added to the preliminary score. No distinction is made between credits already obtained and those that are about to be obtained.

The final step produces the secondary score which will be used to rank candidates arriving from secondary schools on the ranking list prepared for each program offered at a given college.

Ranking of students arriving from college

The college score is calculated by looking at the candidate’s last 25 courses (roughly the last five terms).

First step: Enhance the grades obtained for all courses based on the variation from the mean

Like for the grades obtained at secondary school, we enhance the grades obtained for all college courses based on the variation from the mean. A grade of 80% combined with a group averaged of 75% will be given an additional 5 points while a grade of 72% combined with a group average of 75% will be penalised by deducting 3 points.

Second step: Establish weighting by taking into consideration credits obtained and the language of instruction

This step consists of multiplying the enhanced grade (step 1) for each course by the number of credits allocated for the course. For instance, 2.33 will be used for a Philosophy course while 1 will be used to calculate the score for a Physical education course.

To avoid placing the candidate at a disadvantage, no more than 5 credits will be considered. Also, since the language of instruction course (English in the case of an Anglophone student) is predictive of success, we double the weighting for this subject. This means that the weighting for a 2.33-credit English course would be 4.66.

Third step: Calculate the combined score

To take secondary school and college grades into account in a flexible manner, we calculate a combined score that is a combination of the secondary school and college scores. It varies according to the number of college courses successfully completed at a rate of 2% per course to a maximum of 25 courses (50%).

A candidate who has completed 6 college courses will have a weighting of 12% for his/her college score and 88% for his secondary school score. As for candidates who have completed at least 25 courses, their college scores will count for 50% of their combined scores.

Sample SRACQ score calculation

First step: Calculate the weighted general average

SRACQ multiplies each of the Year 4 and Year 5 secondary school grades by the number of credits associated with the course in question.

Sample calculation for a student with 6 subjects

The weighted general average counts for 40% when calculating the secondary score at the end of the fourth step.

Second step: Enhance the grades for all courses based on the variation from the mean

Each grade is multiplied by a factor based on the variation from the mean (fifth percentile, percentile score or group average). Here are the five levels, by fifth percentile, used to calculate the enhancement.

Sample enhancement for a student taking 6 courses

Third step: Calculate the preliminary score

The preliminary score takes into account certain targeted subjects that vary according to college program. Ministerial pre-requisites and the language of instruction are always taken into account.

Thus, for the Dietetic Technology Program for instance, the language of instruction counts for 60% and the Environmental Science (or Environmental Science Technology) course counts for 40%.

This preliminary score will count for about 60% when calculating the final score at the end of the fourth step.

Fourth step: Enhance grades by taking into consideration the number of credits obtained or about to be obtained

In this way the final score is the sum of the weighted general average multiplied by 40% and the enhanced preliminary score multiplied by 60%.

The preceding calculations are provided for information purposes only. The calculations performed by our systems are more complex and cannot, in reality, be so simple. We recommend you use the admission predictability tool which is used to perform this calculation.

Selection

Candidates who submit admission applications for programs with no quota restrictions will be admitted if they meet the conditions for obtaining their secondary school diplomas and if they meet the pre-requisites for their chosen programs.

In contrast, in the case of quota-restricted programs for which the number of applications exceeds the number of places available, the persons in charge of admission will have to select candidates. This selection process always takes into account the excellence of a candidate’s academic record and can also include other particular conditions (tests, interviews, auditions…).

Conclusion

We would like to caution people that performing the aforementioned calculation is not desirable. The complexity of the operations we’ve just summed up is obvious. In addition, ranking lists are a tool used by SRACQ member colleges. Consequently, annual modifications may result in slight variations from year to year.

But you must remember 

• Candidates whose grades are above the group average, percentile score or fifth percentile, particularly in 4- or 6-credit subjects, have an advantage.
• Candidates whose grades are above the group average, percentile score or fifth percentile in pre-requisite subjects and in English also have an advantage.
• Candidates with many credits have an advantage.

What this means is that candidates who perform well in secondary school have an advantage when it comes to the ranking lists. The better their grades, the greater their chances of being selected for programs with highly restricted quotas.