Canadian High Schools recruitment and classes?

Question

Hello. I'm moving to Canada (Oshawa, Ontario) this June.

1) Are there classrooms with a constant set students (thus creating groups of 20-30 people), or students build their own set of courses, resulting in seeing other people every hour?

2) Is it difficult to get recruited into the last class in Oshawian High School, provided I'll be 18-19 years in school year 2008/2009, and I'm finishing my high school education in Poland this month?

3) I'm finishing my high school now, but it's too late to apply to the university? I heard the deadlines are around february and the requirements are VERY akward for someone with another education system. But maybe it's a matter of giving a CV and having a talk with university staff?

Thank you for your attention

Answer 1

1. No classes rotate, so there are different people every hour. In senior years, people take rather different courses from each other. There will be lots of overlap though, especially if you take all the sciences and math.

2. No such thing as recruitment. In Canada, if you are of school going age, a school must accept you if you live in the area. They cannot reject you if you have not finished a high school diploma. You will have to deal with the course selection based on what you know/don't know.

3. It is rather awkward, and you will most likely have to talk to university staff. A CV would help as well, but would not be essential as you would fill out your extracurriculars and stuff on the application forms. No worries though, as long as your marks meet the standards for being accepted it should be fine. One of my classmates in university is polish, he had no problems with the differences in material covered.

PS. Oshawa is a nice small city with a university there (University of Ontario Institute of Technology). you can go and talk to them and they will help you out with applications to other universities as well.