Yeah, you really shouldn't pay attention to minimum's... in the sense that you should aim maybe 5% higher than that. But it depends on the program, and I guess location as well, which play factors in how competitive it is.

It's more complex than that.

It's number of spaces, amount of funding, how closely your research ties into the department, grades, relevant experience, awards, publications, lectures, and extra curriculars sometimes too

Yeah, my hopes aren't particularly high in terms of grade school. I'm doing it because I'll regret not doing it, but I don't think I'll be getting in. I'll try my best though.
Thanks for your help guys!

Originally Posted by Kathy2

That was another thing I was wondering. Will they be looking at my term 2 marks for my final year? The applications are due in January and February, so when do they start accepting people? Will they wait until April when they can have term 2 marks?

I'm asking because I'm taking 4 courses in term one and 6 courses term two. With full year courses, it turns out that I only received two final marks this term.

When I applied last year (in a similar situation), they did not wait to make their decision...they made it based on my 'projected average,' ie. I had decent-ish grades first term, so they made their decision based on those.

The stipulation however, is that I only received a conditional acceptance and I received it at the beginning of March. This meant that I had to keep my average above something (I think in my case it was an A-) and when I received my finalized grades in May (and more importantly, my transcript would then say DEGREE CONFERRED), I had to re-submit my transcript for them to ensure that I met the requirements.

Bottom line: Do not wait to apply, and don't expect them to wait until all of your marks come in. If you do feel like your chances won't be good unless you include your final semester's grades then you'll have to wait another year to apply so they have them in advance.

Hope that helps...and good luck!