Does Conestoga College accept English Proficiency Letter instead of IELTS and TOEFL? Fall 2019

[muhammad.rumais]

Hi there,
Does anyone know if Conestoga College accepts English Proficiency Letter to fulfill the English Proficiency requirement?

My friend has a low IELTS score of 5.5 but got accepted into Brandon University on the basis of English Proficiency Letter. And as far as I know, other universities like McMaster etc also accept English Proficiency Letters in the place of IELTS/TOEFL. I have emailed the college but havent got a reply yet so thought might as well ask here.

 

[selvakk]

Hi there,
Does anyone know if Conestoga College accepts English Proficiency Letter to fulfill the English Proficiency requirement?

My friend has a low IELTS score of 5.5 but got accepted into Brandon University on the basis of English Proficiency Letter. And as far as I know, other universities like McMaster etc also accept English Proficiency Letters in the place of IELTS/TOEFL. I have emailed the college but havent got a reply yet so thought might as well ask here.

What is this English proficiency letter you speak of. Neither Conestoga nor McMasters has such a letter as a condition for exempting IELTS / TOEFL scores.

 

[muhammad.rumais]

What is this English proficiency letter you speak of. Neither Conestoga nor McMasters has such a letter as a condition for exempting IELTS / TOEFL scores.

An English Proficiency Letter is a letter issued by the previous educational institution of the candidate stating that all of his academics were in English. Most university/college websites do not have this stated directly on their website but it is widely accepted instead of IELTS/TOEFL by many institutions (not all). I only mentioned McMaster and Brandon in the above post because I personally know guys who got accepted on English Proficiency Letter basis. Both of them had low IELTS scores so they sent the English Proficiency Letters issued by their respective high-schools instead.

 

[selvakk]

An English Proficiency Letter is a letter issued by the previous educational institution of the candidate stating that all of his academics were in English. Most university/college websites do not have this stated directly on their website but it is widely accepted instead of IELTS/TOEFL by many institutions (not all). I only mentioned McMaster and Brandon in the above post because I personally know guys who got accepted on English Proficiency Letter basis. Both of them had low IELTS scores so they sent the English Proficiency Letters issued by their respective high-schools instead.

If it's not officially accepted then there is no Garuntee that it will be accepted. I have never heard of such a letter being accepted, the only exception is if you have studied in a country where English is the primary or major language.

The only metions on this forum is at the latest from 2012. I beleive this was a loophole for people to slip through with a sub par knowledge of English. This probably is closed, even if a college accepts this letter you will not be able to use this for the visa process.

If such a letter is "widely" accepted then why is it not a official method ? Who would write IELTS if such a method is available.

The college stands to make 3000 odd CAD a student through their ESL courses. I highly doubt they would be accepting such letters anymore.

 

[muhammad.rumais]

If it's not officially accepted then there is no Guarantee that it will be accepted. I have never heard of such a letter being accepted, the only exception is if you have studied in a country where English is the primary or major language.

The only metions on this forum is at the latest from 2012. I beleive this was a loophole for people to slip through with a sub par knowledge of English. This probably is closed, even if a college accepts this letter you will not be able to use this for the visa process.

If such a letter is "widely" accepted then why is it not a official method ? Who would write IELTS if such a method is available.

The college stands to make 3000 odd CAD a student through their ESL courses. I highly doubt they would be accepting such letters anymore.

Ofcourse universities/colleges wont just accept english proficiency letters issued by any instituions/schools. Schools have to be teaching an english curiculum (CIE, Edexcel, American, IB etc...) and have accreditation from various recognized international bodies. Most well known accreditation is by North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. My school taught the CIE curiculum and was accrediated by the NCA. I studied in Saudi Arabia by the way. So the same applies to my friend.

Regarding the visa, it solely depends on which country you are applying from. I myself applied for the visa from Saudi Arabia and didnt submit anything extra like SOP. While for other countries, no SOP likely results in a rejection. I am in Canada right now. There are a lot of students who get the visa on the basis of English Proficiency Letter (depending on the country, ofcourse).

Anyway, for people referring to this post in the future. Brandon University accepts English Proficiency Letter (they have an English for Academic Purposes course too) as of now. My friend just recieved his acceptance last week. But make sure your letter is well supported by the things I mentioned above. Regarding Conestoga, I will update this thread as soon as I hear from them.

 

[rogelcorral]

Ofcourse universities/colleges wont just accept english proficiency letters issued by any instituions/schools. Schools have to be teaching an english curiculum (CIE, Edexcel, American, IB etc...) and have accreditation from various recognized international bodies. Most well known accreditation is by North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. My school taught the CIE curiculum and was accrediated by the NCA. I studied in Saudi Arabia by the way. So the same applies to my friend.

Regarding the visa, it solely depends on which country you are applying from. I myself applied for the visa from Saudi Arabia and didnt submit anything extra like SOP. While for other countries, no SOP likely results in a rejection. I am in Canada right now. There are a lot of students who get the visa on the basis of English Proficiency Letter (depending on the country, ofcourse).

Anyway, for people referring to this post in the future. Brandon University accepts English Proficiency Letter (they have an English for Academic Purposes course too) as of now. My friend just recieved his acceptance last week. But make sure your letter is well supported by the things I mentioned above. Regarding Conestoga, I will update this thread as soon as I hear from them.

Just curious... If a student studied at such “accredited” institutions where the mode of instruction is in english, wouldn’t that student be able to write IELTS easily? Considering that a typical IELTS course review is about 3 months long, studying in an institution teaching in english for more than three months would surely give the students enough proficiency to pass IELTS (or any other internationally recognised English proficiency exams).

Just a thought...

 

[selvakk]

Just curious... If a student studied at such “accredited” institutions where the mode of instruction is in english, wouldn’t that student be able to write IELTS easily? Considering that a typical IELTS course review is about 3 months long, studying in an institution teaching in english for more than three months would surely give the students enough proficiency to pass IELTS (or any other internationally recognised English proficiency exams).

Just a thought...

Just because someone is from a country where both the colleges and CIC accept such letters doesn't mean the individual has any great ability to speak English or atleast score on a test that measures the ability of their proficiency.

This isn't some fairy dust, it's just an exemption CIC grants to certain countries.

I transcribe for a living and I mainly do people from the UK, US , and sometimes they include Australia and Canada. I have personally heard some very poor English being spoken at times.

It's just the bad luck that we don't come from such countries.

 

[muhammad.rumais]

Just because someone is from a country where both the colleges and CIC accept such letters doesn't mean the individual has any great ability to speak English or atleast score on a test that measures the ability of their proficiency.

This isn't some fairy dust, it's just an exemption CIC grants to certain countries.

I transcribe for a living and I mainly do people from the UK, US , and sometimes they include Australia and Canada. I have personally heard some very poor English being spoken at times.

It's just the bad luck that we don't come from such countries.

I will agree to this. Its this small edge that we benefit from.

 

[rogelcorral]

Just because someone is from a country where both the colleges and CIC accept such letters doesn't mean the individual has any great ability to speak English or atleast score on a test that measures the ability of their proficiency.

This isn't some fairy dust, it's just an exemption CIC grants to certain countries.

I transcribe for a living and I mainly do people from the UK, US , and sometimes they include Australia and Canada. I have personally heard some very poor English being spoken at times.

It's just the bad luck that we don't come from such countries.

What I’m saying is, if a student comes from an institution where the mode of instruction is English, that student should have at least a degree of proficiency in that language, even if that language is not the first language for the student. After all, if that student did not have a certain degree of proficiency in the englsh language, how would that student pass the courses which are being taught in the english language? It doesn’t make sense that a student studying from such an institution would still have a low degree of proficiency in the english language and yet pass that course.

 

[rogelcorral]

And just to add, “enough proficiency” is different from “great ability”...

 

[muhammad.rumais]

Just curious... If a student studied at such “accredited” institutions where the mode of instruction is in english, wouldn’t that student be able to write IELTS easily? Considering that a typical IELTS course review is about 3 months long, studying in an institution teaching in english for more than three months would surely give the students enough proficiency to pass IELTS (or any other internationally recognised English proficiency exams).

Just a thought...

If the person isnt willing to put in the effort during those 3 months, just attending the course will not get him anywhere, right? So let me sum up my high school years for you. You need to understand that while the coursework was in english and the teachers taught in english, the use of the english language itself wasnt enforced as a law in the school. Same is the case for many other international schools across Saudi Arabia.

As I stated above, I studied in Saudi Arabia. It was an international school. We were a batch of 25 in total and when you would enter the class, it would become apparent that 10 were Arabs, 10 were Pakistanis/Indians and there was this small group of 5 that had both. They always used to sit like that in groups. This is not something unusual. I go to my university dining hall and I see a similar picture. Internationals with internationals, and locals with locals. This is the very first downfall in my opinion. Because when sitting with your own community, one tends to speak the native language.

So suppose you are sitting like that and want a pencil, or want to understand a problem. You will turn to the guy next to you and speak in your native language. Because it just tends to make things so much easier. Then come informal discussions or lunch breaks, they use their native language. And out of the school is 101% native language.

Now coming to academics, apart from the period of english, other subjects just tend to build up the ability to read in english. Writing doesnt improve because you can literally write half sentences or miss a period at the end, but if your solving is correct, you get full marks. Because the main focus of other subjects is to focus on the formulas/concepts. Coming to the english period, most students just aimed for a B or a C+ because in numbers, its a solid 70 or 75 so its OK. Basic idea and run-on sentences did get them that atleastat at my school and at the Olevel (Grade 10) examinations. After grade 10, CIE is a lot more flexible. You have the option of not studying english at all. We still had an english period in Grade 11 and 12 but we just repeated what we did in Grade 9 and 10.

 

[rogelcorral]

If the person isnt willing to put in the effort during those 3 months, just attending the course will not get him anywhere, right? So let me sum up my high school years for you. You need to understand that while the coursework was in english and the teachers taught in english, the use of the english language itself wasnt enforced as a law in the school. Same is the case for many other international schools across Saudi Arabia.

As I stated above, I studied in Saudi Arabia. It was an international school. We were a batch of 25 in total and when you would enter the class, it would become apparent that 10 were Arabs, 10 were Pakistanis/Indians and there was this small group of 5 that had both. They always used to sit like that in groups. This is not something unusual. I go to my university dining hall and I see a similar picture. Internationals with internationals, and locals with locals. This is the very first downfall in my opinion. Because when sitting with your own community, one tends to speak the native language.

So suppose you are sitting like that and want a pencil, or want to understand a problem. You will turn to the guy next to you and speak in your native language. Because it just tends to make things so much easier. Then come informal discussions or lunch breaks, they use their native language. And out of the school is 101% native language.

Now coming to academics, apart from the period of english, other suybjects just tend to build up the ability to read in english. Writing doesnt improve because you can literally write half sentences or miss a period at the end, but if your solving is correct, you get full marks. Because the main focus of other subjecvts is to focus on the formulas/concepts. Coming to the english period, most students just aimed for a B or a C+ because in numbers, its a solid 70 or 75 so its OK. Basic idea and run-on sentences did get them that atleastat at my school and at the Olevel (Grade 10) examinations. After grade 10, CIE is a lot more flexible. You have the option of not studying english at all. We still had an english period in Grade 11 and 12 but we just repeated what we did in Grade 9 and 10.

If that is the case, then maybe that’s the reason why quite a number of students here are struggling even with the simplest instructions that the professors have to repeat themselves several times...

 

[muhammad.rumais]

If that is the case, then maybe that’s the reason why quite a number of students here are struggling even with the simplest instructions that the professors have to repeat themselves several times...

It is most likely the reason. Hope that clears things up.

Cheers!

 

[rogelcorral]

It is most likely the reason. Hope that clears things up.

Cheers!

Yes, mate, that surely clear things up. Because I’ve been wondering why some applicants were refused in their visa applications because of low IELTS score.

Thanks

 

[selvakk]

Yes, mate, that surely clear things up. Because I’ve been wondering why some applicants were refused in their visa applications because of low IELTS score.

Thanks

IELTS is a standardized test, it's not really a foolproof way of testing English but it is an excellent way of sorting applications. I am assuming CIC has a metric or some standard procedures for measuring applications and if you have a low IELTS that puts you in a negative for your English proficiency.

It's for this reason that Immigration authorities prefer standardized tests. However, if they were to ask people who has studied IGCSE for example to write the IELTS test, then it would put off people from those countries to study in Canada and the Canadian economy loses that sweet, sweet, International tuition fees.

Also, doing good in IELTS means nothing if you are not used to speaking in English. It's only because I had lived in the UAE where the de facto language is English because of the high Immigrant population and no common language. Even I learn Arabic, or rather was forced to my entire schooling there but outside of class there was no need of doing so. Although I can read the script, I have no vocabulary to speak of. "

The same thing goes with English. People associate with other people who speak their native tongue, therefore they never develop the habit of speaking in English. Even though my Bachelor's degree was instructed in English, I had classmates who could not speak it fluently, here also they ended up dividing themselves in groups based on the language.

You have people who in theory know English but they have never really spoken English and now they have to understand English spoken at an academic level. This is why you are experiencing people struggling to understand lessons.