The New Ways Schools are Assessing Students
Across Canada, the most competitive university programs, like engineering, commerce and health sciences, get overwhelmed with applicants. This is especially the case at top-ranked schools and those well-known for their strength in certain programs. About 8,000 students apply to health sciences at McMaster University, for example—a program that has spots for just 240 students a year.
In the past, some competitive programs asked students to submit personal essays as a way of learning more about prospective students. These essays still exist—the University of British Columbia, for example, requires all students to submit one as a part of the application process. But the recent explosion in generative AI tools, like ChatGPT, undermines their value. Essays written with the help of AI don’t showcase writing skills and might not reflect the student’s own thoughts and perspectives. Instead of trying to police the use of AI in admissions essays, some schools are using online platforms that assess students in real time to see if they can think on their feet and if they communicate well, and to gauge how authentic they are in their responses.
Video interview platforms
In addition to the long-form essay questions required of all UBC applicants, those hoping to enter the UBC Sauder School of Business are required to answer two questions in a video interview format, using a program called VidCruiter. According to Scott Entwistle, admissions and recruitment manager for Sauder, the video-recorded answers help the admissions department see the strengths, interests and values of students, beyond their grades.
Kira Talent is another online assessment platform that many schools use. More than 300 Canadian universities, including Queen’s, McMaster, Waterloo and the University of Toronto, currently use Kira in the admissions process for some of their programs.
Kira, like VidCruiter, provides a platform for university programs to ask applicants questions that assess non-academic qualities like leadership potential, empathy, critical thinking and motivation. During the application process, students are emailed an invitation with a link to register on the platform before the test. Unless their application requires a live interview (which is rare), students don’t need to take the test on a particular date. They just need to get it done before the deadline.
The questions are provided by the university and focus on each program’s specific requirements. Students should look at the supplementary application details provided by the programs they are applying to for an idea of what to expect. Generally, students can practice answering questions like “Tell us about yourself,” “Describe one of your favourite hobbies and why it is important to you,” and “Why do you want to attend our program?” In addition, there may be specific practice questions available on the platform for individual programs.
Students need a computer with a webcam, a microphone and high-speed internet to do the test. Once they’re logged on, they will be asked written or pre-recorded questions. Students will either record their answers or write them out. They generally get between one and three minutes to answer video-recorded questions and as much as ten to 15 minutes for written responses.
The assessment generally takes between 30 to 45 minutes to complete. In some cases, the university has an arrangement with Kira where the company’s reviewers provide the university with a score for each applicant. Other times, the university only receives the student’s responses.
Situational-judgment test
This year, students who want a coveted spot in Western University’s engineering program need to pass an additional hurdle—a situational judgement test, called Casper. The school hopes the test will help them identify students who are strong team players, collaborate effectively and think critically to solve problems.
The Casper test (short for Computer-based Assessment for Sampling Personal Characteristics) was originally developed for McMaster’s medical school in 2010. Until now, the test has largely been used for students entering education, medicine and nursing programs.
The Casper test is managed by a company called Acuity Insights. In order to take the test, students need to go to the Acuity Insights website to register, pick a test date and pay a fee. After students register, they gain access to practice tests. The actual test takes between 90 and 110 minutes to complete and requires a computer with an updated version of Chrome or Firefox, a webcam and a high-speed internet connection.
The test is divided into two parts. The first part includes two written passages and four videos describing situations where people have to make a choice about the right course of action. Then, for each scenario, students record one-minute video responses to two questions. In the second part, students read or watch eight more scenarios and provide written answers for three questions about each scenario.
Video samples on the Casper website include scenes about a store clerk bending the rules to provide a refund without a receipt, a student not doing their share of group work due to supposed illness and a thank-you gift that should have been sent to more than one person. Written questions could include asking students to reflect on a time they made a sacrifice to accomplish a goal.
There are different tests for different programs (i.e., nursing, education, engineering) and each test is only valid for that admissions cycle. The test is scored, and then applicants and schools are told which quartile the student falls into: the bottom 25 percent of applicants are in the first quartile; the top 25 per cent of applicants are in the fourth quartile. Schools don’t generally reveal the score needed for admission.
Western’s engineering program will be assessing how well the Casper test works to help them identify students’ non-academic skills, and say they will adjust and update their requirements over time.
Regardless of the platform, more and more students are being asked to participate in one-sided interviews, speaking to a screen rather than a person. It’s a big shift from carefully considered and crafted admissions essays. Recording a verbal answer in real time without the body language cues of an interviewer can be stressful. It’s helpful for students to remember that nobody will be delivering perfectly polished answers. Everyone is in this strange, new, AI-driven world together.
This story appears in the 2025 edition of the Ultimate Guide to Canadian Universities. You can buy the issue for $19.99 here or on newsstands.
