generally, i agree with the "considering more than the UAI" thing. but it should be taken course by course. I think this because all throughout my schooling life i have been one of the top students, even this year i have been a top student, with very high ranks and good marks. but, i've increasingly come to hate school and hate the subjects that i've learnt in school, and now 5 days out from the first exam, after not having studied very much at all, i'm not going to do very well at all. (compared to what i would have got). yet, you put me into any course offered, and i would do well. hence, we have to consider more than the uai. we have to consider the circumstances underwhich the uai was reached. and if this person seems to have academic or merit otherwise, test them some other way, or determine their ability to suceed using a combination of things.