How selective is UBC?

<p>American UBC Alumni here. I didn’t go to UBC right out of high school, but instead applied after a couple years of taking random classes at a community college here in Colorado. I was a decent student in HS, something like a 3.3 gpa, but I was not great. In college, however, I did much better. I had two consecutive semesters of 4.0s and a year of classes averaging something like a 3.7 when I applied to UBC. Most of what I had became transfer credits, but I still entered UBC arts as a 1st year, more or less. Even with strong post high school grades, I don’t think I was easily accepted. I didn’t get accepted until about a month before the semester started.</p>

<p>As an American, I thought that UBC’s grading would be easy: it is NOT. I worked as hard for a 3.3 at UBC as I did for a 4.0 in law school. </p>

<p>One thing I will add though, is that it seems like there is a bit more slack for international students: a lot of the Americans at UBC seemed to be more interested in partying and snowboarding than in studying. I think UBC is happy to take some lower quality international students because we pay like 4x the tuition (which is still super affordable by USA standards).</p>

<p>Ultimately, I’m not sure how I got in. My wife went to UBC for engineering and had a 4.0 in all AP classes in high school. </p>

<p>VIU is a joke. Really.</p>

<p>I am an American Student with a 3.4 GPA (weighted) I got at 1940 on the SAT, and I want to get into the nursing program or other science. Does anyone know how likely I am to get in? </p>

An ‘A’ in Canda depends on the school, at my school, in Canada, an A is 90%.

I just had an info session with them today and they said their average ACT is a 27, but their GPA is recalculated and only takes into account the average grades in the fields related to what you want to study. Unlike other schools in Canada, they view the app as a whole (not just test scores).

I am an American student who currently has a 3.5 weighted GPA. I am a year ahead in math and have only ever taken advanced (honors) math courses. I am also taking AP Physics and AP US History; The point is, I try to take grit. I also scored a 1250 out of 1620 on my PSAT and am taking a training course for the SAT and ACT. I expect to score around 1350

I also have loads of ECs (e.g. marathon completion - and multiple other races - Scuba Diving license, Track and Field, Muay Thai, Beach cleanups/ volunteer work, Winning writing contests at the library)

My one dejection is how I ended Semester 1 of Junior year with a C- in my math class ( or a C+ weighted) Would UBC admit me?

I taught EE at UBC (http://www.ece.ubc.ca/~gillies) from 1993-1995. Canada is about 10x smaller than the USA. So the #1 Canadian School (U-Toronto, undoubtedly) belongs among the top-10 american schools. UBC, the #2 Canadian school (sorry, McGill) usually belongs among the next 10 american schools ranked #11-20. There are not very many private schools in Canada - just public college and universities, which is why UBC (even though public) can be compared to all of the usa’s schools (not just public ones). Look at the entrance requirements for the #15 USA school (this year according to USNews it’s a 4-way tie Cornell / Rice / Vanderbilt / Notre Dame, ACTs are 30-34, 31-34, 32-34, 32-34). You can look up ACT and SAT ranges by typing in questions to Google.

Canadian schools don’t pay their staff very well and as a result the faculty is populated mostly by theoreticians. Universities aren’t as hooked-in to the high-tech industries because there just isn’t very much high-tech industry in Canada. Boeing was started in British Columbia but quickly moved south to the USA because that’s where the money is. Vancouver has PMC-Sierra (makes optical networking chips) and the Utilities - BCTel, BCHydro, etc. Canadian university research concerns the resource industries - I remember seeing applied problems from the forestry industry (telerobotics for tree cutting, laser scanning & bin packing/cutting for sawmill applications, for example.)

Schools often have different standards for international students and you should check the admissions office at UBC and/or Canadian publications for more information about that. Take a look at the MacLeans college guide (MacLeans is the equivalent of Time magazine in the USA) : http://www.macleans.ca/education-hub/

@systemBuilder No way that UBC is in any way as selective as “Cornell / Rice / Vanderbilt / Notre Dame,”

@TomSrOfBoston: It is not really that simple. US schools might be more selective on the SAT/ACT. Some UBC/McGill/UofT/Waterloo faculties might actually have a higher GPA requirement cutoff. Canadian school admissions are much less holistic. It is also important to note that most CDN schools look predominantly at the unweighted GPA but some US schools are much more interested in rigo(u)r. The scales are actually somewhat different. Engineering, harder sciences, and business are closer to top 20 than softer specializations, IMHO.

@braindrainer While a few hooked applicants may be admitted to top US schools but not top Canadian schools. the average stats for admitted students at “Cornell / Rice / Vanderbilt / Notre Dame,” far exceed McGill, Toronto and UBC.

Also keep in mind that the admissions hurdle for a US applicant is often far higher than what is expected for a Canadian applicant (e.g., standardized test scores (req’d for US not Canadian), rigor - expected for admission to top US schools and pretty much a necessity but can hurt for applying to Cdn schools, extent of high school course record considered (top 6 McGill (?) if Cdn, possibly entire high school transcript if US applicant). For a US applicant, I would argue that admissions are pretty darn selective for top programs at UBC/McGill/UofT/Waterloo - not complaining just sharing my observation.