Official ubc class of 2014 thread :)

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of British Columbia
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<p>Thanks rothmane! And yeah, I applied to UW, didn’t get in, but I’ve also lived in Seattle for the majority of my life, just over a mile away from campus to be exact, so I know Seattle and the u-district reeeeally really well. I’ve visited Vancouver like six or seven times, never for very long though, so I don’t know a whole lot about it, but I’ve done a lot of research an have been told a lot so…okay here it goes!</p>

<p>UW- Beautiful campus, right in the middle of one of the nicest, cleanest, most educated cities in America. Relatively high rated for a public school as well. HOWEVER, that’s just the surface goodness of UW, and that’s about all there is. And I don’t say this out of bitterness for not getting in, I’ve gotten over that, and I don’t say this because I love UBC incredibly much…I’m speaking from experience, of having friends that go there right now and from living in the area for ten years.</p>

<p>There are a lot of homeless people that like to hang around campus, and security isn’t too great. Crime is a pretty big threat in the area, and Seattle, while an awesome place to live overall, has a rather disappointing nightlife scene for being such an important west coast city. I will say that the concerts here are good, but those are expensive and infrequent. The school is also dreadfully overcrowded, and it’s expected to get worse for the class of 2014. In the beginning of the year, they had people sleeping out in the common rooms of the dorm halls because there wasn’t enough space! Most of the double rooms have also become triples, making them almost unlivable. Without exaggeration, I’m telling you that every single freshman I know who lives on the UW campus in the dorms HATES it. The classes are sometimes very large, but they aren’t so bad as long as you go to the quiz sections or tutorials and actually STUDY. Also, while you may think that UW’s campus and UBC’s campus are about the same size, UW’s is about 650 acres whereas UBC’s is about 800. UBC is practically a little city on the outskirts of a much larger city! So, now on to that school…</p>

<p>UBC is a very high ranked school. 34th in the entire world, actually. Because UBC isn’t IN the city per say, it’s a whole lot safer and a whole lot cleaner than UW. Both are gorgeous, but because UBC isn’t smack dab in the middle of metropolis, I think it’s a lot nicer, and a lot more in tune with nature as well. Crime isn’t really an issue, and getting downtown isn’t an issue at all if you have at least a little initiative. Unlike Seattle’s Vancouver nightlife is supposedly worth traveling for, like, It’s not uncommon for Washingtonians to go up to Vancouver for the weekends just to party. The outdoor recreation opportunities that are available in B.C. are just a liiiittle better than those in Washington, and UBC’s classes are typically huge, but there are certain programs to combat this, like there’s two that I know of in arts, and of course the science programs have lab days and whatnot…</p>

<p>Eh, I feel like I could’ve done much better with this. I mean, I feel like if money isn’t an issue, UBC is the way to go. But if you’re from WA and want to save, you’ll still get a decent education at UW, and if you want to go to their grad school (which is phenomenal), that could be a way to do it!</p>

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<p>annnnnd thanks andr3atron! haha forsure! looking forward to the start of classes! :D</p>

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<p>congrats holden!
i’ve been checking this thread like twice a day to see if you got in, just because i could tell how much you love ubc. congrats! see you in the fall :)</p>

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<p>Congratulations holden, i pretty much checked here everyday to see if you got in too lol. That must have been really exciting, which faculty did you apply to?</p>

<p>Now my wait continues <em>fingers crossed</em></p>

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<p>thanks for all that info holden! im so glad you got in you seem to really love ubc. well money or distance isnt really an issue for me because im out of state for both…(i’m from the east coast) I’m actually out here right now and just visited ubc and loved it, i think i might of loved vancouver more so that was my concern…then i visited uw yesterday and loved that too…it just seems that there is so much more going on at uw and the school has so much more school spirit and i really liked that little down town area. do you think i was just blind to this at ubc? ubc said they had 300 clubs but then uw said they had 600! I really want to like ubc im just concerned with the lack of a campus college like feel if you know what i mean…do you know any current students there that like it? do you know how the dorms compare to uw? or housing options there for after you start living in the dorms? im sorry for all the questions! you just seem to know so much about ubc and the area and i dont!</p>

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<p>ehh so i called and they formulated my 3.9uw into a 86.9 average…the cutoff for my faculty was 87. smh, im just gonna hope it goes down to 86…and the reason for my waterloo rejection was my one and only c that i knew would come back and haunt me one day in calculus ap, guess it didnt matter that i passed the test, i honestly think canadian schools are harder to get into than us…this time last year i was already in ucla, ucdavis, and ucsb…by looks of it my decision should be around my birthday hope its not a bad one.</p>

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<p>thanks heyyhaylee, thanks yellowapple! :slight_smile:
i applied to arts. i was honestly surprised to get in- when i went to the info session i heard that the accepted average was an 86%! There’s nooo way that a 3.22 converts into anything CLOSE to an 86%, so I’m thinking my supplemental are what saved me. Thank god too! sooo happy i made it!</p>

<p>Annnnd rothmane, you visited UW at juuuust the right time! Their basketball team has been doing really well in march madness so the entire school is going CRAZY about that. They do have a lot of school pride and sports is a really big thing. In terms of social life revolving around the sports scene and frat life, UW is pretty much like the stereotypical American college in that sense! So, if that’s what you’re looking for, and that’s your primary motive, then I would have to say…UW! UBC is just different. Because it’s a Canadian school where sports and frats aren’t necessarily the focal point of socialization, you’re not going to see a whole lot of pep rally-esque behavior there. However, kids at UBC do know how to have fun as well. Totem Park is a first year residence that’s notorious for throwing insane parties, there are four bars on campus as well as other restaurants and pubs, and the school itself will throw beer gardens for the students and faculty to socialize. Like, a big reason why the American schools have most of their partying and socialization on campus is because the majority of freshman aren’t coming of drinking age, and they won’t for a while. In Canada, however, they do! So for UBC in particular, students are able to go off campus into the city to have to a good time relatively soon after they arrive. So the social scene is a lot less unified there, but there are far more options. At UW, the little downtown area that you’re referring to is called “the u-district”, and it really is an awesome place. There’s usually a lot going on, and although it’s kind of dangerous, there’s tons of decent, cheapish food and decent, cheapish stores to shop at. It is nice to have all of that concentrated right by campus. At UBC, the food is right on campus, but there aren’t any of those little shops and the people you’ll encounter will pretty much all be students, so I guess it depends on how homogenous you would like your company to be? The dorms at UW flat out suck, and the first year dorms at UBC aren’t all that great either, but at least they’re not over-crowded, you have a good chance of getting a single, there are parties, and the cafeteria food is muuuuch better. Ummm, around UW there’s a huuuge variety of housing options, from apartments to houses within two miles of campus to greek houses and on campus suites and apartments. UBC is pretty much the same, except without the greek houses and everything is pretty concentrated in the same area where as living off-campus at UW may require some traveling. And I don’t know this for sure, but it seems like at UBC on-campus housing is suggested…there are plenty of nearby off-campus options though! I hope that helped, and no worries about the questions, the questions are chill! The decision is up to you but I’m kind of sensing that getting that traditional, very American, Asher Roth “I Love College” experience is important to you! Like, you want to cheer on your teams and paint yourself in their colors and participate in all that kind of stuff…and if that’s the truth, like, if that’s something you really want out of your college experience, go with UW. Just be careful when you’re walking around downtown Seattle at night, even while on campus, and just stick it through the first year dorm experience because it won’t be pretty, but in the long run I feel like you’ll be happy there…to us Washington kids, it’s one of the few “smart kid schools” that still has a good time. :)</p>

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<p>yellowapple, well then, i hope you get accepted for your birthday, that’d be such a sick present! sorry about your percentage just barely missing it! ): usually though, the more confident kids with the higher graders tend to apply first, and they’ve probably all been reviewed already and bumped up the cutoff. now the next wave of applicants with lower grade points are being evaluated and because of that, the cutoff will probably go down. I mean, down by .1 is totally feasible! good luck good luck good luck!! :D</p>

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<p>wow thanks again for all that info holden! well i think i might of been having one of those moments of weakness/confusion or something because i really don’t care about it not being a typical american college, thats what i want to get away from… and people are just soo much nicer in vancouver! UW may have nicer buildings, but ubc has mountains AND water! its truly one of the best cities i’ve ever been too! </p>

<p>long story short I’ve decided that I’m going there this fall! I’m so excited about it and can’t wait to meet everyone! :)</p>

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<p>Oh wow! That’s awesome dude, congrats on making this huuuuge choice! I think you’ll like it. I think it’d be hard for someone NOT to like UBC! :D</p>

<p>Wooooo class of 2014!!! Hahahaha</p>

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<p>ohh that makes sense…kids with better scores applying earlier, im gonna sink that in lol. </p>

<p>but yeahh the wait continues…hopefully i get in, if not ill appeal hecka fast lol</p>

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<p>Oh forsure! And people DO get in on appeal if worst comes to worst, but hopefully it’s not gonna. You’ll be a thunderbird soon enough! :D</p>

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<p>got into mcmaster with 2000 entrance scholarship which is given to applicants getting 90-94.9%, so why is ubc see me as 86.9? either way it was a backup, and the scholarship is a nice touch but id need to decide by april 15 to get it, way its going ubc wont give me a decision till june…</p>

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<p>Wow, congratulations!! This must be a difficult descision though…maybe you can explain your situation to ubc or the other school?</p>

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<p>@yellow apple why would they not give yo a decision till june? what program did u apply for??</p>

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<p>I dont know, I really dont. All the things I hoped wouldnt happen, are. I applied to Bachelor of Science for Applied Biology which is in the Faculty of Land and Food Services…<-intend to change later but whatever for now… </p>

<p>They put me on hold, said I was below cutoff, by .1%! , cutoff was 87%, they told me i had an 86.9 and if cutoff goes up i get rejected, if not i should be able to get in…thing is as a us applicant by gpa is like 4.1w and 3.75uw, and mcmaster labeled that as a 90-94 percentile sooo i genuinely feel like whyyyy. i really love UBC, i go on the website too much, ill probably stop if i get in, and im always looking for information/clarification on whats going on. I want other students who have been put on hold to tell me the outcome so I can see where I stand, but there are like none. <em>sigh</em> I just hope they let me in, too many things have gone wrong with this application.</p>

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<p>dont give up yet! did you apply for a second choice? you should apply for maybe a choice with a lower cut off and if you get in rght away you can always change faculties…i dont know why they are so strict with applications!</p>

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<p>I wont, if i dont get in, I will MOST DEFINITELY appeal, like theres no hesitation about that. I’m putting a lot on the line for UBC…like my future next year if i deny all my other offers and i dont even get in. My second choice was a mistake, applied science <- didnt know it was engineering, and so didnt realize i didnt qualify. im pretty much holding out for my first choice…I WISH i applied to an arts faculty, id be in already, and then applied to one science faculty…i wish i did alot of things, i think the whole process is just different than what i did last year with the UC’s.</p>

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<p>I mean i think you still do have a chance!..because they could have just straight up said no…fingers crossed for you!! which other universities did you apply to?!</p>

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<p>utoronto st george and missisauga campus…but i want the stgeorge campus.
waterloo.
western
mcmaster
and last and TOP choice UBC…hoping for UBC…</p>

<p>One of the perks i love as a us applicant is we all really get a like 10% discount off tuition cause us money>canada money by a couple cents.</p>