Canadian University help - Page 2

For UBC, Direct entrance to 1st year Commerce is a SPECIAL program, so it can selective ( it's an accomplishment to a certain degree but i don't think it means much). The normal route is 1st year arts or whatever and then transfer to commerce 2nd year, think cut off around 73% when i was still in school. Most of the eventual commerce ppl are not from this group. Also, having tutor a few years ago.. i think marks are so inflated now, you can be worry about not getting in above 90%, but then everyone has 90+%.... UBC only counts the best 4 provincials before lol.

Yes, definitely. Get a good job after you graduate (or join the military -- no joke, B-schools and investment banks love ex-Military guys), kick the GMAT's ass and write a great admissions essay, and you should be set in terms of getting into a great MBA program.

Ha ha, I will concede that point. I don't know anyone who graduated with a 3 year B.A. that ended up in the job I started with, especially considering I had no paid experience. It is certainly rare but to quote David Spade in Tommy Boy, I "could sell a Ketchup popsicle to a woman in white gloves" at a job interview. LOL.

But in all seriousness, yes, University is what you make of it.

Who knows? Maybe her applications were shit?

Don't judge yourself against her.

UBC commerce is highly selective - do a little bit of research:
For 2006-07 BCOM at UBC (Vancouver Campus)
- applicants 4248
- admits 777
- registrants 566
Minimum admission average was 84% but there were likely supplementary requirements for admssion in addition to a good average
Source: BCHEADset.com
Table: Applicants, Admissions, and Registrants by Program of Study & Minimum GPA Required

I don't understand the idea of 3-year college degree in Canada, is it supposed to be one step above community college degree?

That's after 1st year i think, not actually very selective, . Direct entry to 1st year commerce is very different in UBC, b/c they don't really specialize till 2nd or 3rd year in UBC you mostly start 1st at BA, BSc, BApSc(engineering).


Maybe it's because they used to have Grade 13 in Ontario, so they have one extra high school year but not anymore i think..

I take it you go to UBC.

Please, don't make acceptance rates the focal point of selectivity, because UBC Commerce is not as selective as schools like Cornell, Northwestern, Georgetown and the University of Chicago just because it has a lower acceptance rate. In a vacuum, acceptance rates prove very little.

That was for all years - but your point is wrong: First year applications/admissions/registrations are the bulk of what I cited above:
- Applicants 3140
- Admits 589
- Registrants 390
Upper years are:
- Applicants 1108
- Admits 188
- Registrants 176


No, I'm not at UBC but a little research can show what their practices are. For instance, the OP suggested that someone with a 90+ grade couldn't get in and the ensuing posts suggested that UBC was not a quality school or their program wasn't selective. I've simply provided some evidence that suggests that (1) gpa alone is not the only factor in admssion as they admitted down to 84%; and, (2) the program has its pick of many potential and probably excellent students. My guess is that gpa is far from the only measure that factors into their selectivity.

In Canada we don't use the word College and University interchangeably so there is no 3 year College degree. University and College are regarded very differently. 3 year University degree is a Bachelors degree, 4 years is an Honours Bachelors degree.

And even there... that's for English-Canada. Québec is different. We love being different.

Fixed it for you. Ha ha...

Nevermind. Just a few years back, UBC just first started to accept like 150 1st year commerce student link.. And the rest are only from later years. Guess they now mainly offer 4yr program from first year. UBC is so much bigger and expensive now after the tuition freeze lol.

I know universities use to judge your marks based on what high school you went to as well. So that may be a reason she didnt get into UBC. I dont think they are supposed to do it anymore, but im sure it still happens. Every town has there jock high school where all the junior hockey players go because it is easier, and obviously a 90% average from there is not going to be as good as 90% average from a better school.

I recently (May08) graduated from UBC and I'm from Vancouver. OP: What junior banking program was your friend in? I've never heard of such a program in Vancouver. UBC is decently competitive but I would rate the job prospects from the school (not by the merit of individuals, which is seperat) is quite low for BCom in terms of well paying jobs immediately out of undergrad.