UBC: Request for Special Consideration for Admission for Disability-Related Reasons

This information pertains ONLY to students who are applying to UBC.

Special considerations may be given to applicants to UBC who have a known disability (more info will be listed below) and have a competitive grade-point average. The following was taken directly from the letter I have received from Student Development and Services:

Rationale for Special Consideration:

Requests for Special Admissions for disability-related reasons may be made by students whose Grade Point Average is close to the admitting competitive grade point average but not sufficient for Admissions. As well, students should demonstrate a disability-related exceptional circumstance such as one or more of the following:

• lack of accommodation at a previous academic institution when requested by the student despite the provision of appropriate documentation;
• accommodations were not received because the student was not aware of having a disability or diagnosis did not take place until after the completion of studies;
• student’s disability was diagnosed mid-studies after which disability-related accommodations resulted in marked improvement in academic standing;
• relapse of student’s documented disability resulted in academic performance, which did not accurately reflect the student’s academic ability. Duration of relapse was short-term.

For more information, please see me, Mr. Mark, or Mrs. Roberts.

Bachelor of Education Degrees with NITEP at UBC

The Native Indian Teacher Education Program (NITEP) at UBC offers a bachelor of education degree both at the elementary and secondary level for students of First Nations ancestry. Through the program, students earn a Bachelor of Education Degree that prepares them to teach in the public, band-operated, and independent schools.

NITEP is currently accepting applications for the 2010 - 2011 academic year. The application deadline is April 30, 2010. All applicants who submit all supporting documentation by June 15 will have their Faculty of Education application fee paid by NITEP.

For more information, come see me, or the First Nations support workers at Templeton. You may also wish to visit NITEP's website (click here) for more details.

UBC's Explore Engineering Events

The Faculty of Applied Science at UBC (i.e. UBC Engineering) is offering a variety of events in the upcoming months. In these events, representatives from Engineering Student Services will be on hand to answer questions about and provide information on the many engineering programs offered at UBC. Students will also have the opportunity to connect with two Engineering departments and find out more about the research being done there.

Currently, there are four events that are scheduled to run in the next few months:

• Engineering Explorations on January 22 between 1:00 to 3:30 p.m.
• Engineering Info Session on February 3 at 6 p.m.
• Engineering to make make a difference on March 5 from 12 to 5 p.m.
• Engineering Explorations on March 25 between 2:00 to 4:30 p.m.

For additional events, and event details, please visit this website: Click here

UBC Engineering is also offering an online community called LiveChat that would allow students to connect with a UBC Engineering advisor in real time. The virtue community also features student blogs, twitter updates, and YouTube videos. You can visit this online community by clicking here.

If you wish to receive any information material on UBC Engineering, you can e-mail the following people:

• Bhavani Veylan, recruiter and international student coordinator: bhavani.veylan@ubc.ca
• Wendy Barthel, associate recruiter/advisor: wendy.barthel@ubc.ca
  

Update: UBC Self-reporting Process

I have just received an e-mail from Andrew Arida, associate director of enrolment at UBC.

In regards to self-reporting grades, as I have mentioned earlier, UBC will only accept grades from two sources: your self-reported grade from an actual report card, or grades that are sent to them by the Ministry of Education. A student asked earlier if you are supposed to report your first term grades, your second term grades, or a blended first-second term set of grades.

According to Mr. Arida, UBC wants its applicants to report their SECOND TERM GRADES, since those grades, barring errors, should match the grades sent to them through the Ministry of Education. So, to avoid any confusions or delays in your application process, please make sure that you self-report your second term percentages when you are prompted to do so in your UBC application (you can still apply to UBC prior to this date, of course, and should).

I hope this help clarifies the situation. If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask me.

As for VLN grades, as I have said in my last post, please make sure you are at least 50% through the course by March 1. This is the condition that VLN has set for its teachers to do the paper work to submit your marks to the Ministry. Still, you must ask your VLN teacher to submit the interim grade on your behalf.

Update: from the UBC Counsellor's Info Day (3)

(... continued from yesterday's entry)

Below you can find the admission averages for UBC Vancouver and UBC Okanagan. For each program, you will see two percentages - the first one is the actual admission averages from August 2009; the second one is the PROJECTED admission averages for September 2010 admission. Please note: that admission average is only for your reference - the actual admission averages may be higher or lower, depending on the marks of the applicants.

UBC Vancouver's Admission Averages

• Applied Biology: 83%, low to mid-80s
• Arts (as a 1st choice): 84%, mid 80s
• Arts (as a 2nd choice): 86%, mid to high 80s
• *Commerce: 84%; 84%
• *Dental Hygiene: 67%, min. 67%
• *Engineering: 83%, low to mid 80s
• Food, nutrition and health: 83%, mid to high 80s
• Forestry: 75 to 78%, guaranteed at 80%
• *Human Kinetics: 88%, high 80s to low 90s
• *Midwifery: 67%; min. 67%
• *Music: 83%; min. 67%
• *Science: 88%; high 80s to low 90s

* indicates a program where broad based admission is mandatory/optional

UBC Okanagan's Admission Averages

• Arts: 72%; guaranteed at 75%
• Engineering: 75%; guaranteed at 75%
• Fine Arts: 67%; min 67%
• Human Kinetics: 75%; high 70s to low 80s
• Management: 73%; mid to high 70s
• Nursing: 80%; low tomid 80s
• Pre-pharmacy: 73%; guaranteed at 75%
• Science: 73%; guaranteed at 75%

Once again, these averages are listed for your reference only. Be realistic when you are applying for a specific program (e.g. if you have mid-70s on your term 1 report card, it may be difficult for you to be admitted into UBC Vancouver's Faculty of Science), but don't lose heart if your averages are not high enough - some programs used broad based admission that would help the students who are outstanding in other areas. You may also want to consider university transfer programs if your grades are far below these listed admission averages.

For more information or assistance, please come in and see me.

Update: from the UBC Counsellor's Info Day (2)

(continued from yesterday's entry)

Program Updates:

• Bachelor of Science in Applied Biology: this new program is for students who enjoy biology, but does not want to be enrolled in the "traditional" science program where you have to complete first year physics courses. The program has an environmental, sustainability focus.
• Pre-med Alternative Path in Engineering: open to 25 students only, this Bachelor of Applied Science (Engineering) program would prepare you for applying for the Faculty of Medicine. Biology 12 is a requirement for application into this program, but the course can be completed in the summer of 2010, prior to your entry into the program in September of 2010.
• Faculty of Arts' new degree requirements: grade 12 language (or equivalent), 6 credits of literature, 6 credits of science, plus the new 6 credits of writing and research (to be done in Year 1 and 4). This replaces the 6 credits of first-year English requirement for all BA students (except if you will be majoring in English).

Self-Admission Process:

• Self-admission will begin in later March/early April
• UBC will only accept self-reporting from two sources: your term 2 report card and grades reported directly from the Ministry of Education
• UBC will not accept any grades from a distance-education course unless the grades are reported via one of the above two methods
• If you are taking an online course through the Vancouver Learning Network (VLN), you can ask your teacher to submit your mark to the Ministry of Education (thereby fulfilling the second requirement) ONLY IF you have completed over 50% of the course by March 1 (no exception!)
  
• Once your grades are reported, you will be immediately notified as to whether you have been admitted to UBC or not.
  
• UBC will request documents directly from you if discrepancy exists between your self-reported grades and the interim grades sent by the Ministry of Education.
  
• Offer of admission must be accepted by June 1, 2010 or your offer would be withdrawn
• Once you have accepted the admission offer, a registration date will be given to you around mid-June.
• Registration for courses in September 2010 starts in July 2010 - register early before the courses are filled up!

(...to be concluded)

Update: from the UBC Counsellor's Info Day (1)

There are quite a few pieces of information from UBC that may be of interest to you. I will try to organize them in a logical fashion. Feel free to contact me, or any of the academic advisors from UBC for more details and/or information.

Applying to UBC:

• General admission's application requirements: High school graduation; English 12 + 3 grade 12 courses (provincially examinable courses). Please note: program-specific requirements would be beyond this basic set of requirements.
  
• Admission average: would be calculated based on English 12 and the three grade 12 examinable courses. The courses UBC will look at differ from faculty to faculty.
• Broad Based Application: some programs use broad based admission, in which supplementary info about activities and achievements outside of the classroom is used in addition to academics to select qualified applicants. Broad based application is mandatory for some programs (e.g. Sauder School of Business, the school of performing arts) and optional for others (e.g. Faculty of Science, Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Human Kinetics). For more information, go to BBA's website: Click here
• English Language Admission Requirements (this is different from 1st year English proficiency requirements): you must have studied three years in a Canadian school OR meet the admission standard through an English proficiency tests (e.g. TOEFL), OR receive 70% or above from your English 12 PROVINCIAL EXAM to apply to UBC.
• 1st Year English Requirements: Almost all first year programs require 6 credits (= 2 courses) of first-year English. In order to take these courses, you must either achieve 75% in English 12 (blended mark OR school mark) OR obtain a level 5 from the LPI.
• For those of you who are confused about the difference between admission English requirements and first-year English requirements, go to this former entry for a more detailed explanation: Click Here
  
• Applying to UBC: can be done online (click here). Be sure you have your biographical information, 2 program choices, and your provincial examination number (PEN) ready.
• Choosing your program: priority would be given to students who have a specific program as their first choice - be mindful when you are declaring your 1st and 2nd choice.
  
• After you have submitted your application, you should receive an e-mail acknowledging that your application has been received. In the e-mail, you will be given a temporary UBC student number, as well as detailed directions to access UBC's student information system called the SSC.

(to be continued...)

More UBC Vancouver Viewbooks Have Arrived

For those of you who attended the UBC information session last week, but did not receive a UBC Vancouver viewbook, another 50 copies have arrived. Mr. Hayes is holding the bulk of the copies, and I have about 10 in my office. Please come to see one of us if you want to pick up this viewbook.

The viewbook can also be looked at online. You can click on the following link to view it virtually:
Click here

Most of the viewbook's information can also be found online. Click here for more details.

The admission portion of the Vancouver viewbook can also be downloaded. Click here for the .pdf file.

IMPORTANT: Update on UBC's Language Requirements

I hope most of you were in attendance this afternoon when representatives from UBC came to speak to us. In case you were not there, or in case you did not understand/missed this piece of information, I am repeating it here because changes have been made for students applying for admission in September 2010. It pertains the language requirements both for admission and to take first-year English courses.

English Language Requirement for Admission (you must meet one of the following criteria to have your application considered for admission):

• Three consecutive years of full-time education in English in Canada, including BC grade 12 English (or its equivalence), OR
• Four or more consecutive years at an eligible international secondary school that uses English as the language of instruction, OR
• A minimum 70% on the provincial exam of either English 12 or English Literature 12, OR
• Reaching the competence level in one of the UBC-recognized language admission tests (click here for more details)

Following admission, most first-year UBC students are required to take 6 credits of English courses (each course is worth 3 credits). To do so, UBC also has a language proficiency requirement, which can be waived if:

• You have a best mark of 75% or above in English 12 (formerly, the mark is 80%; this lower requirement is new for this year).
• You have achieved a level 5 on the Language Proficiency Index (LPI) exam.
  

Failure to meet the first-year English requirements does NOT affect your admission to UBC. However, you would have to take either non-credit courses to improve your English competency, or re-write the LPI until you have a level 5.

This information is new for applicants for the September 2010 term. If you are not clear on this information, please come and see me, or ask the recruitment officer at UBC (I have her contact information).

UBC Engineering Open House

The Faculty of Applied Science (i.e. Engineering) at UBC will be having its annual open house on November 7, 2009 (Saturday) from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Representatives from different engineering departments will be on hand to answer questions and to provide information.

For more information, you can go to the following site: Click here

UBC Engineering also has an online community that has been launched recently. In it, you'll find student blogs, twitter updates, YouTube videos, and other information. Go check it out by clicking here.