UBC does not define you!
I've been recently rejected by UBC after being accepted to an Ivy league school.
I think I can share some of my journey for students who are considering their position or contemplating their upcoming academic careers.
I've been lurking here but have noticed a consistent desire-or even craze over UBC. I think that UBC—and the pursuit of it—should not be how you characterize your undergraduate years as well as high school career as you aim to matriculate to unis.
Here are some my biggest reflections in points:
- Please do not spend your entire life grinding an arbitrary, grade-inflated score. A 94 is as good as a 98 if it gives you 4-5 more hours per week that can be used to work on a true passion project or volunteer with major community orgs. I think that one of the biggest reasons for me getting to a say, comparatively "harder" school is the fact that for the most part, they cared more about other parts of the application whereas UBC cares alot about hard metrics like grades (although that is not always the case if you have stellar, and I mean STELLAR ECs--> Major Debate Championships, Regional Science fair award winners etc).
- Please do not do a crappy project. Admissions officers see through projects that are meant to do "something" to a community. Every september I've seen 10-17 new "nonprofit projects" with something along the lines of "opportunities" or "by students for students." If that project has no identifiable purpose or rationale or even a central pillar of continued, quantifiable or actionable impact, it may not even translate to a good time spent. If you have the option between starting a crappy "nonprofit" versus spending time with an established community or if in specific professions, BC Youth Council or BC Youth parliament Political orgs, or for health Fraserhealth, Vancouver General Hospital foundation, these groups would provide a better platform for your projects and passions with alot more intuitional connections that give you a substantive edge.
- And also, be yourself. Like seriously be yourself. I think that at the end of the day, a true differentiator for university decisions isn't the fact that you are like everyone else, but that you've explored your passions in a truely unique and (very important here), actionable way. You can't just "push for a direction" you have to have something to prove for it. Having a substantive differentiator also allows you to consider some other colleges outside BC or even in the US and thats where I've gotten a likely place for where I'm probably committing!
- Even if you are not going to UBC. You can still explore unique opportunities at SFU, Langara, Douglas, UVIC among many others. If you look at legislators of our province or business professionals, You can se they come from a whole consortium of universities, not just the ones we can list off the top of our heads but the pathways that they have individually trod and you can also (with or without the branding of UBC). Truly, having UBC will be awesome, but not having it has NOT hurt you.
As for why I didn't get into UBC? Honestly I don't know but it is a mix of my slightly lower grades (94 something average) and the fact that I stuttered during a video interview. But if I were in your position and to be considered with the options, opportunities that I cultivated over my past few years, I would say that no matter where you are, you can build another path with or without UBC!
Feel free to DM!