The UBC information event held last Monday, October 17th, was very forthcoming with important updates that all prospective applicants should be aware of for Fall 2012. In addition to announcing the general application deadline being moved forward to January 31st, 2012, the admissions and enrolment team shared their new “Holistic Approach” to improving the overall admissions process and providing more accurate and responsive student services. So, what does this mean exactly?
To increase their student service standards, for starters, UBC is aiming to respond to your emails in 1 or 2 days and keep a continuous document file on your visit with an advisor. The plan is to have one Enrolment Service Professional (ESP) assigned to 250 students by September 2012 (for current Grade 12s) in their “N3 (Name Not Number) initiative” in order to cultivate a more personalized ‘family-physician’ style of clientele service as opposed to one of a ‘walk-in clinic.’ Despite this medical analogy sounding a bit treatment oriented, the university ensures that it has each student’s best interest – or more specifically his or her individual profile – at heart.
Speaking of being more personal about an applicant’s profile, UBC is using their newly added Personal Profile on the online Vancouver Campus direct-entry application (i.e. Science, Applied Science/Engineering, Arts, Sauder School of Business, Kinesiology) in the hopes of broadening their admission range. With the exception of Music, Dental Hygiene and Midwifery, which require separate supplementals with later deadlines, this hopefully helps to streamline their supplemental applications across faculties. Although it is not clear what the weighting between academic grade average and the personal profile is, an applicant’s GPA will still be considered first before their individual qualities and experience, which also is key in the entry evaluation. The Personal Profile with its set of short essay responses of 200 words each must be completed and submitted together with the online application by January 31st. Where verification of extra-curricular activities, background experience and personal achievements is required, random checks of references are done to make certain that the application is credible and reliable.
By focussing on the applicant’s entire academic and personal profile and moving to a ‘broad-base’ admissions approach, last year UBC was able to admit students with lower GPAs than those from the previous year and still achieved an overall growth of 32% in applications to their West Point Grey campus between 2005 and 2010.
Upcoming event dates for UBC Science and Engineering:
• Sat. October 22: Geering Up! High School Conference (10:30am – 4pm)
• Tue. November 1: “Discover Science & Engineering Evening (5 – 9pm)
UBC Sciences, Engineering, Forestry, and Land & Food Systems
• Sat. November 26: “Engineering Open House Fair (9am – 4pm)
RSVP for all events @ www.engineering.ubc.ca/connects
