Does UBC really look at ALL years? or Just the years put towards a degree?

[ThatJD]

Long story short, graduated highschool 2008, no direction, loved biology, loved science, but thought I was too dumb

2008-2013 ish, I was on and off at Langara, had some crap marks spread over two years, but was on an upward trend. Some background of science and psych/socia

2014 - 2017 - Switched to Music Diploma, Grades were great

2019-2021 Finishing my BMUS soon. Took Macro Anatomy over the summer, didn’t do great (needed it for Nursing) but still did better than I expected . But present day, my fascination for medicine has sparked up again. I always thought I was too dumb, even though my family is full of nurses, an aunt who is a research assistant for neuro, an uncle who is an anesthesiologist in the states etc.

I looked at all the stats and info, and I was aiming for the 80-85% range for application (a good chunk of those people get in). Problem is, if they actually do count ALL my years at Langara, I just fall short of that mark. I was under some assumption that they would only count the marks that went towards my degree. 

[frenchpress]

21 minutes ago, ThatJD said:

Long story short, graduated highschool 2008, no direction, loved biology, loved science, but thought I was too dumb

2008-2013 ish, I was on and off at Langara, had some crap marks spread over two years, but was on an upward trend. Some background of science and psych/socia

2014 - 2017 - Switched to Music Diploma, Grades were great

2019-2021 Finishing my BMUS soon. Took Macro Anatomy over the summer, didn’t do great (needed it for Nursing) but still did better than I expected . But present day, my fascination for medicine has sparked up again. I always thought I was too dumb, even though my family is full of nurses, an aunt who is a research assistant for neuro, an uncle who is an anesthesiologist in the states etc.

I looked at all the stats and info, and I was aiming for the 80-85% range for application (a good chunk of those people get in). Problem is, if they actually do count ALL my years at Langara, I just fall short of that mark. I was under some assumption that they would only count the marks that went towards my degree. 

Yes, they really look at all the years. They will calculate your GPA using all credits that are “university transferable” - I.e. courses that you could apply to a degree, even if they weren’t used for the degree you actually got.

Assuming you have enough credits (at least 120 I believe), which is sounds like you do, then they will drop your worst single year to a maximum of 30 credits.

[ThatJD]

Ouch, that sucks because my worst years were taking like 1 or two classes a sem for two years at Langara, Im assuming they wouldn’t drop all those…

When I look at my SSB there is something that says 60 credits granted towards my BMus which is why I thought I was in the clear. 

[frenchpress]

9 hours ago, ThatJD said:

Ouch, that sucks because my worst years were taking like 1 or two classes a sem for two years at Langara, Im assuming they wouldn’t drop all those…

When I look at my SSB there is something that says 60 credits granted towards my BMus which is why I thought I was in the clear. 

You assume correctly, multiple courses over multiple years they won’t drop. Just the year, from Sept - Aug, with the lowest average, to a maximum of 30 credits. If you have more than 30 credits that year, they drop the worst 30. If you have less, then they drop them all. But yeah, it sucks if you have few credits over multiple years because you can’t benefit much from the adjustment. 
 

If you took non-university transferable credits at langara, it’s possible some of those courses wouldn’t transfer. For example, some diploma courses for technicals diplomas people take at places like BCIT(like woodworking, cardiology tech, etc) wouldn’t count. But anything that could be a transfer credit (whether you transferred it or not) will count. If in doubt, contact admissions. But you can usually figure it out using the online BC transfer guide.

 

 

[ThatJD]

7 hours ago, frenchpress said:

You assume correctly, multiple courses over multiple years they won’t drop. Just the year, from Sept - Aug, with the lowest average, to a maximum of 30 credits. If you have more than 30 credits that year, they drop the worst 30. If you have less, then they drop them all. But yeah, it sucks if you have few credits over multiple years because you can’t benefit much from the adjustment. 
 

If you took non-university transferable credits at langara, it’s possible some of those courses wouldn’t transfer. For example, some diploma courses for technicals diplomas people take at places like BCIT(like woodworking, cardiology tech, etc) wouldn’t count. But anything that could be a transfer credit (whether you transferred it or not) will count. If in doubt, contact admissions. But you can usually figure it out using the online BC transfer guide.

 

 

That gives me a bit of hope. Thank you

[ThatJD]

8 hours ago, frenchpress said:

You assume correctly, multiple courses over multiple years they won’t drop. Just the year, from Sept - Aug, with the lowest average, to a maximum of 30 credits. If you have more than 30 credits that year, they drop the worst 30. If you have less, then they drop them all. But yeah, it sucks if you have few credits over multiple years because you can’t benefit much from the adjustment. 
 

If you took non-university transferable credits at langara, it’s possible some of those courses wouldn’t transfer. For example, some diploma courses for technicals diplomas people take at places like BCIT(like woodworking, cardiology tech, etc) wouldn’t count. But anything that could be a transfer credit (whether you transferred it or not) will count. If in doubt, contact admissions. But you can usually figure it out using the online BC transfer guide.

 

 

But wait, wouldn’t that be a moot point? Since I’d have to send in ALL transcripts from other institutions anyway? 

[frenchpress]

26 minutes ago, ThatJD said:

But wait, wouldn’t that be a moot point? Since I’d have to send in ALL transcripts from other institutions anyway? 

Yes, you send all the transcripts. My point was not about not sending the transcript, it’s about which courses on those transcipts they will include when calculating the GPA. The final authority on that is with UBC admissions, so the best people to tell you which of your diploma courses will and won’t be used will be UBC admissions. But the general rule is, if it is classified as university-level/university-transferable, it counts. 

[frenchpress]

Go here and plug your courses in: https://www.bctransferguide.ca

If they transfer to UBC for any credit, whether a specific course or just general credit (e.g. 100-level, 200-level, etc), they usually count. If there’s no transfer agreement for a course or there’s no credit, that typically means it won’t count. Once you’ve done that you should have a good idea, and then you can confirm with admissions. 

[ThatJD]

Dang, my heart sank again haha….most of the Langara courses have UBC equivalents. I’m sure I’m not the only one that this has affected. Really blows that my 2008 courses affect the drive I have now.

Although I guess theres other schools that have the 10 year rule and look at the last two semesters or years. 

[kronos]

Try looking of university of calgary since they give the option to exclude grades that are more than 10 years old for mature applicants

Consider Ottawa/Queens/Western also since they all have a GPA calc that doesn't take into account all your undergrad work

[Dr. Monkey]

Further, if you make it to the interview they will assess your grades and put value for overall trends of improvement over time.

[ThatJD]

On 8/11/2021 at 4:31 PM, Dr. Monkey said:

Further, if you make it to the interview they will assess your grades and put value for overall trends of improvement over time.

You just gave me a bit of hope as my trend has been solely upward. But that's IF I get the interview. I'm realizing people matriculating in 75-79% range have been dwindling. Depending on how I do these next few months my 80% avg could fall under.