Ten Year Rule

[Guest benjibert]

I wonder if anyone has redone their prerequisites in one full regular winter session, raised their prereq average to more competitive than before, apply the ten year rule so as to not have the adcom count their previous prereq attempt, and got accepted to UBC.

 

Comments please. Thanks.

[Guest physiology]

I know a grad student who did that.

 

He repeated first year English, organic chem, first year chem and got accepted this year.

 

The rule is in place and publicly disclosed on the website so I don't think that they hold it against you if you use it.

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

I've applied to UBC for the past four cycles and in three of those four years I successfully applied the ten year rule. That is, if the ten year rule is applied, your marks before the ten years are not counted.

 

The one year when I applied to UBC's MD/PhD program I was conditionally accepted to the MD program but did not gain entry to the PhD program, therefore, had to rescind my MD program seat. I saw my marked application thereafter and although my marks earlier than ten years ago were not counted, it was noted on my summary sheet (the final sheet presumably presented during the final stage of the selection process) that my initial undergraduate year averages were low. Nonetheless, I was offered a spot in that MD class.

 

This year, I again had the ten-year rule applied. I managed to score ample points to be interviewed as an out-of-province candidate and am now sitting on the top half of the three waitlists, apparently. Thus, it appears that this ten-year rule can definitely work to one's advantage in, at least, getting your foot in the interview door at UBC.

 

If you have any other specific questions in terms of the ten-year rule, ask away.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest benjibert]

Thanks for the input.

 

Physio, is this grad student an acquaintance of yours? May you pass on my email to have him write me? I'd like to hear his/her thoughts on this issue. My email is benjibert@yahoo.com.

 

Thanks!

[Guest thetigerman]

Yes, I also applied the ten-year rule(though in truth, it could have been the twenty-year rule and I still would have been covered). It would have been impossible for me to be accepted without this. My conversations with admissions informed me that they automatically apply the ten-year rule, unless you request otherwise or try to use coursework from that period to fulfil prereqs.

Tiger

[Guest benjibert]

Hey Tiger,

 

Congratulations on your acceptance.

 

Did you retake all prerequisites, like, in one full winter session from Sept to April? Did you retake them at UBC or elsewhere?

 

I started my undergrad in 1993, meaning the ten-year rule will kcik in beginning the next time I apply to UBC med. I would appreciate your input.

 

Benjibert

[Guest kirin]

Hi.

 

I too am thinking of using the 10 yr rule.

 

For those of you who have used the 10 yr rule, where did you retake your prerequisites? Open university?

 

The reason why I ask is because it would be pretty difficult to enroll in first yr ENGL, CHEM and BIOL and the labs at UBC because of the limited seating, right?

 

More importantly, I'm guessing that not alot of us have the time to just drop what we are currently doing in order to redo coursework.

 

 

Kirin

[Guest soapyslicer]

I too used the ten year rule. Remeber that you can use a higher level course in the same subject as a substitute. This is only if the second course is not also a prereq. It was fortunate that my courses taken out were for just one year(timing is everything). If I had not been accepted this year it would have been more of a problem as I only had higher english and biology in subsequent years and could apply those. You can't apply it selectively so this year I would have had to redo organic chem.

 

soapy

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there kirin,

 

For those of you who have used the 10 yr rule, where did you retake your prerequisites? Open university?

To satisfy almost all of the UBC pre-requisite courses to apply the 10-year rule, I took higher courses in each discipline. For example, to satisfy the UBC general chemistry requirement, I took one-half of a first year general chemistry course, but also, a third-year chemistry course.

 

When I re-took these pre-requisites with higher-level courses, I was told by UBC that the basic rule is thus: a higher-level course can fulfill the UBC pre-requisite requirement only if the UBC pre-requisite course (or equivalent) is listed as a pre-requisite for the higher-level course. For example, UBC requires a first-year general chemistry course for admission; the third-year chemistry course that I took had the first-year general chemistry course as one of its pre-requisite courses. Consequently, I was allowed to use the third-year chemistry course to fulfill my UBC general chemistry pre-requisite.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest physiology]

Hey benjibert,

 

I got my friend's email. Do you still want it?

 

Later.

[Guest benjibert]

Kirsteen,

 

What you shared was in line with what I was told at the feedback session. But how do you know for sure they did what you think they did? Playing devil's advocate here.

 

Love to hear you share more on this if possible. Hope I do not sound too critical.

 

Physio,

 

Thanks! Do you mind if you ask that friend of yours to write me?

 

Benjibert

[Guest benjibert]

One more question popped up after I sent the previous reply.

 

Kirsteen, do you know if this applies to the English requirement too? I got B's in my first year English courses, but a solid A in a 6-credit third level English for which the prerequisite was first year English.

 

Thanks!

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there benjibert,

 

First of all, with respect to the ten year rule, had UBC not applied it then my academic score would have been atrocious! Thus, I assume that they either did apply it or were very charitable. (Although the UBC folks are terrific, I'd assume the former. )

 

do you know if this applies to the English requirement too?

I don't see why it would not. As long as your first year English courses occurred 10 or more years ago, as long as you successfully applied the ten-year-rule, and as long as your third level English courses are recognized as valid pre-requisites, then i assume that you'd be fine.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest 4EverRose]

Hi there,

 

I just want to raise one question here. Say you are retaking a prerequisite course and want to use the 10-yr rule so that your previous grade won't be used in GPA calculation. What happens if you end up getting a lower grade when retaking this course? Which score will UBC look at?

 

Thanks.

[Guest Dunes]

To add to 4EverRose questions, what if you still can't apply the 10 year rule, but take another course that also can satisfy the requirement? Eg. they require 6 credits of first year English (112, 110, 111, 121, or 122). If I have only 2 of these, do you think I can take another 2 and use them instead of ones I did 7 years ago? What if I do it at another university and not UBC?

 

Dunes

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

What happens if you end up getting a lower grade when retaking this course? Which score will UBC look at?

UBC will look at whichever scores you ask them to look at. There are two scenarios in this case, then:

 

1) Apply the ten year rule: the older course mark will not be considered, and the new one will in all 3 GPA calculations: 1) pre-requisite; 2) last 60 credits; 3) overall GPA.

 

2) Do not apply the ten year rule: the older course mark will be considered in the pre-requisite GPA, and the overall GPA, but possibly not the last 60 credits if you have completed more than 60 credits after the older course. The new course mark will not be included in the pre-requisite GPA, but will be included in the last 60 credits and overall GPA.

 

For the above, it would be wise to set up a spreadsheet that will calculate each of the three types of GPA if you do and do not apply the 10-year rule. In the two cases, the three GPAs could differ greatly, so you need to be able to see, overall, which scenario would benefit you the most. This is not necessarily easy to determine in your head!

 

Regarding your question, Dunes, I faced a similar situation two UBC applications ago. That is, although I took introductory biochemistry seven or so years ago, I had since completed a higher-level biochemistry course that I wished to use as my biochemistry pre-requisite as I had achieved a higher mark in the later, higher-level course. Even though I applied the ten-year rule to that application, since my first biochemistry course was taken seven years ago, and since it was the first biochemistry course that I'd completed, UBC chose it to use in the pre-requisite GPA calculation. That is, it doesn't matter how many courses you take beyond your initial pre-requisite courses, nor at what level, nor at what university--if your first pre-requisite course in English, organic chemistry, biochemistry, etc., falls within ten years, then that first course is the one that UBC will use in the GPA calculations.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest Dunes]

Hmmm..That's interesting Kirsteen. I wonder, when you wrote your application 2 cycles ago, did you choose which pre-requs you put on your application (there is a place on the application where we can state the pre-reqs we have). And if you did, they still went ahead and changed them for you (chose the earlier ones?)

 

Dunes

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there Dunes,

 

Yep, that's correct. I selected the pre-requisites that I wished to be counted, but UBC changed them to reflect their first-completed-first-included-in-the-GPA policy. (I called UBC to verify that this is what they had done at the time.)

 

They really seem to review academics scrupulously for the admissions GPA calculations--a good thing.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest Dunes]

Wow, they really look into everything in detail! Good to know I'm glad you got to use the ten year rule at last Kirsteen

 

Dunes

[Guest deamd]

Hey there;

I used the 10 year thing, and as a result, my English credit was discounted (taken that year)..

 

.As a result, they did NOT require me to retake an English course, they made me take an "equivalency test" at the time of my interview. It consisted of a Poetry analysis, and a critical discussion essay. If you pass this, then they let that stand for the English Pre-req.

 

If you have any questions, feel free to email me

 

laradea@skynet.ca