More than good grades needed to get into UBC

Personal experience to play role in admissions

Getting accepted as an undergraduate student at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver is going to take more than good grades from now on.

The school is shifting to what it calls “broad- based admissions” — an application process that assesses grades and personal experiences of potential students. The process will include everyone applying directly to all of UBC’S undergraduate programs at the Vancouver campus beginning with the 2012- 13 academic year.

The new process requires applicants to answer between four and six “personal profile” questions in addition to providing secondary school grades.

The questions are designed to provoke responses from students about their ability to overcome challenges, take advantage of opportunities and get involved in their community, said UBC’S associate vice- president and registrar, James Ridge. He said an open- ended question will also let potential students share further details about themselves that would have gone unnoticed under the previous system. The school already uses broad- based criteria for some programs, Ridge said, noting that the Sauder School of Business at UBC has used broad- based admissions since 2004.

In 2011, 25 per cent of all new first-year UBC students on the Vancouver campus were admitted with broadbased admissions.

UBC wants more students who volunteer, take part in extracurricular activities and are willing to take advantage of study abroad programs, he said. “We really want to select students who we think are going to be more inclined to engage in those things.”

The purpose is to create a more well- rounded student body at UBC, and select students who are more likely to “stick,” he said.

The change now makes UBC the largest university in Canada to use non- academic criteria in its application process on this scale, Ridge said.

UBC typically receives more than 30,000 applications to undergraduate programs each year. Last year, UBC welcomed 5,913 new first- year students to its Vancouver campus.