4th year science student at UBC weighing in here.
One thing no one has brought up is that SFU allows retakes, but UBC does not. This is quite crucial in the long run if you end up flunking your first year (many people do). I knew this heading into UBC and boy do I wish I had the opportunity to retake a few of my courses from 3 years ago.
Do both of these schools offer these programs?
-Chemistry (Bachelor's of Science or PHD) - I'm pretty sure this is a yes.
-Pharmacy
-Accounting (I need an opinion here. My family members went into this field, but took Accounting 11 and 12. Will I be totally lost if I get admitted since I didn't?)
UBC has all of these programs, but none are easy to get into. Its gotten very competitive so you better be have at least an 80 to 85 average in UBC undergrad if you want to get into these programs. Its going to be a tough and treacherous journey for sure.
University transfer is not the way to go.
Grass is always greener on the other side... I personally think its better to do the first year or two at another college before transferring to UBC. First year at UBC can be very overwhelming coming from HS. Not many people can adjust to the university life that fast. At the end of the day, their grades suffer because 1. they don't know how to study for university exams, 2. they don't manage their time well. I know many students/friends who basically dug themselves a massive hole in first year and some of them never recovered, despite being very smart and hardworking students. If you go into a place like Douglas or Langara for the first year or two, you have a more gradual transition period and you will less likely dig yourself that same hole. Everyone is at a different stage in terms of maturity and readiness for university, so both routes can be good or bad depending on the type of student you are.
UBC does offer all the programs you mentioned. For clarification, Pharmacy only starts in your second year which means you theoretically could get in as an Arts student, take the pre-requisite courses then apply for the program.
http://www.pharmacy.ubc.ca/programs/degree-programs/BscP/academic-admission-requirements
Yes, but I do not recommend the route of going in as an Arts student. You'd be putting in a lot of extra tuition money and time just to cover the 7 or 8 prerequisite courses with labs. We are talking about a full year of first year science as the prerequisites, its not exactly easy to fit it all into your elective schedule if you take another program.
Also, all UBC pharm looks at for your admission averages are your marks from first year science courses, so basically none of those arts grades will help whatsoever in your application.
I did work experience at a pharmacy once, and one of the pharmacists was a graduate of UBC pharmacy. She said you could technically get in during your second year, but most people don't get accepted until after they get their first degree (usually a BSc).
Not true anymore, I know many many people who went straight into pharmacy in 2nd or 3rd year. Its all a matter of preferences, you are not at a disadvantage if you applied early
I don't know much about pharmacy or accounting at either school but if you are interested in Chemistry UBC is definitely the way to go, especially if you plan on doing graduate school eventually.
UBC chemistry is a killer program that has some of the lowest averages in the school. If you go into UBC chemistry you better be damn sure that this is what you want to do in the future, because your grades will pulled down so much that you might not have a chance to switch into any other post-undergrad programs afterwards (ie. Dental/Med/Grad School).
If you are deciding to go into sciences, realize that an undergraduate in science is almost useless. So whether or not you get a BSc at UBC or SFU is irrelevant. What's relevant is you have an extremely high GPA in university to apply to a graduate program somewhere.
Absolutely agree 100%. I learnt from my application process this year that no one cares if you were in a harder major (ie. Biochem/Microbi/Chem) as opposed to an easier major (ie. Gen Sci/Bio). All that matters is your grades, particularly in the prerequisite courses. Theres zero reason for you to take a harder major, which will require you to take harder courses, taking away time that you can spend on your prerequisite courses.
People say pick courses based on your interest and not marks, I disagree with that because if your ultimate goal was aimed at a specific program, it makes no sense to take undergrad courses that interest you if they end up hurting your chances at the ultimate goal.
Go to UBC then. SFU has a crazy hard marking scheme. 90% would net you an A+ at UBC, but only an A at SFU.
SFU uses a 4.33 GPA system, UBC uses a 4.0 GPA system, when you convert them they end up the same. A 90 is a 90.
All transcript reflect the average of the class to your grade. I don't think it makes a huge difference.
Not for some programs where you are applying via the internet and you dont have to enter course averages
If you're going to apply to Pharmacy school, be sure to brush up on your extracurriculars; Pharmacy admission is highly competitive. Be ready to take the PCATs, and several prerequisites and to go through an interview process (if your grades and non-academics are good enough).
Absolutely, start volunteering at a pharmacy location, most places are pretty good with letting students shadow a bit.
An 83% average should make you a decent candidate for the sciences. I didn't read the thread but I hope your English 12 and 11 marks are up to par. I'm not sure if they look at the school or the strength of your courses but I had an 84% average coming out of high school but my courseload was mainly AP courses (accepted to both UBC and SFU).
UBC admission average overall last year was 89.1, I doubt 83 or 74 will do for any faculty.
I was hoping to be a pharmacist. That's why I chose to dive into Chemistry.
Woah, is it $75 just to submit the Supplemental? Then the $60 application?
Lol, wait till you are done your undergrad, I spent a grand on my med school app's altogether this year
1) SFU (actually most university) info pages are usually a bunch of crap. Theoretically, with the degree that I have, I could work in a variety of fields, but the chances of me actually being hired are fairly nil compared to the number of more suited candidates. Similarly, being a chemist may "prepare" you for Pharmacy (in that you'll be more strongly suited for the medicinal chemistry that everyone seems to dread in Pharmacy) but your chances of getting are fairly slim due to the lower average in Chemistry.
For prerequisite and stuff though make sure you check the website, there are some info that are better found by asking people, but some that are black and white its best to check website.
From past experience I would not recommend going straight to UBC unless you are absolutely positive in the field you want to be in. A lot of people think you need to go to the same University from start to finish but this isn't the case at all. If you make a choice for a direction and you falter, it can really hurt your chances of reaching your eventual goals. Personally I did really well in high school and I chose UBC Engineering through external pressures I was getting, but I really had no idea what I wanted to do. After a month or so I began to slide in my classes for multiple reasons, but the primary one being I had very little interest in the subject material, and it is much more difficult to motivate yourself though the workload with all of the other University distractions that are out there if you don't love what you are studying.
Very true, I switched majors twice before I ended up in what I wanted. In hindsight I would have taken a year off before entering UBC.
Make sense then! Still don't like Sauder people though
Sauderites have this arrogance to them. They think they are better than the rest of UBC, lol