Hello,
My first choice was McMaster for Bachelor of Commerce but sadly my average was lacking the .3 percent to even be considered. My second choice would probably be UBC Okanagan though I don't know much about the program. It is called Bachelor of Management and I am just wondering if anyone on here knows anything about the program. I didn't even bother to apply to Sauder since I'd basically set myself up for rejection. Thanks for your time!

I'm a Sauder student that got rejected out of high school (I had an 86 average, I think) and went into UBC Arts. After changing my mind a couple of times about my degree, I applied for transfer into Sauder second year and got in. I don't think you should ask yourself "if a person like you" can get into the program based on your admissions average coming out of high school; lots of people change their work habits drastically when they go to university, for better or for worse (for instance, I got much better in university because it's a choice to be there and some people do better when they're not being forced to learn, whereas my friend who had a much higher admissions average than me ended out failing because she partied too much). It's definitely possible for you to switch into Sauder regardless of how you did in high school as long as you work hard, and get involved in activities you can write about on your personal profile.

However, maintaining a 2.9 is not what you should aim for; this would be considered a very low average to transfer into Sauder with, and you would need a super amazing personal profile to make up for your grades. While they only refuse to look at applications below 2.5, it's been said that getting in with an average anywhere close to that is next to impossible. I think the admissions officer that used to run the Sauder transfer blog said that the average second year transfer student has a GPA around 3.7, with your core average (English, Economics, and Math courses only) being weighed much more heavily than your overall average (and your personal profile accounts for the other half of your score). To put this into perspective, a 3.7 is 80% at UBC and UBCO. This might sound low from the perspective of a high school student, but the average student's university grades are roughly 10% lower than their high school grades, so to only drop 4% would be very impressive and a bit challenging.

If I were you, I'd aim for 85%. This might sound really difficult, but it is possible, and there is no harm in aiming too high in this case. If you can achieve that, your grades will compensate for any minor shortcomings in your personal profile, plus you'll make UBCO's Dean's List. I know students with a 4.0 that still manage to live very active social lives, they just manage their time wisely.

Also, 2 of my good friends did their first year at UBCO then transferred, and they seemed to really enjoy it, so I'm sure you will too; supposedly everyone there is really nice and it's got a much more community-feel than UBCV where everyone just acts like they know each other. Plus, Kelowna is just generally a fun place.

Hopefully this wasn't too long to read - if you have any questions, please let me know! I think the most helpful thing you can do for yourself if you live near Vancouver (or will be around this summer) is go in during drop-in advising hours at Sauder and get advice from one of the undergraduate advisors. I thought it was going to be really intimidating the first time I went, but all of the ones I have spoken with were really nice (and at the same time, they were willing to give me the blunt honest truth about what I had to do to get in). They seemed like they actually wanted to help me get in; I guess they'd rather be able to accept the people that take the time to come get advice. Good luck!

(Responded on PM)

I don't know because they are currently out of province, and they probably don't know either because I know one gets most of her expenses paid by her parents and the other probably does too. And while student loan debt in Canada isn't nearly as bad as it is in the States, if it can be avoided, I think it probably should (I'm probably not the right person to ask though because I never have had to take student loans out). If you can get through without student loans and just working a to the extent that it doesn't really interfere with your ability to perform well in school, I would think that would be preferable to taking on debt.

According to their residence website, cheaper UBCO residence options (all of which share bathrooms and other spaces outside of the room) are around $5000 for the school year, but if you stay in any of the cheaper ones that aren't the Monashee quads you're expected to purchase a meal plan, which costs ~$3000-$4000. Tuition for a year of UBCO should be be $4500-$5000.

Into Sauder? It doesn't matter what school or faculty you go to beforehand, as long as you fill the prerequisites for 2nd year transfer. Sauder marks your transfer application on a combination of a your overall GPA, core GPA, and personal profile score, and nothing else. If you get above a certain score, you get in, and it has nothing to do with what schools you've gotten into in the past.

If you mean to transfer from UBCO Sciences into UBC Sciences, then I don't know, but I'd assume it's no different. The admissions systems seem pretty much identical since UBC implemented broad-based admissions for all of its faculties.

Good luck!