How good is UBC?

its good? Ranked 35th in the world. But that is really subjective. I have been told that UBC would be ranked much higher if they pumped out more research and studies.

I think bang for buck Canadian universities are a much better deal than Americans. But UBC obviously isn't the same name drop as say Harvard. Most Canadian universities will give you about the same standard of education, if you get a degree from UBC it really won't differ that much from McGill, U of T, U of A or SFU. And sometimes going to a smaller lesser known school might open more opportunities, UBC is massive and VERY competitive for that reason, where as if you were to get a degree at maybe TRU you might graduate with a higher GPA and potentially open more doors that way.  In Canada undergrads are so common that as long as you go to a decent school it doesn't matter where you got it from. Its more the grad schools where what school you attend matters.

It totally depends on what you are studying and what exactly you want out of school that makes it good or bad. But I am almost certain UBC will be enough for you academically.

the degree looks good to employers, although it depends on what program you take. For example, UBC is known for having a good engineering program, so having a BASc from UBC may give you an advantage over another applicant who got the same degree from lets say, UVIC. The actual amount of knowledge and experience that you acquire probably won't differ much though, I go to UBC and I can't say that many of my professors are great. In fact, with smaller class sizes at other universities (where the prof actually knows you and cares about your learning), you will probably learn more and learn it better.

thats true. But Engineering and Nursing are about the only degrees where you get a job from it directly.

  I guess I am just speaking from my own experience, where I am studying Human Kinetics, and once graduated will be apply for Occupation Therapy and Physio Therapy Masters, where it doesn't matter at all what school you went to, just GPA and which province you have residency.

ubc is a good school.
if you plan on getting in the best schools in the world then you shouldnt be asking that cause usually you d be informed about that shit.

and asking if a school is good or not is actually kinda dumb cause we dont know what you re doing, whant you plan to do, what you want to do.
if you want a master s degree, if you dont, if you want to do math, physics, engineering, medschool, political science...

and what s a good school ? a school where you learn tons of shit ? a school that will get you a job ?
depends on what you looking for.

i m  at ubc right now and i m enjoying it, people are chill, soon we will get to ski, and the classes are really interesting.

this is my 6th year of college and believe me location is something really important. i ve been to plenty of different locations and even if the school is the bes in the world, if you are living in a shitty studio paying 1000 $ a month and having to work your ass off all the time and not being able to do what you like you ll regret it.
if you are really that good at school then you shouldnt be asking those kind of questions, and if you re just like every one else then go to somewhere where you can get a good education, that doesnt ruin your parents, and where you ll enjoy those college years where you dont have any actual responsibilities...

adn UBC has some top researchers in plenty of domains.

so to me UBC is a good choice.

I want to major in engineering then have a competitive chance at getting admitted to an elite medical school.  How well does UBC fulfill those requirements?

i dont know about that cause i m doing second year mastes in math so i dont really know about medschool here,
but i heard engineering programs are good and intense here.
so i dont know maybe someone here has tried this.
i ll ttry to ask around and tell you.

Engineering is a very good degree to fall back on, but like if medicine is your goal then it will hurt your GPA.

I know people who have gotten into medicine from smaller schools like UNBC, TRU and others who have gotten in from UBC. It doesn't really matter where you get your undergrad for that. Engineering is hard and competitive you could graduate with a GPA of say 3.0 from and not get into med school. Or you could graduate with a 4.0 in psychology from UNBC and get in. Its not as black and white as people make it. If your goal is medschool in the end I think graduating at the best school possible is only a minor factor. From what I've gathered from people who are in or who have had interviews at UBC medicine its more A.) GPA B). MCAT results C.) extra-curricular activities/ volunteering D.) Impression on the interview E.) who your family is. ( I know that sounds twisted, but if your dad is a surgeon your odds will be higher.)

Having said all that, UBC Engineering is a good thing to fall back on, and atleast you'll have a direct job out of that. I myself know nothing about it, people at UBC say its good, but I've heard people at UofA snub it, its really a matter of opinion. Check the McCleans university rankings, world unversity rankings (all of which are subject and biased) but on paper those will be the best schools. Myself what I will value from UBC in the end is that it seems to attract like minded people, people who enjoy the mountains. Something that I don't think other schools comparable to UBC have to offer. So my advice to you is not just think what is the best school, but more what does this school have to offer me as a whole, on and off campus and what potential opportunities can I make from them. When you have an interview for medschool there will a bunch of applicants with good grades from good schools, set yourself apart from them in other ways.

does anyone else think this is a joke? actually, not just like 'haha, this guy's crazy', but i think he's actually messing with us...

Gharf, you struck that nail right on the head.

UBC has one of the top med schools in Canada, but if you want to go that route, Engineering is a bad way in (as mentioned above), also it probably won't cover the pre-reqs. Do a BSc in Bio is probably the best way. Trying to sneak in with a garbage undergrad like psyc (sorry psyc majors) is not a good idea, you will get hammered without hard sciences knowledge, and your med application will look weak (but it's not impossible).

UBC has a good business school as well (Sauder). The reality with undergrad is that you will get a similar experience at pretty much every major Canadian school.

You can do a Psyc major in sciences. I know a few people in med school with psyc major its not a big deal. Its more how you plan your electives for the needed pre-reqs, people with Arts can still potentially get into medschool. The first year of medschool is to get those people up to speed with it.

But I agree Bio, bio chem or even Hkin would be the most practical for medschool.

When you first said something incorrect, I just thought you had slipped up, but then you kept going.  You clearly aren't qualified to be giving advice to anybody.  Please refrain from further posting.  You are an idiot and are worthless to this conversation.

i know i was a dick in my response, that was my intention. constructive criticism through tough love. i hope you can appreciate the necessity of asking a pointed question. it is difficult to help someone when they do not specify how they need help. advice will be much more useful if you ask your question in a way that allows a person to use their expertise properly. i stand by my opinion that your original question had little point and i challenge you to provide evidence that you've done your due diligence in researching appropriate academic institutions

haha seriously?
Those were some valid points.  You can't go looking for answers without a well thought out question.

My research was to go onto this website called Naviance that my school provides for me to investigate colleges.  The information it gave me was contradictory to what I'd heard previously, so I came here to ask people with firsthand experience. 

Here you go son,

http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2010/results
http://www.med.ubc.ca/home.htm
http://www.engineering.ubc.ca/
http://oncampus.macleans.ca/education/rankings/

Yeah, I'm a UBC Commerce student.

It's a good school, and I feel that my profs have excellent qualifications (and are very good instructors).

I find it kind of odd that you're searching for academic school advice as a relatively new member on a skiing message board though. If you really want hard facts about the academic side of a school you should try some of the Canadian post-secondary discussion forums out on the net. One that comes to mind is studentawards.

Keep in mind the "best" academic school and the "best" academic school for you as an individual can be completely different things. You should also tour the campus if you've never been out this way before.

HKIN: the backdoor to med school

you got some pretty legit answers from different people here.

but this is a skiing website dude so the kind of questions that are usually asked here are more like how far is ubc from seymour ? :)

dont hate on hucksplats he s right education is a complicated stuff and your question was really vague he made a legit point. :)

UBC is a really great school you ll enjoy your time here if you come.
lots of people who ski, lots of cool people, and believe me having friends in college is as important as getting a good degree..
good luck in your decision.

i think engineering is a bad choice if you want to do medchool though.
bio or hkin seems to make more sense.

Are you 15 or something? I really hope you aren't about to graduate high school, with the critical thinking skills you are displaying here you are going nowhere.

All the evidence supporting your claim is in this room:

 

Hey, wait a minute. That room's empty.  The fuck? I must've used the wrong picture.

do you like that course? Health sciences and human kinetics? and is it more based on kinesiology , or...?

umm ya. Gets a bit repetitive but I enjoy it. I don't know anything about Health Sciences, but Human Kinetics is very similar to kinesiology, many of the core courses are the same. Kinesiology is a Bsc, where as HKIN is a BHK, unless you do the kinesiology stream at UBC. Hkin I guess is a little more well rounded, where as Kinesiology is a pure science. Kinda hard to explain. Both have positive aspects to them.

alright thanks for the info, i still have another year to decide but that was a program i was considering