UBC Reports | Vol. 47 | No. 13 | September 6, 2001

Commerce opens door to first-years

More than 1,000 applied; 150 first-year students enter in pilot project

The biz whiz kids have arrived at UBC. Not another hipster teen band, but a cohort of outstanding high school students looking for a top-ranked business school.

The Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration has turned out to be the destination of choice for 150 first-year students whose average high school grade point average is 90 per cent. Previously, the faculty only accepted students in their second year or later.

"We felt that we should congratulate exceptional high school achievements by allowing those students who named Commerce as their first-choice program to enter in their first year," says Patricia Shanahan, assistant dean and director, Undergraduate Programs.

"Students now have a choice to join a top-rated business school from day one, located right in their own back yard."

More than 1,400 applications were received in the first year of a pilot project designed to attract top students from Canada and abroad.

Like many Canadian universities, UBC has traditionally required students to complete first-year prerequisites in Math, Economics and English and other electives, and then apply to Commerce as second-year students.

The first-year students admitted gained entrance on the basis of their high school grades, with the majority of entrants having some form of scholarship.

The change will enable the faculty to more successfully compete for outstanding students among a growing number of major business schools, including Queen's, Western and Toronto, which already accept first-year students or guarantee them admission upon completion of prerequisites.

Students accepted into first-year Commerce will take the required Math, Economics and English courses, as well as Organizational Behaviour and Accounting courses normally taken in second year.

The students will also be able to become involved with Commerce activities, such as the Commerce Undergraduate Society, various clubs and social events, a year earlier than normal, in order to help foster a stronger connection to the faculty.