University of Calgary Information Session on Nov. 6, 2012
Contact: Jill Macbeath jill.macbeath@ucalgary.ca
Steven Kelly 403 220 8758 steven.kelly@ucalgary.ca
Stephen Johns at stephen.johns@ucalgary.ca
Natasha Men at natasha.men@ucalgary.ca
Scott Robinson at csrobins@ucalgary.ca
Stats
15269 applications for Fall 2012 for undergrad programs
58% of this were from high school students
83%
Admission average. This has gone up from last year. Goal is to drive this up, but not too much
52%
Applicants admitted
55%
of BC high school applicants were admitted
1031
high school applicants from BC.
12%
Applicants were from BC
7%
Canadian high school applications
11%
of high school applicants were international
Most popular Arts major is Economics. Most popular Science major is Biology.
New and Recent changes
1. Veterinary Medicine: Graduated 1st class in June 2012. Only 4 English speaking vet schools in Canada.
Must be Alberta residents- live and work in province for 12 consecutive months. Only 30 positions for
Alberta. Received full accreditation for 7 years.
2. Concurrent Education Program- 5 years. Direct entry from high school. They do offer the after degree
program as well. 4 years under grad + 2 years B.Ed .
3. Taylor Family Digital Library- Digital copies of all books. All collection accessible digitally. Very few
books. Now it’s more student hub than a traditional library. They still have access to books. Must
order them and they will be delivered.
4. Yamnuska Hall – new primarily second year residence. Suite style. 2 or 3 bedroom suites. Separate
rooms. Common kitchen. Starbuck is there. Residence guaranteed in 1st and 2nd year for all students,
even local students. Uof C has 2600 students in residence. Ist year is usually traditionally dorm style.
Students have to submit profile. Roommates matched based on profile.
5. Eyes High- New strategic direction. Goal is to become one of top 5 research institutions by 2016.
Hiring 50 new faculty- mostly based on teaching. University of Calgary Society for Young Researchersto give research opportunity to young undergrads in all areas – science, politics etc.
6. Common Reading Program- Every new student is given a book to read. Ideal- students can talk to
each other about this book. A way to connect to students. Books are chosen to get students involved.
“Bitter medicine” a story of a man’s struggle with mental illness. Even faculty read the book. It brings
the university together.
7. Office of Leadership and Student Engagement. Students matched with a mentor. Help students to set
goals, develop leadership skills.
Admissions Updates (by Scott)
1. Grade 11 Project- Two projects
i.
Internal Project in admissions office tracking 2012 applicants. Students self-report grades. To find
out how these self-reported grades matched with Gr. 11 final grades and Gr. 12 final grades.
Where there are major discrepancies in Gr. 11 and reported marks students were called. Right
now all offers are conditional and may be revoked based on final marks. For Engineering the best
predictor of success to enter into program was fall interim marks. For Arts the best predictor was
Gr. 11 final marks. Students with 90% or higher GPA – final Gr. 11 and 12s. how they succeeded
later in university. They were succeeding . Students with Grade below 80% lower success rate.
Band between 85 to 89% increased variability of success.
ii.
Proposal to change admission process. Now early admission is conditional admission. Proposalbased on Gr. 11 marks for those with 90% and higher GPA for students in Canada. Will look at Gr.
11 courses that mirror the pre-requisite Gr. 12 courses. So students with 90% or higher in Gr. 11
will receive unconditional offer. Second piece- final admission based on fall grades and not final
grades. Fall firm offers with an expectation that they maintain the average. These are just
proposals. If firm offers are made will the students slack off. The Dean of Science is the option
that even if they slack off in Gr. 12 ,it doesn’t really matter. They will still be successful in
university.
For out of province students UofC will follow whatever UBC is doing.
Pre-Calculus 12 will replace Principles of Math 12.
Exception: For nursing, the preferred Math is Foundations of Math 12. But is Science is their second
choice, students are advised to go the Pre-Calculus 12 way.
New: Direct entry into Honours Biological Science Programs from high school.
English 12 Provincial Exam: Not required for students with adult diploma. For high school students the
blended mark will be automatically considered. But if school mark is better, students must email
admissions to consider this mark.
There is no minimum grade required for English 12. Only minimum required for Math in some programs.
Tracking: 95% with B average in school will get a C or so in college.
Admission Requirements
Page 52 and 53 of viewbook.
High school students need English 12 + 4 other Gr. 12 academic subjects. All programs need 3 academic
courses (A and B column courses). 5th course options- could be D column. Most flexible Arts. But for
engineering no choice. Fixed courses. All five of them. Most programs have the 5th course option. Law 12
and Economics 12 are used only as option D. List D is not exhaustive list. But includes all academic
including WE course. They should be 4 credit course or 2+2 credit course.
Out of Province Students
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Four acceptable courses instead of five. Will look at UBC model. English 12 + 3 other courses.
Acceptable out-of province courses includes Law 12 and Economics 12. For eg. For Arts students can
have English 12 and 3 other courses including Law 12 and Economics 12.
Dual Policy
First will look at standard admission policy. And if they don’t meet this then automatically look at out –ofprovince admission policy. Dual policy might change.
Guaranteed admission like UofA: Yes. They do have this in place. The required admission averages are
set in December every year.
Admission Process
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Opened on Oct. 1
April 1- Application deadline for limited enrolment like Engineering
Ideally apply from Oct. 1 to Dec. 15 to qualify for big scholarships
May 1 final admission deadline
There is a centralized system for online application. applyalberta.ca Not as sophisticated as
OUCC. Has a video tutorial. Students can apply through applyalberta.ca or
www.ucalgary.ca/apply.
Choose a first and second choice program. Recommend a second one as a back-up option.
Usually first choice will be considered. If inadmissible then second choice will be looked at. So
second choice comes only if first is ruled out.
Students can change their choice anytime.
Self-report grades. Important. Will not look at an application, unless they self-report their grades.
Don’t mail in transcripts. This will not be looked at.
If students don’t have report card, they can ask their teachers for marks or guestimate them. But
the guess must be realistic and honest.
Can upgrade marks as many times as they want, if there is improved grades.
Once accepted into UofC don’t upgrade marks. Once you have an offer, don’t have to do
anything else.
If you drop a course that is part of GPA, then inform UofC. Then UofC can advise students of their
options.
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Can self-report from Oct. No hard and fast rules. Recommended to report in Nov.
Students must fill out the PSI choices form so that UofC receives the final marks.
Automatic scholarships are based on Gr. 12 final marks. This is based on TRAX.
International students need to have done Gr. 10, 11 and 12 in Canada. If not need TOEFL or 80%
in final English 12. This they may know only in July of grad year. So better to take the TOEFL. As
long as students do Gr. 10, 11 and 12 it’s okay. No way to track ESL.
Check the application online at my.ucalgary.ca
Conditional offers sent out. First offers begin in Dec.
Conditional offers of admission is based on 2 courses of the required 5. 2 highest. Not necessarily
English 12. Alberta is mostly semestered.
Final offers based on 5 Gr. 12 final courses.
August 1- Deadline for final transcripts through TRAX
Confidentiality- students can fill a form to share information with a third party. For eg. Parent,
counsellor etc. In future, the plan is to have the form online.
Guaranteed Admission
Guaranteed averages set in December. Viewbook has only estimated grades.
Scholarships and Awards
$12 million in undergrad awards given out each year.
Automatic awards- $500 to $2500 based on five Gr. 12 final marks. No application is required.
Scholarship first based on 2 courses. This is conditional on final marks. Might go up or down.
Athletic Awards- Never too early to consider. Gr. 10, 11 and 12 high level athletes must get in touch with
the coach.
Non automatic. Engineering has the highest $60,000. Science it’s $10,000. One central application for all.
Awards Deadline
Dec. 15
Prestige
April 1
High School Awards
April 30
Guaranteed
Faculty of Arts
Newly amalgamated faculty in 2010. Over 50 programs.
Music program is very specialized. Offers BA and B.Mus. Very selective students. One on one music
lessons with students. Most common program is Economics. Page 10 of viewbook.
No coop for Psyc. But has a research opportunity. Offers BA and BSc in Psychology.
Faculty offers seven degrees. BA, BSc, B.Mus. etc.
Math 12 requirement: All first year courses start with 2….. Students . Students can upgrade or take prerequisite courses through continuing education at UofC. This should not be in a course that is required
for admission, but required later to take some university level courses. For instance for Economics,
students need to take Math 249. To take this course students need 75% or higher in Math 12. For
Psychology students need Math 12 to take university level Math, no mark is required.
Engineering
Calgary, location is great. Calgary is the engineering capital of Canada. UofC has Schulich School of
Engineering. Great for internships. UBC offers traditional coop. At UofC students go out for internship
only after 3 years of study. Work only after that. These mature students have made valuable
contribution.
Engineering has common first year. More engineering schools are going for this model. In highs school
students take Physics 12, Chemistry 12, Calculus 12, but no engineering courses. They don’t really have a
good grasp of engineering. So 1st year is just to get your feet wet. Specialization in 2nd year. Internship
not mandatory. But 3 quarter of students do this. $50,000 to $60,000 earned during internship. Also
these 12 months count towards P.Eng. 30 go out to Switzerland. Little weak in South America. Strong in
Europe.
Internship office staffed by people with industry background.
More desirable placements are competitive. Everyone who wants an internship gets one. Work is
available.
P.Eng is the licensing body for engineers.
EIT- Engineer in Training. 12 months of internship goes towards this. 3 to 4 years as EIT + exams to get
P.Eng.
In internship there is evaluation by employer. No academic credit for this course. Internship may not
become mandatory. 70% of engineering students apply for internship. 90% get internship. Because some
want to go to grad school or med school. They don’t do internship. Almost all get job offers before
graduation.
Civil, Mechanical and Petroleum Engineering are very popular. Oil and gas focus. Largest scholarships in
Canada for engineering. $60,000 each.
Commerce: Is very popular. Haskayne School of Business. Can pick specialization right away. Unique
Hotel & Resort Management . 2nd year diploma to enter.
Professional Programs: UofC has professional programs. Dentistry and Pharmacy are the only two
additional professional programs at UofA. Students from UofC go to UofA for these programs. Whereas
Architecture and Vet. Med. are only offered at UofC. Students from UofA come to UofC for these
programs.
Note: Calgary campus is the only campus relevant for BC students.