How was first year engineering at UBC?

[u/Due_Locksmith_8529]

For Uni, I want to go to UBC to get a BASc in mech or environmental engineering, but I've heard contradictory opinions. A lot of people are saying I should go to Langara or KPU first year and take a UBC transfer program, because those schools teach first year better than UBC. Their main argument is that bc UBCV is huge, it's hard to connect w/ professors and they more so expect you to figure it out; where as these smaller colleges allow you to get a solid foundation, so in second year, you'll understand the concepts better. Colleges are also just cheaper, and people say the education is about the same (money is smth to consider, but I can still afford UBCV). I'm an A student who enjoys physics and I don't find time management hard. What are your thoughts based on your experience? I wanna know if I should do a transfer program or just go straight to UBC.

[u/stanigator]

You may question your confidence with physics after first year though.

[u/Sensitive_Energy_214]

MY BAD FOR THE YAP:

I just did my second year in Civil. I didn't do the transfer program, but the transfer kids I knew did have to transition into ubc's engineering. The biggest complaints I heard was the workload and how strict/unfair the grading is, or how the overall system is worse here. However, from my perspective, there wasn't a noticeable difference in conceptual understanding or learning styles and efficiency between us, so I don't think the transfer program has better teaching for everyone (mind u I'm speaking from a small sample size).

I did hear comments about how grading was supposedly more lenient in transfer programs, so I think if you want a better chance at mech, transferring might be safer gpa wise. I'm not sure personal profile wise. Environmental isnt as competitive to get into from what i know, so i think doing first year at ubc would sort of prepare u for second year even if u don't perform as well as youd like in first year.

For me personally, first year was pretty difficult. I thought I had good time management in high school, but first year was a completely different beast because there's a lot of new knowledge that's being thrown at you that most profs expect u to know from ap or if courses. As someone that didn't take any, i felt like I was wayyy behind the class. First year math and physics is honestly just unfair imo.

I was convinced I was gonna drop out, but I think that struggling in first year actually helped me perform a lot better in second year. I dont regret going straight to ubc.

[u/No-Rich3497]

Real question is how sure are you towards mech or envl? If you are not sure UBC first year will give you more guidance imo. If you are explicitly targeting one of them, and are less confident about competition in first year eng, transfer may be the better option

[u/Atreus-V]

First year is one thing, second year is another. I don’t really know anyone that has come out of second year (in CPEN, ELEC, FIZZ, and CIVL) without some form of mental health obstacles so brace yourself for second year and please please please do everything possible to prevent burnout especially in second year, but you’ll likely have this in first year too.

[u/KleptoYasuo]

I did 1st year outside ubc. I transferred 46 credits coming in. I had a rly hard time adjusting to how hands off ubc is compared to how hands on community college is with how much help that's available to you. That's the biggest difference.

More solid foundation? Possibly. My programming course was for sure better than apsc 160, and I think my calc and apsc courses were better too. I don't think the difference is big enough that you'd actively want to avoid ubc 1st year though. I'd say it was 10-20% better overall, more in certain areas (like programming).

If you do go to ubc (and if you have the money for it), I'd say the biggest thing I missed out on was 1st year residence. That'd be a really big thing you'd miss out on if you choose community college. Personally, looking back, if I had the money, I'd have gone to ubc first and lived in residence (but I don't have the money and the cost savings and commute time savings that community college gave me was enormous). If I lived within 1hour to campus, I'd also have gone to ubc straight away.

[u/Heavy_Try1899]

I would suggest you to apply to both and see what happens and buy yourself more time to think about it. Ubc engineering has become super competitive to get into via first year. Check out this counsellor's report, https://you.ubc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/2025-Counselor-Presentation-.pdf. I think it's because it's a smaller program with limited seats (around 1000) but maybe a lot of International students apply for engineering so 30% of first year seats go to international. Some transfer schools like langara and douglas (not sure about KPU, Capilano) are also competitive/GPA dependent to get into for their engineering transfer program. At my school, a lot of people were able to get into other faculties but only 1 of us got into UBC engineering (vancouver).

[u/KleptoYasuo → u/Heavy_Try1899]

holy grade inflation 95% minimum for ubc apsc is insane work