Anyone have experience with the Bachelor of International Economics program at UBC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work in the international economics field and I have not heard of this specific program, though I come across UBC grads occasionally amongst my Canadian colleagues. Perhaps they did this program.

UBC's economics dept has been around 100 years but rebranded themselves as the "Vancouver School of Economics" (VSE) in about 2013-ish. This specialized Bachelor of International Economics program is considered their crown jewel of undergrad and includes career coaching, internships, co-op in the program. It's essentially a BA in Econ Honors (VSE) plus a minor in Business (Sauder).

I think the program sounds really exciting for a student who is interested in majoring in Econ, but also wants a global business perspective. I think with Mark Carney at the realm up North and Trump here, Canada is becoming more of an at-reach destination for our kids. It basically costs the same as out of state public college for our kids once you factor in the exchange rate ($60-ish K Canadian dollars = $40-ish K Us dollars). Plus Vancouver is 'chef's kiss' in terms of a world-class city!

so what's the catch?

Getting in! Only 100 spots for 4000 applicants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work in the international economics field and I have not heard of this specific program, though I come across UBC grads occasionally amongst my Canadian colleagues. Perhaps they did this program.

UBC's economics dept has been around 100 years but rebranded themselves as the "Vancouver School of Economics" (VSE) in about 2013-ish. This specialized Bachelor of International Economics program is considered their crown jewel of undergrad and includes career coaching, internships, co-op in the program. It's essentially a BA in Econ Honors (VSE) plus a minor in Business (Sauder).

I think the program sounds really exciting for a student who is interested in majoring in Econ, but also wants a global business perspective. I think with Mark Carney at the realm up North and Trump here, Canada is becoming more of an at-reach destination for our kids. It basically costs the same as out of state public college for our kids once you factor in the exchange rate ($60-ish K Canadian dollars = $40-ish K Us dollars). Plus Vancouver is 'chef's kiss' in terms of a world-class city!

so what's the catch?

Getting in! Only 100 spots for 4000 applicants.

This program is on my radar and I've been doing research. Admission is somewhat nuanced/holistic, but you need an unweighted average of A/A-, high SAT (1500-ish) but they particularly look at your Math score (try to get it as close as possible to 800) since the curriculum is quant heavy. You take Econ, Calculus, Econometrics/Stats and Data in smaller class sections. You also need 2 yrs language and can take several electives per year. They do care about leadership/character since there are 4 essay questions you can choose from some prompts like UCs. The classes are small and the cohort is only 100 so "fit" really matters. That said it's well-resourced, with individual advising and career mentoring/coaching and access to co-ops/alums.