UVic raises admission requirements

An increase in applications to UVic for the 2002–03 academic year and more returning students mean that UVic’s admission cut-off for the upcoming winter session is rising.

The grade point average (GPA) cut-off for first year admission to arts and science programs will be 81 per cent this year, up from last year’s GPA of 75 per cent. The cut-off for college transfer students is rising to 5.6 (B–B+), up from last year’s 5.0 (B).

“Overall applications to UVic are up this year, and at the same time our rate of retention is higher than ever before. That combination of factors causes the admissions cut-off to rise,” says vice-president academic Jamie Cassels. “The higher cut-off is also a reflection of the high calibre of students who are applying.” He adds that the increase in applications also reflects the increasing number of 18 to 24 year olds in the province.

As of mid-May, UVic had received over 7,000 applications for 2,400 first year FTE positions.

Arts and science courses serve as pre-requisites for most of the other programs on campus. The exception is the faculty of engineering which has separate GPA cut-offs (78 per cent for electrical, computer and mechanical engineering and 75 per cent for computer science). Admission to fine arts classes is based on other requirements in addition to GPA.

The university is funded for 13,821 undergraduate and graduate FTEs in 2002–03. This figure includes provincial government funding for an additional 293 undergraduate students. Over half of these spaces were allocated to specific programs such as computer science, electrical and software engineering, and nursing.

“Even with a cut-off of 81 per cent, we’ll likely exceed our funded capacity by 700 undergraduate and graduate FTEs,” says Cassels.

Last fall, there were indications that the GPA cut-off could rise. When UVic recruiting teams met with high school counsellors and students, they advised students to have a back-up plan for their post-secondary education.

UVic admissions will monitor the number of students accepting offers of admission over the summer. If fewer accept than projected then it’s possible the cut-off could be reduced slightly, but applicants were advised to not depend on this.