Here’s a batch of links I’ve bookmarked over the months that were helpful. Hope it helps you in some way or another.

Best Places to Nap on the UBC Campus – an awesome list for the sleepier ones amongst us, compiled by Humaira

Grade Distribution and Curves for UBC Classes – this is an absolute GOLDMINE. You can check all the grades for past classes here. This is as reliable as you can get! You will never have to wonder whether a prof is easy or not or how many A’s he or she hands out! It gives highest, lowest, passing rate, average, total attendance etc.

UBC Rate My Profs – y’all should know this already. Take every comment here about profs with a grain of salt!

UBC LEAP – “We Help You Learn” is the perfect for LEAP (Learning Enhancement Academic Partnership Program). This huge site has everything you need for academic survival and beyond. Check it out! On a sidenote, I actually worked on part of the site with the awesome folks over at Student Development and the Office of Learning Technology for the majority of the summer!

An Ancient Guide to Climbing Almost Every Building on the UBC Campus – Caution: try at your own risk. I thought this was hilarious.

The Ubyssey – our official newspaper! Lookin’ gorgeous after a makeover this summer. Keep up-to-date with campus news.

UBC Blogsquad – of course Don’t forget everyone in my blogroll!

I wish everyone an exciting and fruitful school year. Keep in touch.

It makes me kind of sad that I don’t have a single photo from my high school graduation ceremony.  You know those ones, where everyone is dressed in oversized, red-rimmed black gowns with somewhat forceful grins on their faces? And then there is some blurry shot of a figure walking across a dark stage? Nope, not me. In fact, I didn’t even attend this fabled important rite of passage. At the time, I was on a plane to Beijing, with the plan of coming back to Vancouver ASAP and spending as much time as possible during the the summer working to pay for a $40 000 per year tuition.

So I guess I should start my story at the beginning.

UBC was not my first choice university. For a brief time in junior year, the basement of Koerner became my second home as I toiled over a thesis paper. During the last few years of high school, I had the “fortune” of riding the 480 bus, where I vowed to never become one of the tired-looking university students spending two hours on commuting every day. UBC was too familiar, too local, too easy to get in (I know, I’m sorry). The “been there, done that” feeling was overwhelming.  In April 2008, I promptly submitted both my Statement of Intent to Register and housing deposit to a fine university on the west coast of the United States. Sunny California was calling my name and I prepared to bid farewell to rainy Vancouver.

Three months later, after I had gotten my dorm room number and planned cost-effective ways of getting to Cali by train, I threw it all away. Multiple banks turned down my loan applications. My parents shook their heads soberly: they simply couldn’t afford it. That day in August when I gave up the US school and decided to attend UBC instead, I cried – both out of frustration and relief. On one hand, I finally have a definite future, one involving one of best-regarded universities in this country where I knew what to expect in terms of academics, involvement, and expenses. On the other hand, why should I be restricted in my education by finances? Why should I be bereft of the opportunity I earned by merit, when other people had trust funds, RESPs, rich relatives, and parents with savings? What was so fundamentally wrong with me that private universities with financial aid turned me down? It is with these unanswered, unanswerable questions that I came to UBC.

I won’t lie. Despite all the wonderful things that were going on in my life, the best way to describe the first few months of my university career would be  “mundane and trivial”.  School was neither intellectually-stimulating nor particularly challenging. Some of my profs cared, some didn’t. I still worked two jobs, was dead tired half the time, and yearned to sleep in on Sunday morning.

Some where along the way, things changed. UBC took its hold on me. I lived and breathed Sauder and started to love every single moment of my time here. I met a supportive group of friends, peers, staff members, faculty etc.  They say university is where you meet your best friends for life, and it’s absolutely true. In addition, I had – and still have – numerous opportunities to observe how things work behind the scenes in this great institution. I appreciate and vividly remember every single elusive moment that left a happy impression on me. Four years of post-secondary eduction in the grand scheme of things is a mere instant. I intend to treasure my time at UBC, no matter how brief or intermittent.

I love UBC. I love it for the humbleness with which it presents itself to the world. I love it for the opportunities it gives to people like me to blog at our hearts’ desire. I love it for its glorious achievements on the world stage of academia. I love it in all its imperfections and idiosyncracies.

Ten years down the road, no matter where I am, I will always remember how UBC as an institution and as a collective of talented minds young and old changed my outlooks on life forever.

Of course, having exhausted all trailer clips, I’ll be in line at 10pm at the Riverport Famous Player waiting for the midnight release, because I’m a dork like that, YAY!

P.S. – very jealous of Jason‘s Tuesday day-time pre-release, courtesy of BMO, nice!

6. Scholarships -

Profitability: UBC has a curious tendencies of drastically downsizing the scholarship amounts after luring us in Freshman year. If you didn’t struck gold with the $20 000+ Major Entrance Scholarships, you’ll have to “make do” with mere $500 – $4000 scholarships for the next few years.

Time: The great things about some university scholarships is that you don’t even have to apply – they come straight to your mailbox thanks to a faculty committee handing them out. Others might require application forms and reference letters.

Skills/Difficulty: Not top in your class? Not to worry, you get something even if you’re second sometimes! Woot! Sarcasm aside, there is a bit of competition for grades and whatnot but we all know the atmosphere at UBC isn’t as cutthroat as those of MIT or Berkeley. So try your best kids.

7. Marketing studies –

Sauder has its marketing studies and psycology classes have their own for bonus and/or money experiments. Sometimes it’s a questionnaire on the computer, other times it’s a mini essay or a short activity. I’ve been asked to taste food many times.

Profitability: I earned $65 in term one from doing five or six studies. Obvious not one you should use to support our tuition, but it’s nice to have some spare cash on the side. FYI, they pay in cash. It’s kind of sketchy actually.

Time: It averages out to about $10-$15 per hour. Including travelling time to the labs. Not too many opportunities though, but at least the time slots are flexible.

Skills/Difficulty: I was once paid $10 to sample Chip Ahoy cookies and rate my preference for that over carrots. Oh good times! These require minimum thinking basically.

8. Textbook resale -

Profitability: I made $370 this year from the sale of all of my textbooks. I still have a few books left and I plan to get rid of it in September.

Time: Most students I know are too lazy to bother selling their books. It does take some time researching the market price, listing the books, bargaining, and finally meeting up to complete the transaction (why does this sound so sketchy?) I believe the rewards outweigh the costs in this case.

Skills/Difficulty: It’s almost becoming a ritual now. The day after my exam, I list all of my textbooks on sale on Facebook, Craigslist, and Save on Books. I never buy new books either so more often than not I’m actually MAKING money from textbooks. I take meticulous notes in certain courses and throw those in as a bonus, or up the price. 30% of the sales I made were to friends, and in this case I cut the price a little. Patience is probably the most important virtue here.

! Newsflash !

If you have textbooks you would like to get rid of, I will be happy to help out! There is a small transaction fee plus a 10% cut of your profits, and I’ll do all of the listing, bargaining, and selling for you. You sit there and wait for the money to come to you. Email me, I’m serious

9. Ticket resale –

Profitability: Start small and build up a momentum. It takes a little bit of luck to get cheap tickets to a popular, limited seating UBC event in the first place,  make sure it sells out, then hope there are students eager enough to pay above the asking price. You could potentially lose a lot of money doing ticket resales. I have never done it but I’ve heard both good and bad stories. Personally I don’t recommend it.

Time: Busy around social event season. Not steady income, depends heavily on event itself and how much you can market yourself.

Skills/Difficulty: I don’t think ticket resale is the same as scalping. You’re merely catering to the high demand for a popular event. This is one of those methods where people make money inadvertently – say you buy a few extra events to a gala event for friends, and they end up not being able to go that down. If you keep it, it’s a waste of money, but if you sell it to some other eager student at a reasonable price, you’re making someone else’s day

10. Blogging –

Profitability: Blogging is quite a lucrative business at UBC. I missed out on the Voter Funded Media in the AMS election this year, where eight bloggers split a jaw-dropping $8000. The awesome writers at the UBC Spectator took home $1200! Throughout the year, there were also weekly polls where I made a couple of bucks with UBC Years. Of course, you can always put ads on your blog and generate money through clicks.

Time: Blogging takes a considerable amount of time. I’m sure Justin lost sleep during the AMS elections in his “UBC spectating” activities. I’m averaging a meagre four entries a month, with some entries taking up to four hours to write and research.

Skills/Difficulty: In order for a blog to survive for a really long time, the author must REALLY LOVE blogging. Some people see writing as a homework or a chore more than anything, and are really quite puzzled as to we would do it for fun. I guess it’s a challenging, rewarding, and narcissitic experience all at the same time! I often get emails from strangers asking questions, seeking advice, or even just thanking me for writing. Those make my day.

BONUS: Company Sponsorship of Your Name and/or Clothes

I thought of this in a sudden stroke of inspiration. Since we’ve pretty much sold our textbooks, sold our tickets, sold our souls, why not sell our names as well?! Instead of being known as “Phoebe Yu, student of Sauder”, I will henceforth be be known as “Phoebe Yu – Nando’s Flaming Chicken student of Sauder” (has a nice ring to it doesn’t it?). Instead of being called “Professor of Commerce”, let’s go for “XX Financial Group Professor of Commerce”! Oh wait, what’s that, it’s already being done? … Drats!

Do you know any more ways to make money at UBC? Comment below! Be sure to check out part one of this two-part series.

There were four or five booths beside the PeerNetBC one and it really goes to show how connected the non-profit/youth-led groups in Vancouver are! I knew the colleague of the guy who was there from Check Your Head (above). One of the Points Youth Media girl beside my booth (below) was the sister of this girl I knew from my organization. One table over, the girl participated in the My Circle program with my friend. And the City of Vancouver ladies two tables away I knew from Youthpolitik and also from presenting a workshop at City Hall a few months  ago. Wow!

My gigantic board (which I didn’t make) kept blowing away haha.

The dance troupes were very adorable! I was standing on a chair at this point, to the annoyance of the people behind me.

And the dance troupes kept getting younger and younger. The tiny guy at the front breakdances!

Main Street goes car-free!

For those of you who read the Vancouver 24 Hours newspaper, you probably have seen the cynical comments in “letter to the editor” about how useless Car-Free Vancouver is when it comes to reducing traffic and helping the environment. That part is true, in my opinion. I had to have one of my colleagues drive me over and park a block away to get the board there. A lot of people simply drove as close as possible and parked infront of someone’s lawn. However, I don’t think the value of a street festival-type event such as this should be measured by how much it helped the environment. I saw tons of kids and families there having a blast and I think it’s just a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Not only does it gives non-profit organizations a chance to showcase their services, but also lets merchants/performers promote their products/acts. It sort of adds a little culture and recognition to a city that sorely lacks it. I know I would’ve spent the day couped up at home if it wasn’t for Car-Free Vancouver.

QOTW: Do you think there should be future Car-Free Vancouver Day’s? Have you been to other street festivals?

Bring on the keywords!

480 ubc runs on weekends
No, it doesn’t. You’ll have to take the 98 B-Line and then the 25/41/49/99 bus.

phoebe yu birthday
I’m flattered you’re trying to find someone’s birthday on Google, wait, on Google, seriously?!

chinese girls ubc commerce
Umm… *gulp*. There are a lot of us here… but we’re not sure if we want YOU here…

at ubc we like them yong [sic]
-Disturbed- (this is actually a line from a Sauder Frosh cheer, haha you’ll see)

mean things to do to someone to get them back

1. Tell them to Google stupid things
2. Get that featured on a blog

Oh wait, you just did that. Cream of the crop indeed.

lemche exam mark econ
For ECON101 in Fall 2008, the average was 67.

ubc econ gateman average
For ECON102 in Spring 2009, the average was 66.

someone’s ubc commerce supplemental
Because we all love posting our university applications on the internet.

ubc commerce accepted me april 2009
Great! Congratulations for getting accepted. Let me ask you this though, WHY ARE YOU GOOGLING INSTEAD OF OUT CELEBRATING?!

ubc harry potter room
*SQUEE* That could refer either to the Chapman Learning Commons or the Riddington Room. Both are gorgeous.

And then we have people who straight up asked questions!

should i bring a resume to a networking event?
Thoughts anyone? I don’t recommend it unless it’s more of a job fair. You’ll seem clunky and desperate and there’s a reason it’s called a networking event not a hiring fair. Bring those business cards though!

why are ubc chinese classes so unfair?
Compared to commerce, many arts profs seem to have distorted ideas of what good marks are. The general trend is lower averages but smaller deviations. Chinese is obviously quite subjective and heavily dependent on your background. I’m taking CHIN214 (Intensive Intermediate Heritage Chinese) and I find the evaluation methods to be quite fair.

ubc students easygoing?
We’re chill, yo.

what are parties like at ubc?
Like parties anywhere, quite awesome.

how much can you get for selling a kidney?
SO many people googled variations of this. Oh dear!

how to use the word “fiscal”?
You good sir, are definitely not fiscally-challenged.

AND THE BEST KEYWORD PRIZE GOES TO…

what to do when you are at a networking event and no one will talk to you?
How about striking up a casual conversation with the person sitting next to you and asking them questions about their jobs and interests? Genius.

And there you have it ladies and gentleman, the things people google to get to UBC Years. Keep up the outstanding work.

Excellent, excellent question Matt. Here it is in brief and I will expand this into a blog post one day.

1. Attend the Pep Rally on Imagine Day and cheer your heart out
2. Join a club, council, or association on campus (shameless promotion: International Business Club, for example)
3. Take a interest in the AMS candidates and vote in the AMS election
4. Take advantage of free swimming at the aquatic center
5. Visit the Rose Garden and trek down to Wreck Beach
6. Read the Ubyssey (optional: and comment on UBC Years and all the lovely people on the Blogsquad )
7. Visit all of your TAs and Profs during office hours, at least once; bonus points if you discuss non-homework related topics

Seven items are so short! The Ubyssey also published a 90 Things to do Before You Graduate UBC back in September, check it out, doing all of them might not be recommended hehe.

What’s the meaning of life? – Krys

42.

What was the lowest moment of your life, and how did you get out of there? – Lisa

Is this supposed to be one of those deep, thought-provoking, soul-searching questions that uncovers the mask I have been hiding behind, only to unveil behind it a hapless kindred spirit toiling without rewards? Of course not! The lowest moment of my life was probably when I went on a trip to Alberta and we went deep inside this cave that was at least a few hundred meters below sea level. I got out of there by taking a mining cart with the rest of the tourist group.

Where did you encounter the word “loquacious” and what does it mean? - Jason Yang

Easy question Jason, thank goodness! I encountered “loquacious” in my SAT prep days (remember those? haha). It means being excessively verbose or chatty, much like this blog.

What/who inspires you the most in life? – Travis

Of course it’s you, Travis. Other than my hardworking VP Finance, I am inspired by one particular quality: selflessness. To give up wealth or your own emotional well-being to service others is truly admirable. I’m also inspired by people who have overcome significant challenges to come out a new and better person.

How much sleep do you get every night? – Tysune

Usually between 5 and 6.5 hours. 9 hours on weekends. I feel bad now. Eastwood is going to come and tell me what up!

How much actual studying do you do during the school year on a usual day? – Tysune

Haha oh dear. I think about 90 minutes max, and then cramming before a due date.

Thank you for all your lovely questions! I picked and chose seven because that seemed to be the number we’re working with today. I encourage you bloggers out there to all take a narcissistic moment and have people ask your questions!

For example, spotted at UBC, why are all the clocks in Henry Angus frozen at 2:37 PM? It’s been like that for an entire year and even though I’m sure there’s some mundane explanation for it like electricity shortage, I still like the eerie post-apocalyptic feel to it. And then there are the Greenpeace/Amnesty people standing at their strategic location asking people to sign things. Who came up with the clever idea? You see, people HAVE to go past them to walk from the Sub and Henry Angus!

Other questions that come to mind include…

Why are there five high school kids in Chapman every single day playing Warcraft for hours on end?

Did my Chinese class SERIOUSLY just went on a field trip to the beach, where the prof played the ACCORDION and led us in singing revolutionary Chinese songs?!

Is anyone else aware of the shelves upon shelves of BOARD GAMES in the basement of the Education library in Neville Scarfe? Whee!

So dear readers, for this blog post, feel free to ask me questions about ANYTHING you want in the comments! My life, my work, UBC, shopping, the Sauder school, the meaning of life, the list goes on…. I did this with IB Years before and it was quite fun. I’ll select the good ones and answer them as honestly as possible in a future post =D Ready? GO.

CAMPUS EVENTS FORECAST #4

Got something to say? Apply to TEDxTerry talks 2009.

Imagine the University’s most fascinating and engaging students coming together for a day to give the talk of their lives, share ideas, and discuss their visions for UBC and the world.  Now imagine being there, on October 3rd 2009 at the TEDxTerry talks 2009, an independently organized TED event, watching this unfold.

This event will provide a platform from which to communicate your passions and desires with your peers. Apply now to participate in Terry talks – deadline for application is September 15th 2009. For more information, check out www.terry.ubc.ca/terrytalks.

See End of Term Wrap Up for my first semester courses.

Commerce 293 (Financial Accounting)
Rob Jackes
Monday/Wednesday/Friday
10:00am – 11:00am

I had never seen anyone more excited about accounting than Rob Jackes. He has a booming voice and could sometimes be seen jumping up and down to emphasize a point. He’s a firm prof, but quite fair and nice during office hour chats. As for the subject itself, duh, it’s accounting ,you either hated it or could tolerate it (kidding!). My two years of high school accounting and career prep work experience really paid off because the first month or so turned out to be a breeze. Instruction components: the textbook was not overly useful but good for previews and additional practice, the online Lyryx labs were kind of … frustrating and fun(?!), and the note pkg you had to buy were life-saving. One midterm and one non-cumulative final. Grade: I’m happy (I’ll let you work out the code haha).

Commerce 299 (Business Communication – Writing Component)
Philippe Desrochers
Monday
5:00pm – 7:00pm

The interview tips, resume and cover letter guides, and bits and pieces inter-personal interaction tips taught in this course were BEYOND helpful. They are so essential for surviving in the business world. It was like being enlightened after living in Plato’s cave for 18 years. The rest of the course could be scrapped. Yes – I tend to praise hard and criticize harder. Seriously, this class could be condensed into a 5 hour intensive seminar. I had 2 hours of Comm 299 every Monday night… not fun, but I still enjoyed it a little because class times are so insanely chill. Mandatory laptops was a plus. Philippe was a very dedicated prof who also wrote for the 24hr, which is kind of neat. Oddly enough, for a class worth only .5 credits, we were emailed! long emails! so darn often! ASKDFLASFD. Grade: last posted (again, it’s only half of the 1 credit course, no exams, assignment marks out a long time ago, jeez), made me very happy

Computer Science 121 (Models of Computation)
Bob Woodham
Monday/Wednesday/Friday
2:00pm – 3:00pm

Half the time this semester, I was thinking, “Ooo compsci is so fun and awesome!” and the other half I had the thought “WHY?! WHY?! WHY AM I IMPOSING THIS TORTURE UPON MYSELF?!” going through my head. Needless to say, my love-hate relationship with compsci goes on. Instruction components: easy but useless textbook, fun and/or ridiculously challenging assignments, labs that ranged from slightly confusing to “uh… when did we learn this?”, and lecture powerpoints posted online. There was a lot of math involved, like logic, induction, proofs, and functions. I really appreciated the profs trying to give us a bigger picture in computer programming and being so patient and helpful on the VISTA discussion boards. I felt some of the materials taught were too estoric and had nothing remotely to do with the exams. Oh yes let me tell you about the exams. There was a 40 point difference between my midterm and my final exam. I have never headed into a final wich such pure, paralyzing fear. They scared me into acing the course. Grade: could’ve been better, but I’m just so, so relieved.

Economics 102 (Introduction to Macroeconomics)
Robert Gateman and TA Linh Hoang
Monday/Wednesday/Friday
3:00pm – 4:00pm

The rumours are true, Gateman is a very engaging lecturers and a hell of a hard test giver. It took me a few classes to get used to his lecture style. After that initial stage, we all realized just how immensely clear his lectures are. His technique of playing loud music or funny foreign videos before class is actually quite effective in making people pay attention a bit more in the huge lecture hall. The exams made me feel like I didn’t actually know anything and I think this happened to a lot of people. Instruction components: textbook, online quizzes, weekly tutorial with mandatory attendance, G-book (typed lecture notes), two midterms and one final. I was quite fond of the international trade and labour economics chapters. Fascinating stuff. Grade: obviously econ is not my strong suit.

History 237 (Major Themes in American History)
Eric Nellis and TA Patrick Slaney
Monday/Wednesday/Friday
1:00pm – 2:00pm

Continuing from last term, HIST237 in term 2 talks about the Reconstruction period after the American Civil war all the way to the 1970s during the Nixon era (Bush Sr. and the Iraq war are also mentioned very briefly). This was a very enjoyable class in terms of the lecture – you can just let the historical knowledge and interpretation seep in. Dr. Nellis has an incredible passion and enthusiasm for the subject and it really shows when he breaks into songs or begins gesticulating the importance of a SCOTUS trial ruling. Not a single one of my papers were seen by either of the profs (Dr. Van Riemsdijk in term one). My TA marked everything. A change of perspective would have been welcoming but Patrick was quite a helpful and knowledgeable TA. Grade: I’m going to go drown my sorrows with an episode of Gossip girl now *sigh*.

Overall average: A. Not particularly ecstatic considering the dip from Term 1, but satisfied overall. I will definitely be trying harder next year and avoiding arts courses, even though they do quench a certain thirst for knowledge. I better stop before this gets too cliche.

QOTW: How was your term 2?