Posted on behalf of Terry Chui, Undergraduate Admissions
Remember your journey as a 1 year old, learning to take your first steps? Probably not… well the journey to learn to walk again as an adult is not much easier.
Three months before my daughter’s 1st birthday, on a chilly morning while playing soccer I tore my Achilles. After five months in a cast, I had to re-learn how to take my first steps again, but this time my motivation became a forever bond between my daughter and I as we both raced to see who will take our first steps!!
Every night after dinner, my daughter and I would fumble around trying to beat each other across the room. While I had 36 years of life experience and a physiotherapist on my side, my progress was crippled by my fear of falling. On the other end of the couch, my daughter was fearless and her progress was actually accelerated with each fall, making her realize how much closer she was towards her first steps. On my daughter’s 2nd birthday, the party highlight was a foot race between my daughter and I.
Life is always about the journey…I know this because I will forever cherish the journey of my daughter’s first steps. But will I remember who won the race?
Understanding admissions in its complexity, is really the same thing. Admissions is not about finding a sophisticated way to calculate their GPA, instead it is about learning the journey the student took to become the student they are now, or want to become. Often students who flourish at UBC or at any other schools, are those students who understands that education is about the journey, not the destination.