How I Got Into UBC Sauder School of Business

Math really started to click for me in middle school. In Grade 11, I took an accounting course where I prepared financial statements. I felt a great sense of accomplishment when I got all the transactions right and they balanced, and I began to consider studying business at university.

I’ve also played sports all my life, including hockey, soccer and rugby. I was a very shy, nervous kid, but being in a team environment forced me to step outside my comfort zone and taught me how to connect and work with people I might not have interacted with under other circumstances. As I entered Grade 12 and the academic pressure was really building, a lot of my friends quit sports so they could put all their focus into school. Hockey—and sports in general—brought me so much joy and I didn’t want to give it up. It was a sacrifice: instead of hanging out on a Friday night, I’d have to finish all of my school work ahead of a hockey-filled weekend. But I learned a lot about prioritization and time management, which prepared me for university. 

In Grade 12, I was a prefect—an upper-year student in charge of supporting younger students. I ran a council with 20 Grade 9 and 10 students, where we planned events, including charity initiatives, spirit days and games. 

I applied to most of the top business programs in the country, including UBC Sauder, Ivey Business School at Western and Smith School of Business at Queen’s. The UBC supplemental application requires students to fill out a personal profile with several short written-response questions, complete a video interview and submit two reference letters. Many of the questions were open-ended, and I could have gone a few different ways with my answers. With the help of my guidance counsellor I decided to focus on my leadership experience. One of the questions asked me about a time I had to respond to a problem or an unfamiliar situation. I told a story about how, as a prefect, I noticed it was always the same few students speaking and contributing in meetings. I changed the structure and met with smaller groups of four to five students, so the quieter ones felt more comfortable speaking. Another question asked me how I was positively impacting my community. I talked about my involvement in my school’s sports teams. I was an assistant captain on the hockey team and a co-captain of our soccer team. I also touched on my time spent volunteering with junior sports leagues and participating in community cleanup efforts. 

In the video interview, I was asked whether I thought a great leader leads from within or delegates and tells people what to do. I had 90 seconds to reflect on my leadership experience, and I responded that I think a good leader leads from within most of the time, but can also delegate. The second question asked about a time I experienced a conflict within a team and how I approached it. I talked about a time when my hockey teammates were fighting on the bench, and I helped them reach a resolution by considering both perspectives and reminding them not to dwell on past mistakes. I also had to get two reference letters: I asked my prefect adviser and my hockey coach.

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I’m really enjoying UBC so far. I’ve joined several business clubs and a ski and board club that travels to Whistler several times a year. The first-year courses focus on laying a holistic foundation—I’m taking communications courses, numbers-heavy math courses and more theory-heavy courses. I think having such a strong foundation will help me decide what I want to specialize in.

This story appears in the 2026 edition of the Ultimate Guide to Canadian Universities. You can buy the issue for $19.99 here or on newsstands.