UVic vs UBC

[alibobally]

I believe UBC vs UVic has been asked before, but I’m wondering the comparison within a human rights/social justice context. I’m from out of province, so the “attend where you want to work” argument doesn’t apply as much to me. I’m really drawn to the Victoria lifestyle but UBC has more options in terms of specialization   (Law & social Justice) and clinics (Innocence Project, human rights clinic) that I am really interested in. I know that UVic also has several help not hurt exams and seems to put an emphasis on student mental health from what I gather. I would really appreciate any insight into workload, your own experiences, etc.

[Patient0L]

36 minutes ago, alibobally said:

I believe UBC vs UVic has been asked before, but I’m wondering the comparison within a human rights/social justice context. I’m from out of province, so the “attend where you want to work” argument doesn’t apply as much to me. I’m really drawn to the Victoria lifestyle but UBC has more options in terms of specialization   (Law & social Justice) and clinics (Innocence Project, human rights clinic) that I am really interested in. I know that UVic also has several help not hurt exams and seems to put an emphasis on student mental health from what I gather. I would really appreciate any insight into workload, your own experiences, etc.

You probably can’t go wrong with either school. I can’t speak too much to UBC’s overall climate (yet), but their clinics do look good. When I went to the UVic Dean’s breakfast, social justice, mental health, and indigenous rights were the main topics of both the speakers and the overall student discussions. If being part of a cohort highly engaged with these issues is also important, you would definitely get that at UVic. 

Edited May 30, 2022 by Patient0L

[Byzantine]

On 5/30/2022 at 7:12 AM, alibobally said:

I believe UBC vs UVic has been asked before, but I’m wondering the comparison within a human rights/social justice context. I’m from out of province, so the “attend where you want to work” argument doesn’t apply as much to me. I’m really drawn to the Victoria lifestyle but UBC has more options in terms of specialization   (Law & social Justice) and clinics (Innocence Project, human rights clinic) that I am really interested in. I know that UVic also has several help not hurt exams and seems to put an emphasis on student mental health from what I gather. I would really appreciate any insight into workload, your own experiences, etc.

I’ve just finished my first year at UBC so can only speak to that. I’ve found that social justice and human rights are talked about a lot and there seems to be lots of upper year courses you can take that are related. I think the clinic opportunities at UBC are very good. From your first month you can get involved in lslap which involves you assisting clients who can’t afford a lawyer in various areas: human rights complaints, residential tenancy, low level criminal charges, bylaw tickets, small claims, immigration. I’ve also heard great things about the innocence project which you can apply for in your 2nd or 3rd year. 
 

In terms of help not hurt exams out 1st year midterms I’m December for the full year courses (torts, contracts, property, criminal) only factor in to your mark if you score higher than the final. If that’s what you mean, I’m not sure what uvic offers here. 
 

I have heard great things about uvic too and especially on their social justice focus. So I really don’t think you can go wrong either way 

 

feel free to pm me if you have any other questions about Allard 

[CleanHands]

9 minutes ago, Byzantine said:

I’ve found that social justice and human rights are talked about a lot

Sure, it's "talked about a lot." But 9 out 10 UBC students doing the most and loudest talking about it would happily represent IG Farben facilitating the sale of Zyklon B to carry out the Holocaust if that was still a thing today (instead they do the tamer, closest real life equivalents).

See how many such people put their money where their mouth is by the time your class is articling. Lol

Culturally, this is a very irritating aspect of UBC if you actually care about helping people. But it's a great place if you enjoy endlessly hypocritically virtue signalling and never getting called out for it if you state the "correct" opinions, regardless of whether your conduct is entire at odds with them.

UBC does indeed have excellent social justices-oriented clinical and volunteering opportunities if you can tolerate the above though.

Edited June 4, 2022 by CleanHands