General

Due primarily to the generosity of our alumni, the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences at UBC offers more than $105,000 annually in merit-based awards to outstanding undergraduate students in Honours Geology Programs (including Combined Honours Programs involving Geology and Another Subject), Honours Geophysics, and Geological Engineering. Please note that students in the Majors Earth and Ocean Sciences degree program are not eligible for departmental awards in Geology and Geophysics. Approximately 65 students received departmental support in 2006/2007, and top students received awards totaling about $5000 each.

Departmental awards are available only to continuing UBC students, including students in Geological Engineering who completed 1st year at UBC-Okanagan.. Students transferring from a college or another 4-year university into a Geology or Geological Engineering program at UBC are eligible for Aho Entrance Scholarships; see below for information on how and when to apply. Outstanding students who enter UBC directly from Grade 12 or from another post-secondary institution may be considered for UBC President’s Entrance Scholarships, which are handled by Admissions (Enrolment Services).

All continuing students registered in the Honours programs listed above and in Geological Engineering are considered for awards, and formal application is not required for most of them.

Scholarships and academic requirements

Most of the awards are in the form of scholarships or prizes awarded for academic achievement, for which you do not need to apply (see below for exceptions). To be eligible for a scholarship, UBC regulations require that you attain a minimum average of 75% for a full course load of 27 credits (minimum) per Winter Session and have no failures. In order to receive a scholarship, a student must take a minimum of 24 credits in the Winter Session in which they receive the award. (Exception: in your final year, if you are taking <24 credits because that is all that you need to graduate, you are eligible to receive scholarships proportional to the number of credits that you are taking, as long as you take a minimum of 12 credits). All Geology, Geophysics, and Geological Engineering students who meet the scholarship critieria will likely receive a scholarship; the actual size of the award depends both on the student's relative standing, and the total number of students who qualify in a given year.

Bursaries and prizes

In addition to scholarships, there are some bursaries and prizes awarded on the basis of a variety of criteria. These include attributes such as: outstanding performance in a particular course or field of interest, involvement in student/department affairs, and/or overall qualities of leadership and character. Some of these awards are available to students who do not meet the minimum standard to qualify for a scholarship. Watch for calls for applications for some of these bursaries throughout the academic year.

If you have financial need but do not meet the scholarship criteria, you are urged to go to the Student Financial Assistance and Awards Office in Brock Hall to apply for suitable bursaries and other forms of financial aid.

If you wish to be considered for a Department scholarship, you should ensure that you are registered for a full 27-credit load for the Winter Session. For most awards you must also maintain an average of at least 75% for the session and have no failures.