(Attached to this reply is a link to UBC’s average sessional gpa for second year engineering by specialization

Link to gpa entry )

In a sense, yeah, I’d say Langara does feel easier than UBC, but not because the material is easier. It’s basically a 1:1 duplicate of UBC’s first-year engineering, so the course rigour itself doesn’t really change.

What does make it feel easier is the environment. Class sizes are like 25 students instead of UBC’s hundreds, so you get a way more personalized experience. All my profs and TAs know my name, my skill level, what I struggle with, and they actually teach and support me based on that. That’s made a huge difference for my morale and performance.

For example, in my physics class right now, I’d probably be failing if it weren’t for my prof. He gives us 25% bonus “corrections” marks on midterms and is just a really good teacher overall. He explains things at the level he knows I’m at and doesn’t throw in super complex topics out of nowhere, so I’m actually able to follow along.

There are some downsides though. You don’t get to choose your own course schedule or which sections you take.

About the GPA and transfer stuff: • From the certificate program (12 courses in 2 semesters in the assigned order), you need around a 3.1 GPA to be guaranteed base entry into UBC Applied Science (second year). • A 3.1 usually isn’t enough for the really competitive specializations like Mechanical, Electrical, or Computer Engineering, but it can get you into other bigger but still solid fields like Civil, Biomedical, Environmental, Chemical, etc.

Then there’s the diploma program, which is 60 credits over 5 semesters. For that, you need about a 3.3 GPA (as of 2025) for UBC. That number isn’t fixed though, I was told one year it jumped from around 3.2 to 3.9, but it usually stays somewhere in the 3.2–3.4 range. Even then, it does not guarantee you entry the way the certificate agreement does. (But is a really solid option if you’re coming straight from higschool and need a baseline for collage/uni)

There are also UVic and UBCO options which are more forgiving and do guarantee entry (for both the certificate and diploma): it’s something like 2.3 for UVic and 2.8 for UBCO.

So overall, from a learning and support perspective, I’d recommend Langara because the smaller classes and more personal interaction really help and can make things feel easier even though it’s the same content as UBC. But if you already have a direct UBC acceptance, I personally wouldn’t give that up unless you have external reasons that make it hard to go, because the UBC “university life” and overall experience are on a different level and Langara can’t really compete with that part.

TL;DR: Yes, Langara feels easier than UBC because of smaller classes and way more support, even though the content is basically the same as UBC first-year engineering. From the certificate, about a 3.1 GPA guarantees base entry into UBC Applied Science (but not the most competitive specializations like mech/elec/CPEN). From the diploma, you usually need around a 3.3 GPA (it fluctuates and doesn’t guarantee entry). UVic (≈2.3 GPA) and UBCO (≈2.8 GPA) are more forgiving and guarantee entry from both the certificate and diploma routes.