Since I don’t see any information regarding University of Alberta’s design program on this website…
At the University of Alberta, it is very competitive to get accepted.
Straight out of high school, I believe they accept 12-15 people…
And 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year transfers they accept about 30-33% of the applicants (they told me it was around 200-250 ish usually)
Majority of this is based on your portfolio. They have an accepted pile, an “ok” pile, and a not accepted pile. If you happen to land into the “ok” pile, they will decide if you get in or not based on your school marks.
Last September they started a “cohort group” for people who had a really high potential of getting into BDes, where you had the advantage of taking more courses than other students to make your portfolio really stand out for next years application. I had the opportunity to be apart of this and I really recommend it to people who really want this, it can be stressful if you can’t manage your time well (SO IMPORTANT) but you learn so much about yourself and yourself as an artist. I believe they are continuing it this year and the upcoming years as well.
It’s a great school for general design, and they have one of the world’s best printmaking resources there. I know most graduates have started up many different local companies already so that’ll be awesome for you. You also work with a lot of local companies (aka, getting your name out there in the local area). So if you’re into that, you should definitely check it out.
However if you’re applying to other schools, I HIGHLY recommend you go check out their open house if you can. You’ll definitely know where you’ll want to be standing by then.