Engineering second year placements... did you get your first choice?

x-post from /r/ubcengineering

Note: A redditor suggested I post this again since r/ubcengineering is not as active as here, and I agreed that it'd be interesting to see if there are more comments on this

Original post: Is it just me or is this year's 2nd year placement crazy? I know several people who picked electrical as their first choice and they didn't even get in. Everything I've read seemed to suggest that if you pick electrical first, you're probably getting in. I also know of a few people who have very good gpas, AND also way higher averages than the historical median gpa but still couldn't get into their first choice (not engphys).

To be clear, I know the people who got into their first choice really deserve it, and I am not bitter (okay, maybe a little lol). I just wanted to see if this year it really was the case that all the programs got a lot more competitive or if I'm imagining things and/or I need to make smarter friends :P.

Edit: I realize that median is not the average, but as we are talking about marks, it seems more likely the gpas are increasing at a fairly steady pace above the median as opposed to having a big jump between the median and the next highest gpa. In this case, if someone's gpa is at least 10 points above the median, I'd feel comfortable guessing that they would've had a very good chance of getting into that program if it was actually based on the historical gpa. Of course, I also do realize competitiveness can change drastically from year to year.