As either a current or prospective Arts One student, you may wonder: what’s after Arts One? Over the years, students in this program have gone on to pursue a variety of different paths, bringing with them the valuable skills they learned during their time in the program. In this interview with Dr. Jason Lieblang, DK Lin (Seeing and Knowing 2015-16) talks about his post-Arts One journey running a private tutoring company, recounts his experiences in Arts One, and reflects on how being in the program has benefited him.
Interview conducted on June 15th, 2022.
Where are you now, and what are you doing?
Since finishing my undergrad in 2021, I’ve been working remotely mostly, so while I’m based in Vancouver, I’ve actually been living in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island for the last year. I’ve been operating my own private tutoring company specializing in English and standardized test preparation (TOEFL, IELTS, SAT, SSAT, etc). I’ve also worked for a while as an independent contractor with the tutoring agency TutorDoctor.
We worked together a few years ago when I was an instructor in Arts One, and your seminar leader, and you were a first-year student. What ultimately made you decide on Arts One as you came out of high school?
Coming directly out of high school, I knew I was interested in the humanities and liberal arts, but I was unsure exactly what I wanted to study. I figured that Arts One was both an excellent opportunity to sample each of the fields and to learn from multiple professors with different specializations. Additionally, coming from a relatively small high school, the idea of being with a smaller and closer-knit cohort sounded significantly less scary than just being thrust into the massive student body of UBC without any structure.
Looking back, what do you think are the program’s major advantages when compared with a normal first-year program of study?
By far the biggest advantage of Arts One is the close mentorship that a student receives from their seminar instructor. In particular, the weekly tutorials allow for (over the course of two semesters) extremely close guidance and editing that is instrumental in building confidence for the later years of university. The relationship that forms both amongst the students and between students and instructors is something that is truly, in a conventional first-year program of study, nearly impossible to find.
What was your favourite Arts One text? And what about a favourite lecture? And why, in both cases?
It’s so incredibly difficult to pick a favourite text — part of the brilliance of Arts One is that after spending one (or two) weeks with each text and examining it so closely, you inevitably end up developing a fondness for the work. If I had to pick one, my favourite Arts One text would probably be Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber. This text was extremely challenging for me as a first-year student, but it also sparked an interest in understanding and analyzing the complexities and nuances of literature and literary theory. Looking back now, it’s quite clear to me that the experience of studying The Bloody Chamber influenced my decision to complete a degree in English Literature.
Picking a favourite lecture is, for many of the same reasons, equally difficult — but the final joint lecture on W.G. Sebald’s Austerlitz with Dr. Jason Lieblang and Dr. Miguel Mota definitely stands out for two reasons. I found that much of first year in general was spent learning how to listen to and best absorb lectures, and in that final week, I finally felt as if I began to get the hang of it. Secondly, it was quite bittersweet knowing that it was the last Arts One lecture I would attend — the emotions that day certainly made it a particularly memorable lecture.
I hope this question isn’t too similar to my second one. Obviously, you’ve been quite successful as a student. What would you say to undergraduates reading this who are looking for keys to succeeding as an undergraduate at UBC? And, of course, I have to ask if any of these keys relate to your experiences in Arts One.
I certainly owe much of my academic success to the skills developed in Arts One. As I mentioned earlier, a particularly important skill — and one that is often lacking when coming directly out of high school — is the ability to absorb lecture material and take high quality notes during it. Developing a sophisticated and effective note-taking style is absolutely instrumental to academic success.
The second key skill is the ability to write a strong essay. This is arguably more important than my first point; almost all assessments in the Arts (whether they be take-home assignments or exams) will almost always involve essay writing. The sheer amount of essays written over the course of Arts One, coupled with the continuous feedback that one receives, allows each student to develop strong essay writing skills. I cannot stress how important it is — especially once a student begins taking third and fourth year courses — to be comfortable writing formal essays, and Arts One is likely the best program at UBC for developing this skill.
Finally, what’s the plan for the next few years?
Starting [in] fall (2022), I’m moving to London to complete an MA in English at University College London (UCL). After I complete my masters, it’s hard to say — I’m certainly highly interested in conducting research and pursuing a doctorate, but I’m also keeping my mind somewhat open to any other opportunities that may arise!
