Since releasing the applicant guide and opening the application for the 2026-2027 admissions cycle, we have seen a lot of chatter about what having 10 paid experiences vs 5 unpaid experiences means in the broader context of non-academic evaluation. Some individuals seem deeply focused on maxing out the number of entries vs. the quality of those entries (for example having many short-term employment experiences, vs. having one long term job). The number limit is not meant to signal an ideal number of experiences or activities. It is intended to provide opportunities for those who do have many experiences to report them, but that does not mean those experiences are holistically more valuable than one meaningful on-going experience. We understand that without scoring information (which we will not release) it often feels like more is more. Let us be clear, more is not always more.
To provide examples of two hypothetical applicants:
Applicant A is from a small town and went to university in a different place. They have needed to change employers each summer and fall so that they could travel back and forth between university and their hometown, but work in each location. They were not able to pick up employment with the same employers each time they moved. They may have 6-8 employment experiences, possibly more, if they worked multiple part time jobs at the same time, when they apply for medical school at age 22.
Applicant B started working full time during the summer in the city where they go to university. During the fall they perform the same job, but work part-time hours. Then they get promoted the next summer to a leadership position with the same organization, which they maintain for the rest of the period leading up to their application to medicine. This person will have two paid experiences. One for their first role, the second for their leadership role. They will have to make sure that it is very clear in their application when they transitioned from full-time work to part-time work each year and how many hours they worked per week, so that evaluators can understand this in the full context of their application.
These are just two examples of two different applicants that would fill in the application differently. Neither is definitively better than the other. As I write this, I can just hear the question—but WHO GETS MORE POINTS? I really couldn’t say. There is far more to non-academic evaluation than just the number of experiences, the time period, etc. The full context of the application and the experiences these applicants have participated in are taken into consideration based on the categories of assessment (leadership, service ethic, capacity to work with others, diversity of experience, and high performance in an area of human endeavor).
Everyone comes with different experiences prior to the application process. Please consider how your experiences demonstrate the traits and characteristics we are looking for. Based on what you have done, how are you going to show your leadership skills, your capacity to work with people different than yourself (capacity to work with others), your commitment to unglamourous work in service to a greater goal (service ethic), your curiosity, creativity and resilience (diversity of experience/high performance in an area of human endeavor)? Look at our website for a description of the traits we care about because these traits can be demonstrated in many different ways.
What we have seen a lot of in the last few years is people really loading their applications with many experiences that make no difference for them, in terms of their assessment, and have no lasting impact in the community. Then, when some of these folks are inevitably admitted, this seems to turn into lore about how to complete your UBC medical school application. We are trying to help guide you away from doing this.
Another common misconception is that you need to be the president or founder of a club in order to demonstrate your leadership skills. While you certainly can include these experiences and they will be evaluated, other (often more difficult), ways to demonstrate your leadership involve getting a job, then being promoted in that job. Or volunteering in an organization, then being promoted within that organization, among other experiences.
Additionally, we are trying to veer away from people feeling like they need to fill in the application with every personal experience they have ever had and fabricating levels of commitment, which are foundationally impossible (no person has more than 24 hours in a day). Please do not add time to activities just to show us how serious you are about them. Use a realistic time estimate for all experiences you enter.
This is not to discourage you from putting in non-traditional experiences that do not seem related to medicine. For many years we have, and are continuing, to value experiences that have nothing to do with medicine. Did you overcome something significant in your life? Please feel free to add it to the life experiences category. Did you work in trades or manufacturing? Please add this to paid experiences. Are you deeply involved in ceremony with your community? Add this to either hobbies and interests, life experiences, or unpaid activities— wherever you think it fits better. Use the applicant guide for further support.
If you are planning your application this year, please use the categories appropriately. Do not put your unpaid experiences in the paid experience category. That amounts to lying on your application and could negatively impact your application. Please do think about the things that you have committed the most time, energy and effort to. Put those things in your application first, in the categories where they best fit. If you have additional room, please feel free to add other experiences where they best fit.
If you are thinking of applying in the future, please think about your passions and interests then decide what to get involved with. Don’t know where to start? Just do something. Find an organization you like the mission of, find out if you can get a paid or unpaid role. Don’t like it? Change it. You don’t have to stay in a role you hate for the sake of having long term commitment. It is better for you to find what you love, where you can be useful, and then commit to that. The same can be said for jobs, there are many jobs in the world. If you don’t love the job you have, but you can’t afford to quit, look for a different job while you continue working. Then change jobs. Do something with your time that you feel good about doing. Also, while we continue to say please choose the experiences you’ve maintained a long-term commitment to, this doesn’t mean that you need to take on 5 different things and commit to them minimally, but for a long period of time. As we keep trying to emphasize, maxing entries does not necessarily equate to a better assessment. Similarly, having many short, but intense, commitments does not necessarily result in better outcomes. Please think about the quality of your engagement, not just the quantity of engagement.
And above all (and this goes for everyone) please take everything you read or consume from other applicants, current students, consultants, AI, etc. with a grain of salt. You do not need to craft yourself after them to be amazing. Please be yourself and show us who you are. Good luck with your application! We are excited to learn more about you.