Admission Requirements – Draft

Please note that admissions requirements may change from time to time. Applicants are encouraged to check the Notes to Applicants page of the website regularly for any updates which may affect current or future applications.

Minimum Academic Standing

Please note that due to limited enrolment, meeting the minimum academic standing does not guarantee admission to the program, or even consideration for an interview. A realistic review of the statistics on our website for the averages of successful applicants is recommended before submission of an application.

BC applicants with an overall academic average of less than 75% and out-of-province applicants with an overall academic average of less than 85% (based on the adjusted academic average, if applicable) will not receive full file reviews and thus will not proceed further through the application process.¹ A full file review consists of a full academic evaluation, a non-academic evaluation and where appropriate, a rural/remote suitability evaluation.

It is recommended that self-identified Indigenous applicants achieve a competitive grade point average. Their academic scores will be reviewed at the discretion of the Indigenous Admissions Sub-Committee.

You must report all university-level courses, programs, and grades. Individuals who have withdrawn from another medical school for academic reasons are not eligible to apply. Individuals who are enrolled or will be enrolling in another medical school during the application cycle must inform the program using either the online application form and/or email. Failure to include relevant information may result in disqualification of your application.

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¹These averages must be attained although the published minimum academic requirement for applying to the MD Undergraduate Program is an overall GPA ("OGPA") of 70% based on all university-level courses attempted (see Minimum Credit Requirement). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, grades, even if listed on the transcript, from Winter 2020 Term 2 are not calculated in the overall or adjusted GPA. Applicants must achieve the minimum academic standing, without the incorporation of these grades.

Our minimum requirement of 90 credits must be 90 university-transferable credits with grades taken at a post-secondary institution. *AP, IB and A Level credits cannot count towards the 90 minimum credits. The 90 credits must be completed by April 30 of the year of entry into medical school.

Applicants are not required to take a full-time course load, which is considered to be 10 courses/30 credits taken over the fall and spring semesters. However, applicants should demonstrate an ability to handle the rigorous, full-time curriculum of medical school, and are asked to provide more information about any part-time terms on the application.

* While individuals must still have 90 credits with grades by April 30 of the year of entry of medical school, term 2 of the 2019-2020 academic year (or equivalent term) credits (that are passed) will count towards the minimum credit requirement in the 2020-2021, 2021-2022, and 2022-2023 application cycles even if assigned pass/fail grades. Grades from Term 2 of the 2019-2020 academic year (or equivalent term) will not be included in the calculation of GPA.

All applicants must submit ONE set of official transcripts issued by the Registrar(s) of the home institution(s), from ALL post secondary institutions attended, to the MD Undergraduate Admissions Office by the application deadline. *Please refer to the Application Timelines for further information.  Applicants must submit transcripts from ALL post-secondary institutions attended, including but not limited to colleges and universities, institutions attended on exchange, study abroad institutions, institutions attended on a letter of permission or as a visiting student, etc. It is not sufficient for our purposes for the courses/grades to appear on your home institution's transcript. Hard-copy transcripts can be sent directly from the institution or sent by the applicant to us, as long as the transcripts arrive in their official, sealed, endorsed envelopes. Electronic transcripts must be sent directly by the Registrar.

If your home university does not mail original academic records directly, then stamped, attested true photocopies of academic records in sealed envelopes and endorsed by the Registrar at your home university will be accepted as official.

* Please see deadline below for international exchange/study-abroad transcript(s).

International Transcripts

Applicants who attended post-secondary institutions (including on exchange or study abroad) outside of North America must have their foreign transcripts assessed by either ICES, the International Credential Evaluation Service or WES, World Education Services. All foreign transcripts must be evaluated by WES or ICES unless the foreign institution was attended for only one term, or 6 credits or fewer were taken in an academic year. Applicants must arrange to have official transcripts from their foreign institution and the WES or ICES reports submitted to our office.

For the 2020/2021 application cycle, International transcripts must be submitted by the foreign institution to UBC MD Admissions by December 1, 2020, provided the following conditions are met:

• A WES or ICES evaluation (if required) is submitted by October 1^st, 2020.
• A verified copy of the international transcript is provided by the applicant’s home institution by October 1^st, 2020 (if a WES or ICES evaluation is not required)

From ICES, we require the Comprehensive report. The Supplemental report is recommended only for applicants who are hoping to use their foreign coursework to satisfy the English requirement and/or to demonstrate proficiency in biology, chemistry and biochemistry (if the Supplemental report is not submitted in this case, detailed course outlines must be provided instead). From WES, we require the Course-by-Course report. Basic and ICAP formats are both accepted. Please note that the verified transcript submitted as part of the WES ICAP package is not sufficient for our purposes and an original, official transcript from the foreign institution must be submitted as well. The WES or ICES report is required to augment academic evaluation of an applicant's file. However, the Admissions Office reserves the right to apply its own evaluation. In some cases, the Admissions Office may request applicants with international credentials to submit both a Comprehensive and Supplemental report from ICES to assist in the academic evaluation of their application.

As mentioned above, if an applicant went to an international institution on exchange for only one term, or 6 credits or fewer were taken in an academic year, for 2020/2021 application cycle, UBC MD Admissions will accept a certified copy of the transcript from the applicant’s home institution by the October 1^st, 2020 application deadline, but must receive the original transcript from the international institution by December 1, 2020.

The Faculty of Medicine considers students from a variety of backgrounds; no preference is given to any particular degree program.

English Requirement

All applicants must complete 6 credits of English coursework by April 30 of the year of entry into medical school (April 30, 2021 for the 2020/2021 application cycle). English courses should be offered through an English department and should consist of 6 credits (the equivalent of two semesters) of literature or 3 credits of literature plus 3 credits of composition. “Literature” in this context means fiction, poetry, drama, and/or some literary non-fiction genres, whereas “composition” means a course dedicated to instruction in academic essay writing.

The following courses are not accepted toward the English requirement, even if offered through an English department:

• Social science
• Humanities
• Science writing and other discipline-specific writing courses
• Creative writing
• Cultural studies
• Linguistics
• Professional writing
• Professional communication
• Foreign language
• Technical writing
• English as a Second Language
• Media studies
• Film studies
• Theses in any subject area

Courses with titles like “Reading Popular Culture” are accepted on a case-by-case basis only if there is a clearly identifiable and significant literary component. Traditional literature courses focusing on a particular time period, location, or group of writers are generally accepted, as are genre courses such as Children’s Literature and Science Fiction. However, please see the English Courses Chart to confirm, and email the course syllabus to the Admissions Office if the course is not listed.

English courses should have a workload equivalent to similar courses at UBC, including at least one research paper of five or more pages, an additional essay assignment, and a final exam.

Our English Courses Chart lists acceptable English courses from most Canadian universities and BC colleges. If you have a question about a course that is not listed on the chart, please email us.

Final authority regarding course equivalency rests with Academic Evaluators in the MD Admissions Office of the Faculty of Medicine and is only available after your application has been submitted and fully evaluated.

Recommended Courses

Courses in biology, chemistry and biochemistry are strongly recommended but are not required for application. All applicants are expected to demonstrate proficiency in these areas through coursework and/or MCAT scores. Courses in physics, statistics and the social sciences are also recommended as general preparation for the MCAT and for medical school.

For applicants wishing to take our recommended science courses, the Science Courses Chart provides a list of courses previously accepted as science prerequisites. To assess course equivalency, refer to UBC course descriptions to ensure that the topics covered in the courses and the credit weightings are similar. Please follow the department links in the Science Courses Chart or consult the UBC calendar.

Note: As applicants are required to demonstrate their academic ability to determine their suitability for the rigorous MD curriculum, taking the Credit/D/Fail option for required and strongly recommended courses may not be a helpful indicator in the selection process and could potentially jeopardize your application to the program.

English and/or Recommended Courses Taken at International Institutions

Applicants who have taken English and/or recommended science at an institution outside of North America must submit an original transcript from the foreign institution and have their foreign transcript assessed by either ICES (International Credential Evaluation Service) or WES (World Education Services). Applicants who attended the foreign institution for only one term, or who took 6 credits or fewer are not required to get a WES/ICES evaluation. We recommend the Supplemental report from ICES for applicants who are hoping to use their foreign coursework to satisfy the English requirement and/or to demonstrate proficiency in biology, chemistry and biochemistry. If the Supplemental report is not submitted in this case, detailed course outlines must be provided instead. Please see "International Transcripts" under the Transcript Requirements section for more information on foreign transcript requirements.