The latest updates from the MD Admissions team.
Clarifications Regarding New NAQ Entry Format
By Admissions on Jul 03, 2026
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.
2026-2027 MD Application
By Admissions on Jun 29, 2026
We are pleased to share that the MD Application for the 2026-2027 application cycle will be opening tomorrow, June 30, 2026 at 12:00 PM (noon) Pacific Time. To start an application please create a profile in the Online Application System. If you were an applicant last year, you can log in with your previous credentials and follow the instructions in the Applicant Guide to navigate to the new application. The application will close Tuesday, September 15, 2026 at 12:00 PM (noon) Pacific Time.
As you prepare for your application, we strongly recommend that you do the following:
- Read our 2026-2027 Applicant Guide. This guide will be made available when the application system opens. The guide contains a document checklist at the end. The same document checklist can also be found on our Applicant Guide page.
- Read our website for the admissions criteria, supporting information, and detailed information about how each application will be evaluated.
- Look at the expiration date of your BC Services Card (if you are a BC applicant). If your BC Services Card expires between now and September 15, 2026 – RENEW IT ASAP.
- Think about the paid and unpaid experiences that you think you might want to put in your application, and think about who supervised you in those roles. Collect their contact information. If you have lost touch with the people you worked with, now is the time to reach out to your former employer/institution and get new contact information from someone in an institutional capacity who can verify your experience including the dates you worked there, your role, and the number of hours you completed. The Applicant Guide will have more information about experience contacts (also known as verifiers) if you are not sure what to do, or what experiences you wish to put in your application.
- Order and send your transcripts from all post-secondary institutions that you have attended (even for just one course). If you are planning to use AP/IB test scores to meet a prerequisite requirement, you must order and send those transcripts as well. Please have the institution send them directly to our office, when possible. All hard-copy mail and courier packages can be sent to the mailing address found here: Contact & Resources – MD Undergrad Education, UBC Faculty of Medicine. Instructions about where and how to send electronic transcripts can also be found on that web page. You must order your own documents from the institutions you attended. Listing an institution in your MD application is not sufficient. UBC MD Admissions does not contact third party institutions on your behalf. Additionally, we do not take responsibility for any mail or third-party institutional delays that result in late documents. Nor do we take responsibility for misdirected mail. Please ensure you send your documents to the correct office in UBC.
Finally, we hope you open your application early and submit it well in advance of the application deadline. Every year applicants have emergent issues that arise right as the application closes. Unfortunately, late applications will not be accepted, no matter the circumstance. We strongly recommend that you give yourself enough time to ensure you do not need to rush to submit at the very last minute.
The MD Admissions team is here to answer your questions. Please join us for one or more information sessions throughout the summer: Information Sessions – MD Undergrad Education, UBC Faculty of Medicine. If you have a specific question that may pertain just to you, please email us at admissions.md@ubc.ca or, if you have started an application, please message us through the Communication Tab of the Online Application System (OAS).
Happy writing!
Offers 2026 – Round 5 Offers Sent
By Admissions on Jun 16, 2026
We sent the fifth round of offers today. Congratulations to everyone who received an offer! The deadline for this round is Friday, June 19th at 12:00 p.m. (noon) PDT, and we will send the next round sometime after this deadline.
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Offers 2026 – Round 4 Offers Sent
By Admissions on Jun 09, 2026
We sent the fourth round of offers today. Congratulations to everyone who received an offer! The deadline for this round is Monday, June 15th at 12:00 p.m. (noon) PDT, and we will send the next round sometime after this deadline.
Offers 2026 – Round 3 Offers Sent
By Admissions on Jun 03, 2026
We sent the third round of offers today. Congratulations to everyone who received an offer! The deadline for this round is Monday, June 8th at 12:00 p.m. (noon) PDT, and we will send the next round sometime after this deadline.