The need for doctors in rural and remote communities has never been more urgent. One of our goals at the Faculty of Medicine is to help meet that need by serving underrepresented communities in rural, remote, and northern regions across British Columbia. If you are living in a rural region of BC, or are interested in serving these smaller communities through a career in healthcare, we will support you every step of the way on your path to becoming a doctor.
The UBC MD Undergraduate Program includes four distributed sites that provide opportunities to complete undergraduate medical training in regional centres throughout BC. Each site includes seats specifically designated for students who are interested in practicing medicine in rural, remote, and northern communities through the Northern and Rural Pathway:
- the Northern Medical Program (40 seats),
- the Southern Medical Program (up to 14 seats),
- the Island Medical Program (up to 4 seats),
- the Vancouver Fraser Medical Program – Fraser Medical Cohort (4 seats).
Believe it or not, you are already on your way
Your time in a rural or northern community, and/or your connections to rural living, have already helped prepare you to become a student in UBC’s MD Undergraduate Program. The unique experiences, connections to community, and caring perspectives that you’ve gained living or working in a remote, rural, or Indigenous setting are qualities that we’re looking for in our future medical doctors. Be assured that your experience in non-urban areas has equipped you with tools and skills that will help you to deliver exceptional healthcare to small and remote communities.
Just as there are diverse fields of medicine, we seek diverse applicants who can bring empathy and understanding to healthcare in rural, northern, and island areas of our province.
Your Community In Health
How you’ve demonstrated care in your community tells us how you might care for others in the future. We are looking for your unique experiences and stories of compassion, whether they happened on a family farm, while caring for a relative, while traveling, or while volunteering for a cause you believe in. Your distinctive strengths and skills play a crucial part in our assessment processes.
Rural and Remote Suitability Score (RRSS)
The RRSS helps us in the selection of appropriate students for Northern and Rural Pathway seats.
Your experiences in rural, remote, northern, or Indigenous settings, along with community ties and diverse activities, will all be included in the RRSS assessment.
Applicants who fill out the Northern and Rural Training Section of the application and who successfully qualify for a general stream interview may also be invited to participate in a virtual Northern and Rural panel interview.
Meet Our Students
Ever since I was young I have loved my science classes and learning about the human body. I wanted to pursue a career that would allow me help others and ideally return to the north to work and give back to the community that I was raised in. Medicine seemed like the perfect career to allow me to explore all three of these passions. Every day I’m reminded of why I made this choice and why this was the right choice for me.
Lauren Eggenberger from Yellowknife, NT started the MD Program in 2020
NMP Class of 2022 visiting St. John Hospital in Vanderhoof, B.C.
Taking The Next Step
The MD Undergraduate Program’s distributed site model provides medical students with experiential learning opportunities in rural and Indigenous communities early in their degree. The distributed sites also offer smaller class sizes, more quality time with teachers, and a varied range of clinical learning experiences, which fosters close-knit learning communities to support students throughout their medical education.
If you think becoming a doctor is the path for you, our admissions team is here to help. We encourage you to apply through the Northern and Rural Pathway to pursue your dream of becoming a healthcare professional. Our greatest hope is that you will go on to have a gratifying medical practice in a connected rural community within British Columbia.
If you have concerns about financing your medical education, we encourage you to explore the specific supports available to students from rural and/or remote communities. The BC government offers a number of financial incentives for the recruitment and retention of physicians in rural BC communities, including the student loan forgiveness program, designed to mitigate the costs of a medical education for students willing to locate in rural, remote, or northern communities after the completion of their training.