Appeals

What makes an application competitive

If you did not receive an offer of admission to UBC, you may be wondering why. In most cases, there is no single reason. Usually, some combination of the following factors would have made your application more competitive:

• A higher overall average
• A higher grade in a particular course
• A higher Personal Profile score
• Fewer applicants to the degree you applied for

Appealing an admission decision

UBC will consider an admission appeal for one of two reasons:

• We made an error in the admission process (e.g., a miscalculation of your grades).
• A mitigating circumstance affected your academic performance (e.g., a personal hardship, personal illness, family member illness or death).

The following reasons are not acceptable for an admission appeal:

• You think UBC should take another look at your application for admission.
• Someone with similar grades received an offer of admission.
• You really want to attend UBC.
• You were given offers of admission to other universities, so you feel you should have received an offer of admission to UBC too.
• You were so close to getting an offer of admission.

For details on how to submit an appeal, please see the Okanagan Academic Calendar or the Vancouver Academic Calendar.

Supporting documentation for an appeal

If you are submitting an appeal due to mitigating circumstances, you must provide supporting documentation that proves your claims and helps UBC reviewers understand the grounds for your appeal.

For example: If your appeal is due to personal illness, you must provide medical documentation, transcripts, letters of support, and/or email correspondence that clearly outline:

• The start and end dates of your illness
• How the illness affected your academic performance
• What treatments you received for the illness
• Whether the illness is resolved and will no longer affect your academic performance

What makes an appeal successful

Every application to UBC is evaluated carefully several times. For this reason, admission decisions are rarely overturned. In recent years, the average success rate for submitted appeals has been around 8%.

Your appeal will not be successful if you fail to:

• Outline an acceptable rationale to support your appeal
• Provide evidence and supporting documentation
• Establish a clear link between the mitigating circumstances and your academic performance
• Show that the mitigating circumstance has been resolved and will no longer affect your academic performance

Re-applying to UBC in the future

If you wish to re-apply to UBC after studying at another post-secondary institution, review our requirements for university or college transfer students and contact us to speak to a UBC representative about your application.