What we look for when evaluating your application

What we look for when evaluating your application

Yay! You’ve completed your UBC application! It’s a huge accomplishment and brings you one step closer to reaching your university goals. Now you’re probably wondering what we look for when we’re evaluating your application.

UBC receives thousands of applications a year and, as much as we’d like to, we don’t have the space to admit everyone.

Our admissions process is competitive and comparative. It’s important to keep in mind that your application will be evaluated against all of the other applications we have received this year for the same degree.

 

First, do you meet the admission requirements?

 

The first thing we look at when evaluating your application is whether or not you meet UBC’s admission requirements. This includes:

General admission requirements

  • Have you graduated from high school?

English language requirements

Degree-specific requirements

  • Do you meet the specific requirements for the degree you’re applying to?
  • You may need to take certain high school courses, submit a portfolio or complete an interview depending on the degree you are applying to.

If you meet these admission requirements, we take a closer look at your application.

 

Next, we review your grades and course choices

 

The next step in your application evaluation is looking at your grades. We look at all of your Grade 11 (Junior level) and Grade 12 (Senior level) classes, paying special attention to courses that relate to the degree you’re applying to.

UBC also looks closely at which courses you chose to take in high school:

  • Did you pursue all of your academic interests by taking a range of different subjects?
  • Did you challenge yourself by taking academic courses, advanced courses, or first-year university courses?
  • Did you demonstrate knowledge in your chosen area of study by taking courses related to the degree you applied to at UBC?

 

Lastly, we look at your achievements beyond academics

 

After making sure that you meet the admission requirements and reviewing your grades and course choices, the last thing we look at is your personal profile – the essay questions in your online application.

We read your personal profile to get a sense of who you are, what you’ve overcome and what you’ve achieved. Your personal profile helps us to assess whether you’re prepared for university studies. It also helps us determine if you’re deserving of an entrance scholarship or award by telling us what you’ve learned about your experiences, your academic and extracurricular achievements, and your leadership qualities.

Learn more about how UBC evaluates your application

 

 

Good luck!

Update on first-round offers of admission

Update on first-round offers of admission

This year, we’ve received over 12,000 applications from high school students who follow the Canadian curriculum and will be considered for a first-round offer of admission. That’s a lot of Personal Profiles to read! We’re already sending out first-round offers of admission and will continue to send them through to February 28. If you don’t receive an offer by February 28, don’t worry – no one will be refused admission during first-round offers of admission.

 

If I am not admitted by February 28, what do I do?

UBC is reviewing student applications every week. High school students who applied before the December 1 deadline will be admitted on different days as the weeks go by. All students who follow the Canadian curriculum and met the December 1 deadline will be considered for first-round offers of admission, and all of those offers will be finalized by February 28.

If you are not admitted by February 28, sit tight and follow the instructions we send you by email for additional grade information.

Can someone tell me if I’ll receive an offer?

If you contact our front-line team, they will not be able to tell you if you will be admitted. If you want to know what your current status is, have a look at the Applicant Service Centre (ASC). When you visit the ASC, you can learn about where your application is in the process by viewing your “Applicant Status.” The messaging on your applicant status will tell you if you have successfully submitted your application, list your dates and deadlines, and lay out your next steps.

If you have already been admitted, your applicant status will tell you that. If it does not say that you are admitted, check back after February 28. At that time, you’ll see new instructions that you must follow.

 

 

Tour UBC’s Okanagan and Vancouver campuses

Tour UBC’s Okanagan and Vancouver campuses

If you’ve submitted your application to UBC – congratulations! We’re looking forward to learning more about you.

While you wait for your admissions decision, you can get a head start on deciding whether UBC is the right place for you by joining us for a campus tour.

You can find lots of great info and photos about what it’s like to be a UBC student on Instagram and TikTok, but there’s really no substitute for connecting with some of our current students and having them share their knowledge and experiences with you. Our students are excited to show you their favourite spaces on campus, and to answer your questions about life and learning at UBC.

 

What to expect

We have two tour options at both of our UBC Okanagan and UBC Vancouver campuses – in-person campus tours and live virtual tours.

In-person campus tours

Visit us on campus and take a walking tour to get to know UBC. Tours are run by friendly student ambassadors who are excited to show you around campus.

UBC Okanagan tours last 90 minutes and UBC Vancouver tours run for 2 hours.

 

Live virtual campus tours

During your Zoom tour, you’ll learn more about UBC, see photos from some of our favourite spots at UBC Vancouver or UBC Okanagan, and hear from real students about their experiences in class, residence, and beyond.

UBC Okanagan tours last for 75 minutes, and UBC Vancouver tours run for 90 minutes.

 

Tour schedules

We offer tours for UBC Okanagan and UBC Vancouver on multiple days every week. You can find our most up-to-date schedules and discover how many spots are available by visiting the campus tours webpage.

 

How to register

To view all upcoming Okanagan and Vancouver tours, and to register, visit our Tours and Events page.

If you are Indigenous (a member of a First Nation, Métis, and/or Inuit community in Canada) and would like to register for an Indigenous campus tour or connect with an Indigenous advisor, please email our Indigenous campus tours team at indigenous.tours@ubc.ca.

 

Can’t make it to one of our in-person campus tours or a live virtual tour?

No problem! If you are unable to attend one of our in-person tours or one of our live virtual tours or you want to learn more about UBC at your own pace, you can also experience our two campuses by taking a self-guided virtual tour.

ubc, virtual, tour, Vancouver, Okanagan, campus, visit

 

Also, if you are in Kelowna and are unable to attend one of our scheduled in-person campus tours, the staff at the Student Recruitment desk (UNC222) in the University Centre would be happy to provide you with a Self-Guided Walking Tour handout for the Okanagan campus.

How UBC will keep in touch with you

How UBC will keep in touch with you

Do you wonder what happens after you submit your application?

After you submit your application, the Admissions Office reviews it and creates an electronic file for you. In a week or two, you’ll receive an email listing the additional information you need to submit in order to complete your application.

 

Check your email

Your email address is a crucial piece of information to submit with your online application. Please be sure to use an email address that you will be checking frequently. Also check your email provider’s spam filters so that UBC emails with important information are not being filtered out.

If your email provider mistakenly deleted something we sent you, you can also log in to the Applicant Service Centre and click on the Message Centre to see all the emails the Admissions Office has sent to you.

If you have any questions, contact us.

 

If you applied before December 1

We have started reading the personal profiles of everyone who submitted an application by December 1.

Successful Presidential Scholars Award candidates will be contacted in mid-April.

 

 

Frequently asked questions from Canadian high school applicants

Frequently asked questions from Canadian high school applicants

We are already making admission offers to Canadian applicants who applied by December 1st. If you have been offered admission, congratulations! We will continue to make offers to all qualified applicants throughout the next several months. If you have not been offered admission, continue to monitor the Applicant Service Centre regularly.

At this point, you might have a few questions:

 

You’ve been admitted to your first choice, but now you would prefer your second choice. Will UBC still evaluate your second choice?

We always assume that your first choice is what you prefer. If you’ve received an offer of admission for your first choice, we’ll only evaluate your second choice if you contact us and if there is still space available in your second-choice degree. 

 

If you accept your second choice but there is no decision for your first choice, will UBC still evaluate your first choice?

Yes, we always evaluate first choices, whether you accept or decline your second-choice offer. If you accept your second-choice offer now you can always change it to your first-choice later if that is offered to you. If you change choices, you do not have to pay an acceptance deposit again.  

 

Where can you find your application status?

The best source of information on your application is always the Applicant Service Centre. When you log in to your account, you’ll find an up-to-date status for each of your degree choices.

 

 

Special admissions consideration for applicants with disabilities

Special admissions consideration for applicants with disabilities

UBC seeks to provide a welcoming and inclusive environment for all students. Special consideration for admissions is a process where additional information is reviewed related to an applicant’s disability or ongoing medical condition when the condition may have affected their academic performance adversely. A disability alone does not qualify you for special admission consideration.

 

Who can apply?

Applicants to UBC have very strong academic records. You must meet both general admission requirements as well as degree specific requirements. Many applicants with disabilities meet UBC’s admission requirements and are admitted directly to their degree of choice. However, if an unsupported or recently diagnosed disability has impacted your ability to meet the admission requirements of your degree of choice, you can apply for special consideration for admission.

 

Are you eligible?

The presence of a disability alone does not qualify you for special admission consideration. Special consideration may be granted if, for example, your academic performance has been affected because:

  • You have been recently diagnosed with a disability.
  • Your disability was not accommodated completely or appropriately during your recent studies.

If you have received appropriate accommodations for your disability throughout your studies, you may not be eligible for UBC’s special consideration for admission.

 

How to apply for special consideration

Review the criteria for special admission consideration as well as the application form and instructions. If you are eligible, please submit your request as soon as possible. The special admission consideration application form and instructions are available on our website. It is recommended that you complete the form no later than the application deadline for your degree so that your request is approved promptly.

Remember: You are under no obligation to disclose your disability in your application to UBC unless you believe your disability will impact your ability to meet the academic standards of your degree of study.

How to change the degree you applied to

How to change the degree you applied to

Have you had a change of heart? If you’ve applied to one degree, but decided you’d rather pursue a different one, here’s what you need to do.

 

How to change your degree

  1. Check the admissions requirements for your new degree choice and make sure you meet the criteria.
  2. Be absolutely sure you want to change your degree, because you may no longer be eligible for certain UBC awards. If you are a Canadian citizen or permanent resident and you apply by December 1, 2024, your first-choice degree will be considered for a Presidential Scholars Award if you select that option on the online application. If you are an international student and you apply by January 15, 2025, your first-choice application will be automatically considered for an International Major Entrance Scholarship. For all students, your new first-choice application will not be considered for an award if you make a change after those dates.
  3. After you’ve thought through the above, you can submit the changes of your first-choice and second-choice applications until January 15, 2025. Be sure to include your full name and UBC reference number, and we will update your UBC application accordingly. Your application changes will not be updated if your request is made after January 15, 2025.

 

Please note:

And remember, you use the same UBC application to apply for degrees on both UBC campuses. Your first choice and second choice can be on the same campus or on two different campuses. 

January 15, 2025 is the deadline for submitting your application, and the deadline for changing the program you’re applying to.

 

Post-secondary transfer applications

Post-secondary transfer applications

Have you applied to study at UBC after you’ve already begun your studies at another post-secondary institution? Every year, the University receives and reviews more than 9,000 post-secondary transfer applications from students in Canada and elsewhere around the world.

 

Your application assessment

We are in the process of evaluating applications. If you applied by December 1, your application will be evaluated on the interim grades that you have already provided. If we ask you for a final transcript, we will evaluate your application based on the available grades from that document. In the event that we require any additional information from you in order to process your application, an advisor will be in touch.

We appreciate your patience as we evaluate applications in the coming months. Application decisions will continue to be made throughout June and July.

 

Offers of admission

Admission decisions are posted in UBC’s Applicant Service Centre. Keep an eye on your Applicant Status for the most up-to-date information.

 

Transfer credit

Any transfer credits that you have been granted will be posted in the Applicant Service Centre under Grades & Records. If you are transferring from a BC institution, you can use the BC Transfer Guide to determine what transfer credit you can receive. Please note that in some cases, your transfer credits may not appear until you’ve accepted your offer and paid your deposit.

If you have a prior degree, transfer credits are not assessed. Please connect with your faculty advising office to determine second-degree requirements. Remember that you can only satisfy up to 50% of your second degree with credits from your first degree, even if your first degree is from UBC.

If you have questions about your post-secondary transfer application or transfer credits, please contact us.