GENERAL INFORMATION
- Campus – Total of 88 students:
- NOSM university’s Thunder Bay Campus (Lakehead University)
- NOSM university’s Sudbury Campus (Laurentian University)
- Numbers (2023-2024 cycle):
- Total number of Applicants: 1657 Applicants
- Total number of Interview Invites: 320 Applicants
- Total number of Admissions: 88 Applicants
- Program length: 4 years
Application Overview
| In Province (IP) Status | Preferences given to those with connections to Northern Ontario – Changes may take effect |
| Minimum GPA Required | 3.0/4.0 (All applicants) |
| GPA Calculation Options | Cumulative/Overall GPA (cGPA) |
| Required Course Load | Not required |
| Minimum Credits Required | 4 year undergraduate university degree |
| Pre-requisite Courses | No required courses |
| CASPer | Not required |
| MCAT | Not required |
| Interview Format | MMI & Panel – Virtual |
| References | 3 References |
| Pathways | Indigenous Admission Stream Francophone Admission Stream Black Admission Stream Military Medical Training Program (MMTP) – Paused at this time |
| International Students | Not considered |
ACADEMIC REQUIREMENTS
- GPA: Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) university uses 4.0 scale. To convert your grades, use the OMSAS GPA conversion chart here. For detailed how-to for calculating your GPA, please see this post.
- NOSM university uses cumulative GPA (cGPA) in their assessment.
- All grades including supplementary, spring, summer, part-time and distance education courses will be used to calculate the overall GPA.
- Minimum GPA:
- Minimum GPA required to apply is 3.0/4.0 for all applicants. However, the average GPA of admitted students for 2023-2024 cycle was 3.76/4.0.
- Required Course Load:
- There is no required course load for applicants to have taken to be eligible. Applicants who completed their undergraduate studies on full or part-time basis or a combination can apply.
- Minimum Credits Required:
- NOSM requires applicants to obtain 4-year baccalaureate degree by the time of admissions.
- Pre-requisite Courses:
- NOSM University does not have any pre-requisite courses. However, it is recommended that applicants with science majors complete at least 2 full course equivalents (2 full year course or 4 semester courses) in arts, social sciences and/or humanities. Conversely, applicants with arts, social sciences and/or humanities major are recommended to take at least 2 full course equivalents in science.
ADDITIONAL ASSESSMENTS
- MCAT:
- MCAT is not required to apply to NOSM university.
- CASPer
- CASPer is not required to apply to NOSM university.
RESIDENCE
- NOSM does not necessarily have IP status, but rather prefers applicants with connection to Northern Ontario. As part of the application, context score for each applicants is calculated. Context score is based on the following criteria:
- 1. Northern background based on years lived in Northern regions
- 2. Rural background based on years lived in rural communities
- 3. Indigenous applicants
- 4. Francophone applicants
- 5. Employment experience serving Northern/Remote/Rural communities
- Please note that there may be changes to IP status following the Ontario government’s announcement on legislation changes. This legislation proposes that 95% of the Ontario’s medical school seats be allocated for Ontario residents. However, it is still unclear how this will impact NOSM’s medical school seat allocation.
- You may want to check this site to learn more about this change: https://www.regulatoryregistry.gov.on.ca/proposal/50233
- Ontario’s IP criteria that comes into effect starting this cycle is as follows:
- Applicant or their spouse has, at any time after their 14th birthday, resided in Ontario for at least 12 consecutive months and has either:
- received an Ontario Secondary School Diploma; or
- not resided in another province or territory for 12 or more consecutive months since completing the most recent 12 month residency period in Ontario
- To determine that the applicant or spouse has met the criteria, the full-time studies at a post-secondary institution will not be included unless:
- Applicant or spouse was in a full-time, in-person degree in Ontario; and
- The program attended is one that is ordinarily completed in four or more academic years
- Applicant or their spouse has, at any time after their 14th birthday, resided in Ontario for at least 12 consecutive months and has either:
EXTRACURRICULARS
- All applicants will be asked to fill out Autobiographical Sketch (ABS) on their OMSAS portal. These are classified as: Employment, Volunteer activities, Extracurricular activities, Awards and Accomplishments, Research, and Other. You can enter up to 32 entries on the portal.
- NOSM university’s selection criteria for admissions process is:
- For Interview: GPA + Context score (unspecified percentages)
- For final admissions: 32% Pre-interview score + 68% Interview score
- Complete file review will also be conducted, which includes review of reference forms, ABS and academic history.
INTERVIEW
- All applicants invited to interview are scheduled for both the panel and MMI interview, which will make up the interview score. NOSM does not outline their interview processes on their official website.
- Typical MMI format includes 6-8 stations of questions, with 2 minutes to read the prompt and prepare an answer, and 5-8 minutes of answer period. Each MMI station usually have 1 assessor. Panel interviews are a more traditional style of interview, where there are 2-3 interviewers assess one candidate and questions tend to be more personal.
REFERENCES
- All applicants are required to submit three referees through OMSAS application portal. In choosing three referees, these are the following recommended criteria:
- One academic or employment related
- One non-academic / character referee
- One referee of your choosing
- NOSM recommends at least one reference to come from a community member or a community organization.
- 1. Would this applicant make a good physician?
- 2. Rate the applicant on each of the following attributes: Communication skills, Problem-solving skills, Professionalism, Empathy
- 3. Identify and comment on 1 area of improvement for the applicant
- 4. Share any other information you feel may be relevant to a medical school’s admission committee
PATHWAYS/SPECIAL STREAMS
- Indigenous Admission Stream (Up to 6 seats): Indigenous applicants must meet the same admissions requirements as general stream, but will receive a higher context score.
- Applicants through this stream must provide required documentations, such as personal letter, recommendation letter from Indigenous community or organization, and Ancestry documentation.
- Francophone Admission Stream: Francophone applicants must meet the same admissions requirements as general stream, but will receive a higher context score.
- To be eligible, applicants must provide required documentations, such as Francophone admission stream essay, Francophone recommendation form, and french fluency requirements.
- NOSM defines Francophone applicant as a person who has:
- a close connection to the Francophone community
- a desire to serve the French-speaking population in their mother tongue
- either graduated from a French-language high school/French language postsecondary program or uses French in daily living
- Black Admission Stream: Black applicants must meet the same admissions requirements as general stream, but will involve representation from the Black community in their selection process. To be eligible, applicants will be asked to submit a 500 words essay.
- Military Medical Training Program (MMTP) – Paused at this time
- Graduate students: While this is not an official admissions pathway, graduate students may be eligible for the addition of 0.2 to their GPA. There is no separate pool for graduate students and the grades from their 4-year bachelor’s degree will be used to calculate the GPA.
- For the addition of 0.2 points to apply, applicants must meet one of the following requirements:
- Graduate degree is conferred and OMSAS received final transcript by the deadline (December 1 of the application year)
- Official letter stating that the applicant met all the requirements of graduation, is sent to OMSAS by December 1 of the application year. This should be emailed to professional@ouac.on.ca and not directly to NOSM university.
- For the addition of 0.2 points to apply, applicants must meet one of the following requirements:
HELPFUL LINKS
- NOSM University Admissions Site: https://www.nosm.ca/nosm-university-admissions-learner-recruitment/ume-program-md-degree-admissions/
- Admissions Statistics: https://www.nosm.ca/nosm-university-admissions-learner-recruitment/ume-program-md-degree-admissions/class-profiles/
- Admissions Pathways: https://www.nosm.ca/nosm-university-admissions-learner-recruitment/ume-program-md-degree-admissions/admission-streams/