GENERAL INFORMATION

Campus – Total of 328 students:
- University of Victoria in Victoria (Island Medical Program) – 40 students
- University of Northern BC in Prince George (Northern Medical Program) – 40 students
- UBC’s Okanagan campus in Kelowna (Southern Medical Program) – 40 students
- UBC’s Vancouver campus (Vancouver Fraser Medical Program) – 208 students
Numbers (2024-2025 Cycle):
- Total number of Applicants: 3111 Applicants
- Total number of Interview Invites: 801 Applicants
- Total number of Admissions: 328 Applicants
Program length: 4 years

Application Overview

In Province (IP) Status	Preference given to BC residents
Minimum GPA Required	75% (IP) & 85% (OOP)
GPA Calculation Options	Adjusted GPA (AGPA) Overall GPA (OGPA)
Required Course Load	None, but may need to explain the reasons if part-time course load
Minimum Credits Required	90 credits (3 credits = 1 semester course)
Pre-requisite Courses	6 credits of English
CASPer	Not Required
MCAT	Required: Minimum 496 total score Used competitively post interview
Interview Format	MMI – Virtual (Synchronous)
References	2 References (Only if selected for interview)
Pathways	Indigenous Northern & Rural Black Student MD/PhD
International Students	Not considered

ACADEMIC REQUIREMENTS

GPA: UBC uses percentage rather than 4.0 scale. To convert your grades, use this chart. You must meet the minimum required GPA for your application to be considered. For detailed how-to for calculating your GPA, please see this post.
- UBC calculates both the Overall GPA (OGPA) & Adjusted GPA (AGPA) for all applicants. The higher grades amongst the two will be used competitively.
- For AGPA, UBC drops up to 30 credits (10 semester courses) from the lowest academic year. 90 credits must remain after dropping the lowest credits, which will determine how many credits can be removed. See example calculation here under Academic Criteria.
- All courses, excluding the courses in progress (i.e. summer courses during the year of application cycle), are included in the calculations.
Minimum GPA
- Minimum GPA required for full-file review is 75% for IP applicants and 85% for OOP applicants. However, average GPA of interviewed candidates for 2024-2025 cycle were 90.18% for IP applicants and 93.13% for OOP applicants.
Required Course Load
- Although applicants are not required to take full-course load in their undergraduate studies, applicants may be asked to explain the reasons for taking part-time course-loads.
Minimum Credits Required
- Applicants must have completed 90 credits by the April 30 of the year of entry into medical school to be eligible to apply. This is equivalent to around 30 semester-long courses or 3 years of full course-load undergraduate years.
Pre-requisite Courses
- UBC has a mandatory 6 credits (2 semester courses) of English to be taken. To see if your English course satisfies this requirement, check this chart.
- UBC also outlines several strongly recommended courses:
  - 6 credits of General Chemistry
  - 6 credits of Organic Chemistry
  - 6 credits of General Biology
  - 6 credits of Biochemistry
- UBC further recommends courses like: Physics, Statistics, Social Sciences, and Humanities.

ADDITIONAL ASSESSMENTS

MCAT
- A minimum MCAT score for all applicants to apply is a total score of 496. UBC does not have any minimum score per section. MCAT scores are used competitively in post-interview assessments.
CASPer
- UBC does not require applicants to take CASPer.

RESIDENCE

UBC gives preference for BC residents, where up to 10% of the seats (Maximum 33 spots) may be given to OOP applicants each year.
To be considered as a BC resident, you must hold a valid BC Services Card by the application deadline. Applicants are responsible for renewing their BC Services Card.
Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut residents are also considered to be BC residents. In addition, applicants with PhD completed by the application deadline will have the BC residency requirements waived, as well as Indigenous and Black student applicants.

EXTRACURRICULARS

Non-Academic Qualities (NAQ) score will be given to all applicants based on the following categories: Leadership, Service Ethic, Capacity to work with others, Diversity of Experience, High performance in the area of human endeavor, and Diversity of Experience entries. You can enter max of 25 entries and select appropriate categories of your choosing. There is no longer a limit on how many entries are allowed per category.
Explanations of each categories:
- Leadership: Any activities you were in charge of others or have inspired/motivated others.
- Service ethics: Any activities where you were concerned for others’ wellness. Typical examples may include volunteering, but you can also list any other informal/personal examples like helping your family.
- Capacity to work with others: Any activities that can highlight your collaboration with others. This section can highlight your ability to work with others from different background than yours.
- Diversity of experience: Any other experiences that you think is important in your application can be listed.
- High performances in an area of human endeavor: Any experiences that exceeds what is expected of normal applicants. It would typically involve provincial/national level awards or sports team involvement.

INTERVIEW

UBC conducts MMI-style interview for selected applicants. Interviews are done online synchronous and it consists of 10 stations. Each station is 8 minutes long, with 2 minutes of reading time and 6 minutes of response time.
For special stream applicants, such as Indigenous or Northern/rural applicants, there may be a panel interview in addition to MMI.

REFERENCES

UBC does not require you to submit references at the time of application deadline. Only the candidates selected for interview will be required to submit 2 references.
One of the referees must be academic-related (i.e. professor) and the other referee must be professional/service-related (i.e. volunteer/employment).

PATHWAYS/SPECIAL STREAMS

There are 4 pathways available to apply to UBC medical school:
- Indigenous Pathway: As an Indigenous applicant, you will be expected to:
  - Provide proof of ancestry – Official document or a letter from an official representative
  - Write an Indigenous personal essay – Around 750-1000 words narrative essay
  - Participate in an Indigenous panel interview – Happens around the time of your MMI with an Elder and 2-3 other members
- Northern and Rural Pathway: UBC has distributed sites with reserved seats for Northern and rural pathway applicants.
  - Rural and Remote Suitability Score (RRSS) will be used to select appropriate candidates based on your experiences in rural/remote/northern/Indigenous setting.
  - Applicants who filled out the Northern and Rural Training Section of the application and who qualified for general stream interview may be further invited to participate in a virtual Northern and Rural panel interview.
- Black Student Pathway: As a Black Student pathway applicant, you will be expected to:
  - Indicate that you self-identify as Black or multiracial with Black ancestry
  - Write a personal essay – Around 250-500 word personal statement
- MD/PhD Pathway

HELPFUL LINKS

UBC Faculty of Medicine Admissions Site: https://mdprogram.med.ubc.ca/admissions/before-you-apply/admission-requirements/
UBC 2025-2026 Application Guide: https://med-fom-ugrad.sites.olt.ubc.ca/files/2025/06/Applicant-Guide-2025-2026.pdf
2024-2025 Interim Admissions Statistics: https://med-fom-ugrad.sites.olt.ubc.ca/files/2024/12/Interim-Stats-2024-2025.pdf
- 2023-2024 Admissions Statistics: https://med-fom-ugrad.sites.olt.ubc.ca/files/2024/05/MED2027-Statistics.pdf
GPA Conversion link: https://med-fom-ugrad.sites.olt.ubc.ca/files/2012/08/ADM_grade_conversion_tables.pdf
Mandatory English Courses Lists: https://med-fom-ugrad.sites.olt.ubc.ca/files/2024/06/English-Courses-Chart-2024-2025.pdf
UBC Med Pathways to Medicine: https://mdprogram.med.ubc.ca/admissions/before-you-apply/pathways-to-medicine/