GENERAL INFORMATION
- Campus – Total of 184 students
- University of Ottawa’s main campus
- Numbers (2024-2025 Cycle):
- Total number of Applicants: 5244 Applicants
- Total number of Interview Invites: 576 Applicants
- Total number of Admissions: 184 Applicants
- Program length: 4 years
Application Overview
| In Province (IP) Status | 70% Regional Preference; 95% of the seats allocated for ON applicants |
| Minimum GPA Required | 3.5/4.0 |
| GPA Calculation Options | Cumulative GPA (cGPA) of most recent 3 full-time years (5 courses per semester) |
| Required Course Load | Minimum 3 years of Full-time studies |
| Minimum Credits Required | Minimum 3 years of Full-time studies |
| Pre-requisite Courses | Mandatory courses in various subjects (See below) |
| CASPer | Required (Competitive) |
| MCAT | Not required |
| Interview Format | Panel Interview |
| References | 3 References |
| Pathways | Black Student Application Program (BSAP) Canadian Armed Forces Francophone Candidates outside Ontario and Quebec Government of Nunavut Indigenous Program MD/PhD Combined Program Social Accountability Initiative Regional Initiative MD/Family Medicine (MD/FM) |
| International Students | Not considered |
ACADEMIC REQUIREMENTS
- GPA: University of Ottawa 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.
- University of Ottawa calculates cumulative GPA (cGPA) using courses from the 3 most recent full-time years. The full-time years are defined as 5 courses per semester. The cGPA will include all full-time courses taken during the regular fall and winter academic years as well as during spring/summer terms.
- Any school year with less than 4 courses per term will not be included in the GPA calculation.
- Minimum GPA:
- Minimum GPA required to apply is 3.5/4.0 for all applicants. Although there is no official detailed admissions statistics posted by University of Ottawa, it is speculated that the average GPA of accepted students are somewhere around 3.9/4.0. As such, having a high GPA is critical for University of Ottawa.
- Required Course Load:
- University of Ottawa requires a minimum of three years full-time studies for applicants to be eligible. Any academic year with 4 courses per term will be recognized as full-time if the missing credits/courses are fulfilled within another academic year (such as in winter) or in spring/summer term.
- Minimum Credits Required:
- University of Ottawa requires applicants to have completed at least 3 years of full-time studies (5 courses per term) prior to admission into the program.
- Pre-requisite Courses:
- There are several mandatory pre-requisite courses outlined by University of Ottawa. Please see below:
- 6 units (3 units = 1 semester course) in humanities/social sciences
- 6 units in Biology
- 3 units in organic chemistry
- 3 units in biocheistry
- 3 units in statistics
- Applicants must have a laboratory component in two of the science courses or 1 exclusively laboratory course equivalent to 6 units in addition to pre-requisite courses.
- Pre-requisite courses with a minimum of 3.0/4.0 taken outside of the most recent 3 years will be counted towards fulfilling this requirement. However, they will not count towards the GPA calculation.
- There are several mandatory pre-requisite courses outlined by University of Ottawa. Please see below:
ADDITIONAL ASSESSMENTS
- MCAT
- MCAT is not required to apply to University of Ottawa.
- CASPer
- CASPer is also required for application, and is used competitively for University of Ottawa.
RESIDENCE
- University of Ottawa has a regional preference for applicants from Ottawa and surrounding areas. Approximately 70% of the seas are reserved for regional applicants. To be eligible, applicants must have completed high school in Ottawa or surrounding areas. To see eligible areas, please see below in regional initiative section under the Pathways/Special steams.
- If applicant did not attend high school in areas stated above but wish to be considered as regional applicant, they must provide a letter explaining their rationale.
- Please note that there are 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 University of Ottawa’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.
- Amongst these activities, applicants will be prompted to identify the top 3 activities in each category that best prepared applicants to apply to medicine.
INTERVIEW
- University of Ottawa conducts traditional panel-style interview for selected candidates. There is no official information on whether the interview is conducted virtually or in-person, but it has been conducted virtually in the recent years. Based on different forums, interview involves three interviewers, who may be a physician, medical student, and a community member. It typically takes anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour.
- Please note that if you have interviewed 3 times, your application will be rejected. This policy applies to both the general and special stream/pathway applicants.
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
- References completing the Confidential Assessment Forms (CAF) will be asked the following questions:
- 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
- Black Student Application Program (BSAP): Applicants must still meet the same minimum eligibility criteria as the general stream applicants.
- To be eligible, applicants must self-identify on OMSAS and provide a 500-words letter of intent to describe why they chose to apply through this program.
- Canadian Armed Forces: Applicants who are current member of the Canadian Armed Forces may be eligible to apply to this stream. They must still meet the minimum eligibility criteria as the general stream applicants.
- Applicants must email the Canadian Forces Health Services (CFHS) Attraction Cell to provide notice of intent to apply.
- Francophone Candidates outside Ontario and Quebec: This pathway is for applicants applying in the French stream. Up to 8 seats are reserved for French-speaking applicants outside of Ontario and Quebec. Applicants must still meet the same minimum eligibility criteria as the general stream applicants.
- To be eligible, applicants must be a student whose permanent address is not from Ontario or Quebec for more than 5 years. Applicants must also choose French as their language of instruction.
- Introduction letter to indicate their application to this stream must be emailed to Admissions office in addition to applying through OMSAS.
- Government of Nunavut: Applicants must still meet the same minimum eligibility criteria as the general stream applicants, except:
- CASPer is not required and cGPA calculated will be best 3 years of full-time university studies rather than the 3 most recent years.
- If applicants are Nunavut Inuit students, they must submit:
- Proof of Indigenous ancestry
- Letter of recommendation from Indigenous community or organization
- 250 words letter of intent that includes: (a) a declaration, (b) request for consideration, (c) details on academic and personal background as well as (d) their motivation to becoming a doctor.
- If applicants are from Nunavut but are non-Inuit, they must submit:
- 250 words letter of intent that includes: (a) a request for consideration, (b) description of applicants’ connection to Nunavut community, (c) details on academic and personal background as well as (d) their motivation to becoming a doctor.
- Indigenous Program: Up to 7 seats are reserved for Indigenous applicants. Applicants must still meet the same minimum eligibility criteria as the general stream applicants, except:
- CASPer is not required and cGPA calculated will be best 3 years of full-time university studies rather than the 3 most recent years.
- To be eligible, applicants must submit:
- Proof of Indigenous ancestry
- Letter of recommendation from Indigenous community or organization
- Letter of intent that includes: (a) a declaration, (b) request for consideration, (c) details on academic and personal background as well as (d) their motivation to becoming a doctor.
- MD/PhD Combined Program: 4 seats are reserved per year.
- Social Accountability Initiative: 2 seats are reserved for applicants coming from low socioeconomic status. Applicants must still meet the same minimum eligibility criteria as the general stream applicants.
- To be eligible, applicants must submit each parental/legal guardian’s notice of assessment issued by the CRA during the time applicants were in Grade 11 and 12. Applicants must also submit the Social Accountability Initiative Form.
- Applicants must have had a yearly total parental/guardian pre-tax income in Grade 11 and 12 to be less than or equal to $60,000 as per CRA data.
- Regional Initiative: As mentioned previously, University of Ottawa reserves 70% of the seats for applicants from Ottawa and surrounding areas. Postal code at the time of applicants attending high school will be used to verify.
- Eligible areas include:
- Brockville
- Carleton Place
- Cornwall
- Eastern and Central Prescott and Russell United Counties
- Hawkesbury
- Merrickville
- Ottawa
- Perth
- Renfrew County and Lanark Highlands Township
- Rideau Lakes area
- Rockland
- Rural National Capital Region
- Russell
- Smiths Falls
- South Leeds and Grenville United Counties
- Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry United Counties
- MD/FM: University of Ottawa reserves up to 8 seats (4 from Anglophone stream and 4 from Francophone stream) for this stream. Eligible candidates may bypass the CaRMS matching process and secure a family residency spot with University of Ottawa upon graduation.
- To be considered for this program, applicants must select MD-FM in OMSAS application and submit a letter of intent through OMSAS that describes their reason of pursuing Family Medicine in less than 2,000 characters. The question asked this cycle is: What experiences demonstrate your commitment to family medicine?
- Eligible areas include:
HELPFUL LINKS
- University of Ottawa Admissions Site: https://www.uottawa.ca/faculty-medicine/undergraduate/admissions
- Admissions Process & Requirements: https://www.uottawa.ca/faculty-medicine/undergraduate/application-process
- Pathways to the MD Program: https://www.uottawa.ca/faculty-medicine/undergraduate/pathways-md-program