UBC Faculty of Medicine

History

The University of British Columbia founded a medical school in 1950. The school is based in Vancouver. Two new undergraduate medical campuses were established at the University of Victoria in Victoria and the University of Northern British Columbia in Prince George that opened in 2004. A fourth medical campus was established at the University of British Columbia Okanagan in Kelowna in 2012. Students at all of these campuses receive clinical training at hospitals and other health facilities throughout the province.

Introduction to MD Admissions

One of the main goals in the UBC MD Admissions calendar is to admit candidates who are most likely to successfully thrive and enjoy the exciting challenges, travel and meet the demands of medical school effectively under stress. Qualities of well-roundedness, motivation, maturity, adaptability, and genuine concern are valued. This usually comes from looking for concrete evidence in the application (academic and non-academic), and holistically after the interview. The UBC MD Undergraduate Program strives to provide a maximum supportive learning environment in which every student can excel – and to guide them along their own road to postgraduate residency and eventually, medical practice to meet the needs of British Columbians and Canadians. The program involves strong independent, and group collaboration with fellow students, faculty and other health professionals in-province and Canada.

The UBC Faculty of Medicine is devoted to inclusion and support and is committed to ensuring all graduates have the necessary knowledge, skills, professional behaviours and attitudes that are suited for postgraduate education and beyond. In addition, upon successful completion of medical school, all students will enter their own specialization.

Current Med Admissions Cycle

The current cycle (Medicine Class of 2021) saw 2485 applications received for the 288 spots of the medical program. The average adjusted GPA (or overall) of the 660 selected interviewers was 88.30%. The minimum total file score to qualify for the interview for BC applicants was 52.91/100, and 63.16/100 for out-of-province applicants. 579 BC applicants received the interview while 81 out-of-province applicants received the interview. Scores are only shown to those not invited for interview or not invited for final acceptance to the program. While scores are intended to provide general feedback and encouragement to applicants (for example, a lower AQ score than average could suggest increasing the spectrum of academic classes taken; or a lower NAQ score than average could suggest exploring and committing to a different background, community, topic, etc). Due to standardization of scores, they are not supposed to be used for intense analysis or as a 'cake recipe' towards admission; every applicant's situation and scenario is different.

Background to MD Admissions

UBC admits one of the largest incoming class of medical students in Canada – annually at 288. Preference is given to residents of British Columbia, but up to 29 seats are reserved each year for out-of-province applicants. Like other medical schools in Canada, UBC does not have a preference over a candidate's area of studies, and accepted students come from all backgrounds. A minimum of 90 university credits is required. A minimum average of 75% (in UBC percentage) is required for BC residents, while a minimum average of 85% (in UBC percentage) is required for out-of-province applicants. However, the MD Admissions Office will remove up to 30 credits of an applicant's lowest academic year (running from September to August), provided that they still have 90 credits worth of grades for consideration after this adjustment. Applicants no longer must complete 6 credits each of Biology, General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, and Biochemistry. In late January 2016, UBC Senate approved the plan of removing science prerequisites for MD Admissions. The requirement for 6 credits of English is still required.

The admissions process is extremely competitive. The average entering GPA of matriculants has been more or less increasing each year. In the recent 2015-2016 cycle (Medicine Class of 2020), there were 2124 applications received for the 288 spots in the first year undergraduate medical program. The average overall GPA (or adjusted GPA, if applicable) was 88.17% for the entering class. The average old MCAT score for the entering class was 33, whilst the average 2015 MCAT score for the entering class was 515.07. The overall admissions rate turned out to be 13.5%, however, it was 19.6% for BC applicants.

The MD Undergraduate Admissions Committee currently applies a 50:50 ratio for the academic qualities score (AQ) and non-academic qualities score (NAQ), to produce a total file review score (TFR). The TFR determines if a candidate should be invited for an interview. The AQ score conversion and NAQ point allocation is subject to change each year based on the competitiveness of the applicant pool. For example, if a re-applicant has made no changes to their GPA and non-academic statements, their AQ and NAQ score may still change, even if they have not made any changes – the evaluations are standardized against the applicant pool. Thus, minimum TFR to be invited for an interview will most likely change each year. Based on past statistics, approximately 30% of all applicants (BC and out-of-province) are invited to the interview. The interview follows the Multiple Mini Interviews format (MMI), which allows the candidate to interact with approximately 11 different stations. The interview takes approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes to complete. After the interview, candidates will get a chance to rank their distributed medical site preferences from 1-4, or no-interest. The post-interview score consists of the interview score, MCAT score, and TFR, in which candidates will be ranked. Reference forms provided by the Faculty are reviewed post-interview, with specific details provided to all interviewed candidates. Overall, all aspects are considered if a candidate is finally admitted into the MD program, with decisions made by Committee consensus. Names, gender, and related etc. are all blinded to the committee when making a decision – except in explicit situations made clear by the applicant i.e. putting information in the Additional Comments section of the application.

All distributed medical sites are evaluated equally, as such, a candidate should not select a medical site in hopes of a better admission. This is a result of admissions and site placement being a two-step process. Candidates who are not successful with their application are allowed and encouraged to re-apply the following year. The candidate may apply as many times as they wish, however, the Faculty of Medicine encourages candidates to explore other career options if their applications have been unsuccessful after several cycles.

Unfortunately, it is not uncommon to apply more than once; the general consensus is that the average medical student accepted in Canada applied approximately 2 or 3 times.

Additionally, the Admissions Office has made clear that receiving poor scores does not mean that you will potentially not be a great doctor – and they are also not personal judgments. They are merely done based on constraints – in this case, it is impossible to go through, very thoroughly, an average of 2000+ candidates per year and likewise, admit more than 288 students (as that would require major changes stemming from the BC and Canadian medical system).

Doctor of Medicine (MD)

The school's medical program consists of four years of studies. The medical school is distributed among four sites across British Columbia:

All degree programs offered in the Faculty of Medicine

Alumni

John G. Webb - Canadian interventional cardiologist, performed the first transapical transcatheter aortic valve implantation in 2006.