Prerequisite Proposal Timeline Update

Happy New Year! We are still hoping to post an update on the prerequisite proposal by the end of January. Sorry again for the delay – there is one final step that has taken longer than anticipated due to holiday-related cancellations and closures. A lot of you are trying to plan your courses, we know, and we apologize for the inconvenience. We are eager to update you on the final decision once one has been reached. In the meantime, we are still recommending that applicants take the prerequisite courses.

13 responses to “Prerequisite Proposal Timeline Update”

  1. Jay

    I was wondering if it’s at all likely that the results will be released before the withdraw deadline (which this year is January 18)? It becomes a lot harder to move courses around after the W deadline so I was hoping the results would be released before.

    1. Admissions

      Sorry, we are expecting the decision to be made closer to the end of January. At this point it’s probably best to stay enrolled in any prerequisite courses you are taking – we know there is a time and financial cost associated with doing so, but unfortunately we do not anticipate the decision to be finalized before late January.

  2. Marika

    Hello! I was wondering where the new admission requirements will be posted, so that I may find them come the end of January? Also, will the new requirements be put in place immediately, or is there a specific academic year where this will occur?

    1. Admissions

      We’ll update our website and will post an announcement on this blog as well. These changes, if approved, will not affect the current 2015/2016 application cycle. They would come into effect starting in the 2016/2017 application cycle. All applicants in the 2015/2016 cycle must complete all prerequisite courses by April 30, 2016.

  3. Raina

    Thank you for keeping us posted. Fingers crossed that the proposal goes through!

  4. Jas

    Hi UBC,

    So if the motion is passed would the effect come into change this application cycle? Such that would pre-req courses (chemistry, biology etc.) not be included in the pre-req gpa calculations for applicants in the current application cycle.

    Thanks,

    1. Admissions

      No, these changes would not affect the current 2015/2016 application cycle. They would come into effect starting in the 2016/2017 application cycle. All applicants in the 2015/2016 cycle must complete all prerequisite courses by April 30, 2016.

  5. Anon

    What kind of plan would you set in-place to compare applicants if the proposal is approved and science pre-reqs are removed?
    It is clear that by doing so, a larger influx of applications will be submitted from a larger variety of background (Arts, Forestry, Engineering).
    I would also forecast that the academic averages of applications to increase. Would you be discriminating between, an Arts student applying with an average in the 90s and a science student with an average in the 80s when considering Interview cut-offs?

    Thanks.

    1. Admissions

      The pre-interview scoring is not changing. Interview invitations are based on the score given for an applicant’s overall GPA or adjusted GPA (if applicable) and the score given for the non-academic sections of the application, regardless of degree program. The implication of your statement is that an arts degree is less challenging than a science degree. We do not pretend to comprehend the complexities of every program or degree a school offers, nor its specific level of challenge to the student who undertakes it (challenge can relate to course content, testing methods, the aptitude of the student, the grading policies of the teacher, etc). So no, we do not value one degree over another. What we care about is whether applicants have performed well in the degree they chose, and whether they have the scientific aptitude and preparedness to do well in medical school. The benefit to completing a science degree over an arts (or other) degree is that science students will have many courses in their academic curricula that indicate their competency in the sciences, while arts students may choose to take very few science courses, which will limit their opportunities to demonstrate competency.

  6. Graham

    Hello,
    Firstly I would like to thank you for inviting me for an interview. Secondly, should I be unsuccessful and need to apply again, will you be considering my prerequisite grades as part of my GPA for my subsequent applications? I ask this because my mark in the second half of biochemistry is significantly lower than the rest of my grades and is therefore bringing down my overall GPA. It seems to me it would be unfair to applicants that had to take the gruelling courses (that may or may not have lowered their GPA) and have these courses contribute to their Academic Quotient while other applicants are allowed to not take the same difficult courses. Should the motion pass, which I strongly believe it should for a variety of reasons I am confident you are well aware of, I think an appropriate and fair solution would be to eliminate prerequisite courses that bring down an applicant’s GPA the applicant’s GPA calculation while keeping the prerequisite courses that boost the applicant’s GPA.

    Thank you for your consideration and for the interview invitation.

    1. Admissions

      Congrats on your interview! Thanks for the suggestion – I think a lot of applicants would be in favour of it. However, we are not changing how we calculate the OGPA and AGPA. We assume everyone has to take at least a few tough classes in their degree, and most applicants will have already taken the prerequisites anyway (at least for the next year or two).

  7. Philip

    Ok so now that science courses are no longer required to apply to UBC medical school, will preference be shown to applicants that have completed these challenging courses, particularly biochemistry, for the next year? Thank you!

    1. Admissions

      It is to applicants’ advantage to take the prerequisites in the sense that doing well in the prerequisite courses can demonstrate scientific competency to the committee, but prerequisite courses will not be worth more in terms of the GPA calculation or anything like that. For a more in-depth look at the issue of easy/challenging courses, please read this post.