Admission Requirements

• Your degree must be academically equivalent to a UBC 4-year bachelor’s degree in any field, from any accredited post-secondary institution.
• Your degree can be in progress at the time of the application deadline, but all courses required for the completion of your degree must end by April 30 of the application year.
• Students with undergraduate degrees in progress during the Summer term (i.e. May-August) cannot apply for the same year’s September intake.

• The minimum requirement for entry to our program is a B+ (76%) average based on all senior level courses (300 and 400 level). Individual courses can be below this average as long as the sum total average is above 76%.
• The competitive average for entry to our program has been 82-84% in recent years.
• An applicant’s competitive average is calculated using the most recent 45 senior level credits / 15 senior level courses whether completed as part of or outside of your undergraduate degree.
• Final grades for these courses must be on your transcript at the time of the application deadline. Courses that are ongoing at that time of application will not be used in calculation.
• In order for an appropriate academic assessment to be performed, a minimum of 6 senior level courses (18 credits) must have been completed at the time of the application deadline.
• Applicants with less than 45 senior level credits / 15 senior level courses will be evaluated using all eligible senior level courses.
• In the event that multiple courses can be used as your last course(s) when calculating, we will calculate using the best applicable grade.
• Please note that the competitive average varies each application year and may increase or decrease depending on the number of applications received and the average of those applications.

• The prerequisite courses can be in progress at the time of the application deadline, but must be completed by April 30 of the application entry year (e.g. if you applied during Oct 2020 – Jan 2021 you have until April 30, 2021 to complete your prerequisites).
• Students with prerequisite courses in progress during the Summer term (i.e. May-August) cannot apply for the same year’s September intake.

• As part of the application process, you are required to submit the contact information of three unique referees.
• Two of these referees must provide an Academic reference, and the third referee must provide a Volunteer / Work Experience reference.
• Please note that referees are only notified by the system to provide an electronic reference after you have submitted your application. The deadline for a referee to submit is the same as the application deadline.
• Please visit our How To Apply page for additional instructions on how to submit references.

COVID-19 Interruption: For the 2024 application cycle, volunteer or work experience may consist of virtual hours as long as all 70(+) hours are from the same organization.

Experience requirement:

• Successful completion of a minimum of 70 hours of interactive volunteer or work experience with individuals with disabilities at the time of the application deadline.
• This experience can be paid or unpaid and must include direct in-person contact and interaction with individuals with cognitive, emotional or physical disabilities. Your experience must be completed at no more than two facilities/organizations. You must have a direct supervisor, in an official role, who can act as your reference, and comment on your abilities and verify the number of hours you completed.
• For applicants using two facilities/organizations to complete their 70 hour experience requirement, please see How To Apply for additional instructions on how to submit references.
• In order for your experience to be counted, you must have been hired directly by an organization as an employee or volunteer. You must provide a reference from an individual employed by the organization who acted as your direct supervisor. The individual(s) submitting the volunteer/work experience reference to verify and validate your experience, cannot be a family member you worked with under any circumstances.
• You can find a list of organizations where students have previously been offered experience under ‘Volunteering & Work Experience’ on our Masters of Occupational Therapy program page.
• This requirement must be completed at the time of your application submission.
• Re-applicants no longer have the option to re-use reference letters from previous year. If you wish to reapply you must submit a new and complete application for the next intake. Re-applicants are free to use referees from past years, but must provide updated reference letters each year.

All applicants are required to complete the online Casper test prior to the application deadline, the Casper test is an admissions assessment of non-cognitive skills.

Results for the Casper test will not appear in the application’s “Test Scores” section. As long as you have correctly indicated UBC Master of Occupational Therapy as a receiving institution we will receive your test scores.

Find out more about what you need and how to complete the test.

• If English was not the primary language of instruction of your undergraduate degree, you must complete one of the following English competency tests and achieve the minimum score, as noted below, within 24 months of the application deadline.
• Results of your test must be sent directly from the testing institution, to the University of British Columbia, so as to be submitted by the application deadline.
  • TOEFL
    • Minimum overall: 600 for paper-based test, 100 for internet-based test
  • MELAB
    • Minimum overall: 85
  • IELTS
    • Minimum overall: 7.5
    • Minimum score for each component: 7.0

• Preference of admission is given to residents of British Columbia.
• Applicants are considered BC residents if they hold a currently valid BC Services Card at the time of the application deadline.
• Proof of BC residency is required by submitting a PDF photocopy of your BC Services Card to the online application by the application deadline.
• Applicants applying as Permanent Residents are required to submit a copy of both the front and back of their Permanent Resident card.

• Upon receiving an official offer, each successful applicant must provide a deposit by the date, and in the amount, specified by the University of British Columbia. The deposit is non-refundable and will be applied towards tuition. Your seat in the program is not considered protected until this deposit is received and processed.
• All admitted MOT students are required to undergo an immunization review with university health services at their MOT program site location, to ensure they are up-to-date on all immunizations required (incl. COVID-19 vaccinations) by the Office of the Provincial Health Officer and the Provincial Health Authorities. Once immunization records are reviewed, students may be required to book additional vaccination appointments with health services to complete necessary vaccination and/or lab tests. Students are responsible for obtaining their immunization records before booking an appointment with their MOT program site health services provider.
• The Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, and all MOT students, are required to follow guidelines and mandates for health care workers, including immunization and vaccination requirements, set by both the Provincial Health Officer and the Provincial Health Authorities. These may change during the course of the program. Health care workers include MOT students on placements. In order to participate in any activities with patients, MOT students must meet all immunization requirements. Students who are unable to complete the required clinical hours during the program due to missing immunization requirements will not be able to graduate from the Master of Occupational Therapy program.
• The University of British Columbia is subject to the requirements of the Criminal Records Review Act (CRRA); meaning all students, who are enrolled in programs that include a practicum component involving work with children or vulnerable adults, will have to undergo a criminal record check before they will be permitted to register in the practicum.
  If you are found to present a risk of physical or sexual abuse to children, or physical, sexual, or financial abuse to vulnerable adults, as a result of the CRRA check, you will not be permitted to register in the practicum. If the practicum is required for your program, this means that you may not be able to complete the program and you may not graduate. Please consider this requirement carefully before applying to, or continuing in, this program.
• Please see the UBC Academic Calendar’s page on the Master of Occupational Therapy for more information on program requirements and academic progress.