Application Requirements

All applicants to the Doctor of Medicine Program must be registered in a baccalaureate degree from a program recognized by the University of Alberta and obtain their degree the year admission is sought or already have completed their degree program. We have no preference for which institution you attend nor which degree program you complete, provided that the institution and program you choose is recognized by the University of Alberta; you should be pursuing your own interests while fulfilling the requirements of your degree program. The MD Program does not require any specific pre-requisite courses. Applicants must have a minimum of 60 transferable units of course weight (ucw).

Courses from external institutions are converted to University of Alberta ucw. Labs that are co-requisites for lectures and are reported as separate courses on external transcripts will not be included in the total ucw; at the University of Alberta a course with a lab component is reported singularly as 3 or 6 ucw.

IB/AP credits received towards your baccalaureate degree are not considered part of post-secondary coursework and will not be used towards your application.

NOTE: We are unable to provide transcript pre-assessment. This includes, but is not limited to, the transferability of courses, recognized degrees, and cGPA calculations. Please contact the Office of the Registrar directly for inquiries regarding recognized degrees. The Office of the Registrar is unable to provide pre-assessment of transcripts for cGPA calculations.

cGPA Calculation for 2023/2024 Application Cycle

Meeting the minimum cGPA for application does not guarantee admission to the Doctor of Medicine Program. We encourage our applicants to have an alternate career path in mind as the number of qualified applicants exceeds the number of positions we have available in our program.

NOTE: We are unable to provide transcript pre-assessment. This includes, but is not limited to, the transferability of courses, recognized degrees, and cGPA calculations. Please contact the Office of the Registrar directly for inquiries regarding recognized degrees. The Office of the Registrar is unable to provide pre-assessment of transcripts for cGPA calculations.

Non-Albertans

Applicants must send official transcripts from all post-secondary institutions ever attended directly from the issuing institution to the Office of the Registrar. Photocopies, hand-delivered copies, unofficial copies, and WES evaluations will not be accepted. Students who have attended an international institution may be required to provide further supporting documentation, such as course descriptions. Please refer to your UAlberta Launchpad for required checklist items and forms. Required supporting documentation must be received by the Office of the Registrar before they are able to evaluate your file. Failure to provide these may result in your application being deemed incomplete, resulting in the closure of your file.

For concerns regarding your transcripts and supporting documentation please contact the Office of the Registrar directly.

Unofficial interim transcripts can be uploaded via your UAlberta Launchpad.

Official electronic transcripts can be sent to transcripts@ualberta.ca.

Transcript Mailing Address:

Note: Students do not need to request University of Alberta transcripts; we have access to them through the Office of the Registrar.

ApplyAlberta

The University of Alberta may be able to obtain transcripts from participating Alberta post-secondary institutions on the applicant's behalf via ApplyAlberta. You will have agreed to this process when completing the Application for Admission. Please check your UAlberta Launchpad for details of which transcripts the Office of the Registrar has requested on your behalf. Please be aware that there are instances where your institution may refuse to send transcripts to us, typically due to unpaid fees or if there is a discrepancy in your identifying information. If this occurs you must settle your account with that institution and request a transcript be sent to us yourself.

NOTE: We are unable to provide transcript pre-assessment. This includes, but is not limited to, the transferability of courses, recognized degrees, and cGPA calculations. Please contact the Office of the Registrar directly for inquiries regarding recognized degrees. The Office of the Registrar is unable to provide pre-assessment of transcripts for cGPA calculations.

All applicants are subject to the same application requirements.

Applicants who have obtained a Masters or PhD are eligible to receive additional points towards their rank score. If the conferral date is not present on the official transcript submitted for the October 4, 2023 deadline, applicants must submit a letter (detailed information below):

Graduate Degree Additional Points Deadline (February 5, 2024) for Interview

Should applicants complete a Graduate Degree before the time of interview offers, they are eligible to be awarded additional points. If the Graduate Degree conferral date is not present on your official transcripts submitted for the October 4th deadline, applicants must: 

Masters by Thesis or PhD

Applicants must submit a letter stating a successful defence on or before February 5, 2024 to have additional points added to their rank for offer of interview. We recommend that as soon as applicants have successfully defended their thesis, and have completed all required revisions, that they should request that their Departmental Chair or Supervisor email  MDAdmissions@ualberta.ca an official and original letter stating such on institution letterhead. This letter must include the date the applicant defended, that all required revisions have been accepted, and the predicted degree conferral date. The Official Transcript displaying the Graduate Degree conferral date must follow this letter as soon as it is available. 

Masters by Course Work

Once applicants have completed their Masters Degree Program by course work, including any practicums, they can request that an official letter from the Faculty Associate Dean or Department Chair be sent to MDAdmissions@ualberta.ca on or before February 5, 2024. This letter must state that they have successfully completed  all of the requirements for their Masters Degree Program on "this date" and the predicted degree conferral date. The Official Transcript displaying the Masters Degree conferral date must follow this letter as soon as it is available. 

Graduate Degree Additional Points Deadline (May 1, 2024) for Offer of Admission

Should applicants complete a Graduate Degree before the time of admission offers, they are eligible to be awarded additional points. If the Graduate Degree conferral date is not present on your official transcripts submitted for the October 4th deadline, applicants must: 

Masters by Thesis or PhD 

Applicants must submit a letter stating a successful defence on or before May 1, 2024 to have additional points added to their rank for offer of admission. We recommend that as soon as applicants have successfully defended their thesis, and have completed all required revisions, that they should request that their Departmental Chair or Supervisor email MDAdmissions@ualberta.ca an official and original letter stating such on institution letterhead.This letter must include the date the applicant defended, that all required revisions have been accepted, and the predicted degree conferral date. The  Official Transcript displaying the Masters Degree conferral date must follow this letter as soon as it is available. 

Masters by Course Work

Once applicants have completed their Masters Degree Program by course work, including any practicums, they can request that an official letter from the Faculty Associate Dean or Department Chair be sent to MDAdmissions@ualberta.ca on or before May 1, 2024. This letter must state that they have successfully completed all of the requirements for their Masters Degree Program on "this date" and the predicted degree conferral date. The Official Transcript displaying the Masters Degree conferral date must follow this letter as soon as it is available.

Concurrent Registration

Applicants accepted to the University of Alberta MD Program who are presently  enrolled in an academic program (graduate or other) that is ongoing at the time of acceptance to the MD Program, are asked to advise the Associate Dean of the University of Alberta MD Program of their enrolment in the other program. Students are not permitted to be registered in two programs simultaneously unless they have informed the Deans of both programs and have obtained both Deans' explicit written permission.

All applicants must complete the MCAT and meet the minimum requirements for each section in a single test sitting to be eligible to apply to the Doctor of Medicine Program.

Meeting the minimum MCAT scores for application does not guarantee admission to the Doctor of Medicine Program. We encourage our applicants to have an alternate career path in mind as the number of qualified applicants exceeds the number of positions we have available in our program.

MCAT scores must be released and verified in your UAlberta Launchpad by the October 4, 2023 1:00:00PM MT deadline. As such, the last testing date we will accept for the 2023/2024 application cycle is September 2, 2023. Please note that you must pay for and submit your Application for Admission, and submit your MCAT Self Declaration form on Launchpad for your scores to go forth in the manual verification process. The verification process is not automatic and therefore requires processing time. 

For the 2024/2025 application cycle the last MCAT testing date we will accept is tentatively September 2, 2024. MCAT test scores must be released and verified in your UAlberta Launchpad by the application deadline, which is tentatively set as October 4, 2024 at 1:00:00PM MT.

When choosing your MCAT test date you should keep in mind that test results must be released to us, entered into your application, and verified in the UAlberta Launchpad prior to the application deadline. As such, you should be reviewing the test score release dates when choosing your test date.

You must release your scores to us via the THx system on the AAMC website prior to this deadline. The MCAT must have been written within the last five years prior to application deadline. As such, for the 2023/2024 application cycle, we will not be accepting scores from test dates prior to October 1, 2018. For the 2024/2025 application cycle, we will not be accepting scores from test dates prior to October 4, 2019.

If there is a discrepancy between the information you provide to us and that available from AAMC we will contact you through your UAlberta.ca email account to correct this prior to the October 4 deadline. Should you fail to have a discrepant MCAT score corrected and verified prior to the application deadline your application will be considered incomplete, resulting in the closure of your file.

The single set of test scores that you submit with your application are the only set of scores we will use. You must meet the minimum requirements in one sitting. We do not require applicants to declare their most recent MCAT test date as long as the test date that they are declaring meets the minimum requirements, and was not written prior to October 1, 2018. 

The MCAT is comprised of four sections:

For course recommendations to complete the MCAT, please refer to the AAMC website.

Note

The University of Alberta MD Program is making a change to our MCAT requirement. Commencing July 2022, we will take a threshold approach to the MCAT as applicants’ MCAT scores will no longer be used competitively. Once applicants meet our MCAT eligibility requirements (see below), their scores will not be used to assess their application.

The Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry welcomes applications from qualified individuals who:

1. Are residents of Canada, either as a Canadian Citizen or Permanent Resident
2. Meet the eligibility criteria
3. Believe they would be competitive in the selection criteria

We regret that we are unable to admit international students. Review the following links to the  Study in Canada and the International Undergraduate Admissions pages should you wish to attend another program at our institution.

Please refer to the University of Alberta Calendar for the residency definition. If you feel that this definition reflects your current and expected residence, you may claim Alberta residency on your application. We reserve the right to correct your residency claim should we feel that the information in your application does not support your claim and would refer the applicant to the Code of Applicant Behaviour. Any inquiries related to residency will be directed to the above statement.

The Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta values diversity in our entering medical class. To this end, the Personal Activities section gives you the opportunity to highlight your life experiences that you feel will enhance your application. The Personal Activities section is comprised of five subsections:

For Employment, Teamwork, Collaboration, & Leadership, Volunteer Work, and Life Experiences & Achievements: you should be selective and concise in the activities you choose to include. A minimum of one entry, to a maximum of four, is required per section. By not including any items in these any of these sections you are accepting a 0 for that section. Details about each activity are required, description of time commitment, number of verifiable hours committed, and description of activity. For example, when calculating the number of hours committed to an activity, please do not include hours dedicated to sleep. We strongly recommend that you discuss the information you are choosing to include with your verifier and notify them that they will be contacted in the new year (2024) . For employment activities we recommend that you confer with your payroll department to confirm hours of employment, but do not directly list the payroll department email for the activity unless they have confirmed that they can act as the verifier for this activity.

As all activities are verified, you must provide us with the contact information for someone who can confirm the details you have provided for each activity. Do not use yourself as a verifier. When possible, avoid using family members or close friends as verifiers.

Should we have any issues during this process we will add a checklist item in your UAlberta Launchpad for you to complete. If you do not hear from us, assume that everything is fine.

For ongoing activities with no end date, you may put the October 4, 2023 application deadline. 

Personal Activity (PA) Verifier Emails

Applicants must ensure that each verifier has access to the email address, that the applicant provides in their PA forms, for the whole 2023/2024 cycle. Every activity must have a verifier with a valid email address, as email is the primary method of contact for verification purposes. If applicants are listing work-related email addresses, it is possible that the verifier may lose access to such addresses if the verifier changes jobs etc. Therefore, applicants should ask verifiers for regularly monitored personal email addresses where possible. It is the responsibility of each applicant to ensure that the verifier can be contacted anywhere from the beginning of February 2024 to the end of May 2024.

Email address domains linked to Alberta Health Services (and other provincial, federal, and municipal health services), government services, and the military typically have firewalls preventing verification emails from going through. Therefore, providing email addresses related to these groups should try to be avoided when providing verifier contact information. 

NOTE: After the October 4, 2023 deadline, applicants will not be able to access their own Personal Activity Forms to change any information. 

For application to the Doctor of Medicine Program you will submit the contact information for two referees, or recommenders, as part of the Application for Admission. Please only select individuals (ie. coach, co-worker, employer, leader of volunteer organization or club, professor, supervisor, research supervisor, teacher, etc.) who know you in a supervisory or professional capacity and who presently know you well enough to speak to your moral and ethical character.

When filling out the recommender portion of the AFA please keep the following in mind:

1. Once you save your recommender's information the application immediately sends them the request via email.
2. You must fill out the text box otherwise your recommender will not know what the email is regarding. We recommend filling referencing the Doctor of Medicine Program at the University of Alberta and indicating the deadline of October 4, 2023 at 1:00:00PM MT.

Your referees, or recommenders, will complete their reference letters in the form of a series of standardized questions; this must be submitted to us by October 4, 2023 at 1:00:00PM MT. We will not be accepting formal written letters.

Referees absolutely cannot be relatives, family members, friends, close family friends, or personal physicians.

Email address domains linked to Alberta Health Services (and other provincial, federal, and municipal health services), government services, and the military typically have firewalls preventing recommendation emails from going through. Therefore, providing email addresses related to these groups should try to be avoided when providing referee contact information. Instead, personal email addresses should be used. 

All applicants who successfully complete and submit their Application for Admission will be required to do additional testing in Fall 2023. The online assessment (CASPer), provided by  Acuity Insights, will cost approximately $60. Successful completion of CASPer is mandatory in order to maintain admission eligibility. In order to take CASPer, you will be responsible for securing access to a computer with audio capabilities, a webcam, and a reliable internet connection on your selected test date. We do not require that you do the CASPer Snapshot for the 2023/2024 application cycle.

CASPer tests are valid for 1 year. Additionally, CASPer test results are valid for one application cycle only. If an applicant has used a CASPer test for the 2022/2023 application cycle, they must complete a new CASPer test for the current cycle (2023/2024). 

Please go to https://acuityinsights.app/ to sign up and reserve a test using your U of A Student ID Number and a piece of government-issued photo ID.

CASPer test results are valid for one application cycle. Applicants who have already taken the test in previous years will, therefore, be expected to re-take it. Applicants who will be taking the CASPer at an earlier testing date than those mentioned on our website will not need to retake the test. The testing dates listed below are specifically for students who will not have written it at any point prior for any other institution.

Please note that these are the current dates and times as we know them to be true. CASPer test dates after October 19, 2023 will not be accepted. You can begin registering for the CASPer when fall dates become available. If you are already completing the CASPer on a date not listed above for a different Canadian institution we will accept the score from that test date. Direct any inquiries on the test to support@acuityinsights.app. Alternatively, you may use the chat bubble in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen on the Acuity Insights website.

Acuity Insight's Distribution Deadline is November 1, 2023. CASPer test results must be received by MD Admissions (University of Alberta Medicine) by December 1, 2023. Typically, we begin uploading CASPer results after the December 1, 2023 deadline. CASPer status does not impact submission on October 4, 2023. Please note that CASPer tests may show up as a red x on past applications as we clear scores from these old applications. 

For the 2023/2024 application cycle we will again be hosting our interview process virtually. Interview notifications are sent out in mid February. Applicants who receive an interview invitation will find out more information about the weekend, including social events, on the Candidate Information website. Please note that anything you have included in your application may be discussed with you during the interview process. We recommend that you review your application prior to arrival. We understand and respect that you may choose to share highly sensitive personal information either on your application or during the interview process; this information is kept in the strictest confidence and is unlikely to negatively impact your application. We do appreciate the strength that is required to discuss these topics.

2023/2024 Application Cycle Interview Dates