The University of British Columbia

Application Process

Overview

The usual application process is as follows:

• Although not essential applicants are free to contact potential supervisors before submitting an application or at any point during the application process. Sites such as gradskool can help you with contacting supervisors. There's also some excellent information at choosing a supervisor on the FoGS website.
• Applicant reviews the minimum requirements and submits the required documents.
• Once complete the application pack is uploaded on to a secured website to be reviewed by the supervisors. Applicants will be emailed when this happens.
• At this stage applicants should definitely be contacting potential supervisors via email.
• Supervisors will make offers to the applicants. Most offers are made from Feb to April for September entry. For January entry offers will usually be made by October.
• Please note students must find their own supervisor. The department does not assign supervisors to applicants.
• Applicants will be contacted by mail and email when and if an offer is made.
• Applicants with an offer from a supervisor will be automatically evaluated for departmental scholarships and the Four Year Entrance scholarships. Applicants don't need to have accepted an offer from a supervisor to be given an award.
• If an applicant does not receive an offer from a supervisor by the 30th of June for September entry or 31st of October for January entry then the application is rejected.

Required Documents

Each year we receive over 100 applications. While we're happy that so many students would like to work with us it does mean a lot of work for our admin staff. In the interests of faster processing times and quicker decisions we ask applicants to submit or not submit the following documents by the given deadlines.

In cases where hard copies are required these can be posted to The Graduate Coordinator, Earth and Ocean Sciences, 6339 Stores Road, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4.

Required Documents

• Online Application Form
  MSc, MASc and PhD: Submit via Faculty of Graduate Studies
  MEng: Submit via Faculty of Applied Science
• Three Reference Letters (no more no less!)
  If possible please submit reference letters via the online application system. Paper references must be sealed in individual envelopes. The envelope's seal and the letter must be signed in ink by the referee.
• Two Official Copies of All Post Secondary Transcripts
  Please submit two official copies of all of your post secondary transcripts as per the rules set out by FoGS. Please review these rules carefully as incorrectly submitted transcripts are the biggest cause of delays. Also we need to see all your post secondary transcripts regardless of the subject or when you took the courses.
• Test of English Language
  Applicants from a university outside of Canada where English is not the primary language of instruction must submit an official copy of an acceptable test of English language.
  Departmental TOEFL requirements are: 250 (computer-based) or 600 (paper-based) or 100 (internet-based). It is advisable but not essential to have a test result from an ESL test before you apply. Once issued test results can take up to six weeks to arrive at the graduate office.
• GRE
  This is not a required document but may be included with your application if submitted.

What not to Submit

In the interests of quicker processing times please do not submit the following documents. Submitting these documents only slows down the overall application processing time and they will not be included in the application pack sent to the supervisors.

• Resumes and Personal Statements
  There is space on the application form for any information contained in these documents.
• Papers You Have Written
  These can be sent to supervisors that you're in contact with but they won't be included with your application pack when it's sent to the supervisor to review.

Deadlines

Please submit all the necessary documentation by the following deadlines. We will process applications submitted after these dates. However, a late submission may put you at a disadvantage in finding a supervisor and/or a scholarship.

September 2012 Entry

Other Entry Dates