The claim that Canada asks for no essays describes Ontario. Here they read a personal profile, and assess it against four published criteria.
This page brings together the University of British Columbia’s officially published requirements for international applicants for 2027 entry: the personal profile and the rubric it is read against, applying through EducationPlannerBC, the deadlines, the language standard and the International Scholars calendar.
Four questions where the answer is most often not the one an applicant expects.
Yes, and this is the principal difference from the University of Toronto. The personal profile is required of every high school applicant on both campuses — except for the Bachelor of Design in Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Urbanism, Dental Hygiene and Music. The common belief that Canada does not ask for essays describes Ontario, not British Columbia.
Through EducationPlannerBC, not OUAC. OUAC serves Ontario; British Columbia has its own system. An applicant considering both Toronto and UBC works with two separate portals, two accounts and two sets of deadlines.
The application for the 2027/2028 Winter Session closes on 15 January 2027. But for an international applicant seeking the International Scholars award the date that matters falls two months earlier — 15 November 2026 — and both applications must be ready by then.
For a Russian school certificate UBC states a requirement that runs opposite to the usual habit: a photocopy is acceptable if certified by the school principal, head or counsellor, while notarised copies are not accepted. That is the requirement as published, not our reading of it.
The direct answer: UBC requires extended written responses from nearly every high school applicant, and two referees alongside them. The general belief that Canada asks for no essays does not hold here.
Every high school applicant to any degree at the Vancouver and Okanagan campuses, except the Bachelor of Design in Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Urbanism, Dental Hygiene and Music. Among transfer students: those applying to the Bachelor of Nursing at Okanagan, or the Bachelor of Commerce or Bachelor of International Economics at Vancouver.
From 500 to 2,100 characters per response, roughly 50 to 500 words. UBC warns separately that the limit is set in characters and that anything beyond it is cut off. The university advises drafting outside the application system, where a spell-checker works, and pasting the finished text in: the application can time out if left open too long.
One must be able to speak to an activity described in a long-answer response. For applicants currently at school, one must be a school official. Friends, family members and paid agents are excluded. UBC contacts referees directly and only after offers of admission have gone out, so permission has to be arranged in advance.
The profile asks who the applicant is and how those close to them would describe them; what is important to them and why; up to five activities or accomplishments with an account of their responsibilities in each; a fuller account of one or two of them explaining the role played and what was learned; and a separate space for academic context — how school courses were chosen, what circumstances bore on those decisions, and what has been done to prepare for the intended area of study. Separate question sets exist for the Bachelor of Education and the Bachelor of Commerce.
The direct answer: UBC publishes the rubric its readers work to. That is unusual, and it relieves the applicant of having to guess.
| Criterion | What it covers | What is actually assessed |
|---|---|---|
| Engagement and accomplishment | Engagement and accomplishment | How the applicant pursues their interests and manages their responsibilities outside class. UBC explicitly puts an international award and caring for a younger sibling on the same footing: what matters is not the scale of the experience but what was learned from it. Specific examples are required. |
| Leadership | Leadership | The definition is broader than usual: any act of responsibility or initiative that serves others. Leadership may be formal — president of a club, captain of a team — or informal, where someone simply took it upon themselves to help. UBC stresses that it is not about holding a role but about what leadership taught you. |
| Substance | Substance | Whether enough time has been spent reflecting, and whether the answers are detailed. UBC names the failure directly: superficial or clichéd content against well-thought-out and relevant ideas. Readers compare thousands of profiles, and the only way to stand out is to have something meaningful to say. |
| Voice | Voice | Whether the writing is genuine and recognisably your own. This is where the strategy of writing what you think they want to hear breaks down: the university asks directly that you not do it, and use your own voice. |
The university adds two remarks worth reading literally. First: it is not looking for a particular experience, and there are no right or wrong answers. Second: profiles are compared with one another, and readers see thousands of them. The practical consequence is that a list of achievements loses to an account of one specific situation, because lists resemble each other and explanations do not. The personal profile bears both on the admission decision and on whether an entrance scholarship is awarded.
The direct answer: British Columbia uses its own application system. An applicant considering both Toronto and UBC works with two separate portals.
Applications to UBC and to most other British Columbia post-secondary institutions are made through EducationPlannerBC. Ontario uses OUAC. Canada has no national admissions system, and that is not a technical detail: an applicant considering universities in two provinces will have two accounts, two interfaces and two sets of deadlines to reconcile into one calendar by hand.
An application in progress can be saved and returned to, but only up until the deadline. Once submitted, it cannot be edited. Hence the university’s advice to prepare answers separately: a truncated or unfinished response cannot be corrected after submission.
UBC asks that every high school, college and university attended be listed without omission, and states that it verifies the information provided: contacting references, verifying academic records and requesting further documentation. That is a description of procedure, not a formality.
Some programmes require a supplemental application beyond the personal profile: the Bachelor of Computer Science, Media Studies, Midwifery, Music, Nursing, Social Work, Dental Science, the dual degree with Sciences Po and the Bachelor + Master of Management at the Vancouver campus. The Bachelor of Commerce instead has a video interview within the profile; the Bachelor of Food and Resource Economics asks for a letter of academic intent; the Bachelor of Fine Arts requires a portfolio depending on the specialisation. The Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Entry-to-Practice Doctor of Pharmacy require an application fee and a pre-recorded interview.
The direct answer: for an international applicant considering International Scholars, the date that matters falls two months before the general deadline.
| Stage | Deadline | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Applications open | Early October 2026 | The online application opens for the Winter Session (September 2027 to April 2028) and the Summer Session (May to August 2027). |
| International Scholars | 15 November 2026, 11:59 p.m. PST | The deadline for international applicants: both the application to UBC and the award application are due by this date. Not one of the two — both. |
| Awards for citizens and permanent residents | 1 December 2026, 11:59 p.m. PST | The Presidential Scholars Awards, UBC Centennial Scholars Entrance Awards and the Beyond Tomorrow Scholars Award. This date applies to Canadian citizens and permanent residents, and does not concern an international applicant. |
| The general deadline | 15 January 2027, 11:59 p.m. PST | The deadline to apply for the 2027/2028 Winter Session and for the 2027 Summer Session. |
| Documents for International Scholars | 31 January 2027 | International Scholars Program applicants must meet UBC’s English Language Admission Standard and submit all documents required for admission by this date. The university notes explicitly that this deadline governs, not the date given in the next steps email. |
| The language standard (ELAS) | 15 February 2027 | The general deadline to submit documents showing that the English Language Admission Standard has been met. |
| Documents from outside Canada | 15 March 2027 | The deadline for high school applicants from outside Canada to submit required documents. For post-secondary applicants from outside Canada other than the United States the date is different: 31 May 2027. |
Admissions decisions for high school applicants are made on a continuous basis from November 2026 through to June 2027. Scholarship results are announced between March and April 2027, and the International Scholars Program award decisions in April 2027.
The direct answer: a test is only one of nine routes. Some applicants meet the requirement through their school programme, without sitting anything.
| Test or qualification | Minimum | Conditions |
|---|---|---|
| IELTS Academic | 6.5, with no part less than 6.0 | IELTS General, IELTS Indicator and IELTS One Skill Retake are not accepted. |
| TOEFL iBT | Overall score 90 | The TOEFL iBT Home Edition is also accepted. UBC’s institution code is 0965. |
| PTE Academic | Overall 65; reading, listening and writing at 60 | The Pearson Test of English (Academic). |
| CAEL | Overall 70 | CAEL Online is also accepted. |
| Cambridge English | 180 | B2 First, C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency. |
| IB English | A final grade of 5 or better | English A: Language and Literature or English A: Literature, at higher or standard level. |
| AP English | A final grade of 4 or better | AP English Language & Composition or AP Literature & Composition. |
Besides tests and school qualifications, the standard is met by four or more consecutive years of full-time education in English in Canada immediately prior to attending UBC; four or more years of full-time education in English in a country where English is the principal language; or six credits of transferable first-year English at a university in an English-speaking country. Two conditions apply to all tests: the minimums must be achieved in a single sitting, with scores from different sittings not combined, and for the 2027/2028 Winter Session results must date from 1 January 2025 onwards. The ELAS document deadline is 15 February.
Here they read what the applicant has written, so the checks run not only through the documents but through whether there is anything to write about.
Certification by the school principal rather than a notary: UBC states that notarised copies are not accepted.
Whether there are specific situations with an explanation, rather than a list of achievements that resembles everyone else’s.
Whether one of the two can speak to a described activity, and whether a school official is among them.
Whether the chosen programme requires a separate form, a portfolio, an interview or a letter of intent.
Which of the nine routes meets the standard soonest: a test is not always necessary.
From 15 November if International Scholars is in scope, and from 15 January if not.
Tell us where the applicant is studying now and which area they are considering: the programme determines whether a supplemental application is required alongside the personal profile.
The University of British Columbia pages against which this page was checked.
A personal profile cannot be written the week before the deadline, because what it asks for is not phrasing but specific situations and an understanding of what follows from them. We start from what is already in the applicant’s life and test it against the four criteria UBC openly reads for.
DOCUMENTS → MATERIAL → PROFILE → REFEREES → DEADLINES