Admissions FAQs

The MHA program is competitive and we welcome applications from qualified applicants from diverse backgrounds. The program accepts up to 40 students each year and applicants to the program are typically between 110-140 each year.

Typically, applicants are working professionals in the health care sector and who wish to extend their knowledge in their field and expand their understanding of health policy, business and management, and leadership. Many of our applicants have Baccalaureate degrees and work experience in the healthcare field including medicine, nursing, physiotherapy, nutrition, pharmacy, kinesiology, biology, psychology, public health and business administration. We are also looking for evidence of leadership and initiative in working with people, either in a healthcare setting or other private and public sector environments.

No. The MHA program is a prescribed cohort-based program with all required courses for the degree.

No. The MHA is a full-time program only. It follows a condensed format that requires students to attend classes approximately one weekend per month.

The MHA is normally taught in-class following a condensed format that requires students to attend classes from Friday to Sunday approximately one weekend per month. Courses are supported with an online learning platform but not solely taught online. For our 2021 course schedule, most of our courses will return to in-person instruction, with a few hybrid and online courses.

All 300 & 400 level courses are used towards the calculation of your admission average, irrespective of the year the courses were completed.

All undergraduate courses are used to calculate the GPA. As an international student, there are specific requirements for each country, which can be found online at the UBC Graduate Studies Web site. Applicants must meet the minimum requirements for their particular country and university.

Generally speaking, if applicants don’t meet the minimum academic requirements, they are not eligible for admission to any UBC graduate program. The MHA program is competitive and the number of applicants exceeds the number of spaces for the program. However, the MHA admissions committee will consider applicants whose GPA falls below the minimum and also presents strong supporting documents including:
• additional undergraduate or graduate courses with a B+ or higher to demonstrate academic ability
• high test scores from the GRE or GMAT (above the minimum required scores for the program)
• an extensive track record of working in the healthcare sector or related field
• excellent reference letters and a focused letter of intent

We will use all eligible degrees to calculate GPA for admission. For example, if an applicant has two degrees (at any level), and only one degree meets the minimum academic requirement set out by Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, the applicant is eligible for admission. If both (or all) degrees meet the minimum requirement, then the applicant is eligible for admission. If neither or none of the degrees meet the minimum academic requirement, the applicant is not eligible for admission.

The program receives a high volume of applications and supporting documents and the deadline (February 1 for International applicants; March 1 for domestic applicants) ensures we can make timely offers of admission. Please refer to our steps to apply for more information.

Please note: We encourage students to apply well before the deadline. The sooner we receive your documents, the sooner we can review your application and communicate with you regarding your application status.

Transcripts from courses taken at UBC are not required. Please include your complete academic history in the online application.

All applicants must meet the quantitative requirement to ensure adequate preparation for the statistics components in the MHA curriculum including epidemiology and biostatistics courses.

Students with Canadian or US academic credentials have two ways to meet this requirement: a final grade of B+ (76%) on an approved undergraduate university-level mathematics or statistics course taken within 10 years of the date of application, or,  minimum score in the 50th percentile or above in both the verbal and quantitative components taken within the last 5 years.

Students with International credentials must write the GRE and submit minimum score in the 50th percentile or above in both the verbal and quantitative components taken within the last 5 years.

*Applicants with math or statistics courses exceeding the ten-year timeline or applicants with exceptional circumstances may be considered on a case-by-case basis.  Please contact the program to discuss your application.

Applicants with International credentials must write the GRE and attain a minimum score in the 50th percentile or above in both the verbal and quantitative components taken within the last 5 years.

Applicants with Canadian or US academic credentials will only need to take the GRE if they have not taken an approved undergraduate math or statistics course with a min. of 76% (B+) as a final grade. The course must have been taken within 10 years of the date of application.

More information on the GRE and other standardized exams can be found on the Graduate and Postdoctoral studies website. GMAT results may be considered in place of the GRE.

Generally speaking, university-level math (calculus, linear algebra) or statistics courses are accepted with a min. final grade of 76% (B+) or higher. Key topics from acceptable courses include descriptive statistics, hypothesis testing and confidence intervals, bivariate analysis, two-sample t-test, analysis of variance, chi-square test, correlation and regression, and parametric and nonparametric statistics.

For courses in other programs such as psychology, nursing, biology, etc, these will be reviewed on a case by case basis. Research Methods courses that do not include these topics or focus mostly on concepts and appraisal of statistical methods are generally not acceptable. Please submit course information including the course title and name and a copy of the syllabus to the program.

For a general list of approved and not approved courses, applicants can also refer to the Master of Public Health (MPH) list.

GRE scores are received electronically using the following codes: Institution Code 0965, Department Code 0616.

Applicants can apply to the MHA program if they are registered to take the GRE but the program cannot guarantee the application will be reviewed with missing documents and requirements. It is strongly recommended that applicants write the GRE exam before January to ensure that results are received by the program by the stated deadlines.

Applicants can check their document status by using the online application ‘checklist’, which is updated very often during the admissions season. Due to the high volume of applications, we are unable to respond to individual phone or email requests regarding the receipt of documents. All applicants will be notified formally via email by the end of April/early May for your official application status.

The document deadline is February 1 (applicants with International credentials) and March 1 (applicants from Canada or the US). The document deadline is the same date as the application deadline. We strongly recommend students apply before the deadline to ensure the application system can help you keep track of submitting the required documents.

Official offers of admission are made by Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies and are communicated by email.

Upon receipt of an offer of admission, students must accept their offer in writing and submit a $1,000 (non-refundable and non-transferable) deposit in Canadian currency. This deposit will be credited towards the program tuition fees.

The MHA program maintains a small waitlist each year. If we are unable to offer a qualified applicant a space in the program, they are considered for a waitlist based on their ranking by the admissions committee. Waitlisted applicants are notified right away if you are placed on the list and if we are able to offer you a space in the program. Typically, waitlisted applicants are contacted in late May through August regarding updates to their application status.

The MHA program is competitive and we received more qualified applications than we have spaces for each year. With more applications than we have spaces for, we are presented with candidates who have demonstrated evidence of leadership in their field through publications, conference presentations and awards. These, and other outstanding examples are used as a comparison of applicants for admission decisions. Unsuccessful applicants can contact the program to request an overview of how their application was evaluated.