Admission requirements

Applicants must have completed a recognized 4-year Bachelor's degree (120 units/credits) or its equivalent from an approved institution in any field.

The Department of Physical Therapy is committed to supporting diversity in the physical therapy profession. One way to support diversity is to increase the variety of the academic backgrounds of our applicants. We highly encourage individuals coming from all academic backgrounds to apply. If you have any questions about prerequisites, please contact mpt.admissions@ubc.ca

Applicants who are currently completing a Bachelor's degree must provide their final official transcript confirming the conferral of their degree by November of the year of entry to the program.

English Language Competency (if applicable)

Applicants from a university outside Canada in which English is not the primary language of instruction must provide results of an English language proficiency examination as part of their application.  Applicants must achieve one of the minimum scores 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. Acceptable minimum scores for entry to the MPT program:

• TOEFL: 100 (iBT)
• IELTS (Academic): overall 7.5, with a minimum score of 7.0 in each component
• CAEL: overall 80
• PTE (Academic): overall 70

For more information on completing an English competency test, please visit the language section of the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies website.

Applicants must achieve the Minimum Academic Requirements outlined by the UBC Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies. In addition, applicants must also have achieved:

• A minimum grade of B (72% at UBC) in each prerequisite course.
• A minimum overall average in the B+ (76% at UBC) range in all senior level (300 and 400 level) courses.

International applicants should refer to the Check Your Eligibility section of the UBC Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies website for the minimum degree/grade requirements.

Admissions GPA

The admissions GPA is calculated using a combination of the most recent university senior-level courses (300 or above) up to 30 credits, and the following prerequisites: anatomy, physiology, statistics, and psychology. Courses graded as “pass” or “Cr” will not count towards the admission GPA.

Applicants currently completing the last year of their undergraduate degree must submit the most recent transcript that contains all final grades for the September – December semester.

UBC courses IHHS/SPPH 300, 301, 302, 400, 401, 404, 406, 407, 409, 410 and 411 cannot be used towards an applicant’s Competitive MPT Admissions GPA Calculation.

For more details on the MPT Admissions GPA, please visit our Interviews and Program Entry page.

AP/IB Credits

Applicants who have completed approved AP exams and/or IB credits, and who have achieved the minimum scores listed in the chart below, may use these credits to satisfy the prerequisite requirements for English, Physics, Psychology and Statistics. If AP or IB credits are to be used to satisfy prerequisite requirements. The percentage conversion of these scores will follow the conversion charts provided by UBC Enrolment Services.

Applicants who intend to use AP or IB credits to meet prerequisite requirements must upload official AP or IB transcripts onto their application by the application deadline. The admissions office cannot access AP or IB transcripts that may have been sent to UBC Enrolment Services or UBC Undergraduate Admissions in the past.

Information about requesting an IB transcript can be found on the IB website.

Information about requesting an AP transcript can be found on the AP website on the AP Score Reporting Services page.

Courses with a percentage or letter grade must meet the grade minimum of a B or 72% in order to count toward the prerequisites. Applications that contain any prerequisites that fall below the 72% minimum will not be considered for interviews for any reason.

MPT Prerequisite Courses

• Basic Physiology
• Advanced Physiology
• Human Anatomy
• Statistics
• English
• Physics
• Psychology

List of approved prerequisite courses

Important dates to remember:

• November 1 - Last day to submit Prerequisite Course Review forms for approval.
• December 31 - Prerequisite courses must be completed.
• January 15 - Official transcripts that include prerequisite courses must be submitted.
• January 15 - Applicants must submit the MPT Supplemental Application Form containing all of their prerequisite course information.

Applicants are required to have completed a minimum of 70 hours of volunteer or paid work experience, which involves direct interaction with persons who have cognitive, emotional, or physical disabilities.

Suitable prior experiences help applicants gain a better understanding of working in healthcare, including working with individuals from a variety of backgrounds and varying degrees of ability. The MPT program recognizes that there are many different suitable prior experiences. It is the applicant's responsibility to find suitable experiences to fulfil our requirements (listed below). The Admissions Committee will make the final decision on which volunteer experiences meet the requirements once applications have been submitted.

• Direct interaction refers to physical, verbal, or other virtual interactions (e.g. volunteering for a seniors’ support line, or interacting via video conferencing).
• These hours must be completed by the application deadline.
• 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 practical/professional reference. This reference must be able to comment on your abilities as well as verify the number of hours you completed. If you have two volunteer/work experiences, your practical reference should ideally be from the supervisor with whom you completed the most hours.
• On the Supplemental Application, please include a clear statement as to why this experience meets the above requirement.

Examples of suitable prior experiences: 

• Working with children who have learning or physical disabilities (e.g. cerebral palsy, Down syndrome)
• Working with sports teams or recreational programs that specifically consist of persons with cognitive, emotional, or physical disabilities (e.g. Special Olympians, Para Olympians)
• Working with elderly people who have cognitive or physical disabilities (e.g. seniors’ care home, personal care, end of life care)
• Working as a health professional (e.g. Nurse, Physical Therapy Assistant, etc.) in a role that involves interaction with people with disabilities in any type of clinical setting (e.g. physical therapy clinic, rehabilitation centre, cancer and cardiac rehab programs, hospitals)

Examples of unsuitable prior experiences:

• Working with sports teams that do not specifically consist of persons with cognitive, emotional, or physical disabilities.
• Reception/clerical experience gained in a physical therapy, or other health profession clinic.
• Any experience gained as part of a program of study (e.g. practicum, work term, co-op, placement). On-campus job opportunities that are not tied to your program of study, such as UBC’s Work Learn program, are acceptable.
• Volunteering at fundraising events (i.e. cancer or other health conditions)

Applicants must submit the contact information for three referees. We highly encourage applicants to notify their referees as early as possible.

Two academic references

*If an academic referee cannot provide an electronic reference, they may complete a paper form and post it directly to the Department of Physical Therapy.

One practical/professional experience reference

*It is the responsibility of the applicant to provide the form to the individual with whom you undertook your practical experience and who is appropriate to provide a report on your 70 hours of volunteer/paid work practical experience working with individuals with physical, emotional or cognitive disabilities.

**If a practical/ professional referee cannot provide an electronic reference, they may post a paper copy of the completed Practical/Professional Experience Referee Form directly to the Department of Physical Therapy in a sealed and signed envelope.

The department's postal address is:
Admissions, Department of Physical Therapy
212 – 2177 Wesbrook Mall
Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z3.

Primary consideration is given to residents of British Columbia, out-of-province applicants who have completed a Bachelor's degree or higher in BC within the last five years, and applicants who are residents of the Yukon, Northwest Territories, or Nunavut.

• BC residents must provide a scanned copy of the front and back of their valid BC Care Card/BC Services Card.
• Residents of the Yukon, Northwest Territories must provide equivalent documentation to the BC residency requirement.
• Permanent residents must provide proof of immigration status and date of landing by submitting a copy of both the front and back of their Permanent Resident documentation.

Applicants who have graduated from or who are currently attending UBC do not have priority or preference over applicants from other post-secondary institutions within British Columbia.

All applicants are required to complete Casper as part of their application. To complete the Casper test, visit Acuity Insights to create an account and complete the following assessments:

• Casper: 60-90 minute online, open-response situational judgment test (SJT)

Access Acuity Insights to create an account and for more information on important dates and requirements.

We accept all Casper exam results explicitly listed for UBC MPT as found on the Casper website, even those that are taken after the application submission deadline. Exam results are only valid for the current admissions cycle.

Applicants must provide a 200-word written response to a question posed by the Admissions Committee. The written response question can be found in the MPT Supplemental Application Form.

Applicants must also provide complementary information regarding work, volunteering, experience, awards, and distinctions. The complementary information section can be found in the MPT Supplemental Application Form.

If you would like to apply for accommodations for any aspect of the MPT application process, please send the following to info.accessibility@ubc.ca with the subject line "MPT admissions accommodation" well before December 1^st. Please consult our FAQ page for more information about accommodations.

• A letter describing the circumstances leading you to apply for an accommodation, including any specific relevant dates. For example, if you experienced a flare-up of a health condition June-October 2018 that negatively impacted your grades, please indicate this and include your transcripts.
• Documentation of your disability/health condition. If applicable, this should confirm the dates/timeline described in your letter.
• If you are applying related to your GPA calculation, please include a transcript with the relevant grades highlighted (unofficial transcripts are acceptable)

NOTE: any materials you send to the Centre for Accessibility are confidential and will not be shared with the MPT admissions team. Should you be eligible for accommodations, the CfA will send a letter to the MPT admissions team with recommendations for appropriate supports.

Applicants must complete a site preference form as part of their application. This form is only available on the online application portal. The site preference survey is mandatory and essential to determine your site location. If you do not complete this form we will assume that you have no site preference.

Your site preference ranking will not impact your acceptance into the MPT program but will be used in conjunction with your application package to determine your final cohort allocation.

Applicants who indicate MPT-North as their first, second, or third choice must complete the MPT-North Application Form.

We strongly encourage all applicants to read about each MPT-distributed site before making their final site selection.

MPT-North Cohort

MPT-Fraser Valley Cohort

MPT-Vancouver Cohort

MPT-Victoria Cohort

All applicants are required to pay an online application fee to the UBC Faculty of Graduate and Post-doctoral Studies and a supplementary application fee directly to the Department of Physical Therapy when submitting an online application to the Master of Physical Therapy program.

Application fees are based on your citizenship at the time of application. You may be required to provide proof of Canadian citizenship or Permanent Residency.

For the most current information about tuition fees, please refer to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies website. The Master of Physical Therapy is a 26-month program, and the tuition fees are split over seven installments. Please review the UBC Academic Calendar for the most up-to-date information about tuition installments.

Learn more on Tuition & Fees