Interviews and Program Entry

Interview selection

Applicants who meet the minimum requirements will have their application evaluated for interview consideration. The MPT program is highly competitive and only qualified applicants will be invited for an interview. Fulfillment of the minimum requirements does not guarantee an interview. The selection of interview candidates is based on a review of an applicant’s overall application for admission including their Competitive MPT Admissions GPA.

Competitive MPT 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.

The admissions office will only consider courses appearing on official transcripts. Since different universities and colleges have varying grade point scales, all grades will be converted to percentages using internal grade conversion tables and/or information found on the back of official transcripts.

  • All transcripts must include the grades of all courses including courses scheduled to be completed by December 31.
  • The Admissions Committee will consider summer, part-time, intercession, correspondence, exchange, failed and re-taken courses taken within or beyond an applicant’s 4-year undergraduate degree.
  • The Admissions Committee will not consider practicum courses, clinical placements, thesis courses, fieldwork courses, directed study, and non-convertible grades (e.g. pass/fail) towards your MPT Admissions GPA.
  • If the last three credits of your MPT Admissions GPA calculation fall on a term with multiple courses to choose from, the admissions team will generally choose the highest grade as long as this course meets the above requirements.
  • Please note, final course selection for the MPT Admissions GPA calculation is at the discretion of the Admissions Committee. The Admissions Team cannot provide specific details regarding your MPT Admissions GPA calculation.

Applicants with international transcripts should follow the procedures outlined by the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies when submitting transcripts. Official certified English translations are required for all foreign transcripts where the primary language of instruction is in a language other than English.

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.

The admissions office does not disclose its grading conversion tables or how the competitive MPT admissions GPA is calculated to applicants. Final GPA calculations are the decision of the admissions office and will not be disclosed to applicants.

Multiple Mini-Interviews

Interviews for the UBC MPT program use the Multiple-Mini Interview (MMI) format. The purpose of the MMI is to assess an applicant’s communication skills, maturity level, and personal suitability to the program and profession. It’s an opportunity for candidates to demonstrate their ability to think critically and communicate their beliefs when faced with diverse ethical, moral, and other dilemmas that are not necessarily related to physical therapy, or healthcare.

The MPT MMI have been conducted in an online format since 2021. The interview process follows the standard MMI model in which an applicant encounters a series of interviewers and is required to deal with carefully pre-selected scenarios within a determined time frame. The stations are designed to engage and challenge  applicants to demonstrate their communication and critical thinking skills, as well as their personality. The interviewers typically consist of a  diverse combination of academics, clinicians, community representatives, and UBC 2nd year MPT students representing broad geographic areas of British Columbia.

Interviews usually take place during the first week of March. The official date is updated annually on the Overview and Timeline page in December.

MMI format

  • Interactions with members of the BC PT community
  • Approximately 9 Interview Stations and 1 rest station
  • Each station includes a series of prompts and follow-up questions
  • Total duration of an interview cycle is approximately 80 minutes
  • Each station includes a 2-minute reading period and 6-minute interview.

Interview offers

The Department interviews the top 240 applicants. The next 10 students are put on the waitlist. The remainder of applicants will receive an email informing them their application was unsuccessful. Waitlisted applicants may be invited to interview at any point up to the day prior to the scheduled interview date. The department will only contact applicants on the waitlist if a position becomes available. The Department will not provide details regarding an applicant’s place/rank on the waitlist.

Applicants to the program who are offered and accept an interview, and who cancel with less than 5 business days notice, will be refused any future interview offers should they chose to re-apply to the program. If the applicant feels a late cancellation or no show is due to a valid and unavoidable reason (i.e. medical) supporting documentation must be provided within 24 hours of the interview date.

Offers of admission and waitlist

Following the interview, the department will offer a position within the program to the top 140 ranked applicants. A position on the waitlist will be offered to the next 20 applicants and the remaining applicants will be informed, via email, that their application for that year was unsuccessful. If an applicant from the original 120 offers of admission declines the offer, at any point up to the day prior to the first day of orientation in August, the first person on the waitlist will be emailed an offer of a position in the program.

Please note that once initial decisions of a waitlist position are emailed out, the department will only contact you again if a position becomes available. We cannot tell applicants where they are on the waitlist at any given time.

Statistics

Year# of applications to MPT program# of applicants interviewed# of applicants waitlisted# admitted to program from waitlist
20143361441614
20153091602516
2016383160206
20173971601911
2018363160189
20193421602210
20203041952517
20213932002510
20224112403017
20234482403015

Admitted Students

Under the Criminal Records Review Act, students registered in a university or college with a placement/practicum component that involves working with children and/or vulnerable adults directly or that have potentially unsupervised access to children and/or vulnerable adults must provide a criminal record check authorization. Successful applicants to the program must provide a signed criminal record check authorization at the start of the program. If you are found to present a risk of physical or sexual abuse to children or vulnerable adults, as a result of the criminal record check, you will be unable to register in the MPT program clinical placements and subsequently, you may not graduate from the program. Please consider this requirement carefully before applying to this program.
Please do not submit a criminal record check with your application.

MPT students must successfully complete six clinical placements as part of their MPT training. The ability for a student to complete their clinical placements is contingent on the applicant being granted a student registration with the College of Physical Therapists of BC. The registration procedure includes a criminal record check, which will be processed by the College during the first week of classes for MPT students. Anyone considering a career in physical therapy who has been convicted of a criminal offence – even if given an absolute discharge – should write to the Registrar of the College prior to completing an application to the College or applying to the MPT program. By discussing this with the College, applicants will best be able to assess their ability to obtain a student registration. The UBC Department of Physical Therapy and the College consider professional and ethical behaviour to be critical elements in the study and practice of Physical Therapy. As such, the College, through its registration procedure, also asks applicants to disclose any issues of previous conduct, personal behaviour, or competence that may impede the granting of the physical therapy student’s license. Applicants are encouraged to discuss such matters directly and in confidence with the College.