Graduate Admissions Process & Deadlines

Before you apply, please check your eligibility:

• The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (G+PS) requires applicants to complete an undergraduate degree that meets minimum academic requirements.
• MND-specific requirements include five prerequisites course(s): human physiology, introductory biochemistry, statistics, introductory food science, and introductory nutrition with a minimum grade of 72% (B) in each course.
• 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 (IELTS or TOFEL) as part of their application. Tests must have been taken within the last 24 months of the application deadline.

Previous applicants who were declined are encouraged to re-apply.

For details on each of these criteria, visit the MND Admissions Requirements page.

Start an application online through the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies online application system.

• You will need to create a new CWL account if you don’t already have one.
• Existing UBC students can login using their current CWL credentials.

When submitting your online application, you can save your progress, exit, and complete the application at a later time. However, once you click submit, there is no way to edit or change your application details; you are only able to upload transcripts and language test scores. To avoid submitting your application prematurely, we recommend that you carefully review the application instructions and have all your information ready prior to starting.

Accepted document formats: PDF, DOC, and DOCX are accepted in the online application portal. Any other file types will not be accepted.

Resume/CV

The purpose of a resume/CV is to allow the admissions reviewers to determine whether an applicant has the necessary and suitable skills and experience in order to succeed in this program. The requirements are:

• Maximum 2 pages (extra pages will not be reviewed)
• 1-inch margins, adequate paragraph/section space, and readable black font. Keep the style simple.
• Sections should include personal information, educational background, and employment and/or volunteer experiences.
• Optional sections could include publications, awards, certifications and skills
• DO NOT include a profile picture.
• Quantify relevant employment and volunteer experiences by providing the date or date range and extent of involvement in hours (provide your best estimate or averages if needed). E.g., “event assistant, September 18, 2020, 4 hours”, “community clinic volunteer, Sept 2020 – April 2021, 10 hours/week”, or “food service worker, May 2021-Aug 2021, 30 hours per week”).
• We have created an optional resume template, if you do not already use something that meets our formatting guidelines: MND Admissions Resume - Template

The purpose of the cover letter/statement of interest is to showcase who you are and why you are a good candidate for the MND program. For more information, visit the UBC Graduate Studies’ Statement of Interest guide. The requirements are:

• Use the MANDATORY program template to write your statement: MND Admissions 2024 Statement of Intent - Template
• Maximum 250 words. The form will stop your writing when you reach the word limit.
• Save and upload the form to the Graduate Studies application portal.

Transcripts

• Please follow the UBC Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies transcript instructions to submit your transcript(s) in the application system.
• Please include all of your post-secondary academic histories; if you completed your prerequisite courses outside of your undergraduate degree institution, please also attach the transcripts from these additional institutions in your application.
• Do not submit your transcripts on the Self-Report Form.

English language proficiency exam results, if applicable

• If applicable, the application system will ask if you have completed acceptable English language proficiency tests.
• All applicants who completed their degree in 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. Tests must have been taken within 24 months of the application deadline

Prerequisite course equivalency checklist, if applicable

• See Step 4.

The purpose of the Self-Report Form is for each applicant to clarify how they meet the MND pre-requisite course requirements. It also includes demographic questions, collected for admissions statistics purposes only.

The following instructions are directly copied from the active MND Self-Report form:

There are four sections to this form: Personal Information, Pre-requisite Course Declaration, Acknowledgements, and Signature

Prerequisite Course Declaration Instructions: Applicants should complete the table for all five prerequisites:

• • "Course status": indicates if the course is "complete" or "in progress". If "in progress", please also provide the tentative completion date.
  • "Name of the institution": fill in the institution where you completed this prerequisite
  • "Course name and code": list the course code and name of the course as indicated on your transcript; if multiple courses will be equivalent to one prerequisite, use semi-colons to list them all.

If any prerequisite courses meet all three criteria below:

• • not listed as UBC - Vancouver pre-requisite course examples with linked syllabi;
  • not listed in BC Transfer Guide as equivalent to the listed UBC Vancouver courses;
  • not listed on the MND program approved course list;

then, the applicant will need to complete and upload the MND Admissions Prerequisite Checklist relevant course syllabi. Please use Adobe Acrobat or another program to combine the completed checklist and the syllabi for all relevant courses into one PDF, and name the file by firstname.lastname.checklist-syllabi.pdf for upload.

Complete your Self-Report form now

UBC Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies requires three references for applications to any graduate program. All MND applicants are required to submit at least one academic reference and one professional reference; the third reference can be either.

In the Graduate Studies application portal, applicants will need to fill out an email address for each referee. The system will not accept any free email accounts such as Hotmail, Gmail, and Yahoo. An organization-affiliated account is required.

Your referees will only be notified to submit an electronic reference after you have submitted an application. Once you complete and submit your application, your referees will receive a secure link with a deadline to submit an online reference or upload a reference letter to the system. References must be received by November 30th, 2022.

Notes: Please contact dietetics.admissions@ubc.ca, if you require either of these accommodations.

1. If applicants have completed their undergraduate degree a long time ago, and have exhausted possible contact to previous instructors or professors who would be suitable references, applicants are allowed to have three professional references.
2. If an applicant’s reference does not have access to an organization-affiliated email account, we can accept mail-in reference letters. Please follow these requirements:

• • Reference letters are confidential and must be mailed by the referees, not the applicants.
  • If possible, letterhead should be included.
  • Referees need to sign both the letter and the envelope; once the letter is sealed in the envelope, the referee also need to put their signature across the seal of the envelope.
  • Please mail reference letters to:

2024 MND Application

Attn: Xinyan Fan

230-2205 East Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia

Canada V6T 1Z4

Once you have completed all of the necessary sections of the G+PS online application, please pay the fee and submit your online application.

Graduate Application Fees

• Canadians (and Permanent Residents, Refugees, Diplomats): (CDN) $112.00
• International Applicants: (CDN) $168.25

It is highly recommended that you submit an application ahead of the November 15th deadline. Your referees will only be notified to submit an electronic reference after you have submitted an application. References must be received by November 30th.

Note: transcripts and language test results can be uploaded into your application after it has been submitted.

After submitting your application, it is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that all supporting materials (including reference forms/letters) are submitted by the relevant deadlines.

You can check the status of your application and supporting materials through the online application system.

Please do not contact the program office for an update on the status of your application.

Shortlisted candidates will be contacted by email in January to schedule a 15-minute Zoom videoconference interview for early February.

The purpose of the interview is to assess an applicant’s communication skills and personal suitability for the program. Fulfillment of the minimum admission requirements does not guarantee an interview.

By March, successful applicants will be contacted by email with a preliminary offer of admission to the MND Program. Upon completion of pre-program requirements and pre-payment of associated fees for training, accident insurance, and immunization review, each student will be sent a formal offer through the online application system.

Declined Applicants

We are not able to accommodate individualized declined applicant advising at this time. Anyone wishing to reapply to the program is advised to follow the guidance provided on the program website and to attend an applicant information session. The MND program hopes to post a Q&A including common reasons for declined applicants at some point in the fall.

Have you reviewed…

• MND admissions processes and deadlines webpage (this page)
• Prospective MND students webpage
• MND admissions requirements webpage
• Prerequisite Review Flowchart
• MND Admissions 2024 Applicant Guide

Have you submitted…

• Resume/CV – optional MND Admissions Resume - Template
• Letter of Interest – MANDATORY MND Admissions 2024 Statement of Intent - Template
• Transcripts – as per G+PS instructions
• Contact information for three references
• Application fee & online application
• Self-Report Form
• Checklist for prerequisite equivalency (with course syllabi), if required
• Applicant demographic survey (link in online application, responses optional)