Admissions

Admission to UBC Engineering is competitive, as UBC receives applications from more students than we can accommodate. Learn more about first-year admissions, requirements, what you'll study in first-year and frequently asked questions on the UBC Engineering website: https://engineering.ubc.ca/admissions/undergraduate. Since our program begins in second year, this is the best place to find information about joining UBC Engineering. 

The Engineering Program Placement Process

At the end of first-year, UBC engineering students must submit an online Program Preference Form by May 15, ranking the engineering programs in their order of preference and submitting a personal statement to their top-ranked program. After submitting this form, they will then be placed in a discipline-specific engineering program for the remainder of their BASc degree. A student’s Winter session (Term 1 & Term 2) average and personal statement will be considered in the process.

See the Engineering Academic Services Website for more information.

Our Admissions Criteria

At Mechanical Engineering, we use broad-based admissions criteria when evaluating applications to the program, reviewing the personal statement alongside grades. We want people who will be both academically successful and an active contributor of our community. We consider your unique life experiences, non-academic background, hobbies, motivation and passion, but students must still meet a minimum academic performance standard.

Common Questions:

• What grades do I need? Unfortunately, we can't say. The GPA cut-off for admission changes from year to year, as it depends on the applicant pool.
• What should I include my personal statement? The personal statement is an opportunity for you to share how your experiences and interests align with our program and will enable your success. It allows us to get to know who you are beyond your grades and what mechanical engineering means to you.
  • Get to know our discipline in first-year by joining a student design team, where you can work with upper year students across engineering programs and gain hands-on experience.
  • Showcase other experiences that relate to mechanical engineering, or the hands-on and team-based nature of our program, like high-school STEM clubs, leadership and volunteering experiences, participation in other teams, personal projects.
  • Are you specifically interested in one of our Options or want to pursue a specific industry related to mechanical engineering? Tell us about it!
• If I put a different engineering program as my top preference for second year placement, will you still see my personal statement? No. Only your top preference will see your personal statement which should be tailored to that program, and other programs will only receive your grades. Because our program is in high demand, we only select from applicants who have listed us as their first choice.

Mech 2 is our award-winning second year program, which provides a unique integrated approach to teaching foundational mechanical engineering skills and concepts. It blends academic topics and hands-on and digital design skills into modules instead of separate courses, making the connections between diverse concepts a core part of the learning experience. Because of this enhanced comprehensive approach, students entering Mech 2 must have all prerequisites complete before they can begin.

Prerequisites

Students missing prerequisite courses from first-year engineering will not be allowed to begin the Mech 2 program. In particular, all students must have received credit for the following courses no later than August 1st of the year they intend to start:

Any student who fails to do so will not be permitted to start Mech 2 that year and will forfeit their seat in the program until a subsequent year in which they are able to meet the prerequisites by the above deadline.

Mech 2 Transfer Credit

Mech 2 is an integrated program that teaches academic subjects in concert with design and technical skills. As such, prior coursework that overlaps with content given in Mech 2 cannot be substituted. All students in the Mech 2 program are required to register in and successfully pass all components of the program.

• Math courses 200 level and above taken prior to Mech 2 will not be counted for equivalent credit. All students completing Mech 2 will be required to take MATH 254 and MATH 258 as part of the program.
• APSC 201 is not accepted as an equivalent technical communication course. Students entering our program are expected to complete MECH 226 or 227 to satisfy their degree requirements.

Camosun College offers a Mechanical Engineering Bridge to UBC Advanced Diploma, allowing those who have graduated with this diploma in mechanical engineering technology to apply to enter third year of UBC’s Mechanical Engineering program.

Alternately, graduates of a technology diploma program may apply for admission directly to UBC. However, few courses that are part of a technology diploma program are transferable to UBC and there is a limit of no more than 30 transfer credits to UBC from a technology diploma program.

Transferring from Another University or UBC Faculty

The Faculty of Applied Science accepts students transferring from another faculty at UBC and from other institutions. In either case, please see the UBC Engineering website for specific qualifications and requirements to apply into Engineering.

A student will be admitted into second year engineering if that student had successfully completed or had transfer credits for at least 27 credits of our first year program. Students not meeting this criterion would be admitted into our first year program.

A very limited number of students may be admitted directly into third year engineering if they were transferring from the engineering program at another university. Students in that position must remember that at least half of the credits of the degree program must be completed while enrolled at UBC.

BC College Engineering Transfer Programs

Eight institutions around British Columbia offer the same program as the first year engineering program at UBC. Students who successfully complete one of these programs within one academic year and with a GPA of at least 3.1 are eligible for admission into second-year engineering at UBC. A list of those colleges follows.

• Capilano University
• College of New Caledonia
• Douglas College
• Kwantlen Polytechnic University
• Langara College
• Selkirk College
• Thompson Rivers University
• University of the Fraser Valley
• Vancouver Island University

Visiting International Research Students

If you are interested in joining us as a visiting research student from an international institution, please find more information here: http://students.ubc.ca/about/go-global/coming-ubc-exchange/visiting-international-research-student

Exchange Students

Visiting exchange students can study at UBC for one or two terms (semesters), and are allowed to take Mech electives, but not Mech 2 or lab-oriented classes. Course credit obtained by studying at UBC can be counted towards your degree from your home university. Studies start in either September or January, depending on the term you choose to register for first.
For more information please visit Go Global.