Your journey as a future medical student starts here. You will find all the information you need to apply for admission on this page.
The Council of Ontario Faculties of Medicine issued guidelines about the skills and abilities required to:
These guidelines apply to students registered in or applying to any of the Ontario medical schools.
You are required to consult the document Essential Skills and Abilities Required for Entry to a Medical Degree Program for a complete review of these guidelines.
The Faculty of Medicine offers a large number of scholarships and bursaries to students registered in our MD Program. Scholarships are awarded for academic achievements while bursaries are awarded based on financial need.
For the complete list of scholarships and bursaries offered, please refer to the Scholarships webpage .
Admission Requirements Submit an application Admission Policies and Procedures Selection Process Information for Successful ApplicantsThe Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) is NOT an admission requirement for the medical program at the University of Ottawa.
We accept applications from students in good standing who will have successfully completed at least 3 years of full-time studies (5 courses per term each year) in any undergraduate program leading to a university bachelor’s degree.
Any academic year comprised of 4 courses per term will be recognized as full-time provided that the missing courses (credits) to fulfill the full-time (5 courses per term) requirement are completed within another academic year or as spring/summer course(s). Any school year with fewer than 4 courses per term will not count as a full-time year of study.
Note: An academic year consists of 2 regular terms—fall and winter (September to April). A full-time spring/summer term does not replace a regular term of studies (except for co-op programs).
Advanced placement (AP), international baccalaureate (IB) and transfer credits cannot be used to satisfy the full-time studies requirement.
We do not recognize full-time remote (e.g., online) studies, since the spirit of the full-time studies requirement is to be able to assess and compare how candidates succeed in an in-person full-time course load and to predict their performance and ability to cope with the rigorous demands of the medical program.
Note that studies leading to a diploma, a certificate or to an MD degree are not considered equivalent to an undergraduate program leading to a bachelor’s degree.
Furthermore, the Admissions Committee reserves the right to assess:
We generally consider professional degrees earned at Canadian institutions as undergraduate degrees.
We do not pre-assess files; we will assess applications individually during the evaluation process once you submit your application to OMSAS.
Note: The full-time undergraduate requirement must be met prior to June 1 preceding admission into the MD Program.
Yes. Courses that are missing to meet the full-time requirement may be taken during another school year or a spring/summer session (before or after the term in which you took 4 courses), except in the summer prior to admission to the MD Program, as all requirements must be met by June 1 prior to possible entry into the program.
No. Only full-time studies leading to a university bachelor’s degree will qualify you for admission.
The required minimum cGPA is 3.5 on the 4.0 scale, according to the Undergraduate Conversion Grade Table .
While this meets the minimum criterion for admission consideration, be aware that, given the rising level of competition for a limited number of positions, a significantly higher cGPA would provide you with a better chance of admission.
Admission to the MD program is competitive; possessing the minimum requirements does not guarantee acceptance.
When assessing excellence in marks, we will use the cGPA based on your most recent 3 years of full-time (5 courses per term per year) undergraduate studies completed toward a university bachelor’s degree. The cGPA will include all full-time courses taken during the regular academic year (fall and winter terms) and individual courses taken during the spring/summer term during that period (unless they are completed abroad).
A school year with fewer than 4 courses per term is not considered full-time and will not be included in the calculation of the cGPA.
Marks obtained in an academic year where a candidate has completed a term (or full year) abroad as part of an exchange program will not be included in the cGPA calculation.
We will not include individual grades received for course work taken as part of a graduate degree in the cGPA calculation.
Any additional university courses or studies outside that period will be considered during the final comprehensive file review, despite not being included in the cGPA calculation, to ensure academic excellence is maintained.
For the academic year to count toward the cGPA calculation, a maximum of one pass/fail graded course per term may have been completed in accordance with the full-time requirement. Therefore, an academic year in which more than one pass/fail graded course was taken in one term is not considered in the cGPA calculation.
All courses shown on your transcript within the most recent 3 years of full-time undergraduate university studies will count in the calculation of your cGPA.
No. You must have the minimum required cGPA. Under no circumstances will exceptions be granted.
They will not be counted in the initial cGPA calculation but will be taken into account if your application advances further in the process, and you receive an offer of admission.
Specific prerequisite courses must be completed with a minimum grade of 3.0 on the 4.0 scale, according to the OMSAS Undergraduate Conversion Grade Table .
You may complete missing prerequisite courses during the academic year preceding admission to the MD Program. However, you must complete all courses by June 1 before entering medical school.
You must have a laboratory component in 2 of the science courses from the categories listed or have completed 1 exclusive laboratory course equivalent to 6 units.
Yes, courses taken through distance learning are accepted.
However, to satisfy the laboratory requirement, you must have completed the laboratory component onsite, at the university, as we do not accept home or virtual labs.
However, we do not accept courses with home-study laboratory components; you must have completed the laboratory component onsite, at the university.
Only some biology and chemistry courses from CEGEP or college are recognized as equivalent to our science prerequisites, provided you have obtained a minimum grade of 70%. For more information on course equivalencies, please see the “ I am applying as a student from a CEGEP or a community college ” section.
We grant AP and IB equivalencies only for science prerequisites (biology, general chemistry and organic chemistry) provided you passed with a minimum score of 5.
For your courses to be recognized, you must provide your AP or IB transcript. You must arrange with the College Board/IB to send a transcript directly to OMSAS.
Yes. It is important to note that you must provide a transcript from the university where the courses were taken to confirm your grade. A notation of CR (credit) on your current university transcript is not sufficient.
No. Please select only the number of courses/credits required per category. For example, 2 courses (6 credits) in humanities/social sciences.
If you selected a course that does not meet the requirements, we will review your transcript(s) to determine if you have successfully completed another course that meets the requirements.
A course description is recommended for all prerequisites.
If course descriptions are not available on your school’s website, you can provide a detailed and official syllabus for each of the courses you have selected. This document can be uploaded via the Secure Applicant Messaging (SAM) within your OMSAS application.
There is no option to indicate this information in your application for admission.
We will use the links (URLs) to your course descriptions to identify courses with a laboratory component. This information is also available in your transcript.
Official transcripts are required for each university, college, CEGEP, junior college, graduate school or other postsecondary institution you currently attend, previously attended or withdrew from. You must submit a separate transcript even if your home school transcript shows an exchange or transfer course, and regardless of whether the course of study is relevant to your application.
This includes transcripts for:
To be official, transcripts must meet these criteria:
Note: It is not possible for OMSAS to notify you of any outstanding transcripts before the application deadline. Therefore, it is your responsibility to ensure that OMSAS receives all transcripts and registrar statements by the application deadline.
The University of Ottawa offers its medical program in both official languages in a faculty where both the francophone and anglophone teaching activities correlate. These teaching activities enhance the development of linguistic skills in both French and English.
When applying for admission to the MD Program, you must choose to study in either English or French. You can apply to the Anglophone or Francophone stream regardless of your mother tongue or the first language you learned.
You must be able to function in the language of instruction you have chosen, both orally and in writing. We conduct interviews in the language of instruction you chose in your application. If you are invited for an interview, the interview will be conducted in the language of instruction you chose on the application in order for us to assess your language skills.
The Admissions Committee reserves the right to request a language proficiency test at any time, if required.
You are considered bilingual if you can speak both English and French.
Note: If you claim bilingual status, we will assess your ability to have a functional conversation in both languages at the time of the interview.
To be eligible for our MD Program, you must be a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident at the time of submitting your application. Exceptions will be made only for eligible children of University of Ottawa alumni who have completed studies at the Faculty of Medicine.
If you are a permanent resident, you must forward proof of permanent resident (landed immigrant) status to OMSAS at the time you submit your application.
Within the OMSAS application, you must complete the autobiographical sketch (ABS), which provides detailed and comprehensive list of your activities since age 16.
The purpose of this questionnaire is for us to obtain more information about you. When completing the ABS, you will be prompted to provide more specific details for all of the categories (employment, volunteer and extracurricular activities, awards and accomplishments, research and other).
It is in your interest to be complete, yet brief and to the point, and be specific in the time of completion (academic or non-academic) and number of hours. Answers in point form are easier to peruse. You are not writing a personal letter. We want to know what you have done in your life so far, why you did it and what you have gained from it as a person and as a future physician.
We are unable to advise you on the ABS, as we want to see how applicants choose to present their information. It is the applicant’s responsibility to use their best judgment.
You will be prompted to identify the top 3 activities in each category (maximum of 18 in total) that you feel have best prepared you to apply to medicine.
You must provide a verifier for each activity listed on your detailed ABS. We are unable to guide you in selecting your verifiers. Whenever possible, avoid using friends or family members as verifiers.
You must comply with the instructions provided or your application will be disqualified.
Note: We randomly contact verifiers. We may, at our discretion, refuse to invite you for an interview if you submit a false, misleading or fraudulent ABS. This standard also applies to the names of the verifiers.
List employment you have held in chronological order. Specify your education level during employment (e.g., first year of university). Indicate if the employment was during the summer or the academic year, if it was part-time or full-time, the total number of hours (per week or per month) and the start and end date. Provide the location, your title and briefly describe your responsibilities.
List your volunteer activities in chronological order. Specify your education level at the time (e.g., second year of university). Indicate if the activity was during the summer or the academic year, the total number of hours (per week or per month) and the start and end date. Provide the name and location of the organization, and briefly describe your responsibilities.
List your extracurricular activities in chronological order. Specify your education level at the time (e.g., first year of university). Indicate if the activity was during the summer or the academic year, the total number of hours (per week or per month) and the start and end date. Indicate the type of activity: individual activity, team activity or club activity (i.e., sports, arts, music, student governments, personal activities such as camping, etc.) For sports activities, indicate at which level you performed: recreational, varsity, intramural, provincial, national or international.
These may include: university entrance scholarships, service awards, humanitarian awards, community awards/service, athletic scholarships, etc. Specify when they were received (e.g., third year of university), and the duration.
Specify your education level during the research (e.g., first year of university) and the title of the project. Indicate the type of publications: paper, abstract and presentation at a scientific meeting, etc., accepted or published with a reference, submitted or in preparation.
For referees to provide uniform information that admissions committees are specifically looking for from the reference process, each of your referees will be asked to fill out a CAF. It is your responsibility to inform your referees that they must fill out the CAF, and that additional letters of reference are not accepted.
You are required to ask 3 people to provide a reference on your behalf:
It is your responsibility to inform them that they must fill out this form, and that letters of reference are not accepted.
Note: We will not accept CAFs from family members. Select people who have extensive personal knowledge of you. They will be asked to respond to the following:
Your referees must complete their references online using CAFs. References are due by the OMSAS application deadline along with the remainder of your application.
Requests for references should be sent to your referees by September 15 to allow enough time for them to complete the CAF by the deadline.
All applicants are required to complete Casper test through the Acuity Insights platform to be eligible for admission. We will make an exception only for candidates who qualify for the Indigenous Program and Government of Nunavut Applicants.
Applicants are only required to do Casper (duet is not required).
Casper assesses the non-cognitive skills and interpersonal characteristics we believe are important for successful students and graduates of our program. It also complements our other applicant screening tools.
To take Casper, you must have access to a computer with audio capabilities, equipped with a webcam and a reliable internet connection on your selected test date. Casper can be taken anywhere that you can satisfy these requirements.
You do not need to study for Casper, although you may want to familiarize yourself with the Casper test structure and ensure you have a quiet environment to take the test in.
Direct any inquiries about your Casper test to the Acuity Insights Support Team using the chat on the Acuity Insights website.
If you require testing accommodations for the Casper, you will need to submit the Accommodations Request Form (PDF) signed by you and your qualified professional at least 4 weeks before your desired test date. Find more information about Casper testing accommodations.
