UofC " This Is Now

Applicants to the Cumming School of Medicine should ensure that they have also read the Office of Admissions' Applicant Manual. For current information, please visit the website at www.ucalgary.ca/mdprogram/admissions.

The number of positions for students at the University of Calgary medical school is currently limited to 155 Canadian students. This number may increase or decrease slightly over the next several years due to physical capacity and funding availability. As a provincial university, the University of Calgary has a primary obligation to Canadian citizens residing in Alberta. Although priority will be given to Alberta residents, the faculty also invites applications from residents of other provinces.

The Cumming School of Medicine has a policy on the admission of candidates who are neither Canadian citizens nor landed immigrants. The faculty does not accept applications from individual international students. Seats for international students are currently limited to students from institutions or countries that have formal, contractual agreements with the Cumming School of Medicine.

In selecting medical students, no preference is given to the gender, race, religion, or socio-economic status of the applicant. Nor is the vocation of his or her parent, guardian, or spouse a consideration in the selection process.

Physical disabilities must not prevent the student, upon graduation, from communicating with patients, making observations, gathering and analysing data necessary to arrive at medical judgments, and from performing the therapeutic interventions expected of a physician who has completed the educational program leading to an MD degree.

The Cumming School of Medicine will not normally accept applications from students who have withdrawn, who have been required to withdraw, or who have been expelled from any school or college of medicine.

Students must have completed a minimum of two full years of university-level courses at the time of application. Most students will have completed a baccalaureate degree before admission to the Cumming School of Medicine.

Note: The Cumming School of Medicine's definition of a full year is described in the Office of Admissions' Applicant Manual. Refer to the manual for the most accurate information on requirements. The Applicant Manual is available at www.ucalgary.ca/mdprogram/admissions.

The Cumming School of Medicine does not require that students undertake a formal premedical program. No specific courses are required for application or acceptance to the MD program. The admissions committee recommends that applicants consider taking as many of the following courses as their schedules allow, as the content of these courses will be helpful in preparing for the Medical College Admission Test and during the MD program: biology, chemistry, physics, organic chemistry, English, statistics, biochemistry, physiology and psychology. Whether or not an applicant has taken these courses at the time of application will not be taken into consideration in scoring the academic record. Students should ensure that the courses they choose satisfy the degree requirements of the undergraduate faculty in which they are registered.

The University of Calgary reserves the right, the published regulations notwithstanding, to reject applicants for admission or registration in courses on the basis of their overall academic records (even if they technically meet the entrance requirements), and on medical and other grounds.

The Admissions Committee of the Cumming School of Medicine of the University of Calgary consists of representatives of the medical faculty, student physicians, the medical community, other disciplines, and the community at large. The committee is charged with the selection of medical students on the basis of academic and non-academic qualifications. Approximately 540 applicants are invited for the final stage of the process - the interviews. The committee chooses these applicants on the basis of academic and non-academic criteria as described in the applicant manual.

All applicants must write the Medical College Admission Test at least one year before the year for which they are applying. MCAT scores will then be available to the Admissions Committee when considering applications. Applicants should contact the MCAT Program Office (www.aamc.org/mcat) for details about the test and they must instruct the organization to release their MCAT results to the University of Calgary.

Applicants to the Cumming School of Medicine should also be aware that the MCAT will be revised in 2015. Refer to the Applicant Manual for the policy regarding the transition to the new MCAT.

Applications for the MD program are available on the website. Applicants may obtain an application by visiting www.ucalgary.ca/mdprogram/admissions. All applications must be submitted online. The deadline for receipt by the Office of Admissions of the online application, all official transcripts, official MCAT scores, three letters of reference, and the application fee of $150.00 is posted on our website.

Applicants should note that the Office of Admissions will not accept facsimile transmission copies of transcripts. The work of the committee is greatly facilitated when candidates submit their applications early in the process, preferably well before the deadline. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that the application is complete and that all necessary forms and the application fee are received by the Office of Admissions by the deadline. Completed applications include the following information: a list of courses taken and grades obtained; MCAT scores and the date of writing (if available); a brief description of experiences; employment activities and three letters of reference.

Note: A complete application contains all the information described in the Office of Admissions' Application Manual.

Applicants will be notified in February regarding whether or not they will be invited to attend a series of short interviews. The interviews take place at the University of Calgary in February or March.

Applicants must attend the interviews at their own expense. Applicants must take part in a series of short, back-to-back interviews, which the committee will use to assess the candidates' non-cognitive qualifications.

Applicants will be notified of the Admissions Committee's decision on May 15. All applicants accepted into the Cumming School of Medicine will be required to forward a $500.00 deposit within the time specified in the acceptance letter. Failure to do so may result in the position being assigned to an applicant on the waiting list. The deposit is applied to first year fees. An applicant who accepts a position and later withdraws his or her acceptance will forfeit the deposit.

All medical students must commence a program of immunization before registration day. The Cumming School of Medicine reserves the right to refuse admission to any candidate whose condition of health indicates that medical studies could be prejudicial to his or her well-being.

Because the three-year MD program at the University of Calgary is regarded as a continuum, transfers cannot be considered. For the final clerkship year, students from other LCME Accredited Medical Schools may apply for visiting student status if there are sufficient resources at the University of Calgary such that the visiting student will not displace University of Calgary students.

The Cumming School of Medicine offers a combined degree program with the Faculty of Graduate Studies leading to an MD/MSc or MD/PhD degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Cardiovascular and Respiratory Sciences, Community Health Sciences, Gastrointestinal Sciences, Medical Science, Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, or Neuroscience; and other possible combinations. Information may be obtained under the Leaders in Medicine heading in the Faculty of Graduate Studies section of this calendar, and in the sections describing the individual graduate programs. Supplementary application forms may be obtained from the Associate Dean (Graduate Sciences Education) in the Cumming School of Medicine.