UBC International Major Entrance Scholarships

The University of British Columbia awards International Major Entrance Scholarships (IMES) and Outstanding International Student (OIS) awards to exceptional international students entering undergraduate programmes. IMES awards are renewable through the degree subject to continued achievement and eligibility, and recipients are selected from the admission pool — there is no separate scholarship form, which makes the quality of the admission application itself decisive.

UBC also operates need-and-merit programmes for international students with demonstrated financial need, described on the same pages; students for whom funding is the deciding factor should read the full landscape rather than a single award.

The University of British Columbia's main entrance award for international undergraduates, and notable for considering financial circumstances alongside merit.

• An international student applying for a first undergraduate degree at UBC.
• Entering directly from secondary school in most cases.
• A strong academic record — the primary criterion.
• Considered automatically from the admission application for many applicants, with no separate scholarship form.
• Financial need taken into account for the larger awards, which distinguishes this from a purely merit-based scheme.

Because assessment is largely automatic, the admission application is effectively the scholarship application. Submitting it early and completely is the main thing within your control.

Renewable partial awards, sized against both merit and circumstance, so the amount varies considerably between recipients.

• An annual award at a level UBC determines from your academic record and financial circumstances.
• Renewable for up to four years of the degree, subject to maintaining the required academic standing.
• Applied to your tuition account rather than paid as cash.
• Held alongside other UBC awards in some cases, at the university's discretion.

Renewal depends on maintaining a standard, so it is worth knowing what that standard is before relying on four years of it. A first year that goes badly can end the award.

Mostly the admission application, with a financial component where you are seeking a need-assessed award.

• A complete UBC undergraduate application, including the personal profile section.
• Academic transcripts and predicted results.
• The personal profile responses, which UBC weighs seriously in both admission and awards.
• Financial information, where you are applying for need-assessed support.
• English proficiency evidence.

UBC's personal profile is doing more work than applicants expect — it feeds both the admission decision and the award. It deserves the same care as an essay for a scholarship application elsewhere.

Assessed from the admission application, on UBC's own timetable.

• Apply to UBC for an undergraduate programme, by the early deadline where one applies to award consideration.
• Complete the personal profile fully.
• Submit financial information if seeking need-assessed support.
• Automatic consideration, with awards notified alongside or after the offer.

Dates move every cycle, so treat UBC's international scholarships and awards pages as the authority on them rather than any second-hand summary — including this one. We will confirm the current timeline with you before you commit to a plan built around it.