MSc Program FAQs

We welcome applicants from across Canada who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents and who meet our admission criteria. However, residency is a factor in the admissions process because the majority of the seats in each program must be allocated to residents of BC, Yukon, Northwest Territories, or Nunavut.

We accept applications from international students for our doctoral program only. See the International Students Guide https://students.ubc.ca/international-student-guide for more information specific to international students.

Yes. Our graduate program requires full-time enrolment at UBC for two years. During the period, with the exception of time spent in clinical placements, all instruction in the Audiology program takes place at the UBC Point Grey campus.

Yes. Our graduate programs require full-time enrolment at UBC for two years.

However, the Speech-Language Pathology program is fully distributed at two campuses, Vancouver Point Grey and Vancouver Island Tech Park in Victoria. Students assigned to the Vancouver cohort must live in the Metro Vancouver region. Students assigned to the Victoria cohort must live in the Greater Victoria region.

During the two-year period, with the exception of the time spent in clinical placements, all instruction in the Speech-Language Pathology program takes place at the UBC Point Grey and Vancouver Island Tech Park campuses.

No. Our graduate programs do not offer distance education or online courses per se. However, for a particular course, an instructor may conduct occasional classes virtually.

We enroll 56 students, 12 in Audiology, and 44 in Speech-Language Pathology

The Speech-Language Pathology program is fully distributed, with student cohorts at two sites, Vancouver Point Grey and Vancouver Island Tech Park in Victoria. Thirty-six students are assigned to the Vancouver cohort and 8 students to the Island cohort https://audiospeech.ubc.ca/prospective-students/msc-program/speech-language-pathology/new-slp-island-cohort/.

The MSc program is very competitive. Each year we receive between 120 and 150 applications for 56 seats (12 in Audiology and 44 in Speech-Language Pathology).

Subsequent to an offer of admission, a three-year program may be considered for students who apply for and are granted academic accommodations by the Center for Accessibility.

Admission to the MSc program is competitive and takes into consideration the overall program of study. Every year, students from a wide variety of backgrounds apply and are admitted. If you meet the admission criteria, including the prerequisite coursework, and have an outstanding academic record, your application will be considered.

If possible, you should avoid off-campus employment in order to complete your degree in a timely manner. We advise you to make appropriate financial arrangements prior to beginning your first year. See Scholarships, Awards, & Funding https://www.grad.ubc.ca/scholarships-awards-funding.

The School does not offer teaching assistantships, however individual faculty members do offer various research positions.

Yes! In-person attendance is mandatory for the orientation session (usually the last Thursday in August).

The Faculty of Graduate and Post-graduate Studies requires a minimum overall average in the B+ range (76% at UBC) in third- and fourth-year courses OR academic standing with at least 12 credits of third- or fourth-year courses in the A grade range (80% or higher at UBC) in the field of study.

See Admission Requirements MSc Audiology or Admission Requirements MSc Speech-Language Pathology.

If you meet the admission criteria, your application will be considered. Students who are admitted have earned excellent grades (at least 80-85%), completed prerequisite courses, have strong letters of reference, and can articulate their personal and professional goals in their letter of intent. An increasing number of applicants also bring volunteer or work experience in clinics and research labs.

An application will be considered provided the student is enrolled in any outstanding prerequisites at the time of application. All prerequisites must be completed by the end of the regular academic session (i.e., April 30th) prior to the desired graduate program entry date. However, this does not guarantee an offer of admission to the program. For any outstanding prerequisites, please indicate in the online application (under Supplementary Questions) that the course is “In Progress”. Note that if admission is offered on the basis of coursework not yet completed, such an offer may be conditional on completion of these courses. Such conditions will be strictly observed.

Applicants must have all prerequisite courses completed by the end of the regular academic session (i.e., April 30th) prior to the desired MSc program entry date. For example, for applications to the Winter Session 2025-2026 intake (i.e., September 2025), prerequisite coursework must be successfully completed by the end of Winter 2024-2025 Term 2 (i.e., by April 30th 2025).

If you plan to complete prerequisites at UBC and are a UBC graduate or have previously applied to, been admitted to, or studied at UBC, email non.degree@ubc.ca with your full name, date of birth and UBC student number along with a request for eligibility as an Unclassified student. Once granted eligibility, you will be able to register for the courses online via the SSC.

If you did not previously attend UBC, you will need to submit an application online to become an Unclassified Student. For all inquiries email inquiry@audiospeech.ubc.ca.

Yes, in some cases. Some universities, such as Athabasca and Thompson Rivers specialize in online courses, but most other universities offer distance education courses. It is advisable to take as many prerequisite courses as possible in a University classroom setting. Reference letters from academic professors who taught you in the last two years are critical to your application. Most instructors for online courses will not write reference letters, and some are not academic professors.
See the Course Prerequisite Guide for Future Students for information about prerequisite equivalents.

No, the School does not require the GRE.

No, the School does not require an honours degree. For either the MSc in Audiology or Speech-Language Pathology, minimum requirements are: a four-year undergraduate degree from an accredited university in any department/discipline, and completion of the required prerequisites.

We try to provide as much information as possible for you on our website. You can review prerequisite coursework requirements for the MSc Audiology or MSc Speech-Language Pathology programs to make sure that your undergraduate coursework satisfies the minimum prerequisite requirements.

If after reviewing our website you still have questions related to UBC’s undergraduate linguistics courses, you can contact the Undergraduate Advisor for the Department of Linguistics: Kathleen Currie Hall (kathleen.hall@ubc.ca). For psychology-specific course advising, you can contact BA Advising at undergrad@psych.ubc.ca. Note that these advisors will only answer questions from current or prospective UBC students.

If you still have questions related to the School’s program, you can contact Winnie Wong at program.advisor@audiospeech.ubc.ca. Note that advising is available by appointment only.

See Admission Requirements MSc Audiology or Admission Requirements MSc Speech-Language Pathology.

Articulatory Phonetics course topics should include:

1. Anatomy and physiology of speech sensation, perception, transmission, and production systems, including:
   (a) audition, i.e. peripheral (ear), central
   (b) speech production, i.e. respiration, phonation, articulation
2. Glottal sound source, articulatory shaping in the pharyngeal-oral tract, and feature classifications of speech sounds (i.e. vowels and consonants)
3. Phonetic transcription and the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

Auditory/Acoustic Phonetics course topics should include:

1. Acoustic and auditory properties of speech, i.e. sensation, perception, transmission, and production of vowels, consonants and connected speech
2. Theories and models of sound and speech perception
3. Instrumentation, technology and experimental techniques

Yes. See the Course Prerequisites Guide for Future Students for information about courses that qualify as prerequisites for our Audiology program.

The professions of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology are closely related in that both address aspects of human communication. In the course of your master’s program, you will take coursework and gain clinical experience in one profession as your major area of study and in the other as your minor area. By meeting with and/or observing clinical professionals, prospective students develop familiarity with the scope of practice of both professions. An increasing number of applicants also bring volunteer or work experience in clinics and research labs.

Yes, all mature students are welcome to apply! Please note that we do not count prerequisite coursework over 10 years old, as we expect students to be up-to-date and current with the prerequisite requirements for our MSc programs.

No. Referees are contacted by UBC via email with detailed instructions about how to submit a reference (by completing an online form or manually submitting their paper reference if required.)

The maximum requirement is three references. See Application Checklist, Step 4.

At a minimum, you must scan and upload official transcripts in the application system. If offered admission, you will need to provide UBC with one set of official transcripts for every post secondary institution you have attended for the equivalent of one year or more of full-time study. For more information, see Application Checklist, Step 3.

No. Students who are re-applying to the program will need to complete a new application, including submission of updated documents as described in the Application Checklist.

The number of student seats in each program is limited, and application pools are highly competitive. The number of applications we receive each year far exceeds the number of students we are able to accept, and very difficult admissions decisions must be made. Students have the option to reapply after unsuccessful attempts.

We cannot provide information regarding admission decisions pertaining to a specific application. With respect to our process, each application is considered in detail by a committee of faculty members in the area of interest, either Audiology or Speech-Language Pathology. Each file is evaluated as a whole based on all documents provided (academic record, prerequisite coursework, letters from referees, CV, and letter of intent), and compared to the pool of candidates that year.

Applications will be unsuccessful if they do not meet our minimum admissions criteria, as follows:

1. The applicant’s undergraduate academic degree does not meet the minimum requirements of the UBC Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.
2. The applicant’s grade point average (GPA) of their undergraduate academic degree does not meet the minimum GPA required by the UBC Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.
3. The applicant has not provided evidence that their proficiency in English meets the School’s minimum requirements.
4. The applicant is missing prerequisite coursework.

Applications may meet our minimum admissions criteria but not be sufficiently competitive to be ranked high enough to receive an offer. Your application may be strengthened by:

1. Increasing your GPA: strengthening other application components will not compensate for a low GPA.
2. Improving your academic preparation by taking additional upper level coursework (typically 3rd/4th year courses) in areas relevant to your chosen profession, either audiology or speech-language pathology.
3. Obtaining letters of reference from referees who know you well enough to provide a strong, positive recommendation.
4. Obtaining (additional or more diverse) volunteer, work, and/or research experience in a field relevant to your chosen profession.

Note: Although improved GPA, academic preparation, letters of reference and relevant experiences may strengthen an application, an offer of admission to the program is not guaranteed.

* For further details concerning minimum requirements, additional relevant course work, and reference letters, please consult these websites:

UBC Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies: http://www.grad.ubc.ca/

UBC School of Audiology and Speech Sciences: http://www.audiospeech.ubc.ca/