How to Get Into UBC From Algeria: Bac, IELTS, Profile

If you are finishing the Algerian baccalauréat and want UBC, three things decide your file: your moyenne and the subjects on your relevé de notes, an English test (the Algerian bac does not exempt you from one), and the Personal Profile, which every high school applicant writes. The deadline for Fall 2027 entry is January 15, 2027. This guide walks through each piece using UBC’s own pages, and is honest about the one thing UBC does not publish: a cut-off for Algeria.

By the AcceptMe team 10 min read Updated 21 Sep 2026

What UBC looks at from an Algerian applicant

UBC publishes its international requirements one country at a time on its international high schools page. Pick your country from the dropdown and it shows the credential, the English rule, the degree-specific courses and, for many countries, a grade range. As of September 2026, Morocco and Tunisia are in the dropdown; Algeria is not. That means you use the “Basic requirements (if your country is not listed)” option, which says only: “Graduation from a university-preparatory program at a senior secondary school.” Your Baccalauréat de l’enseignement secondaire is exactly that.

Two practical consequences. First, UBC does not publish a minimum moyenne for Algeria, and this guide will not invent one. For the two neighbours it does list, UBC says that “in past years, an average of 14 on Morocco’s 20-point grading scale was required” and “an average of 12 on Tunisia’s 20-point grading scale.” Those are UBC’s words about other bacs, not about yours, but they show how UBC reads a moyenne out of 20 from the Maghreb and that the bar rises by degree. Second, email UBC Undergraduate Admissions before you apply and ask how they assess the Algerian bac for your degree. Keep the reply. Whatever your filière, UBC reads the number on the relevé, not the mention.

The grades and subjects that get offers

UBC’s basic-requirements entries for the big degrees, checked September 2026 on the same page:

Degree	UBC’s minimum courses	Which filière fits
Arts	No specific courses beyond general admission.	Any filière. Lettres et Philosophie and Langues Étrangères students are on equal footing here.
Science	Senior-level Pre-Calculus Math, Grade 11-level Chemistry, Grade 11-level Physics (Physics may be waived with A grades in senior Math and Chemistry).	Mathématiques or Sciences Expérimentales. Both carry maths, physics and chemistry through 2e and 3e AS.
Applied Science (Engineering)	Senior-level Pre-Calculus Math, senior-level Chemistry, senior-level Physics.	Mathématiques, Maths-Techniques or Sciences Expérimentales. Show all three subjects in 3e AS.
Commerce (Sauder)	Senior-level Pre-Calculus Math.	Any filière with 3e AS mathématiques, including Gestion et Économie.

“Prerequisite” means the subject must appear on your final-year transcript at the level UBC names, not that it needs a particular mark. A Lettres student applying to Science has a gap, and UBC will see it. The 1er and 2e trimestre marks of 3e AS matter as much as the June exam: UBC asks for transcripts showing courses in progress by March 15, before bac results exist.

English: the Algerian bac does not exempt you

UBC’s English Language Admission Standard lists the ways to qualify without a test: four or more years of full-time education in English, IB English A, A Level English, and a few named curricula. Arabic- and French-medium schooling in Algeria is none of those, so plan on a test. Minimums, single sitting, checked September 2026:

IELTS Academic: 6.5 overall, no band below 6.0 (General and One Skill Retake not accepted).
TOEFL iBT: 90 overall with Reading 22, Listening 22, Writing 21, Speaking 21.
Duolingo English Test: 125 overall, Reading and Listening 115, Writing and Speaking 120.
CAEL: 70 overall. PTE Academic: 65 overall, 60 in each part. Cambridge C1/C2: 180.

The deadline to show you meet the standard is February 15, 2027 for Fall 2027 entry. UBC also limits how old the test may be (for the 2026/27 session, January 1, 2024 onward), so book a sitting in 2e AS or the autumn of 3e AS.

How and when to apply for Fall 2027 entry

You apply through the UBC application on EducationPlannerBC. UBC’s dates and deadlines page for the 2027 Winter Session lists (confirm each before planning around it):

Early October 2026: application opens.
November 15, 2026: deadline for the International Scholars Program (see money, below).
January 15, 2027: application deadline, 11:59 p.m. Pacific.
February 15, 2027: English standard documents due.
March 15, 2027: upload transcripts showing courses in progress (your 3e AS marks so far).
June 30, 2027: final transcripts for other international curricula. Bac results usually come in July; tell UBC the ONEC date and send the relevé the day it is issued.
May 1 or June 1, 2027: accept the offer and pay the deposit, which UBC lists as $3,000 for students on a study permit on its your offer page.

UBC’s submit documents page says you receive an email after applying with instructions to upload transcripts. For the countries it lists, UBC wants official certificates, with photocopies accepted only if certified by the school principal or counsellor, not notarized. Ask your lycée for stamped trimestre bulletins and, later, the relevé de notes du bac and attestation de réussite, with a certified English translation of any Arabic original. Decisions go out from November through June.

The part of the file you control: the Personal Profile

UBC’s Personal Profile page says every high school applicant to any degree writes it, with a few program exceptions. The common questions, as UBC publishes them: how your family, friends or community would describe you; what is important to you and why; up to five activities or accomplishments; one or two of those explained in depth; your academic history and plans; and two referees, one a school official. Answers run 500 to 2,100 characters. UBC reads for engagement, leadership, substance and voice.

Algerian applicants tend to under-sell the ordinary. Tutoring cousins for the BEM, running the family shop on Fridays, organising a neighbourhood football tournament: these are the activities UBC means. The question-by-question walkthrough in the UBC Personal Profile question examples shows the difference between reporting an activity and reflecting on it, and the activities section guide covers how to describe five things in the space given. Write in English from the start rather than translating a French draft; the translated version reads a year older than you are, and UBC names voice as a criterion. Then paste each answer with its question into AcceptMe’s essay coach: it returns a verdict paragraph and notes pinned to your own sentences, tagged works, tighten or fix, which is how you find the two sentences that are still a list.

Sauder adds its own questions and a video interview, described in the Sauder BCom video interview guide.

Money: tuition, scholarships, proof of funds

UBC Vancouver’s undergraduate tuition page lists 2026/27 international first-year tuition of $51,530.40 for Arts (30 credits), $53,082.00 for Science, $66,199.66 for Applied Science (37 credits) and $66,678.30 for Commerce, in Canadian dollars, and caps increases for students starting in 2026/27 at 3% a year. The 2027/28 figures come in spring 2027. Living costs come on top; use UBC’s cost estimator for housing and food.

Scholarships an Algerian applicant can actually get, from UBC’s international scholarships page:

International Major Entrance Scholarship: $10,000 to $25,000 a year, automatic for students entering from secondary school who apply by the deadline.
Outstanding International Student Award: $10,000 to $25,000, automatic, for academics plus extracurricular involvement.
International Scholars Program (including the Karen McKellin International Leader of Tomorrow Award): need-based. Your school nominates you, you document family income, answer four essay questions of 150 to 250 words and, if shortlisted, do a video interview between January and March. Due November 15, 2026 for 2027 entry, per the program page. For a family earning in dinars this is the award that decides whether UBC is possible; ask your lycée director in September.

For the study permit, IRCC’s proof of financial support page requires, for applications on or after September 1, 2026, $23,448 for one person’s living costs for a year, on top of first-year tuition and travel. The dinar is not freely convertible, so start the bank statements, sponsor letter and transfer authorisation months before the offer arrives.

The study permit

Canada caps new study permits. IRCC’s 2026 allocation notice sets 155,000 new arrivals and 309,670 application spaces nationally, with 32,596 allocation spaces for British Columbia. Every capped applicant needs a Provincial Attestation Letter (PAL) submitted with the permit application, per IRCC’s PAL page. UBC’s study permit page says the BC PAL is emailed about three business days after you accept and pay the deposit. Apply the week it arrives: letter of acceptance, PAL, passport, proof of funds and a letter of explanation go into the online application, then biometrics ($85) at the VFS Global centre in Algiers listed on IRCC’s visa application centre finder. Algeria was never a Student Direct Stream country, so that stream’s closure in November 2024 changed nothing for you. IRCC publishes no approval rate for Algeria; funds and a clear study plan decide most files.

A worked Personal Profile answer

Question 4, one activity explained in depth. Yasmine, bac Sciences Expérimentales, moyenne 16.4/20, mention Très bien, applying to Science. About 1,600 characters.

Sample answer

For two years I have run the physics revision group at my lycée in Sétif. It began because six of us failed the same devoir in 1re AS and our teacher had thirty-eight students and one hour a week. I booked the empty lab on Tuesday afternoons and asked her for the worst-answered questions from each test.

The first term was mostly me explaining. That was the mistake. Attendance dropped from fourteen to five, because the people who came were the ones who already understood. So I changed it: each week two students prepared one question and taught it, and I only stepped in when the whiteboard went quiet. My own marks went up less than theirs did, which I did not expect, and which taught me that explaining and understanding are not the same skill.

By 3e AS the group had twenty-two regulars and three of the original six were teaching. I want to study physics at UBC because I am now curious about the parts none of us could explain, and because I found out I like building a room where people are not embarrassed to be wrong.

Mistakes Algerian applicants make

Assuming French schooling counts as English. It does not, at UBC or anywhere in this trio. Book the IELTS or TOEFL in 2e AS.
Sending only the bac relevé. UBC decides in spring on 3e AS trimestre marks; the bac comes after. Upload the bulletins by March 15 and the final relevé the week it is issued.
Treating the Personal Profile as a formality. It is read for every degree, and a profile written the night before is the usual reason a strong moyenne gets a no.
Missing November 15. The International Scholars deadline is two months before the main one and needs a school nomination arranged in September.
Applying to Science from Lettres. Without 3e AS maths, chemistry and physics the prerequisites are not met, however high the moyenne.

Where to go next

The same moyenne reads differently in Montreal and Toronto: the McGill admission guide for Algerian applicants covers a school that decides on grades alone, plus the Quebec tuition exemption Algeria holds a quota for, and the University of Toronto admission guide for Algerian applicants covers the timed video supplementals that Rotman and Engineering add on top of the bac. For a French bac from a lycée français, or any other credential, the by-country guide to Canadian university admissions for international applicants is the index. Before you decide whether to submit in November or January, read what each round sees in the UBC early versus regular admission round comparison. Then take the profile draft you have and run it through AcceptMe’s essay coach before anyone else reads it.