How to Get Into UBC From China: Gaokao, IELTS, Profile
Applying to UBC from China means being read on four things: your Upper Middle School Report of Grades, your Huikao results and, if you write it, your gaokao score, both verified through CSSD; an English test, because the Chinese national curriculum does not exempt you; and the Personal Profile, which every direct-entry applicant writes. Here is what UBC publishes for Chinese applicants for Fall 2027 entry, checked September 2026, and what to do with each piece.
What UBC asks of a Chinese senior high school applicant
UBC’s requirements are published per country on its international high school requirements page (select China). For the national curriculum the general requirement is graduation from a university-preparatory program at a senior secondary school, shown by three documents:
- Your Upper Middle School Report of Grades, Senior 1 through Senior 3.
- Huikao (academic proficiency test) results, “provided by China Credentials Verification (CSSD)”.
- Gaokao results, also provided by CSSD. In UBC’s words: “UBC expects students to achieve a minimum provincial Tier 1 university cut-off score.”
Then the sentence that decides most files from international schools in China: “If you are not writing the Gaokao, you must submit three or more Advanced Placement (AP) exam results in three or more distinct subjects. Competitive results must be achieved in these examinations.” So the gaokao is not optional in the sense of “skip it”; it is optional in the sense of “replace it with three APs”. The Academic Calendar adds that students applying with a Chinese secondary school diploma “are recommended to present at least six academic courses as part of their diploma” and “are also required to present results in the National Higher Education Entrance Examination commonly known as Gaokao.”
CSSD is the Ministry of Education’s verification centre; its English-language site issues online verification reports for the high school qualification, Huikao results and gaokao scores. Order the Huikao report as soon as results exist and the gaokao report the week scores are released; UBC reads the verified version, not the school’s printout.
The grades that get offers
UBC does not publish a cut-off. The one number it gives Chinese applicants, on the same page, is historical: “In past years, an 84% average (where the minimum pass grade is 60%) on China’s grading scale was required.” Treat 84 as the floor that got a file read, not the average that got Engineering or Sauder. The subject requirements, in UBC’s Upper Middle School terms:
| Degree | Minimum subject requirements (UBC’s wording, Vancouver) |
|---|---|
| Arts | No specific courses beyond general admission. |
| Science | Senior-level Math (Pre-Calculus); two years of Chemistry; two years of Physics (Physics may be waived with grades of A in senior-level Math and senior-level Chemistry). |
| Applied Science (Engineering) | Three years of Upper Middle School Math; two years of Chemistry; three years of Physics. Strong candidates missing senior Chemistry or Physics “may be evaluated on a case-by-case basis”. |
| Commerce (Sauder) | Three years of Upper Middle School Math. Related courses: language arts, mathematics (Chemistry and Physics count here), and social studies such as Economics, Geography, Psychology. |
Read the table against the 3+1+2 subject-selection system. A student who dropped Physics after Senior 1 has one year of it, which does not meet Science’s two or Engineering’s three. UBC reads the transcript, not the exam combination, so keep the subject on the report card through Senior 3 even if it is not a gaokao elective.
English: the Chinese curriculum is not exempt
UBC’s English Language Admission Standard lists nine routes. None of them is “English classes at a Chinese public school”. The exemptions that matter here are four or more years of full-time education in English within Canada, four or more years in a country where English is the principal language, AP English Language or Literature at 4 or better, IB English A at 5 or better, or “four or more years at an eligible international secondary school that uses English as the language of instruction but operates in a country where the primary language is not English”. That last route is a list UBC maintains; if you are at an international school in Shanghai or Shenzhen, check whether your school is on it before you book a test. Everyone else tests. The minimums, checked September 2026:
- IELTS Academic: 6.5 overall, no part below 6.0.
- TOEFL iBT: 90 overall, with Reading 22, Listening 22, Writing 21, Speaking 21.
- Duolingo English Test: 125 overall; Reading 115, Listening 115, Writing 120, Speaking 120.
- PTE Academic: 65 overall, 60 in each part.
- CAEL: 70 overall. Cambridge B2 First, C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency: 180.
The score must reach UBC by February 15, 2027 for Fall 2027 entry. Sit the test by December so a retake is possible.
How and when to apply for Fall 2027 entry
UBC’s dates and deadlines page for the 2027 Winter Session lists these; confirm each on the page before you plan around it.
- Early October 2026: the application opens (through EducationPlannerBC).
- December 1, 2026: the scholarship deadline, which applies to Canadian citizens and permanent residents only. It does nothing for an international file, so apply when the profile is ready rather than to hit this date.
- January 15, 2027 (11:59 p.m. Pacific): the application deadline for everyone.
- January 31, 2027: documents required for admission. February 15: English documentation.
- March 15: interim transcripts for “all other international curricula”, then final transcripts by June 30, per UBC’s document submission page.
- November 2026 to June 2027: decisions. May 1 or June 1, 2027: accept and pay the deposit.
Note the sequence. Gaokao results come out in late June, after most UBC decisions, so UBC decides on Senior 1 and 2, your Senior 3 interim marks and the Huikao, and the gaokao arrives as a final document that confirms the offer. Plan the CSSD gaokao report for early July.
The part of the file you control: the Personal Profile
Every high school applicant to Arts, Science, Engineering and Commerce writes the Personal Profile: short answers of 500 to 2,100 characters each, an activities list of up to five entries, and two referees, one of whom must be a school official. UBC publishes the questions, among them “Tell us about who you are. How would your family, friends, and/or members of your community describe you? If possible, please include something about yourself that you are most proud of and why.” and “What is important to you? And why?”, and says it reads for engagement and accomplishment, leadership, substance and voice. The full set, with worked answers, is in the UBC Personal Profile question examples.
Two things Chinese applicants get wrong. The activities list is not a certificate list; the Personal Profile activities section guide shows how to turn “Olympiad, provincial second prize” into a sentence a reader can picture. And the voice criterion is literally “does it sound like you”, so an answer that has been through an agent’s polish reads as exactly that. Draft in English yourself, then paste each answer into AcceptMe’s essay coach; it returns a verdict paragraph and notes pinned to your sentences, tagged works, tighten or fix, the feedback a school official in Chengdu usually cannot give on an English reflective essay. Sauder applicants also record a video interview, covered in the Sauder BCom video interview guide.
Money: tuition, living costs, scholarships, proof of funds
UBC’s undergraduate tuition page lists 2026/27 first-year international tuition of C$51,530 for Arts, C$53,082 for Science, C$66,200 for Engineering and C$66,678 for Commerce, with increases capped at 3% a year for students who start in 2026/27. Expect a similar step for 2027/28 and check the page in spring 2027. UBC’s cost of studying page has the living-cost estimator for Vancouver housing and food.
Scholarships you can actually get: the International Major Entrance Scholarship (C$10,000 to C$25,000 a year for 2026/27, renewable for up to three more years) and the Outstanding International Student Award (a one-time C$10,000 to C$25,000) are automatic if you apply by the admission deadline; the Personal Profile is part of that read, which is why the UBC entrance scholarships and the Personal Profile guide exists. The International Scholars Program (Karen McKellin International Leader of Tomorrow, Donald A. Wehrung, International Impact, Vantage One) is need-based, requires a nominator at your school plus a teacher referee, and for 2027 entry closes November 15, 2026 with documents by January 31 and video interviews from January to March.
For the study permit, IRCC’s proof of financial support page requires a single applicant outside Quebec to show C$23,448 for living costs for applications on or after September 1, 2026, on top of first-year tuition and return transport. Bank statements covering six months are accepted, so start moving money into one account in the autumn, not the week you accept.
The study permit from China
Three things have changed. The Student Direct Stream, the fast track Chinese applicants used, ended on November 8, 2024 (IRCC notice); you now apply under the regular process. Undergraduate applications need a Provincial Attestation Letter, which BC issues through UBC after you accept and pay; IRCC’s PAL guidance says an application without one “will not be accepted for processing”. And the cap: IRCC’s 2026 allocations notice sets 309,670 application spaces nationally, 32,596 of them for BC. The 2027 numbers will be announced in late 2026; assume a letter is still required. Accept the offer, pay the deposit, request the PAL the same day, and file the permit application the week the letter arrives, with the CSSD reports and a clear study plan. IRCC publishes no China-only approval rate; ICEF’s reading of 2025 data put overall new-permit approvals near 30% for the first half of 2025, which is the reason to make the financial file boring and complete.
A worked Personal Profile answer
Being useful before being impressive. In Senior 2 our class monitor system collapsed because nobody wanted the job of chasing homework, so I took it, badly. I sent reminders at 11 p.m. and got ignored. What changed things was a spreadsheet I built that let each row leader mark their own group, so the chasing stopped being mine. By the second term the teacher stopped asking. I did not put it on any certificate. But when my grandmother’s hospital in Xiaoshan asked our school for volunteers to translate discharge forms for migrant workers, I was the one who knew how to set up the rota so that nobody had to be reminded twice. I want to study chemistry because the lab work I like is the same shape: the result matters more than who ran it. I would rather be the person a group can rely on than the person it applauds.
Why it works: a specific failure, a concrete fix, an activity a referee can confirm, and a link to the degree that is not a slogan.
Mistakes applicants from China make
- Sending school printouts instead of CSSD reports. UBC’s wording is “provided by CSSD” for both Huikao and gaokao. Order them; do not wait to be asked.
- Dropping Physics or Chemistry under the elective system and only discovering the two- and three-year requirements at Science and Engineering in January.
- Assuming an international school in China exempts you from the English test. Only UBC’s eligible-school list, AP or IB English, or a test does.
- Writing the Personal Profile as a list of prizes. Four criteria, none of them is “number of awards”.
- Waiting for the gaokao to apply. The deadline is January 15; the exam is in June. Apply on Senior 1 and 2 marks and let the score confirm the offer.
Where to go next
The same student is almost always also applying east: the McGill admission guide for Chinese applicants explains the 85% minimum, the Huikao format rule and the CAQ, and the University of Toronto admission guide for Chinese applicants covers the gaokao line in U of T’s requirements and the Rotman and Engineering video supplementals. For other countries and a side-by-side of deadlines, see the by-country guide to Canadian university admissions for international applicants. If you are weighing when to submit, the UBC early versus regular admission guide explains what UBC has in hand in each round, and once you have submitted, the UBC application status messages decode the portal. Then put every Personal Profile answer through AcceptMe’s essay coach before January 15.
Keep reading
- How to Get Into McGill From China: 85%, Huikao, CAQ McGill's published 85% floor for Chinese applicants, the graded Huikao rule, gaokao as a final document, English tests, tuition and the CAQ for Fall 2027.
- How to Get Into U of T From China: Gaokao, Video, Fees U of T's diploma, Huikao and gaokao line for Chinese applicants, the AP alternative, English minimums, Rotman and Engineering videos, Pearson, the permit.
- UBC Personal Profile Questions: How to Answer Each One UBC's Personal Profile questions as published, the four things UBC says it reads for, how to answer within 2,100 characters, and a worked example.