How to Get Into UBC From South Korea: Grades, IELTS, Profile
Applying to UBC from South Korea comes down to four things: the grades on your high school record (학교생활기록부), an English test unless you qualify for one of UBC’s narrow exemptions, the January 15 deadline, and the Personal Profile, which every high school applicant writes and which UBC reads next to your marks. The CSAT is not part of the file. Here is what UBC actually asks of a Korean applicant for Fall 2027 entry, with the pages it publishes it on.
What UBC looks at from a Korean high school
UBC’s requirement for South Korea, on its international high schools page (select South Korea), is “graduation from a university-preparatory program at a senior secondary school: Korean Senior Secondary School Certificate of Graduation.” That is your 고등학교 졸업장 from a general (일반계), autonomous, foreign-language or science high school. UBC adds that certificates must be official, that photocopies are acceptable if certified by the school principal, head or counsellor, and that notarized copies are not acceptable. So the document trail runs through your school office, not a notary.
On grades, UBC says what it always says: the grades you need “differ by degree, and vary from year to year,” and then gives one data point for Korea: “in past years, a ‘Wu’ or 84% raw score on South Korea’s grading scale was required.” The wording uses the older five-step descriptors (수, 우, 미, 양, 가); read it as a raw score (원점수) in the mid-80s and treat it as a floor, not a target. Competitive applicants to Science, Applied Science and Commerce sit well above it.
What UBC does not ask for is the CSAT (수능). It is not listed for South Korea, and there is no field for it. If you sat it in November and did well, you can mention the result in the additional-information answer of the Personal Profile, but it does not replace your transcript.
How UBC reads a Korean transcript
Your 성적증명서 shows, for each subject, the raw score out of 100, the subject mean, an achievement grade (성취도, A to E) and a rank grade (석차등급) from 1 to 9. UBC’s stated benchmark is the raw score, but 1등급 and 2등급 down the page next to raw scores in the 90s is the pattern that gets offers. If you started high school in 2024 you are on the nine-grade scale; the five-grade scale for students who entered in 2025 affects Fall 2028 applicants, not you. Degree-specific requirements for Korea, from the same page, checked September 2026:
| Degree | UBC’s minimum courses | What that means on a Korean record |
|---|---|---|
| Arts | No specific courses beyond general admission | Strong 국어, 영어 and social studies rank grades carry the file. |
| Science | Upper secondary Math (Pre-Calculus), Chemistry, Physics; Physics may be waived with 90% in Math and Chemistry | 수학 I and II (미적분 helps), 화학 I, 물리학 I. If your school track skipped 물리학, the 90% waiver is your route. |
| Applied Science (Engineering) | Upper secondary Math (Pre-Calculus), Chemistry and Physics; strong candidates missing one science may be reviewed case by case | Take both 화학 I and 물리학 I in the 이과 stream. Do not rely on the case-by-case clause. |
| Commerce (Sauder) | Upper secondary Math (Pre-Calculus) | 수학 I and II at minimum; 확률과 통계 or 미적분 strengthens it. |
| Kinesiology | Math (Pre-Calculus), Chemistry, Physics or Biology | 생명과학 I satisfies the biology option. |
“Prerequisite” means a course on your transcript with a grade. A subject you studied at a hagwon for the CSAT but never took at school does not count. Computer Science at UBC is a Science major, so it follows the Science row.
English: the exemption almost no Korean school qualifies for
UBC’s English Language Admission Standard lists nine ways to meet it. The two that matter for Korea: four or more years at an eligible international secondary school that teaches in English (UBC names IB Diploma schools, Council of International Schools accredited schools, US regionally accredited curricula and Canadian curricula, four years required), or a 4 or better on AP English Language or Literature, or a 5 or better on IB English A. A Korean general high school, and a foreign-language high school (외고) whose English track is still taught inside the Korean curriculum, meets none of these. Plan on a test.
Accepted scores, checked September 2026: IELTS Academic 6.5 with no band below 6.0; TOEFL iBT 90 with Reading 22, Listening 22, Writing 21, Speaking 21; Duolingo 125 with Reading 115, Listening 115, Writing 120, Speaking 120; PTE Academic 65 with 60 in each part; CAEL 70; Cambridge 180. Documents are due February 15, 2027, and UBC only accepts scores from a fixed window (for 2026/27, tests from January 1, 2024 onward), so a TOEFL from 중3 is too old. Sit the test in the autumn of third year, after the CSAT if you must, but before February.
Applying for Fall 2027 entry
You apply through EducationPlannerBC; UBC’s application page lists the fee for students who need a study permit at $173.25 and warns that once you submit, you cannot edit. The dates and deadlines page for the 2027 Winter Session, checked September 2026: the application opens in early October 2026; the December 1, 2026 deadline is for Canadian citizens and permanent residents seeking Presidential and Centennial Scholars consideration and does not apply to you; the deadline to apply is January 15, 2027 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific; English documents are due February 15, 2027; decisions go out from November 2026 through June 2027; the acceptance deposit is due May 1 or June 1, 2027. Confirm each date on the page before you plan around it.
Documents: UBC’s submit your documents page asks for interim transcripts by March 15, 2027 and official transcripts carrying the school’s stamp or seal in the original language of instruction. Ask your 교무실 for the English-language 졸업증명서 and 성적증명서 most Korean schools can issue; if yours only issues Korean, check UBC’s translation rule on that page. Your final record arrives in February, after most decisions; UBC conditions the offer on it.
The Personal Profile is your only lever after the grades
Every high school applicant to Arts, Science, Applied Science and Commerce completes the Personal Profile: short written answers of 500 to 2,100 characters each (who you are, what is important to you and why, your activities, one or two activities you expand on, additional information) plus two referees, one of whom must be a school official. UBC scores it on engagement and accomplishment, leadership, substance and voice. Commerce applicants get extra Sauder-specific questions and a video component; the Sauder BCom Personal Profile and video interview guide covers that format.
This is where a Korean file most often underperforms its grades. A record full of 1등급 with a profile that lists 동아리 names and a 봉사활동 hour count reads as a transcript with a list attached. UBC wants the decision you made inside the activity and what changed because of it. Draft in English from the start; translated prose is where “voice” goes to die. 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, so you can see which lines are still a list. The UBC Personal Profile question examples show the published prompts with worked answers, and the activities section guide shows how to present school-run activities so they do not all look identical.
A worked answer from a Korean applicant
Question 4, expanding on one activity. About 1,500 characters.
The activity I want to expand on is our school’s science club (과학 동아리), which I joined in first year because my friends did. In second year the teacher who ran it moved schools and the club nearly folded: eleven members, no supervisor, no budget.
I asked the chemistry teacher to sponsor us and she agreed on one condition, that we produce something for the school festival. I had never organised anything. I split the eleven into three groups and gave each a question we could test with school equipment: how much vitamin C is in convenience-store juice, which brand of hand warmer holds heat longest, whether our classroom’s CO2 reading actually drops when we open the windows. The CO2 group was mine. Two members quit in the first month because I was assigning tasks like a 반장 instead of asking what they wanted to do. I changed how I ran the meetings after that.
We presented all three at the festival. The CO2 poster got the school to change the ventilation rule for afternoon classes, which I still find slightly unbelievable. The club has fourteen members now. What I learned is that I am better at designing an experiment than at leading people, and that the second one is the skill I actually need.
It claims no national award and never says “this taught me leadership.” It names a decision, a mistake, a number and one honest sentence, which is what substance and voice reward.
Money: tuition, awards and proof of funds
UBC’s undergraduate tuition page lists 2026/27 first-year international tuition for a full course load at $51,530.40 for Arts, $53,082.00 for Science (Computer Science and Kinesiology match it), $66,199.66 for Applied Science and $66,678.30 for Commerce, in Canadian dollars, with increases capped at 3% a year for four years. The 2027/28 figures will be a little higher; add housing, food, insurance and books on top.
Two international awards need no separate application, per UBC’s scholarships for international students page: the International Major Entrance Scholarship, $10,000 to $25,000 a year for 2026/27, and the Outstanding International Student Award, $10,000 to $25,000 for 2025/26. Both are decided from your grades and your Personal Profile. The International Scholars Program (the Karen McKellin International Leader of Tomorrow Award) needs a school nomination (up to two students per school for Vancouver), an application by November 15, documents by January 31 and a video interview between January and March. Talk to your 진학 teacher in September, not December.
For the study permit, IRCC’s financial support page requires a single applicant outside Quebec to show $23,448 for living costs for applications on or after September 1, 2026, on top of first-year tuition and travel, via six months of bank statements (Korean accounts count) or a Canadian GIC. It changes yearly; check the page the week you apply.
The study permit from Korea
Korea is visa-exempt for visiting Canada, so Korean passport holders get an eTA rather than a visitor visa (Republic of Korea is on IRCC’s eTA-required list). That changes nothing for a four-year degree: any program longer than six months needs a study permit, and IRCC’s how to apply page says you must apply online before you come to Canada, give biometrics within 30 days of the request, and that your eTA is issued automatically with the permit.
Since 2024 there is a national cap on new study permits. For 2026 IRCC set 309,670 application spaces, of which British Columbia got 32,596. To apply you need a provincial attestation letter (PAL), which UBC requests for you after you accept and pay the deposit; IRCC says to submit it with the application, never after, and that a letter from one cap year cannot be used in the next. So: accept, pay, get the PAL, apply the same week. The Student Direct Stream closed in November 2024, but Korea was never on its list, so nothing changed for you. One caveat for men: studying abroad through your 병역 years means an overseas travel permit (국외여행허가) from the Military Manpower Administration; check the current rule before you commit to four years.
Mistakes Korean applicants make at UBC
- Sending a CSAT score instead of a transcript. UBC does not list the 수능. The school record is the file.
- Assuming an 외고 or an international department exempts you from the English test. Only four years at a CIS, US-accredited, Canadian or IB school, or AP or IB English scores, do. Book IELTS or TOEFL.
- Getting the transcript notarized. UBC says notarized copies are not acceptable; certified school copies are.
- Writing the profile in Korean and translating it. Voice is one of four criteria. Draft in English, even if it is rougher.
- Listing 봉사 hours as an accomplishment. Hours are an input. UBC wants what you did and what changed.
- Waiting for the February transcript to apply. The deadline is January 15. Apply with what you have; the final record follows.
Where to go next
The same transcript goes to Montreal and Toronto with different rules: how to get into McGill from South Korea explains why the file there is the transcript alone, and how to get into the University of Toronto from South Korea covers the one school of the three that lists the CSAT and the timed video supplementals for Rotman and Engineering. If you are weighing the December and January dates, the UBC early versus regular admission guide explains what each round reads. The by-country guide to Canadian university admissions for international applicants compares every country in this series at a glance. Then put your Personal Profile answers through AcceptMe’s essay coach before January, while there is still time to fix what it flags.
Keep reading
- How to Get Into McGill From South Korea: Transcript, CAQ McGill reads the Korean transcript alone: the B+ floor, prerequisites, English tests, the Jan 21 scholarship essay, tuition and the CAQ.
- How to Get Into U of T From South Korea: CSAT, Grades, Video U of T lists the CSAT for Korea. Prerequisites, English tests, OUAC 105, the Rotman and Engineering timed video, tuition and 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.