How to Get Into UBC From Vietnam: Grades, IELTS, Profile

If you are finishing Grade 12 in Vietnam and want UBC for Fall 2027, three things decide the file: your Grade 11 and 12 marks on the 10-point scale (UBC has asked for an average of 8 in past years), an English test that UBC will not waive for the Vietnamese curriculum, and the Personal Profile, which every applicant writes and which is the only part of the file you still control after the transcript is what it is. Deadline: January 15, 2027.

By the AcceptMe team 9 min read Updated 21 Sep 2026

What UBC looks at from a Vietnamese applicant

UBC’s requirements page for international high schools (choose Vietnam in the country menu) names the credential as “Graduation from a university-preparatory program at a senior secondary school: Bàng Tót Nghiêp Phó Thông Trung Hoc (Upper Secondary School Graduation Certificate).” That is the Bằng tốt nghiệp THPT you receive after the Kỳ thi tốt nghiệp THPT. On grades, the page says, in full: “The grades you’ll need to be considered for an offer of admission from UBC differ by degree, and vary from year to year. In past years, an average of 8 on Vietnam’s 10-point grading scale was required.” Read 8.0 as the floor, not the offer line: Engineering, Science and Sauder run higher than Arts, and UBC does not publish the actual cut-offs.

One document rule on the same page matters more than it looks: “Certificates must be official. Photocopies are acceptable if certified by school principal, head, or counsellor. Notarized copies are not acceptable.” Vietnamese families default to the notary; for UBC, get the school stamp instead.

What UBC reads is your school transcript (học bạ), Grade 11 and Grade 12, subject by subject. The national graduation exam is not listed as an admission input: it is how you earn the certificate UBC requires, and since 2025 the certificate itself is decided half by the exam and half by your Grade 10 to 12 school results under the Ministry’s rules. Because the exam sits in late June and results arrive in July, UBC will have decided on your school marks long before the exam score exists. Your final certificate closes the file; it does not open it.

The grades and subjects that get offers

UBC’s Vietnam page lists degree-specific minimum courses. The big four for Fall 2027 entry, checked September 2026, with the wording as UBC gives it:

Degree	Required upper secondary courses	What that means on a Vietnamese transcript
Arts	“No specific courses required beyond those needed for general admission.”	Your overall Grade 12 average carries the file. Ngữ văn and Tiếng Anh marks still get read.
Science	Math (Pre-Calculus), Chemistry, Physics. “Physics may be waived with grades of 9 [on a 10-point scale] in upper secondary Math and upper secondary Chemistry.”	Toán, Hóa học, Vật lí in Grade 12. If you dropped Physics as an elective under the 2018 curriculum, you need 9.0 in both Toán and Hóa to be considered.
Applied Science (Engineering)	Math (Pre-Calculus), Chemistry, Physics. “Academically strong candidates missing either senior-level Chemistry or senior-level Physics may be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.”	Keep both sciences to Grade 12. Case-by-case is not a plan.
Commerce (Sauder)	Math (Pre-Calculus). UBC lists Economics, Geography, Law and similar as the relevant social studies.	Toán through Grade 12 is the only hard requirement. The extra Sauder profile questions decide the rest.

“Pre-Calculus” is a BC course name; UBC reads the Grade 12 Toán mark as the math prerequisite. One more line from UBC’s calendar page on other international curricula: every applicant needs a “minimum final grade of 70% (or equivalent) in either junior (Grade 11) or senior year (Grade 12) English.” On your transcript that is Tiếng Anh, and 7.0 is the equivalent. That mark is separate from the English test below.

In an IB, A-level or Canadian offshore school, UBC reads that curriculum instead: select the curriculum, not the country, on the requirements page.

English: not waived for the Vietnamese curriculum

UBC’s English Language Admission Standard exempts you only if you have four or more years of full-time education in English (in Canada, in a country where English is the principal language, or at an eligible international secondary school that teaches in English), or an IB English A score of 5, or AP English at 4. A Vietnamese public or specialised school does not qualify, and neither does an English elective score on the graduation exam. So you test. The minimums, checked September 2026:

IELTS Academic: 6.5 overall, no band below 6.0.
TOEFL iBT: 90 overall; 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 every part.
CAEL: 70 overall. Cambridge B2 First, C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency: 180.

The dates and deadlines page for the 2027 Winter Session puts the English standard at January 31, 2027, and the standards page says documents proving it are due February 15. Sit the test by December so a retake is still possible. If your academics are strong but the score is not, UBC’s Conditional Admission Program admits students who “rank in the top 50% of students admitted” into an English for Academic Purposes term first.

How and when to apply for Fall 2027

The UBC application opens in early October 2026 on EducationPlannerBC. Dates from UBC’s deadlines page, all to be confirmed there before you plan around them:

January 15, 2027, 11:59 p.m. Pacific: application deadline. That is 2:59 p.m. on January 16 in Vietnam; do not cut it to the hour.
January 31, 2027: supporting documents, including your certified Grade 11 and interim Grade 12 transcript, uploaded to the Applicant Service Centre.
February 15, 2027: English test evidence.
November 2026 to June 2027: decisions, released continuously.
May 1 or June 1, 2027: accept the offer and pay the deposit.

Ask your school in November for a certified, translated transcript of Grades 10 and 11 plus whatever Grade 12 marks exist, and a second one in February when học kỳ 1 closes. The UBC application status messages guide decodes what the portal shows while you wait.

The Personal Profile: the part you control

Every high school applicant to Arts, Science, Engineering and Commerce writes the Personal Profile inside the application. UBC’s Personal Profile page publishes the questions: who you are and how your family, friends or community would describe you; what is important to you and why; up to five activities; one or two of those activities in depth; an optional note on your academic history; and two references, one a school official. Each answer is 500 to 2,100 characters. UBC scores it for engagement and accomplishment, leadership, substance and voice. Sauder applicants answer extra questions, covered in the Sauder BCom Personal Profile and video interview guide.

The Vietnamese instinct is to list the certificate rather than describe the work. UBC is reading for what you did and thought, not the award. A worked example:

Sample answer: “Tell us more about one or two activities that are most important to you”

Linh, a Grade 12 student at a Hanoi specialised school with an 8.9 average, wrote: “In Grade 11 I joined our school’s Tiếng Anh club because it looked good. By November I was running its Saturday session because the two Grade 12 leaders had left to prepare for the exam. Eight students came the first week. I asked each one what they wanted English for, and six said the same thing: to speak without freezing. So I stopped the grammar worksheets and made every session a five-minute talk from each person, on anything, with the rest of us asking one question each. Attendance went to twenty-three by March. The thing I learned was not about English. It was that people show up for the problem they actually have, not the one the syllabus says they have. My IELTS speaking went from 6.0 to 7.0 that year, but I would trade that for having noticed the first thing sooner.”

One activity, one decision, a number that proves it and a reflection that is hers. Draft each answer with a character count, then paste it with its question into AcceptMe’s essay coach: it returns a verdict paragraph and notes on the exact sentences that read like a certificate list, tagged works, tighten or fix. The UBC Personal Profile question examples walk through every question, and the activities section guide shows how to write family responsibilities and part-time work, which UBC counts, into the five slots.

Money: tuition, living costs and the scholarships you can get

UBC’s 2026/27 undergraduate tuition table (approved December 4, 2025) gives international per-credit rates and a typical year: Arts $1,717.68 per credit ($51,530.40 for 30 credits), Science $1,769.40 ($53,082.00), Applied Science $1,789.18 ($66,199.66 for a 37-credit first year), Commerce $2,222.61 ($66,678.30). The 2027/28 table will be higher. Housing, food and insurance come on top; UBC’s cost page has an estimator.

Scholarships an applicant from Vietnam can actually receive, from UBC’s international scholarships page:

International Major Entrance Scholarship: $10,000 to $25,000 a year (2026/27), no separate application, awarded on academics and the Personal Profile, for study-permit holders.
Outstanding International Student Award: $10,000 to $25,000, also automatic.
International Scholars Program (including the Karen McKellin International Leader of Tomorrow Award): need-and-merit, up to the full cost of the degree and living expenses. Your school nominates you; you must show “a significant level of financial need” and “all As or equivalent,” apply by November 15, 2026, and interview on video between January and March if shortlisted. Details on the International Scholars page.

The scholarship essays and interviews guide covers how that video interview differs from an admissions one.

The study permit

Canada caps new study permits. For 2026 IRCC’s cap notice set 155,000 new arrivals nationally and gave British Columbia 32,596 application spaces for applicants who need a provincial attestation letter (PAL). You cannot request a PAL yourself: UBC issues it after you accept and pay, and it must go in with the permit application, not after. The 2027 numbers will be announced in late 2026.

The Student Direct Stream, the fast track many Vietnamese applicants planned around, closed on November 8, 2024; everyone now applies through the regular stream. Proof of funds for a single student outside Quebec is $23,448 for living costs from September 1, 2026, plus first-year tuition and return travel, with a plan for the remaining years. IRCC data reported by ApplyBoard put approvals for Vietnamese applicants at 64% in 2024, above a national rate IRCC said had fallen to 42% by mid-2025. Apply the week you accept, with statements showing the money has sat there for months, not weeks.

Mistakes applicants from Vietnam make

Sending notarized copies. UBC says they are not acceptable. School-certified copies are.
Treating 8.0 as the target. It is the past floor. For Engineering, Science and Sauder, plan on well above it and let the Personal Profile do work.
Dropping Vật lí in Grade 12 for an easier exam combination, then applying to Science or Engineering.
Assuming a 9.0 in Tiếng Anh replaces IELTS. Nothing in the Vietnamese curriculum waives the test.
Listing awards instead of describing decisions in the profile.
Submitting the permit application in July because the graduation exam took the whole of June.

Where to go next

The same transcript goes to Montreal and Toronto, and each school reads it differently: the McGill admission guide for Vietnamese students explains a file decided on grades alone plus a Quebec CAQ, and the U of T admission guide for Vietnamese students covers the Rotman and Engineering timed videos that UBC does not have. For every other country, start from the by-country guide to Canadian university admissions for international applicants. If you want to be read in UBC’s first round rather than the spring one, the UBC early versus regular admission guide explains which grades UBC has in hand in each round. Then run every profile answer through AcceptMe’s essay coach before January 15.