Post-secondary transfer

The Faculty of Applied Science accepts transfer students from other post-secondary institutions and from other UBC Faculties.

How transfer students are evaluated

Post-secondary transfer students are evaluated based on their most recent 30 credits of university-transferable courses, though UBC may review your entire academic record, including any failed and repeated courses. Students with less than 24 transferable credits from a post-secondary institution will be evaluated against both secondary and post-secondary admission criteria. Admission requirements need to be completed by the end of April of the application year. Courses taken in the summer, prior to a September start date, will not be considered in your application or year level assessment, but can be considered for transfer credit.

Applicants must also have taken courses in chemistry, mathematics, and physics which transfer to the first-year engineering program and achieve an average of at least 70% in each of these core subject areas. Courses to be considered in this average of mathematics, chemistry, and physics courses are not limited to the last 30 credits only. Where two courses, or one repeated course, have been taken which transfer to one of the courses of the first-year engineering program, only the grade of the latest course will be used in calculating the average. Please see the Academic Calendar for all policies on post-secondary transfer. 

Year level eligibility

To be eligible for second-year, you need to have 27 university transferable credits that count towards our first-year engineering program by the end of April. If you have less than 27 credits that transfer into the UBC first-year engineering program, your application will be evaluated for entry into the first year. Transfer students successfully admitted to the first year will complete a modified first-year program.

Transfer credit

Find out if your credits will transfer from another BC post-secondary institution by using the BC Transfer Guide. All other transfer students may use the UBC Transfer Credit Search Tool to determine if your courses have already been assessed for transfer credit. All transfer credit assessments will be completed after a student has been admitted, and we recommend that you contact Engineering Academic Services to assess your transfer credit once you have received your offer of admission, in order to prevent any delays with registration. For more information about transfer credit for admitted students please refer to the Engineering Academic Services website.

Engineering Program Placement

Students who are successfully admitted to year two will go through the program placement process in the spring before beginning at UBC. Please refer to our Engineering Academic Services website for more details about the program placement process. For a student transferring into year two at UBC, program placement will be based on your admission average and personal statement provided on the program placement form. 

Course equivalency for a UBC Science transfer 

When counting equivalent transfer credit towards the first year engineering program, the tally should come from the number of credits in the far right-hand column. 

UBC equivalent coursesCreditsUBC Engineering First Year courses**Credits
No equivalent. Complete course once admitted to UBC Engineering.-APSC 100 *3
No equivalent. Complete course once admitted to UBC Engineering.-APSC 101 *3
APSC 1603APSC 1603
CHEM 111 (4) and CHEM 113 (4) or;
CHEM 111 (4) and CHEM 123 (4) or;
CHEM 121 (4) and CHEM 123 (4)
8CHEM 1543
ENGL 100-level (usually ENGL 112 or WRDS 150)3WRDS 150 (or ENGL 110, 111, or 112)3
MATH 1003MATH 1003
MATH 1013MATH 101 ***3
MATH 2213MATH 152 ***3
PHYS 117 (3), PHYS 118 (3), and PHYS 119 (1) or;
PHYS 107 (3), PHYS 108 (3), and PHYS 109 (1) or;
PHYS 101 (3) and PHYS 102 (3)
6 or 7PHYS 157, PHYS 158 and PHYS 159 (formerly PHYS 153) ***7
PHYS 1703PHYS 170 ***3
Humanities and Social Sciences Elective3Humanities and Social Sciences Elective**3
Total credit35 or 36 37

* If you have the equivalent of APSC 150, you will not be required to take APSC 100 and APSC 101. If you have the equivalent of APSC 151 AND one of CHEM 111+113 OR CHEM 111+123 OR CHEM 121+123, you will not be required to take APSC 100, APSC 101 and CHEM154. 

** If you completed the FULL "Engineering Transfer Program" at one of our 9 partner BC Universities or Colleges, you will have typically met the full First Year UBC Engineering program. Not all Humanities and Social Sciences Electives are transferable from the Engineering Transfer Program partners, and we recommend that you review the BC Transfer Guide

*** If you are considering Mechanical Engineering at the Vancouver campus, please visit the Mechanical Engineering website for required pre-requisites. In most cases, students missing prerequisite courses will not be allowed to commence Mech 2 until they have completed all their first-year courses.

Transfer Student Info Session

For more information about UBC Engineering transfer options at the UBC Okanagan campus: UBC OKANAGAN ENGINEERING TRANSFER OPTIONS

An engineering student at the Design and Innovation day exhibit

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