We’ve got the skinny right here…read on!

How do I find out what documents I need to send?

You can log onto the SSC to find a complete list of required documents and deadlines.

What’s the deadline for submitting my documents?

It will depend on what documents we are asking for, and what program you’re applying for.

You would have been sent an e-mail shortly after you applied listing the documents you need to send to our office – this also includes the deadlines for these documents.  If you didn’t get the e-mail, don’t worry!  The deadlines are also posted on your Application Status in the SSC.

How can I send my documents to UBC?

In order for us to use your documents for evaluation, they must be considered official, which means they need to be sent to us in a particular way.  This will depend on the type of documents you are sending.

Transcripts are the most common documents you will need to send to our office, so be sure to check this list to see how you can send your official transcript.

Documents that are submitted to UBC become the property of the University and cannot be returned.

What if I only have one copy of my transcript or certificate/diploma, and the school will never issue another one?

This is sometimes the case for students who have studied outside of Canada or the US.  If your school only issues this document once and only to you, this is considered an irreplaceable document.  These documents can be returned to you once your evaluation has been completed by submitting the document with a Request for Return of Irreplaceable Document form.

Please note that if your school will issue more than one copy of your document, regardless of the length of time that it takes to request this, the document needs to be sent directly by your school and it cannot be returned to you after we have evaluated your file.

Required, Recommended…what’s the difference?

In your list of documents to send UBC, some are listed as required and some are recommended.

Required means just that – we need these documents to evaluate your application.  You must send them by the deadline.  For some of you, all the documents we request are marked as “required”.  That’s perfectly normal, so get those in to us before the deadline!

Recommended means that you should send us these documents if you can, but they are not required to evaluate your application.  This is often the case for college or university applicants where we recommend they send their high school transcript, even though we may not need it if we have your college or university transcript.

That being said, there’s usually a reason why we strongly recommend that you send, well, “recommended” documents. Sometimes after evaluating your application, we find that we’re missing some information (such as program prerequisites) and sometimes that means using those “recommended” documents.  To be safe – send it anyway!  It’ll save you time and hassle later on in the process.

How do I know if UBC has received my documents?

You can check your Application Status on the SSC to see if your documents have been received – once we’ve added them to your application, you’ll see it immediately online.

I sent my documents two or three weeks ago – how come UBC still hasn’t received it?

We probably have it, but because we’re receiving thousands of documents on a weekly – and sometimes daily – basis, we won’t be able to locate your transcript until we’ve gone through all the documents that we received the day that your document arrived in the mail.  It may take up to 3 weeks from the day that it arrives in our office, but as long as the issue date on your transcript is before the deadline we will honour that date regardless of how long it takes us to process it.

Some things to keep in mind: the day that you order your transcript from your school may not be the same day that they put the transcript in the mail. It may take a few extra days for that transcript to be mailed to our office.  But we will get to it in the order it was received, and we’ll update this on your SSC as soon as we process it!