Admissions Requirements

Eligibility for admission to Dalhousie's Master of Physician Assistant Studies (MPAS) program requires applicants to meet academic requirements (degree, GPA, pre-reqs) and non-academic requirements as determined from CASPer, Short-Answer Questionnaire/Supplemental and MMI. Applicants who do not meet all requirements are not considered for admission. Final selection for admissions is determined by MPAS Admissions Committee.

Dalhousie MPAS Admissions Committee recognizes that the appropriate academic preparation for the study of medicine can be acquired through many varied educational backgrounds, however experience in medicine and/or healthcare is not a requirement for admissions to the MPAS program.

Degree requirements

  • Four-year undergraduate degree from a recognized, accredited university (use the World Higher Education Database to verify)
  • Transcripts from this degree should show 90-120 earned credit hours
  • Graduate degrees from a recognized, accredited university (use the World Higher Education Database to verify) are accepted but applicants will still need to provide unofficial transcripts for both their four-year undergraduate degree as well as their graduate degree
  • Successful applicants who are enrolled in studies, undergraduate or graduate, at the time of application will receive an admission offer which is CONDITIONAL upon the successful completion of their degree by August 31 of the year of application. This includes coursework, clinical practice, thesis defense and final thesis submission to your Faculty of Graduate Studies. It is expected that such students will apply during their last year of study since deferrals are rarely granted. 
  • If your degree is granted from an accredited university outside of Canada a World Evaluation Services course-by-course assessment is required to be submitted by the Section 2 deadline. If you participated in an exchange program or attended university outside of Canada and the wish to include these courses in the 60 most recent credit hours for GPA calculation, then numerical or alphabetical course grades from the exchange are required to be submitted. If alpha-numerical grades for the exchange courses are not reflected on your home university transcript, the applicant is required to obtain a World Education Services course-by-course assessment. This WES assessment is required to be submitted as part of the application.

GPA requirement

  • Minimum 3.0 GPA (on a 4.0 scale) or B average
  • Calculated using the last 60 credits hours of study 
  • For applicants with graduate degrees, up to 15 credit hours can be applied in GPA calculation
  • Pass/Fail grades cannot be used in GPA calculation

Pre-requisite requirements

  • All applicants require the following three (3) pre-requisite courses:
    • Human Anatomy
    • Biochemistry
    • Human Physiology
  • All pre-requisites must be undergraduate-level courses completed at a recognized, accredited university (use the World Higher Education Database to verify). Courses completed at colleges or other post-secondary institutions that are not recognized, accredited universities will not be accepted.
  • Pass/Fail grades for pre-requisites will be accepted
  • Successful applicants who are enrolled in pre-requisite courses at the time of application will receive an admission offer which is CONDITIONAL upon the successful completion of their course(s) by August 31 of the year of application.

Residency requirement

  • Nova Scotia residents will be prioritized during the application process. If all 24 seats are not filled by Nova Scotian candidates, Maritime Canadian applicants will be considered.
  • Applicants from outside of the Maritime Provinces and those who are not permanent residents will not be considered.
  • See our Place of Residence page for more details on residency requirements

CASPer requirement

CASPer assesses for non-cognitive skills and interpersonal characteristics we believe are important for successful students and graduates of our program and will complement our other applicant screening tools. In implementing CASPer, we are trying to further enhance fairness and objectivity in our selection process. Successful completion of CASPer is mandatory in order to maintain admission eligibility. See our CASPer Requirement page for more details.

Reference letters requirement

Two letters of reference are required for admission into the MPAS program. These letters are normally required to be from academics familiar with your work but may be replaced with relevant professional references for some course-based professional master's programs. See our Reference Letters Requirement page for more details.

Changes to admission requirements

Admissions requirements are reviewed annually and the admissions requirements from previous years may not apply. Please monitor our website for up-to-date information.