Admission Timelines
The application portal for September 2025 admission will open on November 1st, 2024. For international applicants, the portal will close on March 31st, 2025, while for domestic applicants, it will remain open until May 31st, 2025. Please note that the Medical Sciences Graduate Program does not offer admissions for the January or May intake cycles.
* Please note: All international applicants are responsible for arranging their own study permits within the appropriate timelines. The Medical Sciences program is not involved in this process and applicants must ensure they have left enough time to obtain all required documentation for entry.
All documents (including transcripts and 2 academic reference letters) must be received by the submission deadline date.
Only completed applications are reviewed. An application is not considered complete until the application fee has been paid in full.
Admission Requirements
The Program seeks candidates with undergraduate degrees in Biochemistry, Biology, Medicine, Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Health Sciences, Pharmacology and Physiology, Arts and Science, Integrated Sciences, Chemistry, Chemical Biology, Life Sciences as well as Kinesiology. Applicants with Engineering, Business and other backgrounds with a minor or experience in Health/Life Science will be considered.
Applicants whose post-secondary education language of instruction is not English are required to supply evidence of their proficiency in the use of the English language. The most common evidence is a score of at least 92 (iBT), 580 (paper-based test) or 237 (computer-based test) on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). For IELTS (Academic test), a minimum score of 6.5 with a minimum score of 5.5 in each category is required by the Medical Sciences program. The English Proficiency exam result must be received by the submission deadline date.
Admission Requirements
- 4-year Honours degree (B.Sc.), with an academic standing that is equivalent to at least a McMaster B+ in the last 30 units of courses relevant to the program. The School of Graduate Studies at McMaster requires that visa applicants have a first class academic record. Degrees and grades from foreign universities are evaluated in terms of their equivalency to those from McMaster.
- Or an M.D. degree or equivalent (e.g. M.B.B.S., M.B., Ch.B.) with an academic standing equivalent to at least a McMaster B+ in previous academic work.
- Under special circumstances, Master’s students may be permitted to undertake part-time study with the approval of the supervisor, the Area Coordinator and the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies (Health Sciences), but are required to spend at least one calendar year in full-time study.
- A Master’s degree with an academic standing equivalent to at least a McMaster B+ in previous academic work. The School of Graduate Studies at McMaster requires that visa applicants have a first class academic record. Degrees and grades from foreign universities are evaluated in terms of their equivalency to those from McMaster.
- In exceptional cases, applicants may be admitted directly from a bachelor’s 4-year honours degree. Such applicants must have a previous academic record showing sufficient promise, including proven research experience and an A average.
- Applicants who obtained their MD as a second degree may qualify for direct entry to the PhD stream, provided their first degree is such that it would qualify them for entry into the M.Sc. stream.
- Students, enrolled in the Medical Sciences M.Sc. Program for at least a year, may seek to transfer to the PhD through presentation of the work they have accomplished and a research proposal to a faculty committee.
McMaster Postgraduate Medical Education Program allows Clinician Investigator Program trainees the opportunity to undertake a Master’s or PhD degree as a full-time student. Please refer to the Handbook for CIP trainees and the Health Sciences Graduate Programs Policy re CIP Applicants (the latter is available from the Office of the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, HSC-4H4). Separate applications are required for both. For more information, please see the Clinical Investigator Program website.