Specific Subject Requirements and Recommendations

Specific subject requirements for degree programs offered by the University of Guelph are listed below.

Specific subjects are listed under the current Ontario Secondary School Curriculum. If an applicant has completed two courses which are deemed to be equivalent, only one will be used in calculating the admission average (e.g. OAC English and 4U English).

The Non-Academic component of 4U/M co-op courses is not accepted as a contribution to admission requirements.

Applicants from a Canadian province or territory outside of Ontario should visit http://admission.uoguelph.ca/outofprov/ for applicable subject requirements. Students applying with educational credentials obtained outside of Canada should consult http://admission.uoguelph.ca/equivalency/.

Bachelor of Applied Science (B.A.Sc.)

Child Studies; Family Studies and Human Development

  • ENG4U; one 4U Mathematics course; one of SBI4U, SCH4U or PSK4U; three additional 4U or 4M courses.

Applied Human Nutrition

  • ENG4U; one 4U Mathematics course; SBI4U; SCH4U; two additional 4U or 4M courses.

Note: Biology (SBI4U) is recommended for students pursuing a major in Child Studies or Family Studies and Human Development.

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)

Economics; Mathematical Economics

  • ENG4U; MHF4U; four additional 4U or 4M courses.

All other majors

  • ENG4U; five additional 4U or 4M courses.

Note: 

  • Completion of MHF4U is highly recommended for Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics.  This major requires knowledge in math.
  • Completion of a 4U Mathematics course is recommended for students pursuing any other Social Science major.

Bachelor of Arts and Sciences (B.A.S.)

  • ENG4U; MHF4U; two of SBI4U, SCH4U or SPH4U; one 4U or 4M Arts or Social Studies course; one additional 4U or 4M course.

Note: Arts and Social Studies courses include any 4U/M course that does not begin with S, M, I, P or T.

Bachelor of Bio-Resource Management (B.B.R.M.)

Environmental Management

  • ENG4U, SBI4U and four additional 4U/M courses.

Equine Management

  • ENG4U; SBI4U; SCH4U; one 4U math course; and two additional 4U/M courses.

Food Industry Management

  • ENG4U; MHF4U; SBI4U; SCH4U; and two additional 4U or 4M courses.

Note: 

  • Students interested in Environmental Management are strongly encouraged to complete a 4U/M math and 4U Chemistry.  Applicants to Environmental Management who lack 4U Chemistry will be required to take a replacement course in semester one.
  • Admission to the Food Industry Management program has been suspended for fall 2025.

Bachelor of Commerce (B.Comm.)

Accounting; Food and Agricultural Business; Management; Marketing Management; Management Economics and Finance; Real Estate; Sport and Event Management and Undeclared

  • ENG4U; MHF4U; one additional 4U Mathematics course, three additional 4U or 4M courses.

Hospitality and Tourism Management; Government, Economics and Management

  • ENG4U; MHF4U; four additional 4U or 4M courses.

Bachelor of Computing (B.Comp.)

  • ENG4U; MCV4U; four additional 4U or 4M courses.

Note: Computing and Data Management (math) courses are recommended, as are any other courses necessary to prepare the student for study in an area of application.

Bachelor of Creative Arts, Health and Wellness (B.C.A.)

ENG4U; five additional 4U or 4M courses.

Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng.)

  • ENG4U; MHF4U; MCV4U; SCH4U; SPH4U; one additional 4U or 4M course.

Note:

  • Differential criteria may prevail for admission to the various B.Eng. programs. Students who are admitted but lack one of the three 4U science courses must complete a replacement course, as required, available at the University. These courses do not count towards the 23.50 credits required for the B.Eng. program. Students intending to enrol in these courses should consult the timetable and Chapter XII of the Calendar to determine the semesters during which they are offered.
  • Students selecting a major in Environmental, Biological, Biomedical or Water Resources Engineering are advised to include Physics, Chemistry and Biology in their 4U courses. Students intending to major in Mechanical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or Engineering Systems and Computing should include Physics, Chemistry and Computer Studies in their 4U courses.

Bachelor of Indigenous Environmental Science and Practice (B.I.E.S.P.)

  • ENG4U; MHF4U; SBI4U; SCH4U; and two additional 4U or 4M courses.

Bachelor of Landscape Architecture (B.L.A.)

  • ENG4U; five additional 4U or 4M courses.

Note: Applicants are required to complete a Background Information Form (BIF). Sciences, technical drawing and language courses are recommended. 

Bachelor of Mathematics (B.Math.)

  • ENG4U; MHF4U; MCV4U; three additional 4U or 4M courses.

Bachelor of One Health (B.O.H.)

  • ENG4U; MHF4U; two of SBI4U, SCH4U or SPH4U; one 4U or 4M Arts or Social Studies course; one additional 4U or 4M course.

Note: Arts and Social Studies courses include any 4U/M course that does not begin with S, M, I, P or T.

Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.)

Biological Sciences

  • ENG4U; MHF4U; two of SBI4U, SCH4U or SPH4U, two additional 4U or 4M courses.

Physical Sciences

  • ENG4U; MCV4U; two of SBI4U, SCH4U or SPH4U, two additional 4U or 4M courses. 

Note: Completion of three 4U science courses is recommended. Those who lack the third science course will take a replacement course in semester one.

Bachelor of Science in Agriculture (B.Sc. (Agr.))

  • ENG4U; MHF4U; two of SBI4U, SCH4U or SPH4U, two additional 4U or 4M courses.

Note: Completion of 4U Biology and 4U Chemistry is recommended.

Bachelor of Science in Environmental Sciences (B.Sc. (Env.))

  • ENG4U; MHF4U; two of SBI4U, SCH4U or SPH4U, two additional 4U or 4M courses.

Note: Completion of 4U Biology and 4U Chemistry is recommended.

Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M.)

*Note:  Changes to admission requirements will come into effect for fall 2026 admission.  More information is available on the OVC website.

Academic Requirements

To be eligible to apply for fall entry to the D.V.M. program, applicants must have completed a minimum of four full-time semesters (two years in an undergraduate degree) and eight prerequisite courses at an accredited institution.  Prerequisite courses include the following:

  1. Biological Sciences - 1.00 credit (2 semester courses or 1 full-year course, with recommended emphasis on Animal Biology)
  2. Cell Biology - 0.50 credit (1 semester course)
  3. Genetics - 0.50 credit (1 semester course)
  4. Biochemistry - 0.50 credit (1 semester course)
  5. Statistics - 0.50 credit (1 semester course)
  6. Humanities or Social Sciences - 1.00 credit* (2 semester courses or 1 full-year course)
*

Students entering the D.V.M. Program should be able to operate across discipline boundaries recognizing the relevance of the humanities and the social sciences to their career choice. In selecting these courses from among those acceptable, the prospective veterinary student should consider topics such as ethics, logic, critical thinking, determinants of human behaviour and human social interaction.

Note:

  • Prerequisite courses must be completed within full-time, acceptable semesters.  An undergraduate full-time semester is defined as a minimum of 2.5 credits.
  • Academic requirements must be completed by August 31 (for international applicants) and December 31 (for Canadian applicants) of the preceding year.
  • All courses must be at the degree level.
  • Please refer to the D.V.M. application and required document deadline dates at: http://www.ovc.uoguelph.ca/recruitment/en/.
  • Applicants should consult the list of acceptable University of Guelph courses and prerequisite subjects.

Non-Academic Requirements

Non-academic strengths are also critical to personal and professional success in veterinary medicine. In considering applicants to the DVM program, we strive to recruit future veterinarians that have strong interpersonal skills, ethics, leadership, cultural humility, the ability to self-regulate and be resilient, develop meaningful and effective connections to society and their local community, and who demonstrate a deep understanding of the veterinary profession. This is to ensure that applicants have fully explored opportunities within the veterinary profession and understand the professional responsibility to society that is inherent in the profession, therefore applicants should provide evidence of this in their application package. 

Non-academic attributes will be evaluated in the application package through applicant’s results from their Casper score, veterinary and animal-related experiences, extracurricular activities, personal referee assessments, and personal essay responses. 

Application Cohorts

Applicants can apply to the DVM Program through one of four cohorts: Domestic Undergraduate, Northern Ontario Undergraduate, Domestic Graduate, and International. Applicants may only select one cohort option per admissions cycle.

Domestic Undergraduate Cohort

Canadian citizens (including dual citizens) and those with permanent residency or protected person status must be residents of Ontario in order to apply to the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program.  A resident is an individual who has lived in Ontario for 12 consecutive months prior to January 1, not including time spent enrolled in post-secondary institutions.  This may include living in Ontario as a child or working in the province for 12 consecutive months.  Time spent enrolled in a post-secondary institution does not count towards residency.

Northern Ontario Undergraduate Cohort

Canadian citizens (including dual citizens) and those with permanent residency or protected person status must be residents of Northern Ontario in order to apply to the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program.  A resident is an individual who has lived in Northern Ontario* for 12 consecutive months prior to January 1, not including time spent enrolled in post-secondary institutions.  This may include living in Northern Ontario as a child or working in the province for 12 consecutive months outside of any post-secondary program.

*Northern Ontario is defined as the Districts of Thunder Bay, Kenora, Rainy River, Algoma, Cochrane, Timiskaming, Greater Sudbury, Manitoulin, Parry Sound, and Nipissing.

Successful applicants to this cohort are required to enroll in the Rural Community Practice Stream.

Domestic Graduate Cohort

Canadian citizens (including dual citizens) and those with permanent residency or protected person status must be residents of Ontario in order to apply to the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program.  A resident is an individual who has lived in Ontario for 12 consecutive months prior to January 1, not including time spent enrolled in post-secondary institutions.  This may include living in Ontario as a child or working in the province for 12 consecutive months.  Time spent enrolled in a post-secondary institution does not count towards residency.

Applicants must have completed a graduate degree or be currently enrolled in a graduate program.  Applicants currently enrolled in a graduate program must successfully complete all degree requirements by August 1st of the year of entry to the DVM program, including submission of a thesis draft to the advisory committee for thesis-based graduate degrees.

Applicants who qualify to apply through the Domestic Graduate Cohort must indicate their desire to be considered in the Graduate Cohort.  Their application will then be removed from the undergraduate applicant pool and considered with the graduate applicant pool.

International Cohort

International students must apply through the International Cohort.  Note: Applicants with dual Canadian citizenship must apply through the Domestic Cohort.  

Selection Criteria

The members of the Sub-Committee endeavour to select those well-qualified applicants who, in their judgement, will be best able to successfully complete the veterinary medicine curriculum and who exhibit potential to become competent, responsible veterinarians dedicated to a lifetime of productive public service and continued learning. Candidates should pay attention to the selection criteria and attributes required for entry into the D.V.M. Program and use this information to guide them in preparation for application.

  1. Academic Achievement and Aptitude
    In view of the need to efficiently and quickly learn large amounts of factual material and to solve problems, applicants must have demonstrated achievement in the comprehension of scientific material. This will be evaluated by the scrutiny of transcripts of previous academic records. Attention will be paid to both the quality and consistency of grades in the program presented as preparation for admission, particularly for those applicants who have spent more than the minimal time in preparation. Course selections in an applicant's last two full-time semesters will be reviewed for academic coherence. For the purpose of D.V.M. admissions, a full-time semester will include at least 5 half-year courses (2.50 credits] from the acceptable list. It is expected that the level of an applicant's courses will correspond to the semester level (year) of their program. Please refer to information regarding acceptable courses at: http://www.ovc.uoguelph.ca/recruitment/en/applyingtodvm/Academicrequirements.asp.
  2. Animal and Veterinary Experience
    As part of the application process, candidates must demonstrate sufficient knowledge of the profession, its dimensions and the industries it serves to permit the candidate to make and defend their career choice. This requires the candidate to spend adequate time under the supervision of veterinarians in clinical practice situations (volunteer or paid) in order to gain hands-on experience with a range of animal species. Practice situations include, but are not limited to, large, small, mixed, avian and exotic animal clinics; thus introducing the applicant to food producing, companion, zoo and wildlife animals, or aquaculture. Other work or volunteer experience with veterinarians can include non-practice situations such as industry (e.g. veterinary products, pharmaceutical), research and academia (universities), and government (e.g. public health, regulatory affairs). There is an expectation that candidates will be able to demonstrate for each animal or veterinary experience the role of the veterinarian, production and breeding systems, general features of housing and feeding, productivity measures and norms, marketing systems, animal behaviour relevant to restraint, feeding and reproduction, and emerging trends and issues in the industry.
  3. Background Information and Referees' Assessments
    Successful candidates should have integrity, reliability, maturity and determination. It is important that professionals have excellent communication and leadership skills, and that they have a talent for effectively working with others. To assist in identification of candidates who possess these and other attributes, applicants must complete a Background Information Form, in which they will describe their academic program, work experience and extra-curricular activities. In addition, applicants will be asked to write a short essay about why they wish to study veterinary medicine. Confidential referee reports will be required from three persons qualified to give unbiased, informed, critical assessments of the applicant. A minimum of two of the three references that applicants select must be veterinarians with whom they have obtained animal and veterinary experience in the fulfillment of the selection criteria outlined in Section 2.
  4. Professional Skills
    As part of the DVM admission application package, all applicants are required to submit their score from the current cycle of the situational judgement test Casper®, administered by Acuity Insights (https://acuityinsights.com).
  5. Interviews
    Applicants may be invited to an interview. The format of the interview will be available on the DVM Admissions website for each cohort of applicants. The purpose of the interview will be to assess a candidate’s ability to think on their feet, reflect on their own experiences, communicate opinions and ideas, critically appraise information and demonstrate advanced thought/knowledge of the issues facing the profession and society. The interview is intended to reflect the educational goals and objectives of the Ontario Veterinary College as well as the skills identified by the veterinary profession in Ontario as being necessary for a successful career.  

Additional Attributes Required for Entry into the D.V.M. Program

Applicants should be aware that a number of attributes are required for admission to the Program. In addition to those already identified above under Selection Criteria (e.g. academic achievement, academic aptitude, integrity) a number of others, some of which relate to certain University of Guelph Learning Objectives, have been identified. These are presented here to assist prospective candidates in preparing themselves for admission.

  1. Literacy and Numeracy
    Literacy and numeracy are the bases on which all knowledge is founded. The ability to read, write, and calculate are fundamental intellectual tools. Students entering the D.V.M. Program will be able to demonstrate literacy skills at least to the basic level as described under Literacy in the University of Guelph Learning Objectives. They will be able to assimilate and comprehend written language at a basic level, to summarize information in a coherent manner, and use appropriate language in context. Successful applicants must be able to devise a topic or concept for discussion, frame its bounds and communicate its content.
    Students entering the D.V.M. Program will understand the value and principles of describing situations in numeric terms. They will be able to assimilate and comprehend numeric data and use appropriate tools to manage such information. They must be able to use skills of numeracy to check validity of information, to use and correctly interpret appropriate statistics to describe the distribution of observations in individuals and populations, and be able to perform basic tests of hypotheses (t-test, chi-square and simple regression) and interpret these correctly.
  2. Communication Skills
    Communication is the process of interacting with others respectfully and involves an exchange of information, feelings and values. It includes intrapersonal communication (self-understanding, self-evaluation, and reasoning) and interpersonal communication (interaction with others, relationship and self-disclosure). Through interpersonal communication, relationships are started, maintained, or destroyed. Good communication involves an understanding of self-awareness, of self-esteem, of feelings and emotions, the development of listening skills and the willingness to disclose oneself truthfully and freely. Good communication also requires an understanding of principles of language and verbal interaction, principles of non-verbal communication, and of interpersonal communication and relationships (relationship development and deterioration, improvement of interpersonal communication, conflict management, interviewing skills etc.)
    Students entering the D.V.M. Program will be able to: listen respectfully and comprehend appreciatively; practice the elements of good interpersonal communication successfully; demonstrate the ability to work cooperatively; and communicate effectively by oral, written, and electronic means at the appropriate literacy level. Successful applicants will be able to recognize the non-verbal aspects of communication by considering feelings, emotions, and values as elements of communication.
  3. Judgement
    Students entering the D.V.M. Program will be able to use knowledge, observational and analytical skills, with due consideration of value systems, to evaluate and implement decisions. They will be able to identify and articulate their personal value system; identify ethics and standards of conduct; and identify the values and assumptions that may be operative in various contexts. They must be able to identify, critically evaluate and accept the implications and consequences of decisions, to re-evaluate decisions based on new information, and deal effectively with uncertainty. They will be able to accept that self-assessment of ethics and standards of conduct are a professional responsibility, and accept that others may have different values and assumptions and respect those differences.
  4. On-Going Curiosity (self-initiated learning)
    Students entering the D.V.M. Program must be able to use self-initiated learning to maintain and enhance depth and breadth of understanding. They must recognize limitations of their knowledge, skills and attitudes, identify sources of ongoing learning opportunities, and demonstrate a commitment to on-going learning and self-evaluation.
  5. Forms of Inquiry
    Students entering the D.V.M. Program will be able to identify and articulate the strengths and weaknesses, similarities and differences of various forms of inquiry (i.e. those used by the physical scientist, the biological scientist, the social scientist and the scholar of the humanities). They will be able to describe and apply the scientific method, and articulate and evaluate personal problem-solving processes.
  6. Essential Skills and Abilities
    Please review detailed admission requirements on the OVC website.

Application Procedures

Applicants currently or previously registered at the University of Guelph should apply through the Application for Internal Transfer or Readmission. All other domestic applicants, including those with dual Canadian citizenship, must apply through the Ontario Universities' Application Centre OUAC application.

International applicants must apply through the Veterinary Medical College Application Service (VMCAS). 

Application Deadline Dates

The application deadline for Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada is December 1 of the year prior to intended entry into the program.

Please refer to deadline dates for supporting documentation including, references, official transcripts and the Background Information Form at: http://www.ovc.uoguelph.ca/.

The application deadline for International applicants using the VMCAS application is September 18. Those applying directly to the University of Guelph are advised to apply and submit all supporting documentation by October 1.

Requests for Deferrals

Once an offer of admission has been made and accepted, requests for deferral of entry to the D.V.M. program will not be permitted except on approval by the Associate Dean, Students & Academic due to significant medical, psychological or compassionate reasons.

Rabies Immunization

A condition of admission to the D.V.M. Program is agreement to a rabies immunization program which includes blood titre evaluation. 

Use of Animals

Live animals may be used for teaching purposes in some courses in the Veterinary Program, and this must be accepted by students admitted to the program. All animals are protected by the Animals for Research Act of Ontario (1980), the Guidelines for the Care and Use of Experimental Animals (Canadian Council on Animal Care), and the Animal Care Policies of the University of Guelph.

University of Guelph-Humber Programs

Admission requirements for University of Guelph-Humber programs are listed at: University of Guelph-Humber