UBC International Major Entrance Scholarship (IMES) 2026/27: Eligibility & How to Apply

The International Major Entrance Scholarship — almost always shortened to IMES — is the University of British Columbia’s flagship merit-based entrance award for international students. It is awarded to exceptional international students entering undergraduate programs at UBC, it is worth CAD 10,000–25,000 per year for the 2026/2027 academic year, and it is renewable for up to three additional years of study. Best of all, there is no separate scholarship application: if you apply to UBC by the admissions deadline and receive an offer of admission, you are automatically considered.

That simplicity makes IMES both attractive and misunderstood. Because there is no form, students ask the wrong questions — “Where is the IMES application link?” — instead of the right one: “How strong is my UBC admission file?” This guide answers the real questions. It sets out the official eligibility criteria word for word, explains how automatic consideration and the February–April decision window actually work, clarifies renewal and the relationship between IMES, the Outstanding International Student Award and the International Scholars Program, and gives you a practical plan for maximising your chances. For the full map of UBC funding, read this together with our overview of UBC scholarships for international students and the University of British Columbia profile.

IMES at a Glance

Two phrases in UBC’s official description should be read carefully. “The number and level of these scholarships awarded each year vary, depending on available funding” means IMES is a competitive pool, not an entitlement triggered by a grade threshold — there is no published average above which an award is guaranteed. And IMES sits inside a much larger commitment: UBC reports more than CAD 35 million in international student financial assistance and award recipients from more than 108 countries, so the pool is real, but so is the competition for it.

What Is the International Major Entrance Scholarship?

IMES is one of UBC’s two merit-based entrance awards for international undergraduates, the other being the one-time Outstanding International Student (OIS) Award. UBC states that as soon as you receive an offer of admission, you will automatically be considered for these merit-based awards, with consideration based on your demonstrated academic achievement and your extracurricular involvement. Students receive their IMES when they enter their first year at UBC, and the scholarship can then be renewed for up to three additional years.

The renewable structure is what makes IMES financially significant. A one-time award of CAD 15,000 is a helpful discount; a renewable award at the top of the published range — CAD 25,000 per year across four years — totals CAD 100,000, which is a material share of an international undergraduate degree at UBC. It is equally important to hold the opposite truth in view: UBC states plainly that IMES and OIS are merit-based awards for which financial need is not considered, and that these awards do not cover the full cost of education at UBC. IMES is best understood as a substantial, multi-year tuition discount awarded for excellence — not as full funding. Students whose families cannot fund the remainder should instead examine the need-and-merit-based International Scholars Program described in our UBC scholarships guide — noting the exclusivity rule explained below.

Eligibility: The Five Official Conditions

UBC publishes five conditions for IMES consideration. You must meet all of them:

1. Be new to UBC, entering directly from secondary school. IMES is a first-entry award. Students transferring from another university or college are outside this criterion (though they may be considered for the OIS Award, which accepts entrants from post-secondary institutions).
2. Be an international student who will be studying at UBC on a Canadian study permit. UBC adds an explicit warning: changes to your citizenship status will affect your IMES eligibility. If your status changes — for example, if you become a permanent resident — tell UBC and expect the award terms to be reviewed.
3. Demonstrate exceptional academic achievement and intellectual promise, as well as impressive extracurricular and community involvement. Note the combination: grades alone are not the whole file; UBC looks for distinction inside and outside the classroom.
4. Not be nominated for a need-and-merit-based International Scholars award. The two funding routes are mutually exclusive, by design.
5. Apply to UBC by the admissions deadline. This is the only action the whole system requires of you — and it is absolute.

Benefits and Coverage: What CAD 10,000–25,000 a Year Really Means

For the 2026/2027 academic year, IMES awards are valued at CAD 10,000–25,000 per year. Where you land in that range depends on the strength of your file relative to the year’s pool and on available funding; UBC does not publish a formula. The award is received in your first year and renewable for up to three additional years, so the realistic planning scenarios look like this:

What IMES does not do is equally clear. It is a scholarship applied to your UBC studies — not a living-cost package. Rent or residence, food, books, health insurance, travel and personal expenses in Vancouver remain yours to fund, and UBC explicitly encourages IMES and OIS recipients to create a financial plan for the duration of their degree because the awards do not cover the full cost of education. For your study permit, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada requires proof of funds covering tuition plus living expenses — CAD 23,448 for a single applicant for applications submitted from 1 September 2026 (CAD 22,895 applied up to 31 August 2026). An IMES award letter strengthens your application by reducing the tuition burden you must evidence from other funds, but it does not replace the financial documentation itself. Our scholarships in Canada guide explains the study permit funds requirement in full.

How to Apply for IMES: Automatic Consideration, Step by Step

There is no IMES application form, portal or essay. The process is entirely driven by your UBC admission application:

Step 1 — Apply to UBC by the admissions deadline. This is the single action that puts you in the IMES pool. Choose your programs and campus carefully, and submit a complete application on time.

Step 2 — Build the strongest admission file you can. Because consideration is based on demonstrated academic achievement and extracurricular involvement, your grades and your UBC Personal Profile are, in effect, your scholarship application. The Personal Profile is where involvement, leadership and community contribution become visible to evaluators — treat it with the seriousness you would give a scholarship essay.

Step 3 — Receive an offer of admission. UBC states that merit consideration follows your offer of admission; admission and award evaluation are two separate processes. Offers may start rolling out in December.

Step 4 — Wait through the decision window. Scholarship decisions are made between mid-February and the end of April. Due to the volume of eligible applicants, only successful recipients receive notification of an award offer. No news is not an early rejection — files are evaluated across the whole window.

Step 5 — Accept by your deadline. Recipients receive their award offer in advance of their admission acceptance deadline — May 1 for most students — and have until that deadline to accept. Award offers are final. If you receive IMES, confirm the renewal conditions in your offer and plan your registration to protect them.

IMES vs OIS vs International Scholars: Choosing Your Route

Applicants regularly confuse UBC’s three undergraduate funding routes. The distinctions that matter:

The exclusivity rule ties the table together: if you are nominated for — or apply to — the International Scholars Program, you are not considered for IMES or OIS. Decide your route before mid-November of your application year, based on an honest assessment of your family’s ability to fund UBC, because the choice cannot be reversed within the same cycle.

Required Documents

Since IMES has no separate application, its “documents” are your admission documents: secondary school transcripts and grades, English language proficiency results where your schooling requires them, and your completed Personal Profile responses. Keep your school records consistent and ensure predicted and final grades are submitted through UBC’s required channels by the dates UBC sets — an incomplete admission file cannot produce the offer of admission on which IMES consideration depends. After an award offer, keep the offer letter itself: you will use it as evidence of funding in your study permit application.

Deadlines and Timeline

Selection Criteria and How to Improve Your Chances

UBC evaluates merit awards on an applicant’s academic and personal profile, and describes the process as highly competitive because all international undergraduate applicants are in the pool. There is no cutoff to clear and no formula to game; there is only the relative strength of your file. Three levers are within your control. First, grades: exceptional academic achievement is the headline criterion, so your final-year performance in prerequisite and senior subjects matters enormously — IMES files are built in the classroom long before the application opens. Second, the Personal Profile: UBC looks for impressive extracurricular and community involvement alongside intellectual promise, and the profile is where a sustained, reflective record of contribution distinguishes a strong student from a memorable one. Write about fewer activities, with real outcomes and honest reflection, rather than long lists. Third, timing and completeness: apply by the deadline, submit documents promptly, and keep your application clean — the only unforgivable IMES error is an incomplete or late admission file. Browse the StudyGraduate scholarships directory in parallel so that UBC is one strong option in a wider funding strategy, not your only hope.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

The classic mistake is hunting for a separate IMES application that does not exist — and, in the worst version, paying a third-party site that pretends to offer one. The second is missing the real deadline: students who apply to UBC late for other reasons quietly remove themselves from IMES eligibility, because applying by the admissions deadline is a stated condition. The third is the exclusivity trap — being nominated for an International Scholars award while actually hoping for merit funding, which removes you from IMES consideration entirely. The fourth is budgeting as if IMES were full funding: UBC is explicit that it is not, and Canadian study permit rules still require proof of tuition funds plus CAD 23,448 in living expenses for a single applicant (from 1 September 2026). The fifth is treating silence as rejection during February and March and accepting another university prematurely; UBC notifies only successful recipients, and decisions run until the end of April. Finally, protect your renewal: changes in citizenship status affect eligibility, and renewal depends on continuing your studies as set out in your award terms — read them before making enrolment or status decisions.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much is the UBC IMES scholarship worth in 2026/27?

For the 2026/2027 academic year, UBC publishes IMES values of CAD 10,000–25,000 per year. The award is renewable for up to three additional years, so a recipient at the top of the range who renews each year could receive up to CAD 100,000 over four years. The number and level of awards vary each year depending on available funding.

How do I apply for the International Major Entrance Scholarship?

There is no separate application. Apply to UBC by the admissions deadline; once you receive an offer of admission, you are automatically considered based on your academic achievement and extracurricular involvement.

Who is eligible for IMES?

You must be new to UBC entering directly from secondary school; an international student studying on a Canadian study permit; able to demonstrate exceptional academic achievement, intellectual promise and impressive extracurricular and community involvement; not nominated for an International Scholars award; and you must apply to UBC by the admissions deadline.

Can transfer students get IMES?

No. IMES requires entering UBC directly from secondary school. New international students entering from a post-secondary institution may instead be considered for the one-time Outstanding International Student Award, which accepts that entry route.

When will I find out if I received IMES?

Scholarship decisions are made between mid-February and the end of April. Only successful recipients are notified, and award offers are sent before your admission acceptance deadline — May 1 for most students — by which you must accept.

Does IMES cover the full cost of studying at UBC?

No. UBC states that IMES and OIS are merit-based awards that do not cover the full cost of education, and it encourages recipients to build a financial plan for the full degree. You will still need to fund remaining tuition, living costs and other expenses, and to evidence funds for your study permit.

Can I receive IMES together with an International Scholars award?

No. The routes are mutually exclusive: students nominated for a need-and-merit-based International Scholars award are not eligible for IMES, and International Scholars applicants are not considered for merit-based awards.

What happens to my IMES if my citizenship status changes?

UBC states that changes to your citizenship status will affect your IMES eligibility, because the award is for international students studying on a Canadian study permit. Notify UBC of any status change and check your award terms before making decisions that alter your status.

Renewal in Practice: Keeping Your IMES for Four Years

Because IMES is renewable for up to three additional years, the award you win at admission is really the first year of a four-year relationship with UBC’s award conditions — and understanding that changes how you should behave from your first term. UBC’s published description establishes the framework: the scholarship is received in your first year, and renewal extends it through your subsequent years of undergraduate study within the four-year window. Your individual offer will carry the precise conditions that apply to you, and those conditions — not this article, and not another student’s experience — are the document that governs your award. Read them in full when your offer arrives, note any registration or standing requirements they contain, and plan your course enrolment each term with them in view.

Three practical habits protect a renewable award. First, treat enrolment decisions as financial decisions: changes to your course load, a decision to take a term away, or a change of program can all interact with award conditions, so check with UBC’s advising and financial support offices before you act, not after. Second, remember the status condition that sits underneath the whole award: IMES is for international students studying on a Canadian study permit, and UBC explicitly warns that changes to your citizenship status will affect your eligibility. If your family’s immigration situation changes — a parental work permit, a permanent residence application, a protected-person claim — disclose it early and get the consequences in writing. Third, keep every award document. Your offer letter and renewal confirmations are the evidence you will show at study permit extensions, and they form part of the financial paper trail of your degree.

It is also worth placing IMES renewal in the context of UBC’s wider support for current students. UBC notes that it continues to support international students through a variety of in-program scholarships and awards after the first year, with amounts and renewability that vary. A student who performs strongly at UBC is therefore not relying on a single first-year decision for four years of funding: IMES renewal is the foundation, and in-program awards are a realistic supplement for high achievers — another reason your first-year grades carry weight far beyond your GPA.

A Worked Example: IMES Inside a Realistic First-Year Budget

To see what IMES does and does not do, consider a purely illustrative first-year calculation — the figures for tuition and living costs are examples for planning logic only, and you must substitute UBC’s current published fees for your own program. Suppose your program’s international tuition and fees come to a given annual total, and your living costs in Vancouver — residence or shared housing, food, transport on the U-Pass bundled into student fees, books, insurance and personal spending — add a further substantial sum. An IMES award at CAD 10,000 reduces the combined total by that amount in year one, and by the same amount again in each renewed year. An award at CAD 25,000 per year, renewed across the degree, totals CAD 100,000 over four years — a transformative reduction in the family’s total outlay. In neither case does the remaining balance disappear: your family, your savings, education loans from your home country, part-time work within study permit limits and in-program awards must still cover it, and your study permit application must evidence tuition plus the IRCC living-funds requirement of CAD 23,448 for a single applicant (from 1 September 2026) with acceptable documentation. The students who use IMES best are the ones who run this arithmetic in the autumn they apply — before they fall in love with a number at the top of a range they may not receive.

And one last piece of advice: keep copies of everything and watch your email. UBC communicates award offers through its applicant channels during a long window, and an offer missed because it landed in a spam folder — a problem UBC explicitly warns International Scholars applicants about, and one that applies just as much to merit recipients — is a loss no appeal can reliably repair.

Sources & Verification

All IMES values, eligibility conditions, renewal terms and timelines in this article are taken from the University of British Columbia’s official page, consulted at the time of writing: UBC — Scholarships and awards for international students, with program context from UBC — International Scholars Program. For related reading, see our complete guide to UBC scholarships and the scholarships in Canada guide.

Disclaimer: Scholarship values, deadlines and eligibility rules change between cycles. Always confirm the details that apply to you on the official UBC website before applying. StudyGraduate is an information portal, not an agency, and cannot guarantee admission, scholarship selection or visa approval.