Dalhousie admissions · Official statement and program minimums
Dalhousie University Acceptance Rate: What Official Data Shows
Dalhousie does not publish an undergraduate acceptance rate or admission rate. Its public enrolment reports cover enrolled headcounts, not applications or offers. There is exactly one place at Dalhousie that does publish a real application-to-class figure — its Faculty of Medicine — and it is a separate professional-program process, not general undergraduate admission. Here is what Dalhousie does and doesn’t make public.
Reviewed August 25, 2026 · Dalhousie is a Maritime university — not part of Ontario’s OUAC system or Common University Data Ontario (CUDO)
Dalhousie’s own statement
Dalhousie’s undergraduate admission requirements page, fetched live on August 25, 2026, states directly:
“Admission to many programs at Dalhousie are competitive; meeting the minimum average doesn’t guarantee admission.”
The page never uses the phrase “acceptance rate” or “admission rate.” Dalhousie frames admission entirely around published program minimums, not a percentage of applicants admitted.
What official counts exist — and what doesn’t
Dalhousie’s Registrar’s Office publishes annual enrolment reports as of December 1 each year, back to 2019. By its own description, these cover enrolment by faculty, gender, permanent residence, and major — enrolled headcounts, not applications or offers. The December 1, 2025 edition records a grand total of 21,103 enrolled students across every faculty and level (including King’s), which is enrolment, not an admissions funnel figure.
Dalhousie’s Planning and Institutional Effectiveness office lists “comprehensive data analysis” among its functions but publishes no fact book, common data set, or admissions-statistics report we could locate, confirmed live on August 25, 2026. Dalhousie is a Nova Scotia university, so it falls outside Ontario’s OUAC application system and Common University Data Ontario (CUDO), neither of which applies here. Rather than substitute an unofficial number, this guide reports plainly that no official undergraduate application, offer, or admitted-student count is publicly available for Dalhousie.
Where Dalhousie does publish a rate: Faculty of Medicine
Dalhousie’s Faculty of Medicine publishes real application and class-size figures for its Doctor of Medicine (MD) program — the one place at Dalhousie with a genuine, sourceable ratio. For the Class of 2029 (entering 2025), Dalhousie’s own class-profile page states 1,207 total applications (561 Maritime, 645 non-Maritime, plus 22 government-sponsored supernumerary positions) against a final class of 177 students.
Dividing 177 by 1,207 gives 14.7%, a ratio Stellar Advisers calculated from Dalhousie’s own published numbers — not a figure Dalhousie itself labels “acceptance rate.” Medicine is a professional degree most applicants enter after an undergraduate degree elsewhere; this number says nothing about Dalhousie’s general first-year undergraduate admission, which publishes no equivalent figure.
What actually determines Dalhousie admission
Dalhousie publishes a current program minimum instead of one university-wide figure. These are floors Dalhousie states are not guarantees — many programs are competitive above them.
| Program | Minimum average | Required courses |
|---|---|---|
| Arts (BA) | 70% | Academic English 12 plus four additional academic Grade 12 subjects; no mathematics required |
| Health Promotion / Therapeutic Recreation | 70% | Academic English 12 plus four additional academic subjects; no mathematics required |
| Management (BMgmt) | 70% | Academic English 12, Academic Math 12, plus three additional |
| Applied Computer Science / Computer Science | 70% | Academic English 12, Academic Math 12 at 70% or Pre-calculus Math 12 at 65%, plus three additional |
| Community Design | 70% | Academic English 12, Academic Math 12, one science, plus two additional |
| Engineering (BEng) | 70% | Academic English 12, Pre-calculus Math 12, Academic Chemistry 12, Academic Physics 12, plus one additional |
| Nursing (BScN, Semester 1) | 70% | Academic English 12, Academic Math 12, Academic Biology 12, Academic Chemistry 12 — each at a minimum 70% — plus one additional |
| Commerce (BComm) | 75% | Academic English 12, Academic Math 12, plus three additional |
| Kinesiology / Recreation Management | 75% | Academic English 12, Academic Math 12, plus three additional |
| Science (BSc) | 75% | Academic English 12, Pre-calculus Math 12, plus three additional |
| Health Sciences technologies | 75% | Academic English 12 at a minimum 70% plus discipline-specific sciences at 70%: Diagnostic Medical Ultrasound (math, physics, biology), Nuclear Medicine (math, physics, chemistry), Radiological Technology (math, physics, plus biology or chemistry), Respiratory Therapy (math, chemistry, plus biology or physics) |
| Medical Sciences (BSc) | 80% | Academic English 12, Pre-calculus Math 12, Chemistry 12, plus Biology 12 or Physics 12 |
| Agriculture / Pre-Veterinary Medicine / Bioveterinary Science | 75% | Academic English 12, Pre-calculus Math 12, plus three additional |
| Agricultural Campus diplomas | 60%–70% | Business Management and Plant Science Technology use a 60% minimum with Grade 11 math; Veterinary Technology uses 60% with Academic Math 12 and Academic Biology 12; Landscape Horticulture uses 70% |
Source: Dalhousie University undergraduate admission requirements by program. Dalhousie states that admission to many programs is competitive and that meeting the minimum average does not guarantee admission. For deadlines, tuition, scholarships, and residence, see the complete Dalhousie University admissions guide.
Official sources
Every figure on this page links back to the Dalhousie source it came from.
- Undergraduate admission requirements by program
Dalhousie's own statement, fetched live August 25, 2026, that "admission to many programs at Dalhousie are competitive; meeting the minimum average doesn't guarantee admission," plus the program admission minimums reused on this page.
- Enrolment reports and data (Registrar's Office)
Confirms Dalhousie's official enrolment reports cover December 1 census headcounts by faculty, gender, permanent residence, and major only — no application, offer, or admitted-student counts, fetched live August 25, 2026.
- December 1, 2025 enrolment by faculty and permanent residence
Dalhousie's own total enrolled headcount (21,103 across all faculties and levels, including King's) for December 1, 2025 — an enrolled-census figure, not an application or offer count.
- Planning and Institutional Effectiveness
Dalhousie's institutional-research office page. It names comprehensive data analysis among its functions but publishes no fact book, common data set, or admissions-statistics report — confirmed live August 25, 2026.
- Faculty of Medicine — class statistics (Class of 2029)
Dalhousie's own published total-applications and final-class-size figures for its Doctor of Medicine program, the one place Dalhousie publishes a real application-to-class ratio — fetched live August 25, 2026.
- Facts, figures and rankings
Dalhousie's general enrolment figures (about 21,000 students) and links to the Registrar's Office enrolment reports and Planning and Institutional Effectiveness pages.
Frequently asked questions
Direct answers about Dalhousie's own admission statement, why undergraduate application data isn't public, and the one program where Dalhousie does publish a real rate.
Planning a Dalhousie application?
A peer adviser who has been through Dalhousie admissions can help you plan your program choice. Dalhousie is the only official source for admission decisions.