UBC Personal Profile Guide: 2027

Reviewed October 8, 2026. This guide uses current UBC Undergraduate Admissions and UBC Sauder pages. Recheck the official Personal Profile page, your selected degree, and the live application before submitting.

The UBC Personal Profile is part of the online application for most high-school applicants to UBC Vancouver and UBC Okanagan. It asks about who you are, what matters to you, what you have done, and what you learned. UBC uses it alongside academic information in a competitive and comparative admission process. It can also inform entrance scholarship or award consideration.

Quick answer: confirm that your degree requires the profile, read the live questions and character limits in the application, line up two eligible referees and submit before your deadline. UBC publishes four review criteria (engagement and accomplishment, leadership, substance and voice) but no point weights or formula that predicts an offer. The answers must be your own: UBC says an education agent cannot write or assist in writing the Personal Profile.

The profile is not a replacement for UBC academic and degree-specific admission requirements. It is not the separate BCom video interview, a Bachelor of Education prompt set, a Casper assessment, or a generic supplement that can be reused at every university. Use the Canadian supplementary applications guide when comparing different institutions.

Who must complete the UBC Personal Profile

UBC's current profile instructions say that a high-school student applying to almost any degree on the Vancouver or Okanagan campus must complete the profile. The three listed high-school exceptions are:

• Bachelor of Design in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urbanism;
• Dental Hygiene;
• Music.

An exception does not mean “no supplementary material.” A degree can use a portfolio, audition, or other selection process instead. Follow the exact requirement connected to the campus and degree choice in the application.

UBC also names three transfer-applicant cases that require the profile:

• Bachelor of Nursing at UBC Okanagan;
• Bachelor of Commerce at UBC Vancouver;
• Bachelor of International Economics at UBC Vancouver.

Other post-secondary applicants can be asked for a profile, supplemental application, portfolio, or audition. Do not infer a requirement from another applicant's route. The application evaluation page and your Applicant Service Centre checklist are the controlling sources for your situation.

A one-minute requirement check

Before writing, record five fields: applicant type, campus, first-choice degree, second-choice degree, and entry year. Then check the live application for every assigned component. A first and second choice can create different questions. If one choice adds a video, portfolio, or program-specific response, put it on a separate line in the tracker.

Do not call every written component “the Personal Profile.” That label can hide an important deadline or platform difference. A named program may add questions while still using the general UBC application.

Where the profile fits in the 2027 application

UBC says the application for September 2027 entry opens in early October 2026. The current dates and deadlines page lists three application dates that affect planning:

UBC lists the application fee as $78.50 for Canadian citizens and permanent residents and $173.25 for international students who need a study permit, according to its application instructions. UBC says it makes admission decisions for high-school applicants on a continuous basis from November 2026 through June 2027.

The deadline is not permission to begin that day. References, degree choices, character limits, and any program-specific task need time. UBC recommends working on profile answers outside the application because an online session can time out. Draft offline, but paste only after checking the prompt and limit in the current form.

Build a backward schedule from your actual deadline. Reserve the last two days for form checks and a calm final read. Put referee permission before detailed drafting, because one referee must know an experience used in a long answer. Keep scholarship deadlines in a separate row so an earlier date is not mistaken for the January deadline.

What the current profile asks you to show

UBC publishes the current question types on its official page. Applicants answer some or all of them depending on degree choice. The types cover:

• identity and how people in your life or community would describe you;
• something you value and why it matters;
• up to five activities, accomplishments, jobs, or responsibilities;
• deeper reflection on one or two important experiences;
• academic context or future academic plans where additional explanation is useful;
• two referees who know the applicant and can comment on readiness for UBC.

This list is a map, not the application. UBC can change wording, order, or degree-specific additions. Read the live prompt before drafting and again before pasting. Answer the task it asks rather than forcing one prewritten story into every box.

UBC currently describes short responses from 500 to 2,100 characters, approximately 50 to 500 words. The precise limit appears beside each field. A character is not the same as a word. Spaces and punctuation usually count. UBC warns that an answer is cut off when it exceeds the maximum, so the displayed counter controls.

UBC's four published review criteria

UBC says trained readers compare profiles using four criteria: engagement and accomplishment, leadership, substance and voice. UBC describes leadership broadly, including formal roles, initiative, responsibility and action that serves others. It says it is not looking for one activity type or only a long list of achievements.

UBC does not publish point weights for these criteria. No public calculation turns a profile into an admission probability or scholarship prediction. Academic review, degree competition, course choice and other requirements remain part of the file.

Choose and prepare two valid referees

UBC asks for two names and contact details. The current rules say:

• one referee must be able to speak to an activity or experience used in a long response;
• a current high-school applicant must use one school official, such as a senior counsellor, teacher, or IB coordinator;
• a friend, family member, or paid agent should not be used;
• UBC does not send an automatic link when the application is submitted;
• UBC may contact referees directly after offers have gone out.

Ask before listing someone. Explain the degree and the experience you may describe. Confirm their preferred professional email, role, and spelling. Do not send a script or ask them to repeat claims they did not observe.

A famous or senior person is not automatically useful. Choose someone eligible who knows the work, responsibility, or change. If a referee knows only that you attended, they may not be able to confirm the deeper role in the response.

Keep a reference record with permission date, contact information, experience known, and eligibility reason. Tell the person that contact is not guaranteed and may occur later. Update UBC if the application provides a process for correcting unusable contact details.

BCom, Bachelor of Education, and other program differences

The general profile is not the complete task for every degree.

UBC's current page publishes additional Bachelor of Education questions about motivation to teach, the kind of teacher the applicant hopes to become, and experience with equity, diversity, inclusion, decolonization, and varied learner needs. Follow the Education application instructions because the task and applicant group differ from general first-year admission.

UBC Vancouver Bachelor of Commerce applicants answer two BCom-only questions that UBC now publishes on its profile page: how you responded to a problem or an unfamiliar situation, including what you did, the outcome, and what you learned; and how you are positively impacting your community and how you plan to use the UBC Sauder experience to build on that. UBC's application page lists the BCom requirement as a video interview in the personal profile. A written response can be revised offline; a timed recorded response tests a different delivery skill. Do not turn the video into a memorized essay. Use the Canadian business-program comparison for the high-level Sauder distinction and the UBC Sauder pathway for the program itself.

The UBC Sauder program-admission page controls the current BCom process. Its first-party application tips emphasize meaningful experience, specificity, and authentic delivery. Do not rely on an old fee, extended deadline, question count, or timing detail copied from a prior intake.

Design, Music, and other programs can use portfolios, auditions, or specialized materials. An exemption from the general profile is not an exemption from the program's selection process.

Accuracy, authenticity, editing, and outside help

UBC's application instructions tell applicants to provide a complete academic history and accurate information. UBC says it can authenticate application information through references, academic records, and requests for supporting documentation. Untrue or incomplete information can lead to serious consequences.

The content must remain yours. UBC's education-agent guidance states that an agent cannot write or assist in writing the Personal Profile or another part of the application. That is a clear boundary against outsourcing authorship.

Stellar Advisers does not write, edit, or coach Personal Profile answers. We can help with degree choices, course planning, and deadlines; the profile itself stays with the applicant.

UBC's public profile page emphasizes authentic voice but does not publish a universal tool-by-tool AI workflow on that page. Do not assume that a general editing feature authorizes generated application content. Read every declaration in the current application and ask UBC directly when a tool or assistance method is uncertain.

Keep a private fact check beside the draft:

• activity name and dates are accurate;
• role and time commitment are not inflated;
• results distinguish measured facts from estimates;
• other people are described fairly;
• the named referee knows the relevant experience;
• academic context matches the record;
• the final pasted response is the applicant's own work and voice.

A working timeline

Final submission checklist

• Confirm the campus, degree choices, entry year, and application deadline.
• Read the live wording and character limit for every assigned question.
• Answer every part of each prompt.
• Confirm two eligible referees and the required school-official relationship where applicable.
• Keep BCom video, BEd questions, portfolio, audition, and other program tasks separate.
• Check complete academic history and all material facts.
• Paste into the correct fields and verify that the final characters remain visible.
• Save the submission confirmation and monitor the Applicant Service Centre.

Related planning guides

• Use the UBC admissions and deadlines guide for academic requirements, application dates, and campus or degree choices.
• Use the extracurricular activities guide to build truthful activity evidence before choosing which experiences best answer UBC's current profile prompts.
• Use the Canadian supplementary applications guide to distinguish UBC's task from Waterloo, U of T, Queen's, McMaster, Ivey, and Schulich components.
• Use the Canadian business-program comparison for the high-level UBC Sauder BCom written/video distinction.
• Use the Casper guide only when a selected program separately requires that assessment.

Official UBC sources

• Write your personal profile — Applicant groups, exceptions, response limits, question types, referees, preparation, evaluation criteria, and disruption guidance. Retrieved 2026-08-31; current.
• What UBC looks for — Competitive and comparative review across requirements, grades, course choices, and achievements beyond academics. Retrieved 2026-08-31; current.
• Complete the UBC application — EducationPlannerBC workflow, offline drafting advice, program-specific supplements, accurate disclosure, and verification warnings. Retrieved 2026-08-31; cycle-current.
• UBC dates and deadlines — Early October 2026 opening, scholarship deadlines, and January 15, 2027 main application deadline. Retrieved 2026-08-31; cycle-current.
• Working with an education agent — Applicant-ownership boundary: an agent cannot write or assist in writing the Personal Profile or another part of the application. Retrieved 2026-08-31; current.
• UBC Sauder BCom program admission — First-party supporting evidence for the BCom Personal Profile and video-interview distinction; its displayed deadline and fee fields do not control the 2027 cycle. Retrieved 2026-08-31; supporting-non-cycle-current.
• UBC Sauder BCom application tips — Supporting first-party advice published in 2024 on meaningful experiences, specificity, authenticity, and the separate video interview; it does not control 2027 dates or fees. Retrieved 2026-08-31; supporting-non-cycle-current.