Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine

Admissions
About Us
The Admissions office facilitates and processes all applications for the Faculty of Medicine. Beginning with the 2010-2011 application cycle, entrance to the Faculty of Medicine will be limited to 108 students annually. The New Brunswick program will accommodate 30 of these students and the remaining 78 will attend the Halifax campus. Successful candidates are chosen by the Admissions Committee.

The Admissions Committee considers both academic and non-academic factors, with no quotas based on any demographic factors such as age, race or gender. We regularly accept individuals who have had other careers and choose to enter medicine later in life. We are delighted to handle inquiries from such individuals who may need some counseling for preparation for application. A complete description on how to apply to Medical School is in the Dalhousie University Calendar.

Admissions
Academic Requirements
There are two applicant categories (based on residency) for determining minimum academic requirements:

• Maritime - Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island)
• Non Maritime - all other canadian provinces, U.S. & international

• A minimum GPA of 3.3 (on a 4.0 scale) based on a full course load of 5 full classes in each year of the two most recent consecutive years of study prior to submitting an application. An Applicant's best 3 years out of 4 years of full time study could also be considered, if the degree program has been completed.
• In determining your GPA, the OMSAS - Undergraduate grading system Conversion table is used.

• A minimum GPA of 3.7 (on a 4.0 scale) based on a full class load of 5 full classes in each year of the two most recent consecutive years of study prior to submitting an application. An applicant's best 3 years out of 4 year of full time study could also be considered, if the degree program has been completed.
• In determining your GPA, the OMSAS - Undergraduate Grading System Conversion Table is used.

The Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine, otherwise known as Dalhousie Medical School, is a faculty at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Having operated continuously since 1868, it is one of the oldest medical schools in Canada, after Laval, McGill, and Queen's.

Dalhousie Medicine currently teaches the MD degree at two campuses, at both the original site on Dalhousie University's Carleton Campus in Halifax, as well as at a recently opened site in Saint John, New Brunswick. Approximately 30 students per year attend the Saint John program and 79 students per year attend the Halifax program.

Dalhousie's postgraduate medical faculty offers 53 residency programs at teaching hospitals located across Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.

History
The Faculty of Medicine at Dalhousie University, popularly known as Dalhousie Medical School (DMS), was founded in 1868. The school's main teaching location is the Sir Charles Tupper Medical Building which is a 15-story high-rise building that opened in 1965 on Dalhousie University's Carleton Campus. Today, the Tupper Medical Building houses the administrative offices of the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Health Sciences, as well as the Kellogg Health Sciences Library, lecture theatres, classroom teaching facilities, and most of the basic science laboratories in the Faculty of Medicine. It adjoins the CRC, the Clinical Research Centre, via "The Tupper Link" corridor, which is the location of some staff and faculty offices.

The Faculty of Medicine is the only medical school in the Maritime Provinces and as such is closely affiliated with the healthcare systems operated by the Government of Nova Scotia, the Government of New Brunswick and the Government of Prince Edward Island. This region has a combined population of 1.8 million people with teaching hospitals located in various locations across the three provinces, as well as the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre and IWK Health Centre (in Halifax) and the Saint John Regional Hospital in the immediate vicinity of the medical school's 2 campuses.

Curriculum
The Doctor of Medicine program at Dalhousie admits 109 students per year. Of these, 79 matriculants attend the Halifax Campus and 30 attend the New Brunswick campus in St John, New Brunswick. In 2010, the average undergraduate GPA of accepted applicants was 3.8, and 24 percent of the entering class held graduate degrees.

Dalhousie awards the MD degree to students completing "the Tupper Trail," a new curriculum developed by the Faculty of Medicine.This program incorporates early exposure to clinical skills and clinical electives from Year 1, as well as collaboration projects with students in other health professions.

In 2010, it was reported that Dalhousie medical students placed first in Canada on the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination, the school-leaving exam written by all Canadian MD candidates.