PhD Program

See the minimum admissions criteria for graduate studies at UBC.

Beyond this, the SCARP Admissions Committee considers many factors in making admissions decisions. These factors include academic preparation, academic capability, experience, and fit with a prospective research supervisor and with the School.

Please review the 'Applying' tab for details on any prerequisite requirements.

SCARP's PhD Program is governed by the general policies and procedures of the UBC Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (G+PS). See their admissions guidelines, their handbook of Graduate Supervision, and SCARP's more specific requirements (as detailed below) for Thesis Preparation, Internal Defense, Final Oral Defense, and Thesis Submission. The Chair of the SCARP PhD Program is responsible for ensuring that the administration of each student's program is in compliance with these policies and procedures. 

Students should be familiar with all information available.

All UBC PhD students are funded at a minimum of $40,000/year for the first four years of their program. SCARP students historically have received much more than this minimum through a combination of internal awards and scholarships, and working as teaching or research assistants. Our funding packages usually cover tuition for students, though specific information about tuition costs and fees can also be found below.

More information:

Historical funding levels

G+PS on graduate student fees

UBC calendar on doctoral fees 

Cost of living

Because our admissions process depends on supervisors advocating for the students they would like to recruit, it is imperative that you reach out to prospective supervisors well before you apply, to determine overlap in research interests and intellectual approach, and to confirm that your prospective supervisors are taking on PhD students this year.

Many faculty members may receive a dozen emails from prospective students every week during admissions season. It is often not possible for faculty to answer all messages of interest. Generic, inauthentic, or misaligned email messages will likely not be answered. We highly discourage the use of generative AI to mass produce email inquiries to potential supervisors. 

Learn more about the process further down on this webpage.

On our application process

The admissions process for the PhD Program at SCARP is a multilevel process that includes review by prospective supervisors, review by the SCARP’s PhD admissions committee, and meeting criteria set by UBC. 

The supervisor-supervisee relationship is perhaps the most influential factor in your experience of a PhD program and you should consider the intellectual match (the topic or expertise area you would like to focus on) and, to the extent possible, the personality and work-style match with a prospective supervisor. In SCARP’s admissions process, your prospective supervisor will be advocating for your admission to the program, and are also responsible for securing your funding for four years of the program. If, by the time of application, it is not clear that you have a research faculty member willing to advocate on your behalf, this may be an indication that your application is not likely to be successful before the School PhD admissions committee. 

SCARP’s PhD admissions committee is responsible for evaluating each year’s pool of applicants according to criteria established by our faculty. 

Step 1:

Make contact and forge a connection
(Summer before applications period in Fall)

The Faculty Directory and each faculty members’ bio are good places to start for initial information on faculty members’ research specialties, methods of inquiry, and areas of interest in the world of planning. You should also check out recent publications and faculty websites for more in-depth understanding. Beginning in August, the SCARP Faculty pages and the PhD program page of the SCARP website will also indicate faculty members who are actively recruiting in the current cycle. 

Begin by reaching out to faculty members through email. As a suggestion, your email should clearly indicate details such as: 

• Your name and where geographically you are writing from 
• Previous academic and professional experience 
• Most recent degree awarded and institution 
• Other indicators of preparation for a PhD program such as: specific lived/professional experience, research training, peer-reviewed/policy publications 
• Rationale and goals for pursuing a PhD degree 
• The research topic or questions you would like to spend your PhD working on, and why this topic is important to you 
• Reason for alignment with the faculty member you are reaching out to 
• If you are corresponding with other SCARP/UBC faculty members about potential supervision, and if so, their names 
  * Faculty are sometimes interested in co-supervision and this can sometimes help an application. Even if co-supervision does not work out, if a student can be supervised by multiple faculty, this is often an indication of good fit with the program as well.

Note that at this stage (before application) some SCARP faculty be interested in meeting with you virtually/in-person to discuss fit and preparation, or even iteratively workshopping your application materials with you. This serves a dual purpose: to assess ability to work together, and, to improve your application so that it is as competitive as possible when it is evaluated by SCARP’s PhD Admissions Committee. 

Step 2:

Apply 
(Before application deadline in January)

Applicants need to demonstrate they: 

• Are academically well-prepared, so that they are likely to succeed in our program 
• Have a well-articulated connection to the academic discipline of planning 
• Have articulated an important and interesting research area to focus on 
• Promote our goals of ensuring intellectual and identity-based diversity and reconciliation for the School and the broader discipline.

The option to submit your formal application will appear on this webpage once the application period begins. You will be redirected to UBC’s application portal. 

Full applications AND reference letters must be submitted before the application deadline. However, requests will not be sent to your reviewers until after you have submitted your application. This means that you should plan on submitting your application weeks before the indicated deadline so that your reviewers have enough time to upload their letters. 

As a reminder, if it is not yet clear that you have a SCARP research faculty member willing to advocate on your behalf by the time you apply, this may be an indication that your application is not likely to be successful. 

The university handles requests for application fee waivers. Unfortunately, the School does not have the capacity to provide application waivers outside of the university’s policies. 

Step 3:

After you apply

Protocols may be subject to change. Due to the volume of documents received we are unable to confirm receipt of documents by email or phone. Therefore, after you submit your application, regularly check:

• This webpage
• Email
• Your online application