NOSM University
How NOSM picks
NOSM is built to train doctors for Northern Ontario. Its Context ScoreNOSM’s score for your link to the North: years lived in Northern Ontario or a rural community, applying through the Indigenous or Francophone stream, and sustained work serving Northern Ontario. It is half of NOSM’s interview invitation score. rewards years lived in Northern Ontario or a rural Canadian community, applying through the Indigenous or Francophone stream, and sustained work serving Northern Ontario. NOSM does not publish the scoring formula.
From applications to seats
Who gets an interview
GPA and Context Score, weighted equally.
The interview
An online MMI, multiple mini interviewA circuit of short, timed interview stations. Each station has a different scenario or question and a different interviewer, so no single conversation decides your score. Schools use it to judge communication, ethics and judgement, not science knowledge. and an online panel interview, held on different days.
Who gets an offer
About 32% pre-interview score and 68% interview, plus a full file review.
Step by step
- Meet the minimums. GPA 3.00 and a Four-year degreeTMU and NOSM need a finished four-year undergraduate degree before you start medical school. The other five schools take students after three years of study..
- Interview invitation. GPA and Context ScoreNOSM’s score for your link to the North: years lived in Northern Ontario or a rural community, applying through the Indigenous or Francophone stream, and sustained work serving Northern Ontario. It is half of NOSM’s interview invitation score., weighted equally. About 350 invited.
- Interviews. MMI, multiple mini interviewA circuit of short, timed interview stations. Each station has a different scenario or question and a different interviewer, so no single conversation decides your score. Schools use it to judge communication, ethics and judgement, not science knowledge. on one day and a panel interview on another, both online.
- Offer. About 32% pre-interview score, 68% interview, then file review.
Grades and tests
All converted undergraduate grades. A completed graduate degree (conferred, or confirmed by a registrar letter by December 1) adds 0.2 to your undergraduate GPA after the 3.00 check.
| GPA minimum | 3.00Current NOSM page, no cycle statedNOSM, minimum requirements |
|---|---|
| Admitted average | GPA 3.79 averageClass entering fall 2026NOSM, class profiles |
| MCAT | Not requiredCurrent NOSM page, no cycle statedNOSM, selection process |
| Situational test | NoneCurrent NOSM page, no cycle statedNo Casper, Kira or early-phase MMI. NOSM, selection process |
| Prerequisites | NoneCurrent NOSM page, no cycle statedNOSM, course prerequisites |
| Degree | A four-year undergraduate degree in any discipline. |
Do you meet NOSM’s requirements?
Is NOSM a fit?Our reading of the school’s published rules. Not a prediction of your chances.
May suit you if
- You grew up or lived for years in Northern Ontario or a rural community.
- You want to train in the North, in Sudbury or Thunder Bay.
- You have not written the MCATThe Medical College Admission Test, run by the AAMC. It has four sections: chemistry and physics, critical analysis and reasoning (CARS), biology and biochemistry, and psychology and sociology. Each section is scored from 118 to 132, for a total from 472 to 528..
- You finished a graduate degree, which adds 0.2 to your GPA.
Think carefully if
- With no northern or rural background, half of the invitation score starts lower.
- You cannot be sure of your campus, and change requests are not considered.
- A Four-year degreeTMU and NOSM need a finished four-year undergraduate degree before you start medical school. The other five schools take students after three years of study. is required.
- The interview is about two thirds of the final score.
Pathways
At least 95% of admissions go to Ontario residents under the provincial rule in force since July 1, 2025. There is no Northern residency requirement: the Context Score does that work.
- General stream
- Indigenous stream
- Francophone stream
- Black stream
- Military Medical Training Program stream: paused
- You can apply through more than one stream.
- NOSM became Canada’s first independent medical university on April 1, 2022.Read the school’s page
- It teaches across more than 90 communities in Northern Ontario.Read the school’s page