UBC Graduate School has an excellent page for newly admitted students and steps they should take after they've been formally admitted to UBC. They also offer several orientation webinars.
Campus Housing
There are four residences on campus designed to house grad students: Fairview Crescent, Thunderbird, Marine Drive Residence, and Acadia Park. Places are given out on a first come, first served basis so apply early at vancouver.housing.ubc.ca
There are three grad student residences on campus run independently of UBC Housing.
- Green College
- St. John’s College
- St. Andrew’s Hall
- Acadia Park (for students with families)
Off Campus Housing
There are several resources are available to help find housing off campus:
- Review UBC's Living Off Campus website
- Ask your Graduate Program Manager or your supervisor to send a notice out to the current grads asking if anyone has a room to rent.
- Housing boards and notices around campus – Grad Student Centre, SUB, at the bus loop, department notice boards, etc.
UBC has an excellent day care system, as well as after school care and summer care for school age children. Note that waitlists are up to 2 1/2 years, so interim arrangements will likely be necessary.
The Vancouver School Board's website provides school enrollment details and deadlines.
All graduate students will need to get a UBC email account for UBC related communications. This is the email we will use for our departmental mailing lists. Using your UBC email is especially important when you conduct any UBC related business (eg. TA contacting students) as work emails contain personal information, such as information about students.
There are two main types of UBC email addresses that graduate students can have and you can read more about them in the link below. Please remember to let zool.gradprgm@ubc.ca know what your UBC email is as that's the email we will be using to communicate with you.
If you have questions about life as an international student, International Student Advising is here to help.
International Student Advisors are Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants (RCICs) or Regulated International Student Immigration Advisors (RISIAs) who can support you in your experience as a UBC international student.
They can help with:
- Your visa, study permit, and work permit application
- Part-time or full-time work requirements
- Learning about your health insurance coverage
- transitioning to life in Canada
If you're a newly admitted international student, the International Student Guide is a great resource for your questions on studying and working in Canada.
You are required to complete certain mandatory training courses as part of your UBC employment. Once your appointment is processed, Workday (our HR/Finance system) will also prompt you to take these courses. They should be linked via your CWL but we’ve had problems with them showing up correctly in Workday so please send a copy of your certificates to our Administrative Support, Chunwei Huang (chunwei.huang@ubc.ca) for record keeping and always keep a copy of your completed training certificate (usually a PDF) as well.
Please talk to your supervisor as well about any further safety training that you need. Certain TAships may also require additional training (please check with the instructor).