Foundation for Music Therapy Diploma at Douglas College in New Westminster, Canada is a diploma in Music programme. The programme runs for 4 semesters, delivered on campus. Teaching is in English. Tuition is CAD 5,000 per total for local students.
At a glance
Degree:Diploma
Field:Music
Duration: 4 semesters
Delivery: On Campus
Language: English
Local tuition: CAD 5,000 / total
Information for the 2027/28 academic year · Last reviewed September 2026 ·
Program details
Overview
The Foundation for Music Therapy Studies Diploma assists you in developing grounded and relaxed guitar and vocal techniques used in the music therapy field. You’ll build your music skills through applied music training in melodic intervals, fingerpicking patterns, chord progressions, healthy vocal techniques, body language for performance and more.
As part of your education, a music therapist will supervise your progress so you can discuss techniques and get advice on future steps. You’ll further develop your music therapy techniques by playing and singing music publicly in health care and childcare settings. The blend of music and psychology courses provide the prerequisites for third-year entry into Capilano University’s Bachelor of Music Therapy program.
Requirements
Admission Requirements: The general college admission requirements and English 12 at a final grade of C or an approved substitution, plus an intake interview with a music faculty member about your programme plan, a practical audition on your primary instrument or voice, a theory assessment of your fluency with musical rudiments (which places you into either MUSC 1101 or MUSC 1110), and an aural assessment of pitch matching, melodic memory, sight singing and sight rhythm (which places you into either MUSC 1104 or MUSC 1115). Note for planning: graduating from this diploma requires 3 credits in science or mathematics, and some of the courses that satisfy that have their own science or mathematics prerequisites. The programme page carries an international application block. International applicants must also clear Douglas's separately published international entry standard on top of anything listed here: for undergraduate study that is a final-year school average of at least 60 percent (or one of the college's age routes) plus Grade 11 Mathematics at C for most programmes, and for post-degree and post-baccalaureate study a bachelor's degree of at least three years with a cumulative average of at least 60 percent. The international English minimums are TOEFL iBT 83 (writing 21 or better for post-degree and post-baccalaureate credentials), IELTS Academic 6.5 with no band under 6.0 for those same credentials, PTE Academic 56, Duolingo 110, CAEL 60, CLB 8 in each skill, Cambridge CAE 75, Cambridge CPE 60, or EIKEN Grade 1.
Application Details
Start Date:Douglas runs three fifteen-week semesters a year: Fall from September to December, Winter from January to April and Summer from May to August. The programme page lists intakes in Fall (September). The Fall 2026 semester began on 8 September 2026 and Winter 2027 classes begin on 4 January 2027.
Application Deadline:Douglas publishes college-wide application windows rather than a single date for every programme, and the domestic and international timetables are different. DOMESTIC APPLICANTS apply on EducationPlannerBC. Applications for a semester open about eleven months ahead, at 9:00 a.m. on the first business day of the opening month: 1 October for the following Fall. Douglas labels this a limited-enrolment programme, so it sets no single fixed closing date: the round shuts when the intake fills, and the college’s own test is whether the programme still appears in the EducationPlannerBC drop-down list. Applicants are acknowledged in writing about two to three weeks after applying, and qualified applicants are then ranked against the programme’s published criteria. This programme adds its own dated step: Fall 2026 domestic applications are closed and Fall 2027 domestic applications open at 9:00 a.m. on 1 October 2026. INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS follow Douglas’s separate college-wide dates, not the domestic ones: the Fall (September) 2026 intake closed on 31 May 2026, Winter (January) 2027 closes on 30 September 2026, and Summer (May) 2027 closes on 31 January 2027. Limited-enrolment programmes can fill before those dates and open-enrolment ones last only while seats do, so Douglas advises applying early enough to leave room for a study-permit application. Read from the programme page and the college deadline pages on 6 September 2026; Douglas had not yet published Summer 2027 domestic closing dates.
