Atmospheric Science: Master of Science (MSc) - UBCV is a master's degree in Natural Sciences & Mathematics programme taught at The University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. The programme runs for 2 years, delivered on campus. Teaching is in English. Tuition for international students is CAD 10,082 per year (CAD 5,739 per year for local students).
At a glance
Degree:Master's Degree
Field:Natural Sciences & Mathematics
Duration: 2 years
Delivery: On Campus
Language: English
Local tuition: CAD 5,739 / year
International tuition: CAD 10,082 / year
Information for the 2027/28 academic year · Last reviewed September 2026 ·
Program details
Overview
This two-year MSc in Atmospheric Science is taught in person at UBC Vancouver and combines coursework with research, with thesis, non-thesis and co-op routes available depending on whether a student is heading towards a doctorate or towards professional practice. Students learn to work across the three methods the field depends on: field and laboratory measurement, data analysis, and numerical modelling. Research areas include boundary layers and micrometeorology in urban and mountain settings, numerical weather prediction for transport, hazards and clean energy, air pollution and atmospheric chemistry, climate dynamics, variability and glaciology, satellite remote sensing, cloud physics and aerosols, ocean-atmosphere interaction, biometeorology and trace gas exchange, geophysical fluid dynamics, and machine learning applied to environmental data. Supervisors are drawn from Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Geography, Chemistry, Mathematics and Engineering, and students arrive from physics, mathematics, geography, engineering and computer science backgrounds. Laboratory space in the Earth Sciences Building, wind tunnels and high-performance computing support the work, and a substantial share of students continue to a PhD.
Requirements
Minimum GPA:76.00 / %
Admission Requirements: The program admits from a wide variety of scientific, mathematics, statistics and engineering backgrounds rather than requiring an atmospheric-science degree, though a strong physics, maths and computational background is desired; the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies sets a minimum overall average in the B+ range (76% at UBC), and meeting it does not guarantee admission given competitive selection. Applicants from institutions where English is not the primary language of instruction must submit, within the last 24 months, IELTS Academic overall 6.5 with no component below 6.0, TOEFL iBT overall 100 (reading 22, listening 22, writing 22, speaking 23) or the post-January-2026 scale score of 4.5, or the Duolingo English Test overall 125 with no component below 115.
Application Details
Start Date:September and January
Application Deadline:Domestic and international undergraduate applicants both apply through EducationPlannerBC for Winter Session 2027/28 (September 2027 entry) and Summer 2027: applications open in early October 2026 and the equal-consideration deadline is 15 January 2027, 11:59 p.m. PST, the same date for both groups; a few programs keep reviewing late applications on a space-available basis afterwards. Earlier dates apply only to entrance-award consideration -- 15 November 2026 for the International Scholars Program and 1 December 2026 for Presidential/Centennial/Beyond Tomorrow scholars. Several limited-entry programmes -- Law, Pharmacy, Dentistry, Nursing (advanced entry), Occupational/Physical Therapy, Social Work and Teacher Education -- set their own earlier deadlines from October 2026 through February 2027. These are institution-wide dates; this programme publishes no deadline of its own.
