BMSC Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre

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2025 Fall Program Application Form

How to Apply

"*" indicates required fields

Application Deadline

Applications completed before the scholarship deadline below receive priority assessment and are eligible for internal BMSC scholarships. Applications may remain open after the scholarship deadline, but any applications completed after the relevant scholarship deadline are assessed on a first-come, first-serve basis and are not eligible for internal scholarships.

The scholarship deadline for the 2025 Fall Program is April 30, 2025, 11:59 pm PDT.

Transcripts

Submit official or unofficial post-secondary transcripts by email to university@bamfieldmsc.com within one hour of completing this application form. Transcripts must be PDF files or other secure file formats. Screenshots or pictures of transcripts will not be accepted.

If you have attended multiple post-secondary institutions, you must submit a transcript from each institution.

Applicant Information

Name*
Address*

Contact Information

Please enter an email address which you will have access to for the foreseeable future. The majority of communications from the BMSC about your applicaiton will be sent to this email address.
BMSC Communications*
Your email address is our primary method of contact and will be used for all course-related communications. We occasionally send news to past applicants and our Alumni: Would you like to receive these additional communications from the BMSC?

Academic Information

Post-Secondary Enrolment*
Please select the post-secondary institution you are currently enrolled in. If you are enrolled at a post-secondary institution that is not a member of the Western Canadian Universities Marine Sciences Society, or if you are not currently enrolled in a post-secondary institution, please indicate this in the 'Other' field.

Academic Standing as of April 30, 2025*
If you will have completed your second undergraduate year by April 30th, 2025, your academic standing would be third year undergraduate.

Calculate your relative Grade Point Average (rGPA) based on your 20 most recently completed university-level courses. Please calculate enter your rGPA using your post-secondary institution's grading scheme.
If you have not yet completed 20 university-level courses, instead enter your current cumulative GPA (cGPA).
Please convert the GPA entered above into an letter or percentage average based on your institution's grade scheme (e.g., within the SFU grade scheme an rGPA of 3.05 is equivalent to a B average).

Fall Program Prerequisites

To be considered for acceptance, you must take all five courses in the Fall Program.
Required prerequisites: Introductory Ecology, Introductory Statistics, and Third Year Undergraduate Academic Standing.
Recommended prerequisites: Invertebrate Zoology, Non-Vascular Plants, Biological/Ecological Statistics, ability to use R Project for Statistical Computing.
Prerequisites
List each prerequisite course and the grade you received in them. If you have completed more than one course that satisfies a given prerequisite, list the course which you received the highest grade from.
If you are currently taking a course you would use as a prerequisite, enter 'TBD' in the Grade column.
If you received permission from an instructor to apply without a prerequisite course, record the name of the waived prerequisite in the Course Name column and 'NIL' in the Course Code and Grade columns.
Use the '+' symbol at the end of the row to add more courses.
Course name
Course code (i.e. BIOL 200)
Grade
Instructor permission?
 
Please provide a brief statement of interest explaining the appropriateness of the Fall Program to your degree requirements and own professional development. If you have fulfilled any of the Fall Program prerequisites in a way that would not be directly reflected on your transcript(s), please note this in your statement of interest.

Health, Safety, and Accesibility

Field Safety Plan*
The BMSC has worked hard to produce a field safety plan - approved by our member universities and in adherence to federal and provincial public health guidelines - that aims to ensure the health and safety of our students, staff, and community. If your application is accepted, you will be provided with our general safety guidelines and program-relevant safety policies. Students must adhere to these guidelines and policies in order to participate in any BMSC programming.
Do you understand?

The BMSC is located in an isolated rural community on the edge of the Pacific Ocean and surrounded by wilderness. Students must therefore be prepared for the physical and mental challenges inherent to working in a remote field setting.

Due to the topography of the BMSC campus, getting around often involves climbing flights of stairs and/or traversing hills. Course activities at the BMSC may also involve physically demanding activities such as: carrying and using bulky scientific gear in slippery, steep, uneven, rocky, and or/muddy terrain; snorkelling in cold water; day hikes (up to ~3 hours each way) through rough and/or muddy forest trails; overnight backpacking/camping trips over rough and/or muddy forest trails (students may be expected to haul their own gear); and lengthy open water excursions on our research vessels. Any of these activities may occur early in the morning or late in the evening, and all occur regardless of rain or cold weather.

As well, students taking the Fall Program in Marine Science should expect course activities to run from 9:00 am to ~5:00 pm (with an hour break for lunch), Monday to Friday, and that the workload for a single course at the BMSC is roughly equivalent to a full load of 'standard' post-secondary courses. All students participating in the Fall Program should be prepared to live, learn, and work together with their fellow students for the duration of the program.

Please indicate whether you are prepared for the level of physical and mental exertion described above.*
Your response will not influence your chance of acceptance into the Fall Program.

If you answered no above, BMSC staff will contact you to discuss potential academic and/or physical accommodations. The Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre is committed to addressing and removing barriers that prevent students from participating in our programming wherever possible.

Have you been to BMSC before?*
Please select all that apply.
If past trip selected above, please tell us what year.
Please enter a number from 1972 to 2025.