Students are required to demonstrate their ability to value, understand and develop theoretical knowledge and to work collaboratively with their peers. Students must: be respectful of their colleagues; be appreciative of diversity and a variety of perspectives; be able to build trusting relationships and manage conflict with peers; and demonstrate creative problem solving skills. Such aptitudes and attitudes are necessary components of leadership and are important for the fulfillment of program requirements as well as other roles typically assigned in teamwork. Students must demonstrate adaptability to changing environments, the ability to function effectively under stress and the resilience to manage concurrent, potential competing responsibilities and expectations associated with educational, work and personal domains.

Students must have the ability to clearly and succinctly articulate and discuss issues, share and debate ideas, negotiate meaning, and demonstrate openness to multiple perspectives. All students must possess strong reading comprehension and be effective producers of high-quality written materials. Full fluency in the English language is essential for the communication skills required for the Program. If the student’s native language is not English, please refer to the MHM Program website for the requirements related to TOEFL or IELTS.

Students are responsible for their own learning. They are expected to assess, monitor and regulate their own learning and performance through ‘self’ behaviours such as self-discipline, self-initiative, self-monitoring, self-reflection, and time management.

Students are required to have competency in the use of online learning technologies, particularly communication and collaborative technologies. Basic computer skills include proficiency in sending and receiving emails with attachments, manipulating Word documents, using spreadsheets and formulas (e.g. Excel), and communicating with peers in discussion threads and chat rooms. Students must be efficient in their use of the Internet for research and for locating online resources. Students must have reliable and convenient access to the Internet.

Students are required to use cognitive and memory skills in order to gather, analyze, integrate and synthesize information in an acceptable timeframe relative to their peers. Students must have critical appraisal skills in order to build a foundation for evidence-based decision-making. Students must demonstrate these critical thinking skills in all course and program interactions, regardless of the medium (e.g. online, in person).

Students must demonstrate sufficient functional skills to participate in online learning and mandatory on-campus residency. Students are expected to participate in all learning experiences of the Program. Many activities will require that students sit or stand for extended periods of time. Students who anticipate that this may cause difficulty are advised to meet with Student Accessibility Services to discuss disability-related accommodation or other support services.

Domestic applicants:

• must meet either the Regulated or Non-Regulated Healthcare Professional minimum admission requirements.
• must adhere to the same MHM admission requirements, document submission and specified admission deadlines.
• whom have international degrees and grades will have these evaluated for their equivalency to McMaster’s.

International applicants:

• must meet either the Regulated or Non-Regulated Healthcare Professional minimum admission requirements.
• must adhere to the same MHM admission requirements, document submission and specified admission deadlines.
• will have their international degrees and grades evaluated for their equivalency to McMaster’s
• are encouraged to submit their applications early to avoid delays in processing time for study permits and provincial attestation letters (PAL).  
• who receive an offer of admission will be  required to pay a deposit of $2,000 within 2 weeks of accepting the offer. This deposit will be applied directly to the tuition once enrolled. There are no exceptions/extensions and deposits are non-refundable.

Indigenous participation in the Master of Health Management Program is important. To ensure equitable admissions we have a facilitated admissions process for First Nations, Inuit and Métis applicants. In accordance with the Self-Identification policy of the Faculty of Health Sciences, Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit and Métis) applicants who wish to apply through this stream must complete the supplementary Self-identification Application. Please refer to the Facilitated Admissions Self Identification pages for the details on the policy, application requirements and the online application.

• Each year, a minimum of two (2) positions will be designated for Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit or Métis) applicants.
• Applicants must meet either the  Regulated or Non-Regulated Healthcare Professional admission requirements as posted.
• Indigenous applicants must adhere to the same MHM admission requirements, document submission and specified admission deadlines.

All applicants, domestic and international, must meet the same minimum Admissions Requirements and adhere to the same deadlines.

Applicants must be available to attend the mandatory residency periods of the program. International applicants are responsible for obtaining any necessary permits. Details are available on the residency page.

One academic reference is required. It should be clear how the individual is suitable as an academic reference in their relationship to you or this must be explained in their reference documentation.

Who is suitable for this role?

• An academic referee has an academic appointment; they can be your previous instructor, or a colleague who has an affiliation with a post-secondary educational institution (preferably at a university level) through their teaching or research interests. This could include one of your CCE professional courses which regulated professionals must take as part of their regulatory body’s requirements.
• An academic referee cannot act as a clinical/professional referee as well. They must hold one role only.

Your academic referee must be assigned as “Type: Academic”. Once their contact information and type has been entered within the application, an invitation to complete a form similar to the sample below will be sent. You will be able to monitor, resend, or exclude and change this invitation as you desire.

Note: We do not accept ‘Professional in lieu of Academic’ type.

Download a sample of the academic reference e-form

Two Clinical/Professional-related references are required.

Who is suitable for this role?

• A clinical/professional referee can be a colleague or a supervisor.
• A clinical/professional referee cannot act as an academic referee as well. They must hold one role only.

Your clinical/professional referee must be assigned as “Type: Clinical or Professional”. Once their contact information and referee type has been entered within the application, an invitation to complete a form similar to the sample below will be sent. You will be able to monitor, resend, or exclude and change this invitation as you desire.

Download a sample of the clinical/professional-related reference e-form

The Statement of Interest (SOI) outlines your career plans and suitability for the Master of Health Management Program.

Download the Statement of Interest form

This document should include the duration of each experience and educational degree/diploma you have held.

Download the CV/Resume Template

• All post-secondary academic transcripts completed to date are required.
• Scanned transcripts are acceptable for application assessment purposes and may be uploaded within your application submission. Official transcripts will be required at a later date.
• Transcripts must include the degree conferral date. If not included, an official copy of a diploma or a letter from the issuing institution will be required confirming this information.

Where and when do I send my official transcript/degree documents?

• Official digital transcripts are the preferred method of receipt sent to our program email. If this is not possible, please arrange for your official paper version to be sent to our program mailing address.
• Offer letters will list conditions and the deadlines to clear conditions.

As applicable, either:

a) Regulated Professionals: Proof of active registration in professional affiliation. Such as, but not limited to: a membership in good standing with a professional college
or
b) Non-Regulated Professionals: Determining equivalency for non-regulated health professional applicants form

Uncertain which category you fall under above?
Refer to “Am I a Regulated Healthcare Professional?“

If your native language is not English, an official test result of English language proficiency must be included with your application. Acceptable tests include TOEFL and IELTS.

• Test results must meet the minimum score of 100 for TOEFL iBT or 7 for IELTS .
• Test results need to be less than 1 year old.
• McMaster’s TOEFL Institution code is 0936, Department code is 25.
• Applicants who have completed a post-secondary degree from a program where the language of instruction is English are not required to provide an English language proficiency test. This information should be listed on your transcript, or you will need to provide a letter from the institution stating the language of instruction.

Where do I submit my official document(s)?

Digital test score sheets from the testing facility is the preferred method of receipt, sent to our program email. If this is not possible, please have your official paper version sent to our program mailing address.

More information on the how to book tests can be found directly on the TOEFL or similar testing facility website.

• Watch this video for an overview and tips to a successful application

• All areas of the application must be completed to submit.
• Applicants will be required to pay a non-refundable application fee*.
• Once the payment has been successfully approved, applicants will receive an acknowledgement email.
• Applications will be considered for admission when all required items noted above are submitted and an application fee* has been paid.

*For current year’s application fee, please refer to the School of Graduate Studies Online Application Guide linked in the tile on this page.

• Login using your username and password you created at the time you initiated your application.
• Refer to the Selection Process for details about the decision stage.

Monitor my McMaster Application Status

Review and ensure you understand your offer letter. It will explain what is being offered to you and what is expected of you once you have accepted. Failure to comply may result in your offer of Admission to be rescinded.

• Final offer: Requires that you maintain a good academic standing in your courses.
• Conditional offer: Requires that you provide any noted documentation that was not available at the time of your offer.

The following webpages will assist you to understand your offer letter, the next steps and the associated deadlines. Please note that the Program may have earlier deadlines then those posted on the School of Graduate Studies webpages:

• School of Graduate Studies webpages:

  • Notes for Successful Applicants – Additional terms and conditions related to your offer.
  • Conditions of Admission – Types of offers and how to clear conditions.
    • Conditional offers require official documents be submitted directly to the Program office from the institution(s). As posted within the application portal and within our How to Apply instructions,  scanned or electronic transcripts/documents uploaded by an applicant to their application are not considered official but were acceptable for assessment purposes. Official transcripts must be sent to the program office as posted within the application portal and within our How to Apply instructions.

• Master of Health Management program checklist and deadlines:

  • Student Onboarding checklist.
  • Official Transcripts are to be sent directly from the issuing institutions to the program office. More details found in the above checklist.

Now that you understand your offer received, be sure to login to the Admission portal and accept your offer by the deadline noted within your offer.

After accepting your offer, within 24-48 hours, you will receive a Next Steps for Enrollment email from McMaster to aid you in setting up a MacID. A MacID will help you gain you access to McMaster University’s Student Center portal called Mosaic and the Microsoft O365 platform for email. Activation of your MacID could take upwards of 24 hours.

For more information and instructions for activating your Mac ID and accessing your McMaster email account, visit University Technology Services (UTS). There you will also find many other technology services that will be of interest to students. We recommend bookmarking this site.

Eligible students that have accepted their offer may wish to apply for the Master of Health Management Program Equity, Inclusion and Diversity Admission Award. 

Please navigate to Awards for more details on the various award opportunities the program offers to students and our alumni.

Now that you have accepted your offer and activated your MacID, we ask that you follow the Student Onboarding Checklist to further prepare for your career with the program.

The MHM program is primarily online and asynchronous, however, on occasion some instructors hold synchronous sessions. These sessions are outlined early enough to students to plan accordingly. The program also holds two mandatory residency periods. Please refer to our Residency page for more details.

The average weekly time commitment is approximately 15 hours/per course. However, this sometimes varies depending on course or the students expertise, past experiences and education. Also, some weeks are more demanding than others in a particular course.

No. The MHM program does not require candidates to complete a an exam/test.

Yes, you may still apply. You will need to provide proof of your membership/license to practice overseas along with your application. If you cannot do this, you will need to submit the Determination of Equivalency form. Please see Application Documents for more details

If English is not your first language, but was the language of instruction during your studies, please state this in your application and upload documentation to show this was the case. For example: this could be noted directly on your transcript(s) or within a letter on institutional letterhead.

All courses used towards a specific degree would not be transferable.

University policy states that: Credits from other accredited institutions must have been received in the last 5 years with a minimum grade of B-. The transfer process requires a student be accepted into the MHM program first. Transfer credits are not guaranteed.

Transfer credits are only assessed at admission. Credit will be assessed by determining if the completed courses can be used to replace any of the courses in our curriculum, i.e., the material covered is the same. The courses would have to have been completed in the last 5 years and with a minimum grade of at least B-.  Refer to the School of Graduate Studies Calendar, General Regulations, Section 2.3/Transfer/Advance Credit and Determination of Course Equivalency

To give you an idea of what might be accepted, please compare your completed courses to our courses.

To increase your GPA, you could look at enrolling as a post-degree student, complete up to 3 courses successfully, then apply to this program. For more details on this process at McMaster, please refer to the School of Graduate Calendar, Admission Requirement for Post-Degree Students (Section 2.1.8).

Review details about Grade Point Average (GPA) and the Grad point values scales here.

We are not able to provide a detailed assessment of your qualifications, however, we may review your transcript and cv to determine if you meet the minimum academic requirements to apply. This review does not guarantee admission to the program.

The School of Graduate Studies has put together a helpful resources on these topics that includes helpful tools and information that will assist you in determining your cost of living in Hamilton, ON, while attending graduate programs. Please note students are only required to be on campus in person during the residency.