Future undergraduate student awards

Find entrance awards for future undergraduate students, including eligibility, deadlines, and how to apply.

Support for your first year and beyond

Every year, Dalhousie offers millions of dollars in scholarships and bursaries to support new students and recognize their strengths and achievements. Here’s how you can apply and what you need to know.

A large group of students walk through the Studley Quad with the Hicks Building behind them.

2,000+ entrance awards available each year.

$1K to $80K approximate range of award values yearly, and over 4 years.

Applying for entrance awards and scholarships

If you’re entering Dalhousie in the fall term, you can apply for entrance awards through the General Entrance Award application.

If you are starting your studies in the winter or summer term, visit the Current undergraduate student awards and Bursaries pages to learn about available funding.

If you’re applying to Dalhousie directly from high school (or have no transferable post-secondary study), complete the General Entrance Award application after submitting your admission application through the application portal.

Through this application, you’ll be considered for hundreds of awards, including:

Scholarships: Based primarily on academic achievement
Bursaries: Based on financial need
Hybrid awards: Based on a combination of merit, leadership, and need

Awards may be one-time, or renewable for up to 4 years.

Selection criteria

Entrance awards are awarded based on a combination of:

Academic achievement
Leadership and initiative
Extracurricular involvement
Community service
Financial need
Cultural identity

We assess each student individually based on their full application.

Some awards require a separate application, which you can complete after applying to Dalhousie.

Eligibility

You’re eligible to apply if you:

Are applying directly from high school, or are a mature student with no transferable post-secondary study

Are applying to start in the Fall term

Meet the academic requirements (typically an 80% average or 26 predicted/anticipated IB points)

Eligibility details

Averages are calculated using the five courses that are required for the program that you have applied for.

For the First Nations and Indigenous Black Student (FNIB) Scholarships, the admissions average is not taken into consideration.

All students—domestic and international—are eligible to apply.

You can apply even if you’re not eligible for financial aid—many awards are based on merit or involvement.

Gap year students can still apply, as long as they haven’t completed transferable post-secondary study

Who is not eligible

Transfer students are generally not eligible (with the exception of Indigenous Black and First Nations students from the Maritimes who wish to be considered for the First Nations and Indigenous Black Student (FNIB) Scholarship).

Eligibility FAQs

You should still apply. Not all awards are based on financial need.

Some entrance awards are based on academic achievement, leadership, community involvement, cultural identity or ancestry, and other accomplishments.

Award decisions are based on your Grade 12 first-semester final grades. Grades received later will not be used to reassess your award.

How to apply

To be considered for entrance awards, you must complete your application and submit all required documents before the deadline.

The 2027–2028 General Entrance Award program opens on October 1, 2026, with an application deadline of February 15, 2027.

How you apply depends on where you are on your journey to Dalhousie:

I have been accepted to a Dalhousie program

To be considered for entrance awards, complete the following before the deadline:

Complete General Entrance Award application by logging in to your application portal.

Submit your official first-semester transcript, or your provincial student ID number (for Nova Scotia and Ontario applicants)

I have not yet been accepted to a Dalhousie program

You must complete the following before the deadline to be considered for entrance awards:

Apply to an undergraduate program at Dalhousie

Complete the General Entrance Award application

Pay the $70 CAD admissions application fee.

Submit your official first-semester transcript, or your provincial student ID number (for Nova Scotia and Ontario applicants)

Application FAQs

Your school or issuing institution must send your transcript directly to admissions.documents@dal.ca for it to be considered official.
You must submit your General Entrance Award application yourself through your application portal.
If you need to provide supporting documents for your entrance award application—such as financial or disability-related documents—upload them directly in the General Entrance Award application in the portal.

You usually do not need to submit a transcript if your OUAC number or Nova Scotia Student ID number is already on file with the Admissions Office. Your grades will be received automatically.

If you have questions about your transcript, OUAC number, or NS Student ID, contact Admissions at admissions@dal.ca or 902-494-2450.

If your transcript, OUAC number, or Nova Scotia Student ID number does not appear on your admission application status page, contact Admissions at admissions@dal.ca or 902-494-2450.

Transcripts are added to student files manually, so it may take a few business days for them to appear. They will show on your admission application status page, not in Dal Online.

You do not need to submit them again if your first-semester transcript, OUAC number, or Nova Scotia Student ID number has already been submitted to the Admissions Office.

If you’re unsure, contact Admissions at admissions@dal.ca or 902-494-2450.

You still need to provide your official first-semester final grades to be considered for the General Entrance Award program, unless Dalhousie has already received your OUAC number or Nova Scotia Student ID number.

If you were admitted using self-reported grades, you must still submit an official record of your first-semester results. Applications with self-reported grades alone will not be considered for the General Entrance Award program.

No. Entrance awards are based only on the information included in your General Entrance Award application.

For the General Entrance Award program, references do not need to send any documents, and reference letters are not accepted.

Some entrance awards require separate applications, which may require reference letters. Please review the application instructions carefully for more details.

International applicant FAQs

To be considered for entrance awards, you need to provide your Grade 12 first-semester marks.

If your school does not use semesters, it can submit your grades from the first half of the school year. These may be called predicted grades or mid-term grades.

If you do not have an Income Tax Notice of Assessment, you can submit:

Official government tax or income documents from your home country showing your parent(s)’ or guardian(s)’ income, or

An official letter from your parent’s or guardian’s employer confirming their income

If the document is in a language other than English or French, please include an English translation.

After you apply

We review entrance award applications after the February 15 deadline. If you receive an award, we’ll notify you in the spring.

You can accept your award by accepting your relevant offer of admission through your Application Portal and paying your admission deposit.

Early entrance award offers must be accepted by paying your admission deposit by January 31. This guarantees you to receive no less than your early award amount.

If you are awarded a General Entrance Award (GEA) in addition to your Early Entrance Scholarship, you will keep the higher-value award:

If your GEA is higher than your Early Entrance Scholarship, you’ll receive the GEA amount.
If your GEA is the same, you’ll receive only the GEA amount.
If your GEA is lower, you’ll keep your Early Entrance Scholarship.

We continue to review General Entrance Award eligibility as students make decisions about their offers of admission and awards, and as higher-value or additional awards become available. This allows us to extend support to as many deserving students as possible.

You can defer your entrance award only to the winter term, and only if your admission deferral has been approved.

If you defer your admission to the following academic year, you will be eligible to re-apply for the General Entrance Award program, provided you do not complete transferable post-secondary study during this time.

How your award is paid

Your award will be applied to your student account in two equal instalments:

mid-August
mid-December

To receive the funds, you must be registered full-time (minimum 9 credit hours per term for degree students and 6 credit hours per term for technology students) at Dalhousie University for the term(s) in which the scholarship is awarded.

If there is money remaining after your tuition and fees are paid, you can request a refund from Student Accounts after the last day to add classes in each term.

If you are expecting a refund but need money sooner for urgent costs such as textbooks, you may want to apply for a emergency loan.

Awards for specific student groups

Some entrance awards are designed to support specific student communities and experiences.

You can apply for these through the General Entrance Award application, unless otherwise noted.

Black students

Value: In addition to financial support, Faculty of Management advisors will provide academic and career support, including assistance in finding work terms and career mentors to support long-term career aspirations.

Eligibility: Black and Indigenous students with priority given to African Nova Scotian and Mi’kmaq students admitted to the Bachelor of Commerce or Bachelor of Management programs.

Value: $32,000 ($8,000 per year renewable for 4 years)

Eligibility: Indigenous Black and First Nations students from Atlantic Canada who demonstrate good academic standing and financial need.

Value: Up to $80,000 (up to $20,000 per year renewable for 4 years)

Eligibility: Black African Nova Scotian students who also demonstrate financial need and extracurricular involvement.

Value: $12,000 ($4,500 per year renewable for 4 years)

Eligibility: Preference is given to Canadian students of Black African descent, with second preference to Black Bermudian students at Dalhousie. Preference is also given to students entering a Bachelor of Science.

Value: $32,000 ($8,000 per year renewable for 4 years)

Eligibility: A domestic undergraduate student from an under-represented or underserved group entering an undergraduate degree program.

Domestic students: $32,000 ($8,000 per year renewable for 4 years)

International students: $48,000 ($12,000 per year renewable for 4 years)

Eligibility:

Two awards for domestic students:
- One award for a student of Black/African descent of Caribbean heritage
- One award for a Black/African Nova Scotian student entering an undergraduate degree program
One award for an international student of Black/African descent from the Caribbean (preference to those from the former British West Indies) entering an undergraduate degree program.

Value: Up to $10,000 over 2 years ($5,000 entrance scholarship and $5,000 for year two of your studies (dependent on academic performance)

Eligibility: Students of African descent with priority given to African Nova Scotian students and Black Canadians admitted to the Bachelor of Computer Science or Bachelor of Applied Computer Sciences.

Apply

Indigenous students

Eligibility: Black and Indigenous students with priority given to African Nova Scotian and Mi’kmaq students admitted to the Bachelor of Commerce or Bachelor of Management programs.

Value: $32,000 ($8,000 per year renewable for 4 years)

Eligibility: Indigenous Black and First Nations students from Atlantic Canada who demonstrate good academic standing and financial need.

Value: $32,000 ($8,000 per year renewable for 4 years)

Eligibility: A domestic undergraduate student from an under-represented or underserved group entering an undergraduate degree program.

Value: Up to $10,000 over 2 years ($5,000 entrance scholarship and $5,000 for year two of your studies (dependent on academic performance)

Eligibility: Students who identify as a status or non-status Indigenous person, Metis, or Inuit admitted to the Bachelor of Computer Science or Bachelor of Applied Computer Science. Preference toward applicants who identify as Mi'kmaq.

Apply

Value: Up to $20,000 per year

Eligibility: Students who identify as indigenous who have been admitted to the Bachelor of Commerce program and have demonstrated financial need.