McMaster Supplementary Application 2027 Guide

McMaster Supplementary Application 2027: Three Different Formats

There is no single McMaster supplementary application. McMaster's own overview says “The format and requirements for each supplementary application vary depending on the program.” For September 2027 entry, the three formats below work in completely different ways:

Everything on this page comes from McMaster's official pages as checked on October 27, 2026. Where McMaster has not published something yet, we say so and leave it blank rather than fill it from older cycles.

Which Programs Have a Supplementary Application

McMaster's supplementary applications page lists these Level I (first-year) programs and dates:

McMaster also warns that your supplementary application status “may not show as ‘Complete’ on your checklist until after the supplementary application deadline.” A blank checklist in December is not, by itself, a sign that something went wrong.

The rest of this guide covers the three formats above in detail. For the other programs, follow the program's own instructions and your applicant checklist.

Engineering: A Timed Assessment With Unseen Questions

One supplementary application covers every Faculty of Engineering program you apply to: Engineering, Computer Science, Integrated Biomedical Engineering & Health Sciences (iBioMed) and the Bachelor of Technology. McMaster's Engineering supplementary application page sets out the rest.

The format

• Four questions: “three video responses and one written response.”
• Video answers: 10 seconds to read the question and 2 minutes to respond.
• Written answer: the main page says 10 minutes to read and respond; the FAQ on the same page says 7 minutes. Follow the instructions shown in Kira Talent on the day.
• No word limit on the written answer. McMaster encourages you “to be concise.”
• No redo. Once you submit an answer, you cannot change it. You can take breaks between questions, but once you start a question you must finish it.
• Fee: $50 CAD, paid through OUAC as a “McMaster program fee”.
• Timing: the assessment opened October 1, 2026. An invitation email from Kira Talent arrives within 7–10 business days of applying. The recommended early submission date is November 26, 2026, and the deadline is January 28, 2027 at 11:59 p.m. ET (April 15, 2027 for upper-level transfer and second-degree applicants).

You'll need a computer with a working webcam and microphone. Kira offers practice questions to test your setup, and McMaster says they are “completely different from the assessment questions.”

What the questions test

McMaster says you won't get technical or skill-testing questions. The questions are interview-style and assess four competencies: Engagement, Collaboration, Innovation & Creativity, and Resilience. It publishes one practice question for each, quoted here exactly. These are McMaster's practice questions, not the assessment questions:

• Engagement: “Think of an activity, role or responsibility you care about outside of the classroom. What have you learned from it, and how has it made a difference for others, like your teammates, friends or community?”
• Collaboration: “Describe a situation where a group you were a part of faced a challenge or setback. How did you help the group move forward?”
• Innovation & Creativity: “Tell us about a time when you tested an idea or solution to see if it would work. Explain how you chose your approach and what you learned from the experience.”
• Resilience: “Tell us about a situation where something didn't go according to plan. How did you respond and what did you learn from it?”

How to prepare when you can't see the questions

With 10 seconds to read a question, you can't plan an answer from scratch. You can arrive knowing which experiences you'll draw on. McMaster suggests the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) and practising aloud.

A useful preparation step is an evidence bank: six to eight real experiences, each noted in one line, mapped to the competencies they could illustrate. This is a constructed example for an imaginary applicant, not McMaster material:

The bank is for recall, not scripts. Memorised answers rarely fit an unseen question, and the written answer still has to address the question you're actually given.

McMaster's rule on help and AI

“Can I use Artificial Intelligence (AI) or external help when completing my supplementary application? No. We require that all answers submitted through the Kira Talent platform are entirely your own original work. Do not use AI tools, other people, or any external sources to write or generate your responses.”

McMaster adds that Kira monitors for “suspicious browser activity, unusual typing speeds, copying and pasting from the Kira platform, and plagiarism.”

Honours Health Sciences (BHSc): Questions Arrive December 1

The BHSc supplementary application page says the supplementary application is mandatory and “considered in consort with your grade point average. A high GPA alone does not guarantee admission to the program.”

What is published for 2027

• Questions posted: Tuesday, December 1, 2026 (Level I and Level II).
• Due: “early/mid-February 2027” on McMaster's overview page. The BHSc page lists the OUAC deadline, instructions email and portal access dates as “Coming Soon”.
• Portal access is time-limited, and “Extensions are not granted.”

What is not published yet

As of October 27, 2026, McMaster has not published the 2027 BHSc questions, their word or character limits, or the exact submission date. We don't reproduce questions from earlier cycles. They circulate on document-sharing sites, but they are not this year's questions, and the format can change.

How BHSc applications are judged

McMaster's BHSc supplementary application FAQs answer several questions applicants often guess at:

• Only two things count. “Grades and the scores on the Supplementary Application are the only elements we consider”. McMaster does not use extracurricular activities, because access to them “varies widely”, and it does not review extra material.
• Who reads it. Program faculty, staff and Level IV students. Each application is scored by several reviewers, with an additional reviewer when scores differ significantly.
• Don't identify yourself. Leave out your name and anything that would let someone identify you with a web search.
• Citations can be informal. If you use a fact from a source, you can “simply cite it narratively.”
• Typos. “The odd typo or grammatical issue is not going to hurt your scores” unless errors get in the way of understanding.

McMaster's rule on help and AI

This is the strictest rule among the Canadian application forms we have checked. McMaster's FAQ answer on getting help from others begins:

“Your responses to the questions must be entirely your own. Discussion with others, including current program students, is not permitted.”

The same FAQ page goes on to prohibit posting answers online, admissions consultants, plagiarism, use of generative artificial intelligence and otherwise working with others to prepare your responses, and says these may result in removal from the applicant pool or withdrawal of an offer. Both passages are quoted at length in the BHSc section of our Canadian application feedback rules comparison.

Before December 1, the useful preparation is practical: read the program's own pages, and keep time free in December and January, since the portal window is limited and the deadline is firm.

Arts & Science: Five Published Questions

The Arts & Science supplementary application is a two-part online form. You must have applied to Arts & Science 1 (MX on the OUAC form), and you log in with your MacID about a week after applying.

The 2027 questions, verbatim

1. “What excites you about the opportunity to pursue an interdisciplinary degree in the Arts & Science program at McMaster? How, specifically, does the program align with your interests and hopes for your undergraduate education?”
2. “Please describe a particularly meaningful learning experience you have had (in school or elsewhere). What did this learning experience involve? What made it significant to you?”
3. “What book, play, film, or other piece of media has had a significant impact on you over the last year or two? Please provide the title and a brief description of the work, and explain why you have found it meaningful.”
4. “Tell us one way you spend time outside of school (if you are currently in school) and explain why that activity is important to you. We recognize that people need/choose to spend their time in a variety of ways, and welcome discussion of any activity that matters to you, including (but not limited to) hobbies, work, or family responsibilities.”
5. “Tell us more about yourself and, in particular, please tell us something you're exceptionally curious to explore, learn, or experience in the coming years. Please do NOT provide your name or any other information that would directly/definitively identify you.”

Limits and form rules

• 1,500 characters per question, including punctuation and spaces. That is roughly 230–280 English words, depending on word length; count characters, not words.
• Line breaks cost characters. McMaster asks you to avoid indentations and paragraph breaks, and says italics, underlining and bold can't be used. A book or film title in question 3 will appear in plain text.
• You can save and return before the February 1, 2027 deadline, and McMaster suggests downloading a copy for your records.
• Part B asks whether you want to opt in to the Equitable Admissions Process for Black and/or Latin American/Latinx applicants or the Facilitated Admissions Process for Indigenous applicants. Every applicant completes Part B, but opting in is optional.

What each question is asking

• Question 1 has a “specifically” in it. Name the parts of the program that match what you want from a degree, not the idea of interdisciplinarity in general. McMaster asks applicants to review the B.Arts Sc. degree requirements first.
• Question 2 is about a learning experience, not an achievement. The three sub-questions are what happened, what it involved, and why it mattered.
• Question 3 needs the title, a brief description and the reason. Keep the summary short so the reason gets most of the 1,500 characters.
• Question 4 explicitly includes work and family responsibilities. An ordinary activity explained well answers it fully.
• Question 5 asks for something you are “exceptionally curious” about. A specific question you want answered is easier to picture than a broad field.

McMaster's rule on help and AI

“We need to know about YOU, so please complete all sections of this form without help. Please also note that you must NOT use generative AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT) to help complete your application. Doing so will be considered an infringement of academic integrity.”

How This Differs From Your OUAC Application

Your OUAC application carries courses and grades. For BHSc, McMaster states that grades and the supplementary score are the only two inputs. For Engineering, the Kira assessment is the only place McMaster hears how you think and communicate. For Arts & Science, the five answers are the only writing the program sees. None of these accepts a résumé or extra documents. Activities only count where a question invites them, and only in your own words.

Common Mistakes

1. Treating “McMaster supplementary application” as one thing. Check which format your program uses before you prepare.
2. Missing the January 28 Engineering date. It comes before the February dates many Ontario forms use, and McMaster recommends finishing by November 26.
3. Memorising Kira answers. Practise recall of real experiences instead.
4. Relying on old BHSc questions. Wait for December 1 and read the current instructions.
5. Spending Arts & Science characters on formatting. Paragraph breaks eat the limit, and formatting is stripped.
6. Identifying yourself in BHSc or Arts & Science answers.

Get a Free Review of Your College Application Essays

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Our comparison of Canadian application feedback rules sets these rules beside Waterloo's, Queen's and others.

Applying elsewhere in Ontario too? The Waterloo AIF questions for 2027 use four 150-word answers and a 2026 hours log, and the Ivey AEO application combines two 500-word activity essays with a Kira video interview. For UBC, see the UBC Personal Profile questions.

Official Sources

Checked October 27, 2026.

• McMaster: supplementary applications and due dates
• McMaster Engineering: supplementary application
• McMaster Honours Health Sciences: supplementary application
• McMaster Honours Health Sciences: supplementary application FAQs
• McMaster Arts & Science: supplementary application