How to Apply to University of Toronto for Canadian and International Students (Step-by-Step)

Do you want to apply to Canada’s number 1 university, University of Toronto, but don’t know where to start? Don’t worry, today’s post is going to be for each and everyone of you planning to to apply to University of Toronto (U of T) and want to know the exact process of applying to U of T.

Now, no matter whether you are an Ontario student, Canadian Student, or International Student, in this post, I talk about the exact application process for applying to University of Toronto from checking the admission requirements to completing the supplementary applications. I go over everything step-by-step and in detail (giving examples and best tips along the way) based off my experience filling out University of Toronto’s application.

I applied to U of T Scarborough and U of T Mississauga for the fall of 2021 and received offers from both of them with some really good scholarships and no matter whether you are a Local, Canadian or International Student, I’ll be explaining you, step-by-step, how you need to complete the application process from start to finish. I will be giving tips along the way to help you ace the process and will also be answering your questions regarding the whole process at the end. So do read the post till the end.

The first thing to know is that U of T’s application process is the not the same for all undergrad applicants and varies depending on your background, country of residence, education and the programs you are applying to.

But don’t worry, as you read the post things will get clear and you’ll know the whole application process by the end of it.

With that said, let’s get started.

---

1. Check the General and Program Specific Requirements

The first step to apply to University of Toronto is to check the general as well as specific admission requirements and ensure you meet all of them.

So what do I mean by general and specific admission requirements?

General Admission Requirements are a set of conditions that all students, from a specific educational background, need to meet regardless of their intended program of study.

So Ontario students applying to U of T will share the same general requirements regardless of their intended program, but these requirements will be different for students from different Canadian Provinces because each provincial government has its unique grading process and assessment method.

For instance, all high school students who are applying to U of T from Ontario are required to have a High School Diploma with six Grade 12 subjects. However, all high school students from Alberta are required to have a High School Diploma with five Grade 12 subjects.

Therefore, if you are a Canadian student make sure you check U of T’s general requirements of admission for the province you’ve studied in, by going to the Admission Requirement Finder.

Likewise, U of T has different general requirements for each country because every country follows a different education system.

So if you are an international student, I would recommend you to check the general requirements for your country by going to International High School Page on U of T’s Website.

For example, If you are an Indian student, the general requirement is to have an All India Senior School Certificate (awarded by CBSE) or Indian School Certificate (awarded by CISCE) regardless of the program you are applying to.

Now what if I am following an international curriculum like IB, AP, A Levels etc.?

Don’t worry, U of T has general requirements for each international curriculum which you can again find on the international high school page.

For example, I was an IB student and I checked the general admission requirements for IB students by going to the International Baccalaureate link—it is to obtain the International Baccalaureate Diploma, with English HL or SL.

It’s that simple. This was all about general requirements, they are education-specific because just depend on your educational background.

Now Specific Admission Requirements are another set of conditions that all students, from a specific educational background, need to meet to apply to a particular program. They are both education-specific and program-specific.

So, all Ontario students will have same general requirements to apply to any program at U of T but will have different program-specific requirements for applying to different programs. Same is the case with students from any educational backgrounds.

Now, how will you find the program-specific requirements for your education system?

It is by going to the Program Finder on U of T’s website and searching for your intended program of study. For example, I am interested in Computer Science at St. George Campus, so I’ll click on the Computer Science tab. Then, I will be redirected to a page where I can see the program information and the academic requirements for Ontario students. If you are an Ontario student, you can find all the information there as you can already see the program-specific requirements for every program like this.

However, if you are from a different background, let’s say, IB, click the International Baccalaureate link. On this page, you’ll be able to see the general admission requirement or minimum admission requirement, but if you scroll down you’ll see the option of Expanded Admission Requirements by Target Faculty. At U of T, Computer Science comes under Faculty of Arts and Science. So, click on that. Once you do that, you” be able to see the specific admissions requirement for Computer Science which is to have score between 4 and 7 in English HL or SL and Math HL or SL. Moreover, your total diploma score should be in the high 30s.

I know it’s hard to understand instructions like this, but if you’re like me who prefers visuals and graphics over text, you can watch my How to Apply to University of Toronto (Step-by-Step Guide) for Canadian and International Students video down below for better understanding 👇

Down below, you can also see the specific admission requirements for other Arts and Science fields such as Humanities, Life Sciences etc.

Also, on the right 👉, you can see the specific admission requirements for high school students from different educational backgrounds such as Ontario High School, US High School etc. So click the link of your educational background and check its specific admission requirements.

Let’s take one last example, so if you are an student following the Indian education system, you can click on India High School and you’ll be redirected to the specific requirements page for Indian students. You’ll find that the specific requirement is to have mid to high 80s in English and Calculus and to have overall percentage in the 90s to be competitive enough for applying to Computer Science at U of T.

2. Create OUAC Account

Once you have checked all the general and program-specific requirements for your educational background, the second step is to create an OUAC Account.

Before you say, what is an OUAC Account, let me explain this to you.

U of T is located in Ontario which is a province in Canada and all the universities inside the province of Ontario including U of T are registered on a university portal called Ontario Universities Application Centre or OUAC for short. The job of OUAC is to processes online applications and transfer the information to respective universities much like Common App where you can fill out applications and submit them to universities in the U.S.

So in order to apply to U of T, you need to create an OUAC account on OUAC’s official website and provide all the necessary information such as your name, date of birth, email address, username and password.

3. Fill the OUAC Application depending on your Background

After you’ve created your OUAC account, the third step is to fill out the OUAC application depending on your background.

There are 6 different OUAC applications for U of T undergrad applicants: OUAC 101 Application, OUAC 105 Application, University of Toronto International Application, University of Toronto Internal Application, Part-Time Application, and Non-Degree Application.

Before you start filling any application, I recommend you to read more about these applications on U of T’s Applying page and check all of the conditions for filling out a particular application because every applicant has a unique background.

But Generally speaking

If you are a Current Ontario high school student, you need to fill out OUAC 101 Application.

If you are a Full-time Canadian applicant, who didn’t attend an Ontario high school or U of T before, need to use the OUAC 105 Application.

If you are an International Student, who is looking to apply to more than one university in Ontario, use the OUAC 105 Application. You won’t have to submit multiple applications and will save some money.

If you are an International student AND you are ONLY applying to U of T in Ontario, you need to fill the University of Toronto International Application.

If you are a Former U of T student, fill out University of Toronto Internal Application.

If you are planning to enroll as a Part-time student, use the Part-Time Application.

Lastly, if you are applying for a non-degree course, use the Non-Degree Application.

Here, there are a few things to keep in mind.

1. Do not create a new account to fill your application instead click on the login option and use the account you created before.
2. Only fill out one application to U of T. If you send more than one, they will all be cancelled without a refund.

After you’ve decided the right OUAC application, you need to provide your personal information, contact information, academic background, program choices and activities.

In the Personal information Section , it asks you to fill out your name, citizenship, country of residence, and first language.

In the Contact information Section , you need to give your email, home address and telephone number. Make sure you give an active email address so you can be kept updated by U of T about your application.

Academic Background asks you details of the high schools you attended and for how long you attended them.

In Program Choices Section, you are asked to choose three U of T programs you want to apply to and rank them from 1 to 3.

Lastly, the Activities Section asks you to list down all the extracurricular activities you have engaged in since the beginning of high school until the present. It can include volunteering, hobbies, sports, employment etc.

Here I would recommend you to list the activities starting with the most recent ones because U of T recommends it too. Also, make sure you are listing activities that you were committed to and activities that are consistent with the programs you are applying to. For example, if I am applying for International Relations program at U of T it would be great to list down my participation in Debate competition, MUNs, student council etc.

3. Pay the Application Processing Fee and Submit your Application

After you have carefully and thoughtfully filled out your OUAC application and double-checked the information you have filled, it’s time to pay the application processing fee and submit your application.

The application processing fee OUAC charges depends on the OUAC Application you’re filling and the programs you’re applying to.

If you’re filling the OUAC 101 application, there is no fee for you.

If you are filling the U of T International Application, you’ll be charged 180 Canadian Dollars or approximately 10,900 Indian Rupees according to today’s conversion rate.

If you are filling the OUAC 105 application, along with the 180 Canadian dollars charge by OUAC, you’ll also be charged a supplementary fee of 90 Canadian dollars by U of T themselves.

For University of Toronto Internal Application, Part-Time Application, and Non-Degree Application, you’ll be charged the same—only 90 Canadian dollars by OUAC.

Your application processing fee can increase if you’re applying to a program which requires an additional program-specific fee to apply.

So how do you know which programs will cost you extra money?

Basically, when you’ll select your programs of interest in the program choices section of your OUAC application, the system will automatically let you know whether applying to that program requires an additional fee to be paid.

For example, when I was filling out my program choices. I added Computer Science programs from all the 3 campuses of University of Toronto, but noticed that CS program at St. George Campus costed 50 Canadian dollars to apply and so I removed it and ended up applying to CS at the other two campuses.

Before moving on, let me tell you how you can increase your chances of admissions here.

1. Make sure you know the application deadlines for your programs of interest – Most applications are due by January 15 of the year you plan to attend U of T, but make sure you check the application deadline for your programs beforehand on U of T’s Important Application Dates Page.

2. Apply early – Don’t wait for the deadline to approach, just submit your OUAC application as soon as U of T starts accepting applications, ideally by November, because it will increase your chances of admission and also because the spaces for most programs are limited and they might get filled up before the application deadline.

Now, if you’d like to know more about increasing your chances of admission at U of T, you can read my previous posts where I have covered all the strategies I used to get admission and scholarships at U of T.

Check Here 👉 How I Got Into University Of Toronto (Stats, Extracurriculars, Advice, Supplementary App., OUAC)

Check Here 👉 How To Get Into University of Toronto + My Best Tips | Admission Requirements, Academics and more.

Check Here 👉 How I Got $225,000 Scholarship from University of Toronto & How You Can Too | International Scholar

4. Submit your Academic Documents

So, what happens after you’ve paid the fee and submitted your application.

Ontario Universities application centre collects all the information you’ve filled in the application and transfers it to U of T.

In about a week or two after you submit your OUAC application, you will receive an email from U of T providing you with your login credentials also called JoinID, U of T application number and all the information about the next steps in the application process.

Once you are able to access the Join U of T portal through your login details, you’ll find the complete information about all the documents required to complete your application.

The first part of completing the documentation is submitting your academic documents. All undergrad applicants need to report the scores of all exams they have attempted in Grade 11th and 12th but HOW you have to report it to U of T, again, depends on your background.

Now, if you are a high school student from Ontario or Quebec, your school is supposed to send your Grade 11th and 12th results on your behalf and through OUAC. But if you are applying as an international student or as a Canadian outside of Ontario or Quebec, you are required to Self-Report your Grade 11th and 12th Results through the Self-reported form available on the Join U of T portal and then upload your school transcripts as well.

As I said earlier, everybody’s case is unique, so I’d recommend you to read How to Submit Your Required Documents on U of T’s Applying page where everything about this is given in a lot more detail .

U of T uses self-reported forms and school transcripts to give out conditional offers, therefore, make sure you are submitting them as soon as you are able to access the Join U of T portal because then University of Toronto will have your complete academic information to make a decision for your application and you’ll not be among those applicants who delay their decisions just because they delay the submitting of their academic documents.

Also, remember that as soon as your final exam results are out, you need ask your exam-conducting institution to submit your official transcripts to University of Toronto because your final admission decision will be based on them. In my case, I did the IB Diploma program, so I had to submit a Transcript request to IB for sending my final exam transcript to University of Toronto, which costed me 17 dollars. So do your research in advance and make sure you know how to obtain the official final exam transcript and how much you’ll have to pay for it.

5. Complete the Program-Specific Requirements

The second part of completing the documentation is completing your program-specific requirements by submitting the supplementary application.

But what is supplementary application?

Some programs at university of Toronto require you to submit additional material for your profile to be considered for that program, this is called Supplementary application which comes in various forms depending on the program and the campus you’ve applied to. It can be in the form of a supplementary application form, a virtual interview, an online student profile, a statement of interest or a video interview. Everything depends on on what you’re applying to, but don’t worry though, most programs do not require an additional supplementary application.

U of T will send you an e-mail which will let you know if you need to fill out a supplementary application and its deadline. So if you receive an email, you should check your Join U of T portal’s application status page for more information about the process and for accessing the supplementary application.

What I suggest you to do is to not wait for the University’s email and research your program’s requirements in advance. You can find whether or not your program requires a supplementary application by looking at your program’s requirements in the Program Finder, which you can access by going to Academics → Undergraduate Programs on U of T’s website and searching for your program of interest.

Also, do remember that supplementary application has deadlines which vary depending on the program you’ve applied to. You can find out all the details about supplementary application and their deadlines on U of T’s Important Application Dates page.

6. Request for Special Consideration (Optional)

The third part of completing the documentation is optional and it’s for students whose grades have been affected by any personal, family-related or any other sort of hardship, if this is you, you can submit a form called Request for Special Consideration on your Join U of T portal and describe your condition to U of T’s admissions team.

Depending on your circumstances, the team might accept your request ignore your bad scores. But personally, I won’t recommend you fill out this form unless you honestly had a major hardship which impacted your grades because it might come out as an excuse, which might further harm your application. So decide carefully whether or not to fill this one.

8. Complete English Language Proficiency Requirement

Now, you’re done except if English is not your first language because there is another requirement for all the U of T programs if English is not your first language and you don’t qualify for an exemption from English Requirement, which is to provide evidence of your English language proficiency by submitting an English Language Proficiency test score.

There are a lot of English Proficiency Exams accepted by University of Toronto such as IELTS Academic Module which has a minimum requirement of 6.5 overall band score with no band below 6, TOEFL which has a minimum score requirement of 100/120 with at least 22/30 in the writing section, and Duolingo English Test which has a minimum requirement of 120 out of 160.

For more details on accepted English Language Tests, their up-to-date minimum requirements, and English Proficiency Exemption criteria please go to English Language Requirements under the Apply Tab on U of T’s website.

Answering Common Questions about Applying to University of Toronto

That’s it my friend, if you have completed these steps you successfully applied to University of Toronto and now you just have to WAAIITT…

Now I will be answering some of the questions that you guys have asked on My YouTube Channel:

What if I don’t meet the general or program-specific requirements? Can I still apply?

See fulfilling all the general admission requirements is a obligation because you need to be able to meet the bare minimum, same is the case with program-specific requirements. But if you don’t meet these requirements, you can still apply and test your luck but you’ll have lesser chances of admission.

How do I make my OUAC application stand out and how long does it take to fill it out?

Don’t worry much about the OUAC application. It only asks you very basic information about you, your family, your academics etc No essays or lors. I filled out the U of T international application and it hardly took me 30 minutes to fill it out completely.

What is one advice you’d like to give to someone who wants to get into U of T?

It’ll be to focus on your academics and complete all the requirements as soon as possible.

Can I differ my offer of admission?

Yes, you can request a one-year deferral of your offer of admission.

What is the minimum admission requirement for humanities it’s confusing on the site ?

It’s low to mid 80s. It might be confusing because there are 80 programs in humanities and every program has its own admission requirements.

Can I get a fee waiver for OUAC’s application processing fee as an international student?

No, you can’t get it officially from OUAC or University of Toronto like you get it from Common App. one option is to find someone who can pay it on your behalf, you can approach a local organization and maybe ask them to pay it on your behalf. I asked one of my teachers to pay it for me.

What is the deadline for submission of school transcripts?

It’s February 1st, but as I said, the earlier you submit, the better your chances of getting in.

When will I receive my conditional offer from U of T?

It depends on when you are applying to U of T. If you apply by November, you might receive the decision by December, but if you apply late or you completed your requirements late, you might receive it as late as May.

If you’d like to knw more about the application process ‘officially’ 😉, there are two very helpful videos by University of Toronto for Canadian High school students and for International Applicants, I recommend you watch them as well down below 👇

Conclusion

First, I explain the importance of finding the general and program-specific admission requirements for the U of T’s programs that interests you.

Second, I move onto explaining what OUAC is, its purpose, the types of applications offered by OUAC for U of T and who wills out which application. Then I talk about the application fee expenses for applying to u of t depending on your OUAC application and programs you are applying to.

Next, I talk about the importance of submitting the required documentation to u of t including your self-reported form, school transcripts, request for special consideration, English proficiency test scores, and supplementary applications.

Lastly, I answer the common questions about applying to University of Toronto

Thank you so much for sticking around till the end of the post.

I hope it helped you a little bit, and if it did, do let me know in the comments below and share it with others who need it.

Again, thank you so much. See you in the next post. Good Bye and Take Care 😄