Future Student Frequently Asked Questions

You will be considered concurrently for all your U of T applications.

You will only be considered for one admission category at the Faculty of Arts & Science. Applicants to the Rotman Commerce and Computer Science admission categories have the option of selecting an alternate admission category for consideration. Selecting an alternate category does not affect your eligibility for your first choice.

If you applied to more than one Faculty or campus at U of T, you will be considered for all your choices concurrently. In some cases, the University of Toronto Scarborough or Mississauga campuses may send alternate offers to competitive Faculty of Arts & Science students. 

Reference letters and personal statements are not required for admission to any of our programs. Rotman Commerce and Computer Science require students to fill out an additional supplementary application, but no other programs at the Faculty of Arts & Science require this. Select Colleges and first-year opportunities require additional information as well.

You can upload unofficial transcripts yourself through the JOIN portal. Official final high school transcripts or board exam certificates should be sent directly from your school through Parchment or mailed directly to the Office of University Admissions and Outreach.

If you are not currently a high school students, please visit the Apply to U of T web page for more information on how to submit your transcripts.

No, you can personally upload your current unofficial transcripts to the JOIN portal for admission consideration. Only your official final high school transcripts are required to be mailed in. 

Yes, we will consider you for admission based on your uploaded unofficial transcripts. We will only require your official final transcripts to be sent directly from your school at the end of the year to clear your admissions conditions. 

If you are required to self-report your grades you will have access to a form in your JOIN portal with instructions as to what grades you should report. This is a very important step, so we recommend that you update your self-reported form any time you receive new mid-term or final grades as this allows the admissions committee to receive your most up-to-date academic information quicker. 

Please submit all available transcripts or most up-to-date grade reports. We will be able to assess your application for a conditional offer of admission based on what you provide. You are able to submit supporting documents until February 1. We will continue to accept updated grades if they become available later, provided that spaces are available in our programs. 

No. Early consideration will be based on Grade 11 marks and any available or predicted Grade 12 marks. These transcripts can be submitted before the November deadline. Students who do not submit their documents before the November 7 early consideration deadline will be assessed in our later rounds, from February to May, using all available marks.

You will receive an email from both the Office of University Admissions and Outreach and the Faculty of Arts & Science approximately ten business days after you submit your application via the OUAC or U of T International Application. These emails will provide you with instructions on how to access the JOIN U of T portal. Here, you will track the status of your application and submit any necessary supporting documents.

Offers of admission are generally sent out between January and May. Some offers may be made outside of these dates.

If you have applied using the 101 or 105 OUAC application and wish to make changes to your initial application, you must do this by logging in to the Ontario Universities’ Application Centre website.

All other applicants (International/Internal/Part-Time/Non-Degree) should log onto JOIN U of T, click on Check Status, and follow the instructions for making changes to your application.

We do not accept any changes or corrections via e-mail or telephone and changes cannot be made after the application deadline.

It can take a few weeks for sent documents to be matched to an application. You can track the progress of your documents on the JOIN portal. 

If English is not your first language you may be required to submit proof of English facility. Some international high school curricula can act as exemptions from English language tests. Visit our website for a complete list of English facility requirements, accepted tests, exemptions, and expected scores.

It can take a few weeks for sent documents to be matched to an application. You can track the progress of your documents on the JOIN portal. It is very important that the names on these tests match exactly the name you used on your application (i.e: the same first, middle, and combination of last names). If the name on your test does not match your U of T applicant name exactly, we will not be able to match them and this will often be the reason for a delay.

If you decide to put your studies on hold, you may request a one-year deferral of your offer of admission. The deferral of admission will include a deferral of any entrance scholarship(s) awarded and the residence guarantee if applicable. Applicants who plan to attend another post-secondary institution will not be permitted to defer their admission. Please note that offers to non-degree studies, the International Foundations Program and the Computer Science admission category at Faculty of Arts & Science, St. George campus are not eligible for deferral. Find instructions on how to submit a deferral form here.

You must indicate your interest in residence by March 31 through the StarRez portal on the JOIN portal to be covered by the Residence Guarantee. Once you receive an offer of admission you will be able to go back to StarRez to rank your residence preferences. These will vary depending on your college of admission. Once you’ve submitted your preferences, you will hear back from the Housing Office between June and July about your residence assignment. You then have the choice to accept or refuse the room assignment. Should you accept the room, a deposit will be required.

Your transfer credits will determine whether you are eligible to enrol in a program of study or if you are missing required courses for this program. If this is the case, you will remain as a HBA or HBSc student during your first year at the Faculty of Arts & Science while you complete the courses required for your program of study. Once these courses are completed, you can enrol in your intended program of study.

Use the Academic Calendar to compare your previous post-secondary courses with Faculty of Arts & Science courses to determine whether you have course equivalents for your program of interest.

If you have completed college or university studies, AP, IB, GCE, CAPE or French Baccalaureate examinations you may be eligible for transfer credit(s) at the University of Toronto. Transfer credits are assessed after admission. You can find out more about expected Faculty of Arts & Science transfer credit equivalencies on our website.

To assess your eligibility for transfer credits we are looking for course syllabi and descriptions, and a final official transcript. We need as much information about your courses as possible to determine whether the Faculty of Arts & Science offers a course equivalent to what you have already studied.

While we determine your transfer credit eligibility, you can check which of your courses might be eligible for transfer through the Transfer Explorer. This is a planning tool showing credits previously transferred to the Faculty of Arts & Science from other post-secondary institutions. When using the tool, ensure that the transfer credit assessment is for the Faculty of Arts & Science at the St. George campus and that you’ve taken the course within the past five years.

Remember, Transfer Explorer is for planning purposes only and is not a guarantee of what transfer credits you may be awarded.

The time it takes to assess transfer credits varies depending on a number of factors such as whether or not the documentation in your file is complete, where your studies were completed, and the time period during which your transfer credit request is received. A Canadian university assessment takes approximately four weeks, and an international assessment up to ten weeks.

Mid-May to mid-August is our peak assessment period, so we recommend starting your Transfer Credit Application as soon as you receive your offer of admission.

All Faculty of Arts & Science students will be automatically considered for scholarships at the time of admission. Canadian citizens, permanent residents and protected persons currently studying at a Canadian secondary school are encouraged to fill out the Awards Profile available in your JOIN portal. However, all other students will be considered automatically.

Financial planning is an important part of readying yourself for university. We have a wide variety of tools to help you plan for the years ahead. Find a list of scholarships, tuition costs and a helpful planning tool on our website. 

Students can expect to receive their scholarship offers at the time of their offer of admission. 

All Faculty of Arts & Science scholarship and award offers are conditional on the completion of your secondary school program with high academic standing and satisfying the conditions of your offer of admission to the University of Toronto, as indicated in your Join U of T portal. Provided that you meet all the conditions on your offer of admission we will not withdraw the scholarship offer. Please remember that your final high school marks are an important part of your academic record for the future – keep working! 

Scholarships are based on your grades at the time of admission. Decisions on awards, including the University of Toronto International Scholar Award, are not revisited. 

Yes. You may request a one-year deferral of your offer of admission and if granted, your scholarship will be deferred as well. Deferrals are not guaranteed and will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Deferral requests that are approved will include deferral of eligible entrance scholarship(s) awarded (check the terms of your award for conditions and eligibility) and the residence guarantee, if applicable. For more information about deferrals visit future.utoronto.ca. 

No. The admission scholarship offer you received from the Faculty of Arts & Science is not transferrable to other campuses or faculties. Your award will be conditional on your registration as a student in the Faculty of Arts & Science, St. George campus.

Payment for admission scholarships/awards is applied to your student account after your registration is confirmed for the fall term, typically by mid-October.

The scholarship payment is first applied to any outstanding fees on your student account. If the award amount exceeds the fees owing, the remainder of the award will be issued to you and deposited into your Canadian bank account via direct deposit. You will be able to view your award information, including pending payments, on ACORN under My Award. 

If you have not already done so, please set up direct deposit on ACORN. For more information on the types of award refund payments available, please visit the Student Accounts website. 

All award payments are applied towards outstanding fees owing on your student account. Payments are not applied to any one fee in particular (i.e., tuition fees or residence fees). The award amount is applied to the overall balance owing. Any remaining award amount after your fees have been paid in full will be refunded to you directly. For more information on the types of award refund payments available, please visit the Student Accounts website. If you have not already done so, please set up direct deposit on ACORN. You will be able to view your award information, including pending payments, on ACORN under My Award. 

The award payment timeline will not be adjusted to accommodate third party sponsorships or external awards. You can download a copy of your ACORN invoice once you are registered as a student, and the invoice will detail the fees owing. At that time, award payment will not have been posted. Award payments are posted by mid-October. A step-by-step guide on how to print important documents on ACORN is available in the ACORN how-to guide under "Printing Transcripts & Other Documents."

For more information regarding third-party sponsor payments, please visit the Student Accounts website. 

Yes. You may use your scholarship offer for a tuition fee deferral on the basis of Undergraduate Scholarships or Awards (register without payment). Information about tuition deferral and payment of fees is available through the Student Accounts website.

A renewable award is typically issued for multiple years. The terms and conditions of the award specify award criteria, which could be full-time enrolment in a given program, a certain academic performance, or demonstration of financial need. As long as the student meets the outlined terms and conditions of the award, the award is “renewed”, and a specified amount of money is issued the following year once registration is confirmed.

Students are notified when awards are renewed or not renewed and have an opportunity to provide supplementary information, when appropriate.

Unless otherwise noted in the terms and conditions of your award, your academic status must remain “in good standing” as defined by the Faculty of Arts & Science.  

No. Unfortunately, once the student does not meet the renewability criteria, the award is forfeited.

Yes. All Faculty of Arts & Science admission awards are conditional on full-time registration (must complete at least 3.0 credits by the end of the Fall/Winter session). Rotman Commerce students need to complete at least 4.0 credits by the end of the Summer session. An exception is made for students registered with Accessibility Services.

Your Faculty of Arts & Science admission award is tenable with other admission awards offered by the University of Toronto, unless otherwise stated. Please note that the International Scholar Award is not tenable with the Lester B. Pearson International Scholarship. This means that the scholarship offer that is of higher value will replace the scholarship of lower value. If in doubt, please contact Faculty of Arts & Science, Awards Unit.

This award is conditional on registration as an international student (i.e. a non-Canadian requiring a study permit) and international students charged domestic fees are not eligible for this award. Should there be a change in your legal status, you are required to notify the Faculty of Arts & Science, as your eligibility may be affected.

If you have additional questions, please contact undergrad.awards.artsci@utoronto.ca.