application

Applicant Portal Instructions and Requirements

We have only one admissions round annually for September entry.

• Application open: Monday, October 13, 2025
• Application deadline: Friday, December 12, 2025

Your application and supporting documents are submitted electronically through:

School of Graduate Studies Online Admissions Application

There is a required application fee of $125 (CAD).

Admissions Criteria

Please refer to our graduate admissions criteria document for details on the evaluation process.

Applicant Portal Instructions

First-Time Applicants

If this is your first School of Graduate Studies admissions application, you will need to Create an Account, and you will then be able to select one of our available degree programs. This account may be used to make applications to other programs as well. Note that every application is assessed an individual fee.

Save and Return

You may save and return to the application up until you finalize the Review section. You will not be able to edit the form fields that you have populated after this point. You will, however, still be able to upload application materials including CV, transcripts and research statement.

Application Checklist

Once you finalize the Review section, you will then proceed to an Application Checklist of outstanding items for upload. The list should include Awaiting: Research Proposal/Research Statement and any other missing documents (e.g. if you hadn’t uploaded a CV yet).

Upload Research Statement

Given the system limitation, you are only able to upload the research statement at the latter stage of the submission process after you finalize the Review section. It will then appear as an item on your Application Checklist.

Note that the system has listed the research proposal and research statement as one category, but we are specifically asking for a research statement. (Other programs may refer to this as a statement of purpose or letter of intent.)

Payment of Application Fee

The required application fee of $125 (CAD) must be received by the School of Graduate Studies before we will consider your application for review.

Application Status

Please view your Application Status which will include any outstanding requirements to ensure that you have a complete application. Application materials will not be accepted beyond the deadline.

Equity and Diversity Questions

Your answers to the equity and diversity questions included in the online application are not accessible to the department or admissions committee. If you would like to identify yourself to the admissions committee as a member of an equity-seeking group, please briefly do so in your research statement.  This information is collected to allow the admissions committee to conduct a more equitable admissions process as well as to nominate applicants for applicable equity-based awards that the university may offer.

Requirements

Grade Point Average (GPA)

PhD U (Direct Entry): an average of A- in the final two years of coursework (upper level coursework).
PhD: an average of at least B+ assessed at the University of Toronto equivalent or demonstrated comparable research competence.

Please refer to the International Degree Equivalencies Tool to calculate the University of Toronto equivalent GPA.

Letters of Reference

You will be required to enter information for 3 referees from instructors or research supervisors who are able to to comment in detail about your research experience, ability, and potential to engage in doctoral level research. This should be someone who is familiar enough with you to assess this and be able to provide clear examples.

It is recommended that you confirm your referees’ availability to provide a reference prior to submitting their contact details. Letters of reference are confidential and applicants will not have access to them.

Once you have submitted the referees contact details, they will automatically receive a notification email that they have been requested to complete a reference for your application along with a submission link. Please enter your referee info as soon as practicable in the application process in order that they receive the request well in advance of the admissions deadline.

Note that you are required to use institutional email addresses for your referee contact. Please contact the Graduate Office if the institution utilizes Gmail or the like as the official email address, or if you need to correct, update or change referee information.

Please follow up with your referees to make sure that they have received the request. They should check their spam mail folders for the reference request if they have not received it. You are able to resend an applicant reference request to a referee after you have submitted the application.

Transcript(s)

Electronic materials to include scanned official transcripts or student issued academic records are sufficient for the admissions review process. You will only be required to submit official transcript(s) if you receive an admissions offer. The offer will be conditional on verification of the official transcript(s).

The transcript(s) must be up to date and contain the legend, key, or evaluation scale. This is the information provided on the transcript on how to interpret grading systems, symbols, terminology, etc. (usually printed on the back of a paper transcript). If this isn’t directly available on the transcript, please include the academic institution’s grading scale. (This information can usually be found on your Registrar’s website).

An official English translation must accompany all documentation not written in English or French.

The online system also requires that each transcript, inclusive of legend, be uploaded as a single PDF file, use your browser’s “print to pdf” function (and not a screenshot). Please be sure that each transcript file is complete and readable before submitting.

Research Statement

If you want to be considered for the Dunlap Graduate Fellowship in Instrumentation, please indicate this in your research statement

Publication List/Research Contributions or Curriculum Vitae

If applicable, you should provide a list of publications and research contributions (e.g. scholarly publication, conference presentations, and other evidence of scholarly activities; please differentiate between refereed and non-refereed publications) on a curriculum vitae.

Graduate Record Examination

The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is not accepted.

English Language Proficiency Requirement

Applicants educated outside of Canada should ensure that they have met the English language proficiency requirement. For full details, please refer to the English language proficiency section.

If you have graduated (or will) from a university/college where the language of instruction and assessment is in English, you are exempt from English language tests. Usually, we can verify this from your transcript. If not, we will only request a letter of proof if you are admitted.