University of Toronto

The University of Toronto is a public research university founded in 1827 and is the largest university in Canada by enrolment. It teaches across three campuses — St. George in downtown Toronto, along with Mississauga and Scarborough — and each campus runs its own admissions and its own version of several programmes, so applicants choose a campus as deliberately as they choose a subject.

Its research output is what the institution is best known for internationally, particularly in medicine, computer science, engineering and the life sciences. Insulin was isolated here, and the university has been a significant centre for machine learning research for decades.

Undergraduate teaching is organised through faculties and colleges. The colleges handle residence, advising and student life; the faculties handle the degree. Understanding which of the two a question belongs to saves a first-year student a great deal of time.

Requirements are set by faculty and by campus, and the competitive subjects sit well above the published minimum.

• Completed Class 12 or equivalent for undergraduate entry, with the specific subjects the programme prerequisites call for — mathematics and sciences for engineering and computer science, for example.
• A recognised four-year bachelor's degree for most graduate programmes, with a strong standing in the final years of study.
• Proof of English proficiency through IELTS, TOEFL or one of the other tests the university lists, unless you qualify for an exemption.
• A statement of interest and, for graduate study, academic references and often a research proposal.
• Supplementary applications for certain programmes, which may include written responses or a video component and have their own earlier deadline.

Confirm the requirement for your programme and campus on the university's own admissions pages before you build an application around it.

Toronto publishes fees per programme and per campus rather than as one university-wide figure, and the spread between programmes is wide enough that a general number would mislead almost everyone.

• Programme, not institution, sets the fee. An arts and science degree, engineering, and a professional master's are charged very differently.
• International rates differ substantially from domestic ones, and the international fee is the one that applies unless you hold Canadian status.
• Ancillary and incidental fees are separate — student society levies, health and dental plans, athletics and transit passes. They are compulsory and they are not in the headline tuition figure.
• The university publishes a cost of attendance alongside the fee schedule, which adds an estimate for accommodation, food and books. That total is the number to budget against.
• Fees can rise between years of study, so a four-year degree should be budgeted with that in mind rather than at the first-year rate.

Work from Toronto's published fee schedule and cost of attendance for your campus and programme for your specific programme and year of entry — it is the only figure that will be correct for you, and it is republished every year. We will confirm the current cost and what it includes before you commit to an application.

Funding at Toronto is spread across the university, its colleges and its individual faculties, which means there is rarely one place to look. Entrance awards for international undergraduates are decided from the admission application at the university level, while the colleges and the faculties run further awards of their own with separate criteria.

• Entrance scholarships — merit-based and considered from the admission application, with the most substantial awards highly competitive.
• College and faculty awards — administered separately from the central awards, and easy to miss for exactly that reason.
• Graduate funding packages — research students are commonly supported through a combination of funding, teaching and research work arranged with the department.
• Needs-based support — available in defined circumstances, with eligibility published by the university.

Award deadlines here generally fall earlier than the course deadline, and several close before the admission decision is made. Applying to the programme early is what keeps the funding options open.

Three campuses with genuinely different characters, so which one your programme sits on shapes the experience more than the university name does.

• St. George is an urban campus threaded through downtown Toronto — student life runs into the city rather than sitting apart from it.
• Mississauga and Scarborough are more contained, greener and quieter, with their own libraries, athletic centres and residences.
• Hundreds of recognised student groups and a large athletics programme, including intramural sport open to anyone.
• Long-established international student services — orientation, immigration advising and health insurance guidance.
• Residence is guaranteed for many first-year students who apply on time; shared housing off campus is the norm afterwards, and Toronto rents are high.

Accommodation is the thing to sort out early. First-year residence has an application deadline of its own, and missing it means competing in one of Canada's most expensive rental markets.