admissions - askastudent

admissions,  applying for U of T,  competition,  GPA,  life science,  u of tears

the early bird catches the… admission?

January 21, 2026

hi! I’m referring to U of T St. George and planning to apply to Life Sciences for Fall 2027 through early admission. In general terms, what would be considered a super safe bet academically for early admission, without discussing personal grades or chances? I’m trying to understand overall competitiveness. Also, I’ve heard a rumour that Life Sciences at U of T tends to result in lower GPAs than other universities due to program difficulty and grading. Is that accurate or a misconception? Thanks!

heyyo,

what is with all the life sci kids asking questions these days? i guess you guys just really love aska. don’t worry, i love you too.

the thing is that early admission doesn’t really exist at uoft, at least in the sense it does at other unis — for one, you only apply once, not separately for “early” and regular admissions. in fact uoft sends its first round of acceptances in february, later than most ontario unis (it was the last one i got!). february is the earliest i recall seeing for first round of admissions, though the website says they can come out as early as late january.

soooo “early admission” at uoft basically just means you might get your acceptance about a month before most people, who get admissions in march-may. now if getting in january/february is what you want, you’ll have to apply earlier too. this year the deadline to be considered for that first round was november 7th. if you miss it, welp, no “early admission,” but as long as you apply by the final deadline, you’ll be considered for all the other rounds!

for life sci mid-high 80s is the admission range, so you’d probably wanna be on the higher end of that (or even higher) if you want in on the first round.

and yes, trust me, i am very much aware of the rumours. i’m not in life sci so tragically i can’t give you my personal experience, but i’ve heard varying things from different people. some are able to get really high gpas and others don’t. maybe the ratio is a bit different than other unis? i’m not sure. some stats prof should assign their students a project to figure that one out for us.

but what i can say is that lots and lots and lots of people have gone from uoft life sci undergrads to phds and med schools (either at uoft or other unis)! it’s absolutely not impossible to do well.

i’m sorry i couldn’t fully confirm or deny your question about the rumours, but i hope this still helped! best of luck applying next year!

cheers,

aska

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admissions, arts & sciences, getting into U of T, life science, UTSC

there’s two of them?!

January 14, 2026

hello! I’m a grade 10 student who wants to attend either campus (UofT or UTSC) to study biochemistry. I’m a pretty average student (70s-80s) but am trying to improve and want to know if doing SHSM, Co-Op and passion projects actually make a difference in my chance of being accepted? Thank you!

heyyo,

soooo i fear you may have a doppelganger, because literally the last ask i got was ANOTHER grade 10 wanting to go to utsg or utsc for life sciencey stuff, getting grades in the 80s, and wondering about ecs.

am i in groundhog day? are you the same person?

hey, i thought i’m the one who’s supposed to answer questions, not ask them…

well i guess it doesn’t matter if you’re the last person’s doppelganger or were, like, twins in your past life, because as aska it is of course my obligation to answer your question… you may also wanna check out my answer to your doppelganger’s question, though.

the rundown of that post is that ecs basically don’t matter for admission into either utsc or utsg (downtown campus, what im assuming you mean by uoft). utsg life sci is looking for high 80s average, utsc is mid-high 70s.

as for shsm and co-op, as with ecs, neither of them matter. one thing to keep in mind though is that the co-op portion of courses are not considered for admissions (aka it won’t hurt you to take them, but those grades aren’t factored in). so make sure you have 6 other grade 12 courses besides your co-op if you take it

however if you’re interested in either of them i’d say go for it! while they may not make a difference for admissions, they could be super valuable for a) helping you figure out if you’re interested in a field and b) for securing volunteer/work positions in the future. you never know what doors that might open up!

hope that helped, my doppelganger friend!!

cheers,

aska

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admissions, arts & sciences, getting into U of T, life science, UTSC

my passion project? passing my classes

January 3, 2026

I’m a Grade 10 student with an 80s average and I wanna get into UofT or UTSC and major in something like medical science. However, I am not in ANY clubs or anything and have done basically nothing outside of passing my classes. Do passion projects really matter for UofT acceptance? What can I even do now I’m sorry

heyyo,

no need to apologize, questions are literally what i’m here for. and i mean literally. that’s kinda the whole point of my life, actually.

and i have more good news for you: you have absolutely no reason to worry about not doing any clubs or ecs in high school. this is because at uoft, the programs most people interested in med sci apply to (life sci at utsg or life sci/health sci at utsc), only require grades. yippee!

your average is in a pretty solid place right now, too, since utsg life sci is looking for a mid-high 80s average. both life sci and health sci at utsc want you to aim for mid-high 70s. so no, passion projects do not matter for the kinda programs you’d probably be interested in. unless your passion project is, as you say, passing your classes, which is a pretty important project i guess.

for right now just focus on keeping your grades consistent, around mid-high 80s for utsg. since you’re only in grade 10, you don’t have to worry about your grades this year, as uoft only looks at grade 11 and 12 marks. while it’s great to get into good study habits early, and ecs could open doors to job opportunities later on, you can mostly chillax for now and focus on the totally valid passion projects of hanging out with your friends and doomscrolling. oh, and passing your classes.

cheers,

aska

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admissions, internal transfer, mental health

who doesn’t love filling out forms?

December 24, 2025

Hi I’m a student at UTSC looking to do an internal transfer to UTSG. My question is how does CGPA reflect based on extenuating circumstances? To put it short, I was doing well in my first semester and ended with a 3.2 GPA. But, second semester, disaster and outside influence tanked my GPA in which I had to go to counseling for. But then during summer I got a 3.3 again. But my cumulative is a 2.5, 0.2 short off the bare minimum. Can I still apply as an internal transfer and what should I do?

heyyo,

first of all, i’m sorry that you had to go through what you did last year. and you should be really proud of what you accomplished in the summer despite that!

now as you mentioned, yes, you do need at least a 2.7 cgpa to transfer from utsc to utsg. however, the good news is that, like all applicants, you can fill out a snazzy little form called a request for special consideration. so basically, in your join uoft portal, you should see a section where you can find the form. you’ll be able to explain your circumstances so that the admissions team knows what’s up! and as a little bird told me (who happens to be more than a little qualified on the matter), admissions teams do look closely at these forms and they can play a big part in admission decisions.

also, my own two cents here, but i think since you’re already quite close to the minimum gpa, you may be in a good position. especially since you’re on an upward trajectory!

another thing i have a bit of insider knowledge on is that you may get your offer a bit later than some other applicants (think may/june) because admissions wants your final grades to come in. however the good news is that, if you get a late offer, it will most likely NOT be conditional! so, one less thing to worry about.

one last thing i wanna mention is that, while i know you were going to counselling last year, if you ever do feel that you’d like to talk to someone again there’s a lot of stuff available for uoft students that a lot of people don’t know about. if you haven’t used it before there’s a huge list of resources on the main mental health site. you can also check out same- or next-day counselling if you’re downtown, or there’s a free hotline just for students. and you could take a look at the utsc-specific site! there’s a ton of places and people out there that you can turn to if you need it.

i wish you the best of luck with your application!! you got this.

cheers,

aska

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admissions, applying for U of T, summer

this news is good news

December 14, 2025

Hi!! i’m a gr 11 right now and i’ve never been good at english and it brings down my top 6 (i wanna get into life sci). if i take english in summer school, would uoft view my english mark as an inflated one? (St. George Campus!)

heyyo,

yippee it’s awesome you’re already considering coming to uoft!

you’re totally not alone with english bringing your average down, so many people in my high school who were aiming for some super competitive stem programs also had the same conundrum.

the good news is that uoft doesn’t care where you take your classes, as long as they’re through a ministry approved school. if the summer school course you wanna take is through your regular school/board OR an online accredited platform, you have nothing to worry about!

the sky is falling, hold onto your socks because the good news doesn’t end there: uoft also doesn’t consider grade inflation. well, i guess that’s not good news to everyone… but in your case, it means that even if your summer course is perhaps a little bit easier than it would be during the normal school year, it won’t affect your chances.

so…. yay! good news on all fronts i think. just make sure that if you decide to take english during the summer, do it during this upcoming year (NOT the summer after grade 12). uoft requires you to have completed or be registered in all your prereqs by admission.

good luck and try not to let hamlet ruin your summer vacation.

cheers,

aska

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admissions,  applying for U of T,  getting into U of T,  life science

running to labs vs running drills

October 28, 2025

hi aska,

i’m a current grade 12 student in ontario and i would consider myself to be a pretty good student (taking all APs, usually get pretty good grades, on top of homework, etc. etc.). however, i also play volleyball and it definitely does affect my ability to actually focus on certain subjects, of which i have found mostly to be math.

i’m applying to uoft life science (first choice on OUAC, i REALLY want to get in) and i’m a bit scared because i’m not doing very well in data management (current average after 2 quizzes + a test is 81), and i know it’s not a prereq but i’m still worried.  for context, my overall grade 11 average last year was a 91% (including fast-tracked comp sci and advanced functions).  i got a 97 in G11 AP English, 92 in G11 functions, 89 in G11 AP Bio, 87 in G11 chemistry, 87 in advanced functions, and 90 in G12 comp sci.

starting out this semester, i have bio and english, and i think i can project myself doing pretty well in those.

so, my question is: what is the likelihood of someone with my grades getting into uoft life science? what would be an average i should aim for? how can i ensure i get into uoft?

should i just apply to rmc at this point ?

Thanks!

heyyo,

wellllll I’ve never been to rmc and don’t know anyone who goes there, but im willing to guess that life at utsg life sci is quite a bit different than at rmc. for instance, i have yet to hear of a life sci student who has been forced to do obstacle courses at 7am in order to get their degree. but hey, maybe i just haven’t talked to enough life sci kids yet…

to answer your actual questions though:

the recommended average for life sci admission varies depending on the campus. that’s right, you can take life sci at all three uoft campuses. I don’t know which one you’re at (guys, PLEASE tell me what campus you’re talking about!!), so i took the liberty of doing a bit of research for all of them. so generous, i know.

at utsg (the downtown campus), the approx admission range is mid to high 80s. at utsc it depends on the specific programs you’d wanna do but they’re mostly mid-high 70s, and at utm there’s no grade requirements for life sci specifically but the general requirement is an average of 75%. so i’ll let you make assumptions about that.

also, a quick side note in case you didn’t know about it already: some programs within the life sciences category require certain classes in high school. i would very very very much highly recommend that you look through all the programs listed in the table on this website to make sure you’re taking the classes you’ll need to get into any programs you might be into. there’d be nothing worse than wanting to apply to, like, the pharmaceutical chemistry program but oops! you didn’t take grade 12 physics.

thank me later.

so as for how you can ensure that you get in — life sci is a grades-only admission category, so really the best thing you can do is maintain your good grades.

now as for balancing school with volleyball, it’s of my personal opinion that having something fun outside of academics is almost always a good thing. i think it boosts your mood, can prevent burnout, and if it’s a team sport like what you’re doing it can keep up your social relationships. i mean, if i didn’t have a life outside of academics, i wouldn’t be writing to you right now. and how sad would that be?

however, if you find that it’s really distracting you and having a negative impact on your schoolwork, talk to your guidance counselor and/or coach to see what you can figure out together. if you really feel like you need a bit of a break from volleyball you could try telling your coach, but i would personally never recommend fully dropping out of a sport or ec that makes you happy unless your academics are in really dire straits. which yours are not!

keep up your great work so far, and best of luck with your application! i hope you’ll be running to your labs at uoft this time next year, and not running drills at rmc (unless you decide you’re into that).

cheers,

aska

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admissions, applying for U of T, engineering, getting into U of T

entering the hallowed halls

October 15, 2025

Hello, I have a question. I’m currently a gr 11 student. i didn’t really care about my grades or study at all. I have an 80 average I know won’t cut it for university. I want to go to UofT Mechanical Engineering. I have amazing ecs, 500+ hours volunteer, intern 4 months, DECA 4 years, STEM 2 years. I can easily get 97+ in gr 12 but I’ve been told they look at gr 11 for consistency which I don’t have so I’m unsure if I can make it in.

heyyo,

i’m far from an expert on engineering admissions but luckily for both me and you, there is a LOT of info about them online. plenty from official sources (check out the ones i link for you!), or, if you are so inclined, you can enter the hallowed halls of reddit to read about the experiences of the applicants before you.

oh, and there’s quite a bit on the lovely site you’re already on, too (shameless self-advertising, i know i know).

anyways, for now i will save you a bit of time sorting through all that info and give you the important stuff:

so i’m gonna assume that you’re an ontario high school student. if you’re out of province but in canada, see here for the requirements. if you’re international, check here.

now if you are indeed a student in ontario, according to the admission faqs, you need to have an average of about high 80s to low 90s to be competitive for mechanical engineering. it’s important to note that when grade 12 final marks aren’t available yet, admissions will look at your grade 11 prerequisites to help calculate your average. they also consider your individual grade 11 and 12 courses along with the average.

you’re right that extracurriculars are important for engineering admissions. according to the admission faqs, you’ll have a chance to write about your experiences and submit a personal profile. part of that personal profile involves recording yourself answering questions. i do believe that there are workshops that can help you prep for that part of your application, but i couldn’t find any available at the moment. i did, however, find a site which lists some upcoming events for hopeful engineers. keep your eyes peeled!

my advice for what you can do right now is to start getting some help from teachers and guidance counselors. ask your teachers for more feedback so you know what skills you can work on. and my friend, i am very sorry to be the one to inform you of this tragedy, but if you wanna go to uoft, you will have to start studying.

i know, i know, it’s all quite upsetting. but you can start now by doing some research on study tips (there’s SO MUCH out there, google is your friend), and asking your guidance counselor if you want some more personalized advice.

and one last thing: 100% keep aiming for mech eng, but there are also other programs at uoft (and at other unis, forgive me for being a bit traitorous) that you would probably find cool too! check out all of the programs that the math and physical sciences admission category at uoft’s st george campus can lead you to, or browse more options at uoft’s mississauga and scarborough campuses. oh, and there’s always the other programs within the faculty of engineering.

best of luck with applying to uoft next year! enjoy the rest of high school!!

cheers,

aska

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admissions, applying for U of T, engineering, extracurricular, grades

it’s brutal out here

July 14, 2025
hey, im an extremely extremely average student. grades are always in 70s or 80s. I’m in grade 10, I’m really interested in both uoft’s st George campus and Scarborough for civil engineering and computer engineering.

but as you know.. my grades wont really cut that.

i know grade 11 grades r the *most* important. how much will my extra-curriculars matter? (next year / gr11) and how do I go from this to a 90s student? I’m worried I’m wasting my time and not using my full potential but I don’t know how to get to that level lol.

thank you.

hey there,

well, you’re right. grade 11 and 12 marks are the most important for university admissions. so it’s great that you’re thinking ahead about how you can do your best in school during these next years!

you said you’re interested in the st. george and scarborough campus engineering programs.

ok. let’s hit the basics first. you can find all the info about engineering admission requirements at U of T here. in short, they will base your admission on the average of six grade 12 level courses:
- english
- calculus and vectors
- chemistry
- physics
- advanced functions
- one other academic course (will take the course with the highest mark)
BUT, most of the time when you send in your application, your grade 12 marks might not be out yet. in that case, they will calculate your admission average using the grade 11 equivalents of those courses.

so your best bet is to focus your energy on those ^ subjects during both grade 11 and 12.

based on the engineering admissions reports from 2023 and from 2024, the mean of admission averages is in the mid 90’s. geez, the competition is brutal.

keep in mind though, that’s just the mean. not everyone who was admitted was in the mid 90’s.

we, however, are special and do want to be in the mid 90’s. so how do you lock in and become a 90’s student, you ask? hmmm. honestly, i’m not sure i can tell you anything you haven’t already heard before, without knowing about your study habits or specific issues you’ve been having.

i feel like the main thing people struggle with these days is just time management and planning how you’ll spend your time prepping for assessments. procrastination is really a grade killer, man. (if you wanted specific advice to help with it, check out this other post i made.)

usually, the student mentor side of me would point you towards the vast resources that U of T offers for its students. but, since you’re still in high school, i’m not sure what your situation is. if possible, i think a good course of action is to look into learning strategies, or study counsellors — whatever resources your high school might provide. sure, it might feel like dork behavior, but you have nothing to lose. best case scenario, it actually helps you develop good study haits, and you get into U of T! yippeee.

but if you don’t have any study-help resources available to you, you are not powerless!! the best thing you can do is be aware of what works and doesn’t work for yourself, and react accordingly. you know? like, if your night study sessions are not that effective, try studying in the early morning instead! try different things out and see what sticks.

meanwhile, bro to bro, my alternative advice would be to befriend the top student in each of your classes. they can be really good at explaining things and it makes them feel good about themselves. like, let’s be real, having the smart kid’s help is a tried and true way to boost your grades in a pinch. and don’t worry, it’s not a parasitic relationship, because you’ll boost their ego! *whips around* who said that…

anyways, real advice and silly advice aside. let’s talk extracurriculars! how much will they matter?

well, unlike most programs, extracurriculars do matter quite a bit for engineering applicants. U of T wants to see that incoming engineering students have strengths outside of the classroom. i guess we’re trying to beat the all-engineering-students-are-sunlight-deprived-allegations.

you’ll be able to show your extracurricular activities through the online student profile, which is a supplementary application you send in after you’ve submitted your OUAC application. with this, they’ll be most interested in activities that show your “leadership, dedication, and overall excellence”. the good thing is that your activities do not need to be engineering related. for example, they can include student clubs, volunteering, arts, athletics, community involvement, or paid employment.

on top of that, you’ll also submit a “personal profile”, which includes some timed written and video responses. these will apparently help U of T “get to know you as a person”, and are mainly meant to assess your communication skills.

and, yeah! that’s kinda an overview of what U of T asks for in engineering applications. the short story is that grade 11 and 12 marks matter the most, and extracurriculars do matter quite a bit. overall, all you can do is your best! you’ve already got a great start by asking the right questions and wanting to improve.

i hope i gave somewhat useful and sensical information here lol. wishing you good luck in all your endeavours! i believe in you <3

over and out,

aska
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admissions, applying for U of T, summer

mmm, refreshing!

July 7, 2025

Hi thanks for answering our questions ur a life saver, so my question is will me taking courses over the summer affect my ability to get into Uoft st.george or UTSC for general science or human biology, my grade 11 mark for chemistry wasn’t very competitive so I decided to take grade 12 through the summer so I can focus on the course one on one, also the course wasn’t available through the TDSB so I was recommended to take it through the TCDSB I hope it doesn’t make a difference, Thank you again for your help!!

hey there,

aw you’re sweet! thanks for the thanks :)))

and, have i got great news for you!

taking courses over the summer will definitely not affect your acceptance. U of T doesn’t actually care when you take your courses, whether it’s summer or during the school year, it’s all the same to them.

you said you’ve decided to take chemistry during the summer so that you could commit more focus to it. that sounds like a really great decision to me.

taking grade 12 chemistry during the summer also means that your final chemistry marks will be out by the time you apply to U of T. this is good because it means they will focus less on your grade 11 marks if they have access to your grade 12 marks! for context, usually, U of T puts focus on grade 11 marks during application season because most people’s grade 12 final marks aren’t released yet. basically, having your grade 12 chem mark released is a good thing for you, if your grade 11 mark is not competitive.

you also said you’re taking the course with the toronto catholic district school board instead of the toronto district school board. i can see why you might be concerned, but i’m quite sure that will not make a difference on your application — they’ll mainly just pay attention to your mark, not where you took the course.

yeah, all i see is some good decision making and good planning. wow, we love to see it. refreshing! (this is not a subtweet at anyone else, i promissse.)

sending you the bestest luck for chem 12 and your grade 12 year!!

over and out,

aska

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admissions, prereqs, rotman

i’m an ap calculus hater

May 31, 2025
So I recently got accepted into UofT into their Rotman Commerce Program. The thing is, this was stated in my terms and conditions (conditional offer):”Maintain your current academic standing, particularly in any prerequisite subjects for the admission category to which you have been admitted, and graduate. If you have already completed your studies, ensure your official results are submitted.” Does this mean I have to submit my AP Calc results?

hey there,

huge congrats on your acceptance to rotman!!! conditional or not, that is a big deal and i hope you are being celebrated. if not, this is me celebrating you. YIPPEEE!!! YAYYY!! YAHOOO!!!

ok party’s over. now to your question.

hmm, AP calculus is not necessarily a pre-requisite for rotman admissions. but i know that calculus & vectors (MCV4U) or an equivalent course is required. so i’d say..
1. if you took a different grade 12 level calculus course, you probably don’t need to submit your AP calc results.
2. if AP calc was how you fulfilled the calculus & vectors (MCV4U) requirement, you should submit your AP calc results.
if this was any other AP course, i’d say either way, you should probably just submit your AP scores for the sake of getting a transfer credit. i remember having to do this manually — ie. the AP college board will not just automatically send your scores to your university.

basically, once your scores are available in early july, you just go to the AP website and submit them using U of T’s code, 0982. as long as you submit by the end of august, you’d automatically have a transfer credit show up in your transcript, assuming your AP exam mark is at least a 4.

BUT, the thing about U of T is that they don’t actually accept AP calc for transfer credits. (this made me soooo mad in grade 12.)

so if you were to submit your AP calc marks, it would only be to show them your final grade.

anyways. in short, i’d recommend you should definitely submit your AP calc marks if that was your fulfilment of the MCV4U requirement. however, if you fulfilled the requirement with another calc course, you still could submit the AP calc scores, because AP calc is technically a course that will show up on your grade 12 transcript and U of T might want to know your final score.

regardless of whether it’s a required pre-requisite for you or not, i don’t think it hurts to submit your AP calc scores to U of T.

finally, just to preface!! i am just a student, not an admissions officer. so as much as i hate to admit it, there is a chance what i’m telling you is not completely accurate. if you want an answer that is 100% true, i’d suggest checking out some of the contacts on this page. or, email the rotman registrar at ro@rotman.utoronto.ca. i don’t wanna lead you astray 🙁

good luck with everything!

over and out,

aska
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admissions, engineering, scholarships/bursaries

yess internet, give us nothing!

May 21, 2025

hi aska! i’m a gr 12 student accepted to utsg engineering, and i searched for engineering admission scholarships requiring applications on the uoft award explorer. when i clicked apply, some of the application links (like for the Albert and Rose Jong Entrance Scholarship) lead to this page saying: ‘The University Registrar’s Office is making changes to the process for 2023-24. Updates will be available shortly. Stay tuned!’ do you know how/if i can apply for them? thank you!

hey there,

that is weird. but, also unsurprising. i see this happen way too often with U of T websites. in fact, i encountered the same problem last year when i was looking for scholarships in my program.

and ok i see what you mean. i just went to the award explorer and it led me to that same out-of-date page you saw!

well, i spent over an hour searching for answers to your question and i hope you’re hungry, cause i came up with…

a whole bunch of nothing! 😀

i could not for the life of me find a working application link to those awards. which is weird, because if they’re listed on the award explorer, i’m pretty sure you should be able to apply to them….

so even if i can’t figure out the exact answers to your questions, i will not leave you starving. here’s my advice on where to go from here:

honestly, if the “apply” link keeps leading to this out-of-date page, i would just recommend that you directly email the faculty offering the award and ask about whether you’re able to apply. tell them the same thing you told me. tell them that the links aren’t working, and specify that you’re interested in engineering admission scholarships requiring applications.

in general, if you have questions about a scholarship that can’t be answered on the info page, don’t be afraid to reach out directly to the faculty offering the scholarship.

that’s exactly what i did last year when i couldn’t figure out how to apply to some scholarships — i just went directly to the people in charge. and they got back to me within a week and very kindly answered all my questions!

so if you balk at hearing “email them” like i do, let me tell you, do not be scared. it’s actually so very chill! and if you ask me, it’s the faculty’s job to make its award application process clear for applicants. if students can’t find their award applications in an accessible or easy way, that’s on them.

but exactly who should you contact, you ask?

well, i can see that engineering admissions award links offered by both the university’s registrar office and the faculty of engineering are leading to that same page. so i guess you could contact either of them. but, honestly i’ve never tried contacting the university’s registrar office so i’m not sure how fast their response time would be. they’re the main office for the whole university, and they might receive a higher volume of emails than other registrar offices.

so what i’d recommend you do is contact the engineering registrar, since you might have a better chance of them getting back to you quickly. plus, now that you’ve been admitted, you are one of the students that they are in charge of helping!

here is the link to the emails and contact information of people in the faculty of engineering. don’t worry, i know there are a whole lot of people and emails on that page — so to help you narrow it down, the emails i’d recommend you contact are either the “awards and honors” person, or the undergrad admissions email: admissions@engineering.utoronto.ca , or the main registrar email: registrar@engineering.utoronto.ca .

and yeah, i hope this somewhat helps? sorry i couldn’t give you a better answer :((( the internet fails me sometimes.

over and out,

aska

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admissions, Transferring, UTSC

who plants flowers in a sandbox

May 16, 2025

First year uni transfer student here. I was curious what UTSC actually cares about when looking at transfer students? Is it the cgpa (x/4) or my last years average (xx%)? Also I was just curious what the status update from “application under review” to “application under review by faculty/division” meant… is there even a difference or have my hopes been squandered like a flower in a child’s sandbox?.

P.s. thank you aska!!!

hey there,

thank you for the thank you!

so no, i don’t think your hopes have been squandered like a flower in a child’s sandbox, though i rock with the way you put that. i think your hopes still have a chance at life! don’t you dare let anyone kill them.

in fact, let me pull out my nonexistent CPR skills and revive them, right here, right now.

because there is still hope for your application. the status update from “application under review” to “application under review by faculty/division” basically means that your application is moving through the system. so now, it’s under review by the faculty you applied for — and that is good news! yippee.

but what does UTSC look for when reviewing your application?

officially, they say here that they look at your complete academic record, with more emphasis on your most recent year of full-time study. they also say they look at both your academic and non-academic credentials, depending on your program.

but honestly i’m not sure if they look at your cgpa or your percent average. i’d say it’s safer to assume that they’ll look at both? all they actually tell us is that they look at your complete academic record — there’s nothing i can find that gets more specific than that.

beyond that, they will likely look closest at relevant subjects for the program you’re applying for. this might mean they even look at some of your high school marks, if you didn’t take anything on the subject in uni. for example, if you applied to statistics, they would probably pay the most attention to any calculus and functions courses that you’ve taken, whether that be in high school or first year university.

finally if you’re worried because you’re still waiting to hear a response right now, just know that the people reviewing your application might still be waiting to receive your final marks from this past uni semester. the semester did just end, and not everyone’s marks are out yet.

so not all hope is lost! according to this page, decision letters go out from january to may, and the month of may is not over yet.

anyways, good luck with everything, my friend. hope you enjoyed my live demonstration of CPR.

over and out,

aska

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admissions, hard

the waiting game

May 9, 2025

I’ve completed my application in January and I have received multiple emails from uoft admissions (probably more than 40 emails have been sent back-and-forth between us), yet I have not been admitted and it is now April and I already understand why people called the school uoftears. I already have hair loss before even entering the school.
Like bro if you’re gonna reject me just say it already.
No need to ghost me to make me like you more or smth.
Also if you’re in the admission team and you see this please let me in.

hey there,

dangg i’m sorry that’s happening!! i know this season is already such a hard time for high school applicants, and what you described sounds so stressful 🙁

i hate to let a homie down, but i’m not actually working on the admissions team. i’m just a student! (albeit a super duper cool one who knows a lot of things about the university). so even if i wanted to, i can’t let you in. (unless i went rogue, became a supervillain and hacked the system idk).

but while i don’t have the super-hacking powers to let you in myself, i can tell you some things that might help ease the uncertainty.

based on what you’ve said it seems to me like there is good news: and it’s that you haven’t been rejected. U of T will clearly and formally tell you if you have been rejected, so if you haven’t received a rejection letter, there is still hope for you to get in. U of T will not just ghost you.

i also know that acceptance/rejection letters are still going out right now, and can even come out as far as in late may, according to this future U of T page. in fact, admission decisions can be sent out late for any number of reasons. for example, depending on your program, they might just be reviewing supplemental information, or even waiting for relevant midterm/interim grades to come out.

the point is, decisions are still being made right now, and you can still be considered in the next round of admission decisions.

however, i know that waiting this long for your admission decision can be quite stressful and hard. just know that your worth is not tied to the university’s timeline or decision! and in the meantime, please be kind to yourself. you’ve already done the hard work, now we’ve just got to sit tight and wait.

wishing you good vibes, good luck, and sunshine-filled mornings. you’ve got this!

over and out,

aska

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