getting into U of T - askastudent

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

Read More

aska No Comments
getting into U of T,  prereqs,  programs,  psychology

timetable builder my beloved

November 17, 2025

hi aska!

thank you so much for answering my question 🙂 (i’m the social sciences applicant who’s interested in psych)

your answer did raise some more questions for me though. will it be difficult to get into the prereq courses i need to apply for a psych major because of my admission stream?

i’ve heard that psych is a ridiculously popular program and they give priority to life sci students.

heyyo,

oh my goodness hi hello, i always love a returning customer!!!!

let’s look at your first question first: will it be difficult to get into the prereqs for the psychology major?

now looking at the website tells me that the only prerequisites for the psychology major are grade 12 calculus, grade 12 biology, and the first-year course PSY100. so unless your school has, like, five million people and only three calculus and biology classes, i think you should be good for 2/3 of those.

as for PSY100, i have more good news for you, because as it turns out PSY100 is one of the biggest classes in terms of enrolment numbers at uoft! if you take a look at this nifty tool called the timetable builder (my beloved), put in the faculty (arts and science), and type “PSY100” in the course code bar, we can see that the current PSY100 class this semester was capped at 1500 people, and there’s still 191 spots available. yowza. next semester there are TWO classes running, one with 500 people that’s filled up and one with 1500 that still has 446 available as i’m writing this.

the one catch to all that is that PSY100 has “P” enrollment controls. what on earth does that mean, you ask? well, if we look into the course itself on timetable builder we can see that certain students had priority enrollment until july 23 this year, and all other students in the faculty of arts and science could enroll starting on july 25. i believe that those with priority were first years in the life sci admission stream. we can see here that this year, first years enrolled in their courses on july 17, so life sci kids had an extra 6 days over everyone else.

that may seem a bit scary, but… there are still hundreds of spots left in both semester’s courses, and it’s november! i think you should be fine getting into PSY100.

as for getting to the PROGRAM, i scoured the internet literally everywhere i could think of and i didn’t see anything that says being in the life sci admission stream is an advantage to getting into the program. the only way i can see that being true is because that stream gives you priority to PSY100, but as we already found, i don’t think you’d have to worry about that. while this site does tell applicants to apply to the life sci stream, i think it’s just cause you’d get priority to PSY100. you can enroll in programs outside your admission stream. so as long as you have the prereqs and your grades are in the right range (check that out here!), you should be just as competitive as any applicants who came from the life sci stream.

i hope this helped answer some of the stuff i didn’t get to last time! i wish you the absolute best in grade 12 and hopefully we’ll see you in psych classes in a few years!

cheers,

aska

Read More

aska No Comments
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

Read More

aska No Comments
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

Read More

aska No Comments
admissions, applying for U of T, art, getting into U of T, keeners, Uncategorized

let me in already

February 12, 2019

Hi oki so im in grade 12 and i applied for the art and art history course around a month ago, but all of my friends who applied to different colleges and universities are now getting acceptances, so like I guess my question is is how long does it take for the applications to be reviewed and to get a response? Cause all I have so far is a letter saying “thanks for applying” and a “pending review” so I’m kind of worried.

——————————————

hey hey!

i’m assuming you applied to UTM, yeah? or at least i can only find one art & art history program, which is a joint one with sheridan. two schools for the same buck. and they’re both sane campuses that close when the godforsaken floodgates of heaven decide to open and turn toronto into the depths of siberia.

mmmm, utsg can’t relate. i want a snow day that doesn’t begin in the late afternoon. but i digress.

when you’ll hear back from u of t depends on where you’re attending school right now! if you’re from ontario, the UTM website indicates that there are three rounds of offers in february, march, and may.

however, if you attend school elsewhere– whether that’s in canada or otherwise– admission looks a little different. officially the rounds are the same, but some decisions are released as early as january, which is before the february document deadline. so for some reason if you wait til the deadline to send your documents in, they probably won’t consider you til the last round in may.

if it’s not the UTM program you went for and you mean the st. george art history program, that falls under the faculty of arts and science so the timeline should be about the same.

nothing to worry about, is the bottom line. it’s only halfway through february, so really the first round of admissions have only just begun. obviously i have no idea how long it’ll take the school to review your specific application. they’re sorting through piles of stuff right now, and i bet they wish they could get through it faster, too.

man, i remember how long it could feel, waiting to hear back when it seemed everyone else was already getting news from their schools. hang in there. your time will come.

over n out,

aska

Read More

aska No Comments
admissions, enrollment, getting into U of T, international students

which curriculum though?

December 8, 2016

Hi, first I would really really be happy if you could answer my question
and help me find a solution to my problem… I really appreciate the
efforts you do to help clueless students like me.

I am a 12 grader high school student living in Saudi Arabia and I’m
currently studying in a Saudi

-supervised American Diploma school section where I study both Saudi and US
subjects. MY PROBLEM IS, I don’t know which system requirement should I
follow. I checked the requirement for US system and they just require too
much.. (2 SAT subject test, SAT, IELTS+)

I can’t do all of that before the deadline of 1 Feb 2017! In my country
people start applying in summer after graduation and not during school. ????
However the Saudi curriculum requirements are so easy they only require
IELTS.
Students who study in such merged schooling systems have to ask the MOE for
a “certificate equivalency” where their transcripts get completely adjusted
to the Saudi system so they get into colleges (Some Saudi schools don’t
recognize foreign certificates). My question is; will I be able to get
admitted as a “Saudi student” if I applied with a “legally” equalized
certificate?

I hope you are able to help me

———————————————

hi,

first of all, thank you for your kind words! i wish i knew all the answers to your questions off the top of my head but sometimes these questions take time to figure out.

in regards to your question: WOW this is so complicated. this question made no sense to me so i decided to consult a registrar! they know everything. this is what they said.

“if you are following the saudi system and if the school is recognized by the ministry of education in saudi arabia as eligible to offer the saudi diploma, then applying as a saudi student is okay.

the “legally” equalized certificate is not the issue, it’s whether or not you are following the saudi system (which it sounds like you are following both saudi and US) and if the school is recognized by the ministry to offer the saudi high school diploma, then applying as a saudi student is fine.

if your school is only accredited to offer the US diploma, then you must apply as a US student.”

hope this makes more sense to you than it does to me!

if you have any more inquiries, enrolment services would probably be the best place to contact!

cheers,

aska

Read More

aska No Comments
admissions, getting into U of T, grades

c- in grade 9 sewing

November 15, 2016

Hi, when I apply to UofT, do I only need to submit my grade 12 grades? or do I need to submit my grades from grade 9, 10, 11 too? Thank you.

———————————————

hi,

your full transcript will be sent to U of T (including earlier years), meaning they will be able to see your grades all the way back from either grade 8 or 9 (depending on where you’re from). however, admissions will mostly look at your grade 12 marks to see if you have the classes that are required for your program. this is not to say that they won’t take your grade 11 marks into consideration. for ontario high school students, it does say on the website that the university will send out conditional offers based on your grade 11 marks as well as your grade 12 interim and final marks.

i hope you’ll be as relieved to hear this as i was. if they had considered my grade 9 marks in sewing (or any other subject for that matter), i probably would not have gotten in to U of T.

work hard and show’em all you have to offer!

cheers,

aska

Read More

aska No Comments
admissions, applying for U of T, askastudent love/hate, getting into U of T, OUAC, undergrad

asap yo

September 27, 2016

hi! first, thank you for all the work that you do! it has deterred many mental breakdowns and instinctive stress eating for me. second, i’d like to ask you a question about when i should start applying for uoft’s faculty of arts and science at st. george. see, i’m a little paranoid about applying too early (like, october to early november) because i heard that means they’ll look into your grade eleven marks and those really aren’t my best (i think i had, like, ib precalculus and ib art at a 79%?). but i’m also afraid of applying a little too late. when do you think would be a good time to start the application process??
thanks!

———————————————

hello!

thank YOU for thanking us! sometimes, it can get a little overwhelming when trying to answer everyone’s questions, especially since there is only one aska at the moment. people can even get mad at us if we don’t respond in time, when really, all urgent matters should be taken elsewhere. we would not be here if it weren’t for people like you having mental breakdowns*. thank you for your kind words and patience. it means a lot.

applying to schools is a lengthy and arduous process and i would recommend you get started as soon as the application comes out. the U of T website states that applications will be available in october, so i recommend that you log into the Ontario Universities’ Application Centre (OUAC) as soon as it’s available and start making your application as appealing as possible. think long and hard about your personal statements and make them genuine.

starting early will give you tons of time to ask your guidance counsellor/ askastudent/ upper-years questions and it’ll give you one less thing to worry about when you’re making the most of your last year of high school!

the application deadline is february 1st, so make sure you have your application in by then.

you’ll also need to rank your colleges at some point and for that, i would recommend you check out our other posts about colleges!

if you want more guidance in this process, this link will give you a good idea of what the application process is like.

best of luck to you and I hope we’ll see you around!

cheers,

aska

*don’t even get me started on the stress eating. i wolfed down an ice cream sandwich, a twinkie, and half a box of chocolate covered triscuits while writing this post.*

Read More

aska No Comments