How to Get Into U of T From France: Bac, Anglais, Video

What U of T looks at from a French applicant

U of T’s international high school requirements list France under “Baccalauréat / Baccalauréat Général,” and the first line is the one most French applicants miss: “Anglais completed in the final/terminale year is required for all programs,” and Anglais in both première and terminale, the equivalent of an Ontario student’s Grade 12 English. The page does not mention the bac technologique or the BFI, so treat the bac général as the credential and ask admissions in writing about anything else.

Prerequisites: how U of T reads your spécialités

U of T publishes neither a minimum moyenne for the bac nor competitive ranges by faculty. What it publishes is the mapping from spécialités to its Ontario-style prerequisites, from the same page, checked September 2026. Ask the lycée for bulletins that print the class average; U of T’s readers know the 20-point scale but cannot see the average without it.

Two consequences. Engineering needs both mathématiques and physique-chimie kept into terminale, which fixes your two terminale spécialités before you have chosen them; Life Sciences can be done with SVT dropped after première as long as maths ran both years. And Rotman Commerce needs the Calculus line, so maths complémentaires is not enough for Commerce at U of T, unlike at McGill. On marks, U of T grants transfer credit for a coefficient-16 terminale spécialité at 13 or better, which tells you where it draws the line for “strong,” but it does not publish what a competitive Engineering or Commerce file looks like. The nearest calibrated reference is McGill’s published lowest admitted /20 average by faculty; the McGill guide for French bac applicants walks through that table, and a file that clears McGill’s Engineering or Management lines is in range here too.

English: the bac does not exempt you

U of T’s English language requirements exempt applicants with four or more years of full-time study in an English-language school in an English-dominant country, and a few curricula (IB English A at 4 or better, GCSE or GCE English at B). The bac général is not on the list, and neither is the BFI or a section internationale: unlike McGill, U of T publishes no exemption for them. Anglais in terminale is a prerequisite, not proficiency; you need both. Accepted tests and minimums, checked September 2026: IELTS Academic 6.5 with no band below 6.0; TOEFL iBT on the new 1 to 6 scale (tests from January 21, 2026) 4.5 overall with 4.5 in writing and 4.0 in speaking; Duolingo 120 with 120 in production; Cambridge C1 or C2 at 180 with 170 in each component; CAEL 70 with no part below 60; PTE Academic 65 with no part below 60. Scores are due by your document deadline, which for Rotman is February 1, 2027, so sit the test in the autumn.

How and when to apply for Fall 2027 entry

U of T’s applications page gives international high-school applicants two routes: the OUAC 105 form, which you must use if you are also applying to any other Ontario university, or the U of T International Application (C$196, non-refundable) for students outside Canada applying to U of T alone. Most French applicants also want Waterloo or McMaster, so OUAC 105 it is; the OUAC 105 walkthrough is written for BC students but the form is the same. After you apply you activate a JOINid and use the Join U of T portal to upload bulletins and complete supplementals.

Dates from U of T’s dates and deadlines page for 2027 entry: apply by November 7, 2026 and finish requirements by December 1 for the first admission round; January 15, 2027 is the application deadline for most programs; supporting documents by December 1 (early) or February 1; the Engineering supplemental by January 15 and the Rotman Commerce, Computer Science, Architecture, Kinesiology and U of T Scarborough supplementals by February 1. Decisions are released “beginning in January and continue through to late May.” Engineering’s own deadlines page promises non-Ontario applicants who complete the supplemental by December 1 a response by April 30, with an offer response deadline of May 1. Confirm every date before you plan around it.

The part you control: the supplementals

Arts & Science decides most of its programs on the bulletins alone. There is no essay for a Life Sciences or Social Sciences applicant to write, and no interview; Computer Science is the exception, with its own supplemental due February 1, so check the program page if that is your choice. The programs that add something are where a French applicant should spend the autumn:

• Rotman Commerce. The Rotman supplemental application is mandatory for every applicant and “includes short written and video responses” completed in the Join U of T portal, with unlimited practice sessions; the questions are not published. Early consideration needs it by December 1, 2026; the final deadline is February 1, 2027. The Rotman Commerce supplemental application questions describe the format as it has run in recent cycles and give practice prompts written to it.
• Engineering. The Engineering supplemental application is also mandatory (“your application will not be considered” without it) and its Personal Profile “is comprised of three timed video responses.” The Engineering Online Student Profile questions and, for EngSci, the Engineering Science profile guide cover what the faculty says it reads for.
• Trinity College and UTSC Management. Choosing Trinity adds the Trinity College applicant profile; the Scarborough BBA has the UTSC Management supplementary application.

The timed video is where French applicants underperform relative to their notes, and the reason is not English. The lycée trains you to build an argument in three parts with the thesis at the end; a 90-second answer needs the point first, one example, and a stop. AcceptMe puts you on camera with a fresh question, 30 seconds to think and 90 to answer, then hands you the transcript with the coach’s notes, the fastest way to see your dissertation habits on the page and cut them; the guide on how long a video interview answer should be sets the target.

Money: tuition, the Pearson, proof of funds

There is no France-specific tuition at U of T. The registrar’s Tuition Explorer shows the 2026-27 international first-year Arts & Science program fee at C$66,110, C$69,158.29 with incidental fees and health insurance; Engineering is higher, and the 2027-28 schedules are set in spring 2027. Against McGill, where a French citizen pays about C$13,000 a year in tuition under the Quebec–France agreement, the gap is around C$50,000 a year.

The scholarship worth planning for is the Lester B. Pearson International Scholarship: tuition, books, incidental fees and residence for four years, about 37 scholars a year. It needs a lycée nomination by October 9, 2026, a U of T application by October 16, 2026 and the scholarship application by November 6, 2026, so the proviseur needs to hear in September.

For the study permit, IRCC’s financial support page requires C$23,448 a year of living funds for applications from September 1, 2026, plus first-year tuition and travel.

The study permit

Undergraduates need a provincial attestation letter (PAL) with the permit application; you do not request it from IRCC, Ontario issues it through U of T once you have accepted, and IRCC’s 2026 allocations notice gives Ontario 104,780 spaces within a national target of 408,000 permits. U of T’s international student timeline puts the permit application in the window after you accept, with conditions (final bac results) satisfied over the summer. Apply the week you accept. The Student Direct Stream closed on November 8, 2024; France was never eligible, so nothing changed for you. Check IRCC’s processing-time tool for France in the spring; it is an estimate, and the bac results in early July are a condition of the offer, not of the permit.

A worked video answer, written to the Rotman format

About 175 words, which fits inside 90 seconds spoken. Point first, one example with a number in it, reflection last. Rotman’s recent cycles have used shorter windows than 90 seconds; the Rotman guide has the timing, and AcceptMe lets you set the clock to match.

Mistakes French applicants make

• No Anglais in terminale. Dropping English for another language in terminale leaves no senior English, and every program requires it.
• Maths complémentaires for Rotman or Computer Science. U of T maps it to Advanced Functions, not Calculus; Commerce, CS and Engineering need spécialité mathématiques both years.
• Skipping the English test because of a section européenne or BFI. U of T publishes no exemption for either; only McGill recognises the BFI.
• Discovering the Pearson deadline in November. The nomination is due October 9, 2026.
• Answering video questions like a dissertation. Thesis first, one example, stop. Ninety seconds is not long enough for a three-part plan.
• Using the U of T International Application while also applying to Waterloo. Any other Ontario university on the list means OUAC 105.

Where to go next

The same bulletins go to two other schools: the McGill guide for French bac applicants has the published /20 cut-offs by faculty, the Quebec–France tuition agreement and the CAQ, and the UBC guide for French bac applicants covers UBC’s spécialité rules and the Personal Profile every applicant writes. The by-country guide to Canadian university admissions for international applicants puts every credential, exemption and deadline in one table. If your list includes other Ontario programs with supplementals, the Ontario supplementary applications hub indexes them program by program. Then take your first timed run on AcceptMe in October, in English, on camera, and read the transcript before Rotman or Engineering does.