How to Get Into U of T From Ghana: WASSCE, OUAC 105, Videos

What U of T looks at from a Ghanaian applicant

U of T’s requirements by country entry for Ghana is one line: “West African Examinations Council Senior School Certificate Examination. For admission requirements to the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, refer to Engineering.” No minimum WASSCE grade is printed for Arts and Science or any other faculty. The general rules on the international high school page do the real work: every applicant needs a senior-level English course (your WASSCE English Language), other prerequisites must be at the senior level, and “conditional offers of admission will be made based on your previous year’s grades and your in-term/mid-term results, if available.” U of T also says it expects competitive applicants to carry a rigorous load and the highest level of each prerequisite subject available to them, which for you means Elective Mathematics rather than Core alone.

Engineering is the faculty that writes its rules down. Its out-of-country page lists English, Mathematics including Calculus, Physics and Chemistry as prerequisites, says a WASSCE applicant presents “the West African Examination Certificate (WAEC) with the prerequisite requirements,” and adds that anyone scoring below B2 in any prerequisite subject “will not be considered for admission.” It wants your SHS transcript for every year including current interim results, predicted results from your school, and, if you have already written, a letter with your WAEC examination details.

Prerequisites by program, in WASSCE terms

One conversion note. U of T’s calculus prerequisite is written for Ontario’s Grade 12 Calculus and Vectors course. WASSCE Elective Mathematics is the Ghanaian subject that reaches calculus, and it is the one to present; confirm with the faculty that your combination is accepted, because the country page does not spell out a mapping. Cambridge A Level candidates are read as British-patterned: five IGCSE or O Level subjects and three A Levels (four AS considered for most programs), English at any level, Mathematics at AS or A Level where calculus is required. IB candidates need English HL or SL and Mathematics Analysis and Approaches, or Applications and Interpretation HL, for calculus.

English: on the list, but granted after you apply

U of T’s English language requirements page says you may qualify for an exemption with four or more years of full-time study in an English-language school in a country where English is the dominant language, and Ghana is on its printed list of those countries. The same page warns that the list “is for information only” and that eligibility is decided after you submit. Practically: apply, watch the Join U of T portal, and if it asks for a test, sit one before the February 1 document deadline. The minimums are IELTS Academic 6.5 with no band below 6.0; TOEFL iBT on the new scale used for tests from January 21, 2026, 4.5 overall with 4.5 in writing and 4.0 in speaking (89 with 22 in speaking and writing on the old scale); Duolingo 120 with 120 in production; CAEL 70 with no part below 60; PTE Academic 65 with no part below 60; Cambridge C1 or C2 at 180 with 170 in each component. Scores must come from the test provider directly, under exactly the name and date of birth on your OUAC application.

How and when to apply for Fall 2027 entry

Every U of T application starts at the Ontario Universities’ Application Centre; from Ghana that is the OUAC 105 form, which opens in late September 2026. After OUAC forwards your file, U of T emails you a login for the Join U of T portal (or the Engineering Applicant Portal), where documents and supplementals live. The OUAC 105 walkthrough on this site is written for BC students but the form is the same one you fill in. U of T’s dates and deadlines page lists the following; confirm each before you plan around it.

WASSCE timing and what to upload

The 2026 WASSCE for school candidates began on May 13, 2026, and WAEC released provisional results in early September 2026. A 2026 candidate therefore applies in January 2027 with a complete result, which U of T Engineering explicitly asks you to report in a letter with your WAEC examination details. A 2027 candidate is exactly the case U of T’s conditional-offer rule is written for: you are read on SHS 2 marks, SHS 3 interim results and your school’s predicted grades, and the offer is conditional on results that will arrive around the start of term. U of T does not publish a Ghana-specific rule for finalising such an offer; ask admissions in writing before you accept, and keep your headmaster ready to send predicted grades on school letterhead.

WAEC Ghana runs corporate verification portals that institutions query directly, so an official result is checkable without you doing anything; keep the result-checker serial and e-PIN from ghana.waecdirect.org (one card, one result, three uses) in case the portal asks for them, and never submit a printout as your only evidence.

The supplementals: where the file stops being a transcript

U of T’s supplemental applications list is short, and Arts and Science is not on it except for Computer Science. If you are applying to Humanities, Social Sciences or Life Sciences at St. George or UTM, your file is grades and, if asked, an English score; nothing else. The programs that add a component:

• Rotman Commerceshort written and video responses in the Join U of T portal, C$52 fee, unlimited practice sessions, due February 1, 2027 (December 1 for early consideration)
• Engineeringthe Engineering Supplemental Application, including a Personal Profile of three timed video responses, due January 15 (December 1 for early consideration)
• Computer Science (St. George and UTM)a written supplemental, due February 1
• UTSC Management and co-op programsthe Supplementary Application Form, due February 1
• Architecture, Kinesiology, Musicthe One Idea application, a Statement of Interest, and a questionnaire plus audition respectively

The video questions are not published; what you can rehearse is the format. Rotman’s supplemental page says the responses are considered alongside your academic record. The Rotman Commerce supplemental application guide and the U of T Engineering student profile questions guide describe what each asks and how it is scored. To rehearse, AcceptMe puts you on camera with a fresh question, thirty seconds to think and ninety seconds to answer, then returns a transcript with the coach’s notes, so you find out in November, not in the real recording, that you spend the first twenty seconds apologising.

A worked video answer, with the clock

That is about 215 words, which at a normal speaking pace fills 80 to 90 seconds. Note the shape: one situation in the first sentence, actions in the order she chose them, a number at the end, and one honest lesson rather than three. The video answer length guide explains why stopping at 85 seconds beats getting cut off at 90.

Money

U of T’s 2025-26 fee schedules show international program fees of C$63,570 for first-year Arts and Science (C$66,403 with mandatory incidental fees and UHIP health insurance) and C$70,060 for Engineering (C$73,056 all in); Rotman Commerce students move to the Commerce fee, C$72,260 for the 2024-25 entering cohort, from second year. The 2026-27 schedules are finalised in the spring, so treat these as a floor. Add IRCC’s proof-of-funds figure of C$23,448 for a year of living costs, the amount for applications filed on or after September 1, 2026, on top of first-year tuition and travel.

U of T’s international financial aid page is blunt: every applicant is automatically considered for admission scholarships, most do not cover full tuition, and “the university is not able to offer direct financial aid to international students.” The exception is the Lester B. Pearson International Scholarship: tuition, books, incidental fees and full residence for four years, 37 scholars a year, one nomination per school. For September 2027 the school nomination closes October 9, 2026, your U of T application must be in by October 16, and the scholarship application by November 6. If your headmaster does not know about it by September, tell them.

The study permit from Ghana

After you accept, U of T issues the Ontario provincial attestation letter (PAL) that IRCC requires with almost every new study permit application; Ontario has 104,780 attestation spaces under Canada’s 2026 cap of 155,000 new arrivals, and the 2027 cap is set in the fall of 2026. You apply online with the acceptance letter, the PAL, proof of funds and a study plan in your own words, give biometrics (C$85) at the VFS Global visa application centre in Accra, and wait. IRCC has discontinued the Student Direct Stream, so there is one queue for everyone.

The odds are the hard part. IRCC figures reported by The PIE News put Ghana’s approval rate at 25% in 2024, and IRCC’s note to the Senate gives 23% for Africa in the first nine months of that year, citing agent-built files and unproven funds. A U of T offer, a sponsor whose income is documented, and a study plan that explains why this program in Toronto follows from your WASSCE electives is the file that gets read differently. Apply the week the PAL arrives.

Mistakes Ghanaian applicants make

• One B3 in an Engineering prerequisite. The faculty says below B2 in any of English, Mathematics, Physics or Chemistry is not considered; if that is your transcript, apply to Science or another faculty rather than hoping.
• Treating the English exemption as automatic. Ghana is on the list, but U of T decides after you apply; do not let a late test request collide with February 1.
• Missing the Pearson nomination in October because the application deadline everyone talks about is January.
• Recording the Rotman video cold. The format is public, the questions are not; the practice sessions exist for a reason.
• Sending a WASSCE printout with no WAEC verification details when Engineering asks for your examination details in writing.
• An agent’s study plan. IRCC names this as the reason African refusals rose; write your own.

Where to go next

The UBC admission guide for Ghanaian applicants covers the one school of the three that reads a written profile from every applicant and prints a WASSCE grade signal (mainly B2 and B3), and the McGill admission guide for Ghanaian applicants covers the one that decides on grades alone and adds a Quebec CAQ before the permit. The by-country guide to Canadian university admissions for international applicants lays the three side by side with the deadlines and permit context. If UTSC is on your list, the UTSC Management supplementary application guide covers that form. Then get on camera with AcceptMe and answer a question you have never seen, because that is what Rotman and Engineering will ask you to do.