How to Get Into U of T From India: Maths Rule, OUAC, Video

What U of T looks at from an Indian applicant

U of T’s high school requirements by country entry for India: “All India Senior School Certificate (awarded by CBSE) or Indian School Certificate (awarded by CISCE). Year 12 State Board Exams with excellent results will also be considered on an individual basis.” So CBSE and ISC are the standard credentials; a Maharashtra HSC, Karnataka PUC or Tamil Nadu HSC file is read case by case and needs to be strong to get the same look.

The same entry carries the rule that matters most: “CBSE students interested in programs that require Calculus for admission, such as business, engineering, and science programs, must present Class XII Standard Mathematics for admission consideration.” Applied Mathematics (code 241) does not satisfy it. If you are in Class XI on the Commerce stream with Applied Maths and want Rotman Commerce, that is the one thing to fix this year. McGill accepts applied maths for Management; U of T does not, and the McGill admission from India guide explains that difference.

The grades that get offers

U of T does not publish a percentage cut-off for Indian boards. It reads the subjects each program requires, then the rest of the transcript, using whatever marks exist at review time. Its required documents page says to “submit what you have by the deadline, including midterm and interim results,” and that official transcripts sent directly from the school “are always required to finalize an offer of admission.” Engineering is more specific on its out-of-Canada applicants page: a transcript showing all years including current interim results, the Class X board results, predicted Class XII board grades if your school provides them, and the Class XII board admit card when it is issued in February or March. So U of T, unlike McGill, will look at a predicted-marks letter if your school writes one.

“English” here means Class XII English Core for CBSE and English for ISC. U of T does not publish the average of last year’s admitted Indian students; what its documents do say is that Engineering reads Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and English closely, Rotman and Computer Science read Mathematics and English, and the aggregate comes second.

English: a test is required

U of T’s English language requirements page exempts applicants with four or more years in an English-language school “in a country where the dominant language is English.” India is not on that list, so a CBSE English Core mark does not exempt you here the way a 75 does at UBC. The accepted tests and minimums as published:

• IELTS Academic: 6.5 overall, no band below 6.0
• TOEFL iBT on the 6-point scale (tests after January 21, 2026): 4.5 overall, 4.5 in writing, 4.0 in speaking
• Duolingo English Test: 120 overall and 120 in production
• CAEL: 70 overall, minimum 60 per section
• PTE Academic: 65 overall, minimum 60 per part
• Cambridge C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency: 180 overall, 170 per component

Scores go from the testing agency directly to U of T by your document deadline: January 15, 2027 for Engineering, February 1, 2027 for most other programs. One October sitting covers U of T, McGill and, if your CBSE English is below 75, UBC as well.

How and when to apply for Fall 2027

You apply through the Ontario Universities’ Application Centre’s 105 form; the OUAC 105 guide is written for BC students but the form is identical for you. After OUAC, U of T emails a JOINid and you finish the file in the Join U of T portal (or the Engineering Applicant Portal), uploading transcripts and a self-reported grades form. U of T’s deadlines page for Fall 2027: apply by November 7, 2026 for early consideration (and complete the next steps by December 2); application deadline January 15, 2027 for most programs; documents by February 1, 2027, or January 15 for Engineering and Music; supplemental applications between January 15 and February 1 depending on program; decisions from January through late May. Confirm each on the page before you plan around it.

Rotman Commerce lists its own dates on the supplemental application page: December 1, 2026 for early consideration, February 1, 2027 final, with a C$52 fee paid through OUAC. Engineering asks for OUAC by November 7 and the supplemental by December 1, with a C$67.32 assessment fee. When the board result is declared in May, upload the digitally signed marksheet from DigiLocker (CBSE publishes a DigiLocker access guide for its students), then have the school send the official copy U of T needs to finalize the offer.

The part you control: the supplementals

Arts and Science, including Computer Science at St. George, has no supplemental application; the file is marks and the English test. The programs that ask for more are where an Indian applicant with a 93 can beat one with a 95.

Rotman Commerce’s supplemental is “short written and video responses” on the Kira platform, with unlimited practice sessions before the real attempt. Rotman does not publish the questions; recent cycles have used a video introduction of about 45 seconds after about 30 seconds of preparation, plus timed written answers. The Rotman Commerce supplemental application guide covers the format and worked answers. Engineering’s Online Student Profile, per its FAQ, is “three randomly-selected, timed video questions” completed in one sitting of about 30 minutes, with practice questions available first; the Engineering Online Student Profile guide walks through it, and the EngSci profile guide covers the Engineering Science version. The UTSC Management BBA supplementary application guide and the Trinity College applicant profile guide cover the two other U of T extras.

The failure mode for Indian applicants here is specific. Years of viva-style questioning produce answers that open with a definition, end without an example, and run fast and formal. The reviewer wants a real story with a decision in it, told plainly at a normal pace, and that is built on camera, not on paper. AcceptMe puts you on camera with a fresh question, 30 seconds to think, 90 seconds to answer, then a transcript with the coach’s notes; run it until the transcript reads like you talking.

Money: tuition, Pearson, proof of funds

U of T sets each year’s fees in the spring, so the current published schedules are 2025-26. The registrar’s Arts & Science international fee schedule lists a first-year program fee of C$63,570, plus C$2,209.48 in incidental fees and C$792 for the UHIP health plan, C$66,571 in total; the Engineering schedule lists C$70,060 plus fees, C$73,056 in total; UTSC charges C$12,714 per full credit, which is the same base for a five-credit year. Rotman Commerce and Computer Science pay the general Arts and Science fee in first year and a higher program fee from second year. The 2027-28 schedules will be higher; check the current fee schedules page before you budget. U of T’s fees page says it cannot offer financial aid to international students.

The one big award is the Lester B. Pearson International Scholarship: tuition, books, incidental fees and full residence for four years, about 37 scholars a year from applicants across 188 countries. A school can nominate one student, and for September 2027 entry the dates are school nomination by October 9, 2026, the U of T application by October 16, 2026 and the scholarship application with documents by November 6, 2026. U of T says generative AI on the scholarship application means disqualification. If you want it, you are asking your principal in August. Engineering also considers international applicants for its International Scholar Award through the Online Student Profile’s financial section.

For the study permit, IRCC’s proof of financial support page requires C$23,448 for a single applicant in Ontario for applications on or after September 1, 2026, plus first-year tuition and airfare, shown through six months of statements with the source of the money.

The study permit

IRCC’s 2026 cap notice set 408,000 study permits nationally, 180,000 of them requiring a Provincial Attestation Letter, with Ontario allocated 104,780. U of T’s international student timeline says you receive the PAL after accepting the offer and paying the deposit, and IRCC’s PAL page says it must be included with the application and is valid only for the cap year in which it was issued. IRCC has said the 2027 numbers will be lower again.

The reality for Indian applicants since the Student Direct Stream closed on November 8, 2024 is the part no admissions page will tell you. The PIE News reported IRCC figures showing approvals for Indian applicants at 28 percent in January 2025 against 81 percent a year earlier, and ICEF Monitor reported 9,955 new permits issued to Indian students from January to August 2025 against 76,930 in the same months of 2024, with a 71 percent refusal rate. A U of T offer, an explained six-month funds trail and a study plan that matches your Class XII subjects are the file that gets approved. Apply the week you accept the offer.

A worked Rotman video answer, with the clock

Rotman does not publish its questions. This one is written to the format: a personal question, about 30 seconds to prepare, about 45 seconds to answer, which is roughly 110 spoken words.

• Tell us about a time something you organised did not go to plan. What did you change?practice question, written to the format

Timing note: that is 108 words. Read aloud at a normal pace it runs about 42 seconds, which leaves a breath at the end instead of a cut-off. The video interview answer length guide has the words-per-second arithmetic for the longer Engineering answers.

Mistakes Indian applicants make

• Applied Mathematics for Rotman, Science or Engineering. U of T says Standard Mathematics is required. Switch in Class XI if you can; if you are already in Class XII with Applied, apply to programs that do not need calculus.
• No English test because school was English-medium. India is not on U of T’s exemption list.
• Missing the December 1 supplemental date for Rotman or Engineering because the OUAC deadline is January 15. The supplemental has its own clock.
• Treating the video like a viva. Definitions and formal register score poorly. Tell a story with a decision in it.
• Sending only the aggregate. U of T wants the full transcript with interim marks, the Class X board result, and official copies from the school to finalize the offer.

Where to go next

The UBC admission from India guide covers the one Canadian application where your CBSE English mark can replace the test and where every applicant writes a profile, and the McGill admission from India guide explains the transcript-only decision and the CAQ. The by-country guide to Canadian university admissions for international applicants lines up all three schools for each major source country. For the camera itself, the university video interview questions guide lists the question types Kira-style platforms draw from. Then record your first practice run on AcceptMe and read the transcript back; the sentence you would cut is the one the coach’s notes will flag.