How to Get Into U of T From South Korea: CSAT, Grades, Video

What U of T lists for South Korea

U of T’s high school requirements by country page gives, for Korea, South: “Immumgye Kodung Hakkyo Choeupchang (Academic Upper Secondary School Certificate) + College Scholastic Ability Test.” Two things to notice. The credential is the academic-track 졸업장 from a general high school, not a vocational (특성화고) diploma. And the CSAT (수능) is listed as part of the minimum, which neither UBC nor McGill does. U of T publishes no required CSAT score or grade band for Korea; the page lists credentials, not cut-offs. Read it as: send the 수능 result when you have it, and expect the transcript to do most of the work.

The general rules on U of T’s international high school requirements page apply on top: “all applicants are required to present a senior/Grade 12 English course for admission consideration,” 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.” So your 고2 marks and your third-year first-semester marks are the file U of T decides on between January and May; the February graduation record confirms the offer.

The grades and the prerequisites, by program

U of T publishes no competitive averages for the Korean system. On a 성적증명서 the reader sees raw scores, achievement grades A to E and the 1 to 9 석차등급; 1등급 and 2등급 across the prerequisites with raw scores in the 90s is the shape that gets offers to the selective programs. Prerequisites, as the faculties publish them, checked September 2026:

A prerequisite is a course on your school transcript with a grade. Hagwon calculus for the CSAT does not substitute, and a subject dropped after 고1 is not senior level. Rotman adds that AP and similar courses designed for the final two years “will be considered,” which is how a Korean international-school student with AP Calculus is read.

English: the rule for Korean schools

U of T’s English language requirements page exempts applicants with “four or more years of full-time study in a recognized Canadian school (in Canada) that teaches in English” or “four or more years of full-time study in an English language school located in a country where the dominant language is English.” Korea is not such a country, so a Korean general high school, a 외고, and a Seoul international school running an American curriculum all fail the exemption on the same word: country. Two score routes replace a test: IB English (Higher or Standard) at 4 or better, predicted or final, and GCSE/IGCSE/GCE English at B or 6. AP English is not listed as an exemption at U of T the way it is at UBC. You request the exemption through a form on the Join U of T portal after you apply; everyone else books a test.

Accepted tests, checked September 2026: IELTS Academic 6.5 with no band below 6.0; TOEFL iBT on the six-point scale (from January 21, 2026) 4.5 overall with 4.5 in Writing and 4.0 in Speaking (old scale: 89 with 22 in Speaking and Writing); 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 each component at least 170. Results must arrive by your supporting-documents deadline (February 1 for early consideration), so sit the test in the autumn of third year, not in December after the CSAT.

Applying for Fall 2027 entry

U of T’s applications page gives you two doors. Most Korean applicants use the OUAC Undergraduate Application (the 105 form; the OUAC 105 walkthrough is written for BC students but it is the same form). The University of Toronto International Application, fee $196, is only for applicants outside Canada who have never studied in Canada and are applying to no other Ontario university; if Waterloo or McMaster is on your list, use OUAC. About a week after you submit, U of T emails a login for the Join U of T portal (or the Engineering Applicant Portal), where documents, the self-reported grades form and every supplemental live.

Dates from U of T’s dates and deadlines page, for Fall 2027 entry, checked September 2026: apply by January 15 for Arts & Science, Engineering, Music, Architecture, UTM and UTSC; supporting documents by February 1 for early consideration; Engineering Online Student Profile by January 15; Rotman Commerce, Computer Science and UTSC supplementals by February 1; Music Questionnaire by January 15. Decisions “will be released beginning in January and continue through to late May.” Engineering’s own deadlines page adds an early track: apply by November 7 and finish the supplemental and documents by December 1 for a guaranteed response by April 30, then respond to an offer on OUAC by May 1. Confirm every date on the page before you plan around it.

Documents, from U of T’s required documents page: full transcripts for all secondary study, electronic where the school can manage it, otherwise uploaded; “notarized translations” for anything not in English or French; standardized test results (the CSAT goes here) when available; nothing by email. Ask your school for the English 성적증명서 so you upload a school-issued English record rather than paying to notarize a translation.

The supplementals: the part you control

Say it plainly first: most of Arts & Science has no supplemental. A Korean applicant to Life Sciences, Social Sciences or Humanities is decided on grades and English, full stop. The programs that add something, from U of T’s supplemental applications page:

• Rotman Commerce. The Rotman Commerce Supplemental Application is required of all applicants and “includes short written and video responses”; recommended by December 1, 2026, final February 1, 2027. The questions are not published; the Rotman Commerce supplemental questions guide describes the format with practice prompts written to it.
• Engineering. The Online Student Profile is mandatory; its Personal Profile “is comprised of three timed video responses” (Engineering supplemental application). See the Engineering Online Student Profile questions guide, or for Engineering Science the EngSci profile guide.
• Computer Science (St. George and UTM). A supplemental application, due February 1.
• Trinity College. Four written answers of 200 words each if Trinity is your first college choice (Trinity applicant profile); see the Trinity College applicant profile guide.
• UTSC Management and co-op programs. The Supplementary Application Form in the Join U of T portal, deadline set in your portal (UTSC SAF); the UTSC Management BBA supplementary application guide walks through it.

The timed video is where Korean applicants with excellent grades most often lose ground, and it is a skill problem, not an English problem. Three years of optimising for the 수능 rarely involves speaking for ninety seconds, unscripted, to a camera, in any language. The fix is repetition under the real constraint. AcceptMe puts you on camera with a fresh question, 30 seconds to think, 90 seconds to answer, then hands you a transcript with the coach’s notes; run it daily for two weeks before you open the Rotman or Engineering portal, and read the guide to how long a video interview answer should be so you stop at eighty seconds with a point made.

A worked video answer, with the clock

A practice question written to the Rotman format, not a Rotman question: “Tell us about a time you had to work with someone whose approach was very different from yours.” Thirty seconds to prepare, ninety to answer.

Seventy-five seconds, one situation, one decision with a number in it, one honest line about herself, fifteen seconds of margin. In the prep window she wrote three words: spreadsheet, vendors, under. The STAR method interview examples show the same shape on other questions.

Money: tuition, the Pearson, and proof of funds

U of T publishes fees by faculty on the Registrar’s tuition fee schedules page. The 2025-26 international schedule for first-year Arts & Science at St. George (the Innis College table) shows a program fee of $63,570.00 plus $2,209.48 in incidental and ancillary fees and $792.00 for UHIP health insurance, a total of $66,571.48; the 2025-26 Applied Science and Engineering schedule shows $70,060.00 plus $2,203.84 and $792.00, a total of $73,055.84. Rotman Commerce and Computer Science students pay the Arts & Science first-year fee in year one and move to a separate schedule from year two. The 2027-28 schedules appear in the spring; U of T says to use the previous year as an estimate. Toronto rent is the largest number not on that table.

U of T’s international student financial aid page says every applicant is automatically considered for admission scholarships, and that the university “is not able to offer direct financial aid to international students.” The one large award is the Lester B. Pearson International Scholarship: about 37 a year, covering tuition, books, incidental fees and residence for four years. Your school must nominate you by October 9, 2026, you apply for admission by October 16, 2026 and submit the scholarship application by November 6, 2026. That is a September conversation with your 진학 teacher.

For the study permit, IRCC’s financial support page sets the living-cost proof at $23,448 for a single applicant for applications on or after September 1, 2026, plus first-year tuition and travel, via six months of bank statements or a Canadian GIC. It changes yearly; check the page the week you apply.

The study permit from Korea

Republic of Korea is on IRCC’s eTA-required list, so you do not need a visitor visa, but a four-year degree needs a study permit, applied for online from Korea before you fly; IRCC’s how to apply page says the eTA is issued with the permit and biometrics are due within 30 days of the request. The 2026 cap gave Ontario 104,780 application spaces, the most of any province, and every undergraduate needs a provincial attestation letter that U of T requests after you accept and pay the deposit; IRCC says to submit it with the application, not after, and that a letter from a previous cap year cannot be reused. U of T’s international student timeline puts the permit step in February to May; apply the week the PAL arrives. Korea was never on the Student Direct Stream, so its closure in November 2024 changed nothing for you. Men should check the Military Manpower Administration’s overseas travel permit (국외여행허가) rule for the years the degree covers.

Mistakes Korean applicants make at U of T

• Applying to Rotman without 미적분 on the transcript. Rotman names a calculus course. 수학 II is not it.
• Opening the Engineering or Rotman video for the first time on deadline day. The clock is the test. Rehearse it on camera for two weeks first.
• Using the $196 International Application while also applying to Waterloo. That application is for people applying to no other Ontario university. Use OUAC 105.
• Assuming a Seoul international school exempts you from IELTS. U of T’s exemption is by country, not by school or curriculum. Only IB or GCSE English scores substitute.
• Waiting for the 수능 result to start the file. Apply and upload school grades in the autumn; add the CSAT in December.

Where to go next

Your transcript is going to two other cities with two other rulebooks: how to get into UBC from South Korea covers the Personal Profile every UBC applicant writes, and how to get into McGill from South Korea explains why the McGill file is the transcript alone and how the CAQ changes the permit timeline. The Ontario supplementary application deadlines lay out every date in one place. The by-country guide to Canadian university admissions for international applicants puts every country in this series side by side. Then get on camera with AcceptMe before the Rotman and Engineering portals open, so the first ninety-second answer you record is not the one that counts.