How to Get Into U of T From the US: OUAC 105, Video

What U of T looks at from a US applicant

U of T’s international high school requirements page lists the US credential as a “recognized U.S. High School Diploma” with “U.S. Senior Year/Grade 12 in an accredited high school.” It expects “competitive applicants to be enrolled in a rigorous academic course load, and to have taken the highest level of course available to them in prerequisite subjects,” and it wants those prerequisites, “including English,” at “Senior Year/Grade 12 level or AP/IB.”

Testing is optional with one exception: “Students who have written SAT or ACT tests, and wish to have these considered in their assessment, may submit their scores,” but “applicants to Engineering are required to fully disclose all test scores.” Scores go electronically, SAT and AP under institution code 0982, ACT under 5366. No GPA threshold is published, weighted or unweighted; U of T reads the transcript course by course and sees the AP label itself. Offers are conditional and “based on your previous year’s grades and your in-term/mid-term results, if available,” so first-semester senior grades carry the decision and second-semester ones are the condition on it.

The grades and courses that get offers

U of T does not publish competitive averages for the US curriculum. What it does publish is the prerequisite pattern, and the one that trips American applicants is calculus: “Calculus, AP Calculus (AB or BC) or one semester of college/university calculus is required for most math, science, computer science and commerce programs. AP Statistics does not provide the appropriate preparation.”

Sources: the international requirements page above and Rotman Commerce for applicants from outside Ontario. “Prerequisite” means the course is on your transcript, completed or in progress, in senior year or at AP level. It does not mean a published minimum grade in it. AP exams can also earn transfer credit after admission.

English proficiency: waived after four years of US school

U of T’s English language requirements exempt anyone who has “completed/are completing four or more years of full-time study in an English language school located in a country where the dominant language is English,” and the United States is on the approved list. You do not get the exemption automatically: after the acknowledgement email you file the “English Language Test Exemption Request Form” in the Join U of T portal. If you arrived in the US after Grade 9 and do not qualify, the accepted scores are IELTS Academic 6.5 with no band below 6.0, TOEFL iBT 4.5 overall with 4.5 in Writing and 4.0 in Speaking on the scale introduced January 21, 2026 (89 with 22 in Writing and Speaking on the old one), Duolingo 120 with 120 in Production, PTE 65 with no section below 60, CAEL 70 with no section below 60, or Cambridge C1 or C2 at 180 with each component at 170. Results must arrive from the testing agency by your document deadline.

How and when to apply for Fall 2027 entry

U of T’s applications page lists three forms and the Common App is not among them. If you live outside Canada, have never studied in Canada and are applying only to U of T, use the U of T International Application ($196 CAD, non-refundable). If you are also applying to other Ontario universities, use OUAC 105, which is the same form BC and other out-of-province students use; the OUAC 105 guide written for BC students walks through it and every screen is the same for you. Submit one application only: “if you submit more than one, your second application will be canceled without a refund.”

The dates and deadlines page for Fall 2027 entry gives an early-consideration date of November 7, 2026 (documents by December 1), and a January 15, 2027 application deadline for Arts and Science, Engineering, Music, Nursing, Kinesiology, UTM and UTSC. Documents are due January 15 for Engineering and Music and February 1 for most other faculties. Supplementals: the Engineering profile by January 15; Rotman Commerce, Computer Science, Kinesiology, Architecture and the UTSC supplementary by February 1. Rotman’s supplemental page adds a December 1, 2026 early-consideration date and a $52 fee. Decisions are “released beginning in January and continue through to late May.” Confirm each date on the page before you plan around it; the Ontario supplementary application deadlines guide keeps the whole province’s calendar in one place.

What you control: the supplemental, if your program has one

For Arts and Science at all three campuses, there is nothing to write. The file is the transcript and, if you send them, your scores. The programs that add a component are the ones with their own admissions teams:

• Rotman Commerce. “Short written and video responses” on the Kira platform, judged for communication, teamwork, leadership and interest in business, with “unlimited practice sessions” before you record. The Rotman Commerce supplemental application questions guide covers the pre-shared question and the random ones.
• Engineering. The mandatory Engineering Online Student Profile, timed video responses on camera; the faculty says no profile, no consideration. Engineering Science reads the same profile harder, and the EngSci Online Student Profile guide explains what changes.
• Trinity College. An optional Trinity College applicant profile if you rank Trinity first among the St. George colleges.
• UTSC Management. The UTSC Management BBA supplementary application, also video-based.

The video format is what most American applicants have never done. A question appears, you get a short prep window, then the camera records for a fixed time and you cannot re-do it. 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. Rotman and Engineering do not publish their questions, so the sample below is written to the format, not taken from it.

Timing note: that is about 105 words, which is 45 seconds at a natural pace. One decision, one number, one lesson. The video interview answer length guide has the word counts for every clock you will meet. The weak version spends 20 seconds on what DECA is and runs out of time before the disagreement.

Money: tuition in CAD, US loans, the Pearson

U of T’s Planning and Budget office publishes the 2026-27 tuition fee schedules (dated March 1, 2026). International first-year tuition for 2026-27 is $66,110 CAD for Arts and Science, including UTM and UTSC and the first year of Rotman Commerce and UTSC Management, $72,860 for Applied Science and Engineering, $51,460 for Kinesiology and $50,490 for Music. The same tables carry a 2027-28 column, which is what a Fall 2027 entrant would pay in first year: $68,750 for Arts and Science, $75,770 for Engineering, $54,030 for Kinesiology, $53,010 for Music. Commerce and UTSC Management step up to a higher program fee from second year ($78,160 in the 2027-28 column). Treat the 2027-28 figures as the published projection until Governing Council approves the 2027-28 report next spring. UTSC’s tuition and fees page adds the pieces that are not tuition: about $2,286 in incidental fees, $948 for UHIP health insurance, residence from $8,367 to $18,022 and a $6,800 first-year meal plan.

Against the College Board’s 2025-26 averages of $31,880 USD out-of-state and $45,000 USD private nonprofit, U of T Arts and Science converts to roughly the private figure and Engineering above it. U of T is a Title IV school. The Registrar’s US government student loans page gives federal school code G06688, offers Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans and PLUS Loans, excludes Pell, and sets a June 1 deadline for fall funding. It also carries a restriction involving St. Michael’s, Trinity and Victoria colleges; read that paragraph before you rank colleges if federal loans are part of the plan.

Scholarships: U of T’s awards page says all admitted students, international included, are automatically considered for admission scholarships. The one worth planning around is the Lester B. Pearson International Scholarship: tuition, books, incidental fees and full residence for four years, around 37 awarded a year, and for Fall 2027 entry the school nomination is due October 9, 2026, the U of T application October 16, and the scholarship application November 6. Your counselor nominates one student per school; ask in September, not December.

The study permit

A US passport does not replace a study permit ($150 CAD) for a degree program. Canada’s cap, set in the Canada Gazette at 309,670 applications accepted for processing in 2026, means every capped application must carry a provincial attestation letter, which Ontario issues through U of T after you accept; U of T’s international timeline places the permit application in February to May. You show proof of funds of $23,448 CAD for living costs (from September 1, 2026) plus first-year tuition and return travel; a Direct Loan award letter counts. US citizens and permanent residents may, per IRCC’s apply page, apply at a port of entry with the acceptance letter, the attestation letter and the funds proof in hand, but IRCC’s advice is to apply before travelling. Apply online the week you accept and keep the border as the fallback.

Mistakes US applicants make

• Filing both OUAC 105 and the International Application. The second is cancelled and the fee is gone.
• AP Statistics instead of calculus. For Commerce, Computer Science and the sciences it is not a substitute, and the offer will not come.
• Hiding a weak SAT from Engineering. Engineering requires full disclosure of all scores. Everywhere else, optional means optional.
• Missing the exemption form. Four years of US school waives the English test, but only after you file the request in the Join U of T portal.
• Treating the Rotman video like a Common App essay. It is 45 seconds on camera after 30 seconds of prep. Rehearse on a clock, not on paper.

Where to go next

The UBC admission guide for US high school applicants is the other application with a written component every applicant completes, and the McGill admission requirements for US high school applicants are the one Canadian file decided on unweighted grades alone. The by-country guide to Canadian university admissions for international applicants lines up every curriculum against all three schools. For the general shape of the timed formats, the university video interview questions guide is the place to start. Then record a run in AcceptMe, read the transcript, and fix the first 10 seconds before you touch anything else.