How to Apply

Applications will be open from September to December of 2023. Students in Grade 6 at the time of application are eligible to apply for Grade 7 in the 2024-2025 school year.

The application (called Stage One) includes:

• (required) Student information
• (required) Grade 3, 4, 5 report cards
• (required) Grade 6 progress report
• (required) Interests and Activities List 
• (required) UTS Entrance Test for Grade 7, written on December 2, 2023. See more details here.
• (optional) Additional documents (eg. Individual Education Plan, standardized test reports, etc.)

Selected applicants will be notified in January that they have been invited to Stage Two. This includes:

• (required) Interviews at UTS (January 2024)
• (required) Grade 6 first term report card

Applications will be open from September to December of 2023. Students in Grade 8 at the time of application are eligible to apply for Grade 9 in the 2024-2025 school year.

The application (called Stage One) includes:

• (required) Student information
• (required) Report cards from the previous three years
• (required) Progress report from the current year
• (required) Interests and Activities List 
• (required) 2 teacher recommendations from day school teachers, one from a math teacher and one from another subject teacher
• (required) UTS Entrance Test for Upper Years, written Saturday, December 2, 2023. See more details here.
• (optional) Additional documents (eg. Individual Education Plan, standardized test reports, etc.)

Selected applicants will be notified in January that they have been invited to Stage Two. This includes:

• (required) Interviews at UTS (January 2024)
• (required) Grade 8 first term report card

UTS welcomes all eligible students to apply. Our applicants bring their unique abilities and talents and a shared love of learning. We recognize that our applicants showcase these abilities in different ways. The UTS application process has evolved and will continue to evolve to best capture the individuality of our applicants. 

On Gender

While UTS was originally a boys school, an equal number of boys and girls were admitted starting in 1973. Since then, UTS has maintained a gender balanced incoming class of students. Recognizing the fluidity of gender, the office of admissions will work with families of non-binary and gender non-conforming students to ensure an equitable and inclusive application process. 

On Diversity

Although UTS proudly maintains a merit-based application process, we encourage a diverse pool of applicants through outreach and through the support of the UTS community. UTS Admissions does not seek to fill diversity quotas, instead we encourage applicants from equity-deserving groups to self-identify in the application process.

On Learning Needs

If there are individual circumstances that you would like the admissions committee to be aware of while considering your child’s application, please include this information in the Individual Circumstances Letter. This may include information about a child’s attendance record, non-participation in paid or unpaid co-curricular activities, duties and responsibilities the child takes on outside of school, family circumstances that have impacted the child’s education and opportunities, or any other information you would like to share. 

All application requirements and components are shared on the UTS Admissions website. These items, and only these items, will be considered in the application process. 

The Mathematics Component for Grade 7 is a full-solution test that is based on the Ontario Grade 5 and 6 curriculum.  Though the timing and format may change from year to year, with no notice, the test is approximately 45 minutes, split into three sections of progressive difficulty. The test has approximately 15 questions that can be answered in any order. We do not expect students to answer every question in the allotted time. To see an example of what this test could look like, students can access the 2021 UTS Math Entrance Test here. For further practice, free Grade 6 level sample tests from the Math League website are a good challenge, though may not match the topics in the Ontario Curriculum. Calculators are not used.

The English Entrance test differs from year to year. It is approximately 45 minutes in length and may involve reading and writing. It may be a creative task, or a reading response, or a combination. Students are assessed on their communication, organization, sentence structure, vocabulary, and conventions for the written piece. To see an example of what this test could look like, students can access the 2021 UTS English Entrance Test here. For additional preparation, students are encouraged to read books of any genre and to write for a variety of purposes. For example, students may wish to practice writing about a topic they are well versed in, about an imaginative topic, or an opinion piece. Students may also wish to practice responding to a piece of writing, whether it be a news article, song lyrics, or a book that resonates with them. 

The Mathematics Component for Grades 9, 10, and 11 is a full-solution test that is based on the Ontario math curriculum  Though the timing and format may change from year to year, with no notice, the test is approximately 45 minutes with sections of progressive difficulty. We do not expect students to answer every question in the allotted time. Sample tests from the Math League website are a good challenge, though may not match the topics in the Ontario Curriculum. Calculators are not used. Students are evaluated against applicants for the same entry year (i.e. Grade 9 applicants are not compared against Grade 10 or 11 applicants).

The English Entrance test is approximately 45 minutes in length and may involve reading and writing. It may be a creative task, or a reading response, or a combination. Students are assessed on their communication, organization, sentence structure, vocabulary, and conventions for the written piece. To prepare for this test, students are encouraged to read books of any genre and to write for a variety of purposes. For example, students may wish to practice writing about a topic they are well versed in, about an imaginative topic, or an opinion piece. Students may also wish to practice responding to a piece of writing, whether it be a news article, song lyrics, or a book that resonates with them. 

The UTS MMI consists of five or six interview questions, assessed respectively by five or six interviewers. Prior to the start of each mini interview rotation, candidates receive a question/scenario and have one minute to prepare an answer. Candidates engage with the first interviewer for four to six minutes. At the end of each mini interview, the interviewer evaluates the candidate’s performance while the applicant moves to the next interviewer. This pattern is repeated through five to six rotations and takes about 50-60 minutes. The questions are designed to assess candidates’ ability to express themselves authentically and clearly while being able to share their own uniqueness and candidacy for UTS.

There are no right or wrong answers to the MMI questions as they are not designed to test specific knowledge about any subject. During this time, the interviewer may ask you follow-up questions or provide you with prompts to help to elaborate your response. Don’t be afraid to ask for clarification if the question is not clear to you. Interviewers know that you may be anxious and they will do their best to make you feel comfortable. Remember—we want to get to know you —so be yourself!

The best way to prepare for the MMIs is to become familiar with the style and timing of the interviews.  During the interviews, you will engage with 5 or 6 different interviewers for 4-5 minutes each, so practicing with a couple of family members will help you gain confidence. The primary focus of the MMIs is to get to know you to the best of our ability through an unbiased interview process.  Therefore, an important aspect of the preparation for the MMI is to spend some time getting to know yourself so that you can articulate your thoughts confidently and effectively to the interviewers.

A recommended practice in preparation of the interview is to outline a list of your key characteristics that make you “you”, such as your personality traits, strengths, weaknesses, areas of passion, likes and dislikes, personal values, family values, etc.  Then, practice talking about them out loud to yourself or to your family members. Once you have gone through this process a couple of times during the week before the interview, leave it alone and relax.  Strive to get a good night’s rest before the interview day and a nutritious breakfast the morning of the interview.

UTS does not endorse nor participate with any outside companies in the business of preparing students for the MMIs.  We strongly discourage families from using such services as they jeopardize the candidates’ natural thought process and hinder their ability to respond authentically.  Such courses teach students to respond with answers that may be deemed to be ideal or favorable.  On the contrary however, students who respond with insincere and rehearsed answers are not able to articulate themselves freely and thus, do not perform well on the interviews.

Yes! We invite you to contact us at [email protected] so we can better understand your child’s learning needs and tell you more about student support at UTS.

Yes! If accepted, the child must live in the GTA with a parent or legal guardian by the time school begins. We invite you to contact us at [email protected] so we can better understand your situation and how to best support your application to UTS.

No. We welcome students from all types of schools and programs to apply. UTS offers enriched programming that is designed for students coming from gifted and non-gifted programs together, with course acceleration at every grade level. Students do not need reach ahead credits to apply to UTS.

No. While the SSAT has been a required component of the UTS application process in previous years, all applicants will now write the UTS test as part of Stage One admissions. If your child will be writing the SSAT and you wish to share the score with us, you are welcome to include this under the section “Additional Documents” in the UTS application.

No. UTS offers needs-based bursaries to support students who have been offered admissions to UTS. Please visit our Tuition and Bursary page for information about applications and deadlines.

• University of Toronto Schools strives to ensure the best match between student candidates and the school’s vision and mission.
• Admission decisions are based on the information gathered through the application process and an assessment of the student’s fit in relation to the school program and his or her cohort.
• UTS requires all relevant documentation and information that will help the school to understand comprehensively each candidate’s individual learning needs in relation to the school’s unique program and resources.
• UTS respects the confidential nature of applicant information through its practices of gathering, considering, and maintaining data.
• Applicants at each respective grade will complete a common process.
• UTS follows a clear set of timelines through the application and enrollment process. The school respects the needs of students and families through the application and enrollment process and is clear about the timeframe for acceptance of an enrollment offer.
• In discussing UTS and making comparisons with other schools, the Head of Admissions and Admissions Officer will apply a fair set of same standards of integrity, whether talking about their own school or making comparisons with other institutions.
• UTS requires all students to pay a deposit.
• All new students must pay an enrollment fee.
• UTS recognizes that currently-enrolled students may wish to consider other educational options and will strive to provide appropriate support in that process.
• Applicants must be legal residents of Canada (citizen or permanent resident) and live with a parent or legal guardian (documentation required if living with a legal guardian).
• UTS does not accept appeals for any admission decision.
• UTS is committed to providing services to our students that are free of barriers and biases, and strives to ensure that key principles of independence, dignity, integration and equality of opportunity are reflected and valued in our learning environment.
• Further, we are committed to giving students with disabilities the same opportunity of access to our services in the same location and in a similar way as these services are available to other students we serve.