International Admissions FAQ

Are you an International student with questions? We have answers!

Our Provost and Vice President (Academic) has shared a mid-planning update on Fall 2021 that you can read here. McMaster’s top priority is the health of our students and community. This drives our decision making about academic courses, on-campus activities and access to facilities.

For answers to questions about the upcoming term, visit our Term Information page.

Residences will be open, and we will be communicating with our first-year students in early May once we have more details around eligibility and capacity. We are also carefully considering the needs of our international students and are keeping a close eye on visa processing times and other Canadian entry requirements.

More information in the Provost’s letter.

Information about eligibility criteria for residence, rates for room and meal plans, and instructions on how to apply will be available on the Housing website as soon as it’s available.

McMaster has contacted students with offers in affected school boards with postponed exams. In these instances, predicted grades are considered final for the purposes of admission.

We accept Duolingo, an online testing option, for the English Proficiency requirement. You can find the complete list of acceptable tests, and possible exemption criteria on our English proficiency page.

If you have extenuating circumstances that may impact your academic performance, please reach out via this site’s chat function. You will be asked to submit a Request for Special Consideration form. We can direct you on the process and what is required for us to assess your situation as part of your admission.

If your school board, province, etc., cancels or delays final exams or adjusts their normal grading system, we will accept the results provided by those schools as final grades to meet your conditions.
For exam-based systems of study (e.g., CBSE, CAPE, WAEC, GCE A-Levels, etc.) where exams are cancelled or delayed, we will use the grades provided as your final grades to meet the grade condition in your Offer of Admission.

With the exception of Business I, we do not look at Grade 11 marks for admission. For Business I, a very small number of early offers will be sent out in January of each year using marks from Grade 11. All other offers from Business I will use only Grade 12 grades and come out later.

Unless otherwise stated, high school applicants to first-year undergraduate programs do not need to achieve a specified minimum mark (beyond a passing grade) in any individual course required to calculate their admission average.

For students who repeat up to two courses, the highest mark is used to calculate an admission average. Students repeating more than two courses, or an individual course three or more times, may be asked to provide a letter explaining the need for the repeats. The Admissions team will reach out to you if this is required.

Courses of this variety delivered by a Ministry-accredited institution/facility may be used for admission purposes without penalty. Summer courses taken immediately prior to the September entry, however, cannot be used for admission purposes.

You can find the list of acceptable tests, and possible exemption criteria on our English proficiency page. If you have access to your result, you can upload it on your student portal under the “English Proficiency” checklist item. Results do not need to be sent directly from the testing centre.

If you do not meet our minimum English Proficiency requirements, you may wish to switch your program choice to our English Language Diploma (MELD) on OUAC. Please visit the MELD website for more information.

International Baccalaureate (I.B.): Diploma or certificate students may request to be evaluated for advanced credit for completed Higher Level courses with a minimum final score of 5, at the discretion of the faculty.

Advanced Placement (A.P.): Applicants who have completed A.P. courses will be considered for admission to a Level I program. Applicants who have completed A.P. exams in acceptable courses with a minimum grade of 4 may be recommended for up to 18 units of advanced credit. An official copy of the final A.P. Exam Results Report is required.

Post-secondary: Please use McMaster’s transfer credit tool to search courses by McMaster or external courses.

Visit our Admission Requirements page for more information.

Deadlines can be found using our Dates & Deadlines tool.

Check out our International Viewbook for a summary of our programs and admission requirements.

By-selection programs assess applicants based on grades and the mandatory supplementary application. Non-by-selection programs assess students based on grades only.

The following programs have mandatory supplementary applications/requirements:

We make offers on a rolling basis from late February into mid-May. If you apply to a by-selection program, some may only make one round of offers in May.

Please contact our University Technology Services team for assistance. They can be reached via their live chat at uts.mcmaster.ca. Be sure to have your McMaster ID number ready.

OUAC 105 students will be required to upload relevant documents to the McMaster Applicant Portal. You can review your required documentation there.

Please ensure that documentation is submitted by the appropriate deadlines listed on the Dates & Deadlines page. Do not send any documentation outside of what is required.

Updates can take up to three weeks from the date of receipt at McMaster. Do not upload the same documents multiple times before they are reviewed as this will put you further down the queue.

If you have access to your result, you can upload it directly on your student portal under the “English Proficiency” checklist item. It does not need to come from the testing centre.

Check out this step-by-step video to learn how to upload your documents and test results.

As noted in the pop-up box at the time of submission, if you have submitted the document successfully, our current processing time is 2 weeks. We will only update your checklist item once it has been processed by our Admissions team. Please do not resubmit your document as that will put you at the back of the processing queue.

If you have completed your supplementary application, thank you! Your supplementary application status on your account will be updated 3-4 weeks after the deadline, so a status of “Notified” is normal. You should have received a confirmation at the time of your supplementary application submission. Please use this as your proof of submission until your item status changes to “Completed.”

You can find your offer letter in the applicant portal. It will also appear on OUAC in the days to follow. Within 48 hours of receiving an offer, you should expect to see both your offer letter, along with any aids and awards information (if eligible), on your student portal.

Your offer response deadline can be found on your offer letter next to “Responding to Your Offer.” All offers must be accepted via the OUAC website at ouac.on.ca. It will show “Accepted” on your Student Center under “Action” once we have received your response.

If you have received a “conditional” offer, you will find all conditions under “Terms and Conditions” on your offer letter.

Please refer to your offer of admission for full details and instructions on clearing your offer conditions. Note that Official documents should be mailed to McMaster or electronic documents can be sent to macdocs@mcmaster.ca by the issuing institution (if not already coming via Parchment, OUAC, WES, MyCreds, IBO etc.).

Visit our page dedicated to this very topic!

We do not release unconditional/final offer letters. Please use the “Letter of Acceptance For Study Permit Purposes” found on the last page of your offer letter to apply for your study permit.

Deferral requests are reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Once you have cleared your offer conditions in the summer months, you can submit a deferral request no later than September 1st. Please note, if a deferral is granted, you are not allowed to attend any post-secondary institutions or return to high school for additional courses. Visit the Registrar’s Office for more information.

Enrolment appointment dates will be listed on our website and in your Mosaic Student Center.

Our automatic entrance scholarships are awarded to high achieving high school applicants entering a Level I program. No application is required. Eligibility is based on your admission application (e.g. admission average).

The value of your entrance award may change depending on your final admission average. In August, the value of your award will be listed as ‘Pending Aid’ in Mosaic.  It will be applied to your account after the add/drop date in September. You can deduct value of your award from your total outstanding balance when making a payment to McMaster.

The deferral of the scholarship is automatic with the approval of a deferral of admission.

Our awards by application require an application and are given to students who meet certain criteria, usually based on community/athletic involvement. Once you’ve applied to McMaster and have activated your MacID, you can access our new AwardSpring portal. There, you can complete a common application and be automatically matched with awards that match your eligibility.

Students can be eligible for either the McMaster University Award of Excellence or the Faculty-specific Achievement Award.

Tuition for international students varies depending on your residency status and which program you are entering. Please use our cost estimator to get a general sense of how much it will cost to attend McMaster each year.

Please note that the calculated values are based on approved fees and awards for current 2020-21 students. The fees may be different for 2021-22 future students.

The tuition fees do not include any ancillary fees. Visit the Registrar’s Office for more information on these fees. These fees are also subject to change.

International students are also required to have UHIP, a mandatory, comprehensive health insurance plan that provides health coverage for international and incoming exchange students. Learn more about UHIP here.

We have created a payment plan to help stagger the financial commitment of tuition and fees throughout the academic year. Learn about other financial support.

We will make accommodations for students who must withdraw under reasonable circumstances.

For students who have not yet enrolled in classes:

  • We will issue a full refund of any amount paid at the discretion of the Faculty.
  • Please contact your FACULTY OFFICE for more information.

For students who have already enrolled in classes:

  • Start by dropping all courses in Mosaic. A refund cannot be issued if you are enrolled in courses.
  • Credits will be refunded to the student account according to the course cancellation schedule and policy. The add/drop deadline of September 16, 2021 is the last opportunity for a full refund according to the schedule.
  • Application fees and tuition deposits are non-refundable.
  • To request a refund, email REFUNDS@MCMASTER.CA. Include your first and last name and Student ID in the subject line. Refunds will take 2-3 weeks to process.

If you miss the deadline, please contact your faculty office for next steps.

Fee payment options for international students are found on the Office of the Registrar website.
After your tuition fee payment has been submitted, it takes approximately 3-7 business days for the payment to reflect in Mosaic under ‘Finances’. You can access your proof of payment letter under ‘Admissions’ by clicking ‘View Letters’ once your offer of admission has been accepted on OUAC and payment has been processed.