Admission Standards

Master’s Degree

A graduating average of at least 70 per cent from a four-year baccalaureate degree (or equivalent) is required for admission to all programs except for English, History, Mathematics and Statistics and the Master of Public Administration where the required average is 75 per cent.

Applicants with a marginally lower four-year average may be accepted if their performance in the last two complete years is significantly higher (75 per cent or more).

Applicants must have the academic background required to undertake graduate studies in their chosen field. Applicants who fail to meet this requirement but who otherwise meet the criteria may be admitted; however, background deficiencies must be addressed by taking appropriate courses either prior to or in parallel with graduate work.

Some academic units have additional entrance requirements

Doctoral Degree

Normally, applicants must have obtained a thesis-based Master's degree in the discipline to qualify as a doctoral student. Applicants must have academic credentials consistent with being fully-qualified to undertake graduate work at the doctoral level. The categories of probationary or qualifying student do not apply at the doctoral level.

An applicant who does not have sufficient background training or courses prerequisite to scholarly work in the particular subject of study and research will not be admitted as a doctoral student. An applicant may be admitted as a Master's student and be required to undertake specific courses toward establishing appropriate credentials, but any graduate study undertaken for this purpose cannot be counted as time spent toward formal requirements for the degree.

Alternatively, an applicant may be accepted at the Master's level as a means of illustrating suitability to enter a doctoral program, and after the first year may request, through the academic unit, a transfer to a PhD program.

A comprehensive examination or equivalent is not a formal requirement of FGSR, but may be required by individual academic units.

Graduate Certificates

The admission standards for a Graduate Certificate are the same as those for a Master’s degree Please note that international students may not be eligible for Graduate Certificate programs because of Visa and Study Permit regulations.

International students - Please view Minimum Standards of Admission for International Applicants for grade conversions based on the most common grading scales for each country.