Canada

• Entry requirements are published. Universities state the IB points and HL subjects a programme needs, so you can tell in advance whether your predicted score is in range.
• Four-year bachelor's degrees with a co-op option at several universities, meaning paid work terms built into the degree - Waterloo is built around it.
• A degree from a Canadian university normally leads to a Post-Graduation Work Permit with no field-of-study restriction for bachelor's graduates, which is a clearer route than US OPT.
• Both English and French are official languages, and Montreal in particular lets you study in English while living in French.
• Class sizes and tuition sit between the European and American extremes, and campuses are safe and well-resourced.

• The study permit cap. For 2026 Canada set a ceiling of 309,670 study permit application spaces requiring a Provincial Attestation Letter, split by province. Once a province runs out of attestation letters it stops issuing them for the year, so applying early matters more than it should.
• Proof of funds. From 1 September 2026 a single applicant must show 23,448 CAD in living costs on top of first-year tuition and travel money. That is money that must visibly exist, not a promise.
• Tuition is not capped for internationals and can rise each year. UBC is unusual in guaranteeing increases of no more than 3% a year for four years after you start.
• Ontario's central system has no deadline for international applicants - each university sets its own, which sounds relaxed and is actually a trap.
• Winters in Montreal, Toronto, Edmonton and Calgary are far harder than a Danish winter. Vancouver and Victoria are mild but very wet.

Accepted

Yes

Minimum

No national minimum. Universities set their own and publish them: 24 points at UBC (bonus points included) and Manitoba, 26 at Dalhousie, 28 at York, Toronto Metropolitan, Carleton and Guelph, with competitive programmes asking for more. Toronto reads predicted or final results excluding bonus points. Read each university's IB requirements page.

Subjects and levels

Canadian universities normally require the full IB Diploma and then name specific Higher Level subjects for the programme - HL Mathematics for engineering, HL Chemistry and Biology for life sciences, and so on. Standard Level subjects usually satisfy prerequisites only where the university says so explicitly.

Score conversion

There is no single national conversion. Each university maps IB grades onto its own admission average, and Ontario universities also convert IB grades into percentage equivalents for comparison with Ontario's 4U courses.

• Transfer credit for HL subjects graded 5 or above is common and can shorten your degree - ask the specific faculty, not general admissions.
• Offers are conditional on your final July 2027 results, so a drop below the conditions can cost you the place.
• Quebec is different: its universities run a one-year shorter bachelor's for students who completed CEGEP, but international students with a full IB Diploma are normally admitted to the standard programme length. Confirm the programme length with the university before you accept.

1. Choose the province before you choose the university, because in Canada the province decides how you apply. Ontario goes through the OUAC, British Columbia through EducationPlannerBC, and Quebec, Alberta and Nova Scotia direct to each university. The three routes have different deadlines, different fees and different numbers of choices.

2. Check the mathematics rule against your IB subject choices, in DP1 rather than in your final year. Toronto, UBC and McGill each refuse Mathematics: Applications and Interpretations SL for their science and business programmes; Dalhousie accepts it. Nothing later can repair that choice.

3. Read the published IB requirement for each programme you want, on the university’s own page. There is no national rule and the universities genuinely disagree — UBC admits at 24 points including bonus points, Dalhousie at 26 including bonus points, and Toronto reads your total out of 42 with bonus points excluded.

4. Create the right application account. In Ontario the OUAC charges CAD 159 for three choices and you also pay a document evaluation fee to every separate university. In British Columbia the platform charges nothing and the institution charges its own fee. Applying direct means an account, a fee and a deadline at each university.

5. Send predicted IB grades and your school transcript. Every Canadian route here decides on predicted results and confirms on final ones, so the offer arrives months before July and is conditional on it.

6. Accept an offer, pay the deposit, and ask the university to request a Provincial Attestation Letter for you — or, in Quebec, apply for a Certificat d’acceptation du Québec, which is a separate provincial immigration document with its own fee and its own financial test.

7. Apply for the study permit with the attestation letter or CAQ, your letter of acceptance, proof of CAD 23,448 in living funds outside Quebec plus tuition and travel, and biometrics.

8. Sort out health cover, which depends on the province and is a separate decision from everything above. Ontario leaves international students outside the public plan for the whole degree; British Columbia, Alberta and Nova Scotia let them in, each on its own terms and each after a wait.

9. Arrange housing early. Most universities guarantee first-year residence only to students who apply by a separate housing deadline — UBC’s is 1 May 2027.

Admission is mostly grade-based against published thresholds, with supplementary applications, essays or video interviews for a minority of programmes such as Waterloo engineering, Queen's commerce, McMaster health sciences and UBC's broader personal profile. There is no interview for most degrees and no national ranking. You apply to a specific programme and faculty, and switching faculties later is not automatic.

• 1 October 2026

  Applications open

  Via British Columbia university

  Details

  Simon Fraser opens Fall 2027 high school applications on 1 October 2026. UBC says early October without naming a day.

• 7 November 2026

  Ontario — University of Toronto, recommended early application date

  Priority Via n Ontario university

  Details

  Later applications are considered after these.

  Not a deadline. Apply by this date and complete the next steps by 1 December and you are considered in the first admission round as well as later ones. For an applicant carrying predicted grades rather than final ones, an early round is worth more than the date suggests.

  Toronto's 2027 admissions table gives this under the heading "Recommended early application date" for Applied Science & Engineering, Architecture, Arts & Science at St George, the iSchool, Kinesiology & Physical Education, Mississauga and Scarborough. Applying by this date and getting your documents in by 1 December 2026 — its own entry below — buys early consideration, which is an earlier decision rather than a better one. Music runs its own recommended date of 1 December, and Medical Radiation Sciences has none. Missing it costs you nothing except the earlier answer; the date that closes the door is 15 January 2027.

  Source

• 15 November 2026, 23:59 PST

  British Columbia — UBC International Scholars Program: apply and submit the award application

  Applies to: international applicants who want an International Scholars award

  Hard deadline Via British Columbia university

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  An expensive date to miss, and one that looks optional. UBC's largest awards for international students require the whole application two months before the ordinary deadline, in the first term of the final IB year. If you are not applying for the award, your date is 15 January. Award applicants also have to meet UBC's English standard and submit their documents by 31 January 2027.

  Two months before UBC's general January deadline, and an easy date for an applicant in Denmark to miss: it is the date by which an international student must have applied to UBC and submitted the award application to be considered for the International Scholars Program. The scholarship is the reason the date exists, and the scholarship is the thing that is gone on 16 November — the general admission route stays open until 15 January. Published with a time and a time zone, 11:59 p.m. PST, which is 08:59 the following morning in Denmark; an applicant in Denmark working to a local midnight has until the morning of 16 November, but do not use that margin.

  Source

• 1 December 2026
  2027 admission

  Ontario — University of Toronto, documents for early consideration

  Applies to: applicants who applied by the 7 November early date

  Priority

  Details

  Later applications are considered after these.

  Early consideration is conditional on both halves: the application by 7 November 2026 and the required documents by this date. Applying early and sending the documents in January puts you back in the ordinary queue. Your gymnasium supplies most of what is wanted, so ask for it in October rather than in the last week of November.

  Source

• 15 December 2026
  2027 admission

  British Columbia — Simon Fraser University, Undergraduate Scholars Entrance Scholarship closes

  Applies to: applicants seeking an SFU entrance scholarship

  Hard deadline

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  Six weeks before Simon Fraser's own application deadline, which is the trap: a student who applies in January, on time, has already missed the entrance scholarship by a month. The supporting documents for the scholarship are due separately on 31 January 2027, and the offers go out between mid-March and May.

  Source

• 15 January 2027

  Quebec — McGill University applications close

  Applies to: applicants studying at, or last studied at, an overseas or US high school

  Hard deadline Via each university directly

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  Published as Friday, January 15, 2027, for anyone studying or last studying at a high school outside Canada, across Arts, Science, Engineering, Management, Education, Nursing, Architecture and Agricultural & Environmental Sciences.

  McGill states it with the year and the weekday attached — "Friday, January 15, 2027" — as the "Application deadline for Fall 2027 admission to undergraduate programs by applicants studying or who last studied in an overseas or U.S. high school", which is the group an IB candidate at a school in Denmark is in. No closing time is published on that page. McGill assesses on predicted IB results or, if you have them, on final ones.

  Source 1 · Source 2

• 15 January 2027, 23:59 PST

  British Columbia — UBC applications close

  Hard deadline Via British Columbia university

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  Pacific time is nine hours behind Denmark, so this closes on the morning of 16 January Danish time. It is a deadline for the Winter Session beginning September 2027.

  Published as "Deadline to apply for Winter Session (September 2027 to April 2028)", 11:59 p.m. PST. Submitted through EducationPlannerBC, not to UBC directly.

  Source

• 15 January 2027

  Ontario — University of Toronto applications close

  Hard deadline Via n Ontario university

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  The date for Applied Science & Engineering, Arts & Science at St. George, Mississauga, Scarborough and almost everything else. Medical Radiation Sciences closes on 1 February instead. If the OUAC forwards your application after the programme has closed, Toronto cancels it and does not refund the fee.

  Published on Toronto's 2027 admissions deadlines table under "Deadline" for Applied Science & Engineering, Architecture, Arts & Science at St George including the International Foundation Program, the iSchool, Kinesiology & Physical Education, Music, Nursing, Physician Assistant, Mississauga and Scarborough. Medical Radiation Sciences is the exception at 1 February. This is the university's own date, not the OUAC's, and you apply through the OUAC — which warns that it needs processing time before a university's date, so treat the first week of January as the real one.

  Source

• 15 January 2027

  OUAC deadline for Ontario high school applicants (Group A) - not yours

  Via n Ontario university

  Details

  It tells you when Ontario universities start deciding, and because it is the date most often quoted at international applicants who are not bound by it. You are Group B.

• 15 January to 28 May 2027

  Offers released, in rounds

  Via n Ontario university

  Details

  Toronto releases decisions from January to late May. The OUAC's guarantee that every Group A applicant hears by 28 May does not extend to Group B, so a later answer is possible and is not a bad sign.

• 21 January 2027

  McGill - Major Entrance Scholarship application and documents

  Hard deadline Via each university directly

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  McGill's IB requirements page publishes 21 January without a year. So 2027 is expected rather than confirmed. Six days after the application itself, so it is not something to start after applying.

• 31 January 2027

  British Columbia — Simon Fraser University applications close

  Hard deadline Via British Columbia university

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  Sixteen days after UBC's, on the same platform, for the same intake. This is the clearest reason not to read one British Columbia deadline as the province's.

  Published as "Deadline to apply for Fall 2027 on Education Planner BC", with applications opening 1 October 2026. Two weeks later than UBC, on the same platform, in the same city region — which is the argument against carrying one British Columbian date to another.

  Source

• 1 February 2027

  Quebec — Concordia University, recommended date for US and international applicants

  Applies to: US and international applicants

  Priority Via each university directly

  Details

  Later applications are considered after these.

  Concordia publishes 1 February as advice rather than a rule, explicitly to leave time for immigration documents. The year is projected from a recurring date and is provisional. In Quebec the immigration document is the CAQ, which has to be granted before the federal study permit can be.

  Concordia's wording is "U.S. and international applicants: Apply no later than February 1 to allow time for immigration document processing" — a month before its own general deadline, and the reason is the Certificat d'acceptation du Quebec, which has its own entry below and has to be granted before the federal study permit. Concordia gives a bare "February 1" with no year, as it does for every date in that section, so 2027 is expected rather than confirmed. Treat it as your deadline; 1 March is for applicants already in Canada.

  Source

• 1 February 2027

  Ontario — University of Toronto, supporting documents

  Hard deadline Via n Ontario university

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  A separate date from the application, and the one more often missed. Engineering and Music want documents by 15 January instead, alongside the application. Toronto says documents arriving later are considered as space allows, which in a competitive programme means not.

  Two weeks after the application itself, and invisible to a student who thinks submitting the application ended the job. Applied Science & Engineering and Music are the exceptions and want their documents on 15 January with the application. An application whose documents never arrive is not assessed.

  Source

• 7 February 2027
  2027 admission

  British Columbia — Simon Fraser University, Beedie and Contemporary Arts supplemental requirements

  Applies to: applicants to the Beedie School of Business or the School for the Contemporary Arts

  Hard deadline

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  Beedie applicants must complete every item on their To-Do List by this date; School for the Contemporary Arts applicants — excluding Art, Performance and Cinema Studies and Performance Production & Design — must complete an audition, interview or portfolio by it. A portfolio or audition is weeks of work, not an afternoon, and the date is published nowhere a student sees before applying.

  Source

• 15 February 2027

  Dalhousie - Nursing, Health Sciences, Medical Sciences and Social Work close; entrance scholarships close

  Hard deadline Via each university directly

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  Published for September 2027 entry. Other Dalhousie programmes are considered where space is available until classes start, but the scholarship deadline is the same day.

  Dalhousie's September 2027 calendar gives 15 February 2027 for Nursing, Health Sciences, Medical Sciences and Social Work and 1 March 2027 for Environmental Design Studies (Architecture). Everything else is considered "where space is available" until classes start, but 15 February 2027 is also the scholarship deadline and 1 May 2027 the date to accept offers and awards, so mid-February is the date that matters. To be guaranteed a place in residence, apply for it by 15 May 2027.

  Source

• 28 February 2027
  2027 admission

  British Columbia — Simon Fraser University, admission documents

  Hard deadline

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  Published as the "Admission document submission deadline for all High School Applicants", four weeks after the application. Admission decisions are made on a rolling basis from January to late April, so documents that arrive in February are read against whatever places are left rather than against the whole field.

  Source

• 1 March 2027

  McGill - supporting documents due

  Hard deadline Via each university directly

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  Published as 1 March without a year on McGill's IB requirements page; read as the 2027 cycle. McGill wants the school transcript with first-semester results and the predicted IB grades.

• 1 March 2027

  Quebec — Concordia University, fall entry, general deadline

  Applies to: Canadian applicants (US and international applicants: 1 February)

  Hard deadline Via each university directly

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  Six weeks after McGill's, two miles away, in the same province. The year is projected from a recurring date. Concordia takes three ranked programme choices on one application.

  Published as "FALL ENTRY (September) Deadline: March 1", with no year, so 2027 is expected rather than confirmed. It is the date a student applying from Denmark sees first on Concordia's page, and it is the wrong one: the international date is 1 February, four weeks earlier.

  Source

• 15 March 2027

  British Columbia — UBC, documents from high school applicants outside Canada

  Applies to: international applicants

  Hard deadline Via British Columbia university

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  A separate date from the application. International Scholars applicants have to meet it seven weeks earlier, on 31 January.

  Published as "High school applicants from outside Canada: Deadline to submit required documents to UBC." International Scholars applicants have an earlier date, 31 January 2027, for both their documents and the English Language Admission Standard, and UBC gives 15 February 2027 as the date for documents showing the standard is met. An IB Diploma taught in English usually satisfies the standard, but UBC states it without an automatic IB exemption, so establish in writing which of its routes applies to you before January.

  Source

• 1 May to 1 June 2027

  UBC - accept the offer and pay the acceptance deposit

  Hard deadline Via British Columbia university

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  UBC assigns 1 May or 1 June in the admission letter itself, so the date is personal rather than published. Your letter gives your date.

• 1 May 2027

  UBC - housing application for the first-year guarantee

  Hard deadline Via British Columbia university

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  A separate application from admission, with its own deadline, and the guarantee is lost by missing it. Vancouver's private rental market is very expensive and is not a fallback.

• 1 May 2027
  2027 admission

  British Columbia — Simon Fraser University, accept your offer

  Applies to: applicants holding an SFU offer

  Hard deadline

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  Published as "Accept your offer — Deadline for most students to accept their offer of admission", and it is also the residence and housing application deadline, so a student who accepts on the last day is applying for a room on the last day too. "Most students" is SFU's own hedge; your offer letter governs. Note how far this is from Ontario's shape: the OUAC's 1 June protection does not exist in British Columbia, and 1 May here is a real date a month earlier.

  Source

• 6 July 2027

  IB results released — what a direct-application offer turns on

  Via each university directly

  Details

  McGill decides on predicted results and confirms on final ones, and expects a student to maintain that performance through to the end of school. What each of the other universities on this route does with a result below the offer is not established here.

• 6 July 2027

  IB results released — what a British Columbia offer turns on

  Via British Columbia university

  Details

  UBC states that initial decisions are made on interim grades reported by the school and that final IB results are used to confirm the decision and any first-year credit. July therefore confirms rather than decides, and a result below the offer conditions costs a place already held.

• 6 July 2027

  IB results released — what an Ontario offer turns on

  Via n Ontario university

  Details

  Every date above falls before this one. Toronto assesses on predicted or final results excluding bonus points and requires the final results to reach it electronically from the IBO, so July confirms a place already held rather than deciding one. How each Ontario university handles a result below the offer conditions is set by that university and is not established here.

• 25 July 2027

  UBC - final transcript from applicants outside Canada (except US and A-Level)

  Applies to: applicants holding a UBC offer

  Hard deadline Via British Columbia university

  Details

  After this the door closes.

  The date that confirms a UBC offer for an IB candidate at a school in Denmark. Request the electronic transmission of your results from the IB in the spring.

  Published as "Out-of-country applicants (except US and A-Level applicants): Deadline to submit your final transcript to confirm your offer of admission." That is the row for an IB candidate at a school in Denmark; the 30 June date on the same page is for US and Canadian applicants. UBC decides on interim grades reported by your school and uses the final IB results to confirm the offer and any first-year credit, so request the electronic transmission from the IB in the spring so that it goes the day results are released, about 6 July 2027.

  Source 1 · Source 2

• No central deadline
  2027 admission

  Check the IB mathematics rule against your subject choices

  Your own plan

  Details

  Not published by anyone — a date worth setting yourself.

  Not a date anyone publishes, and the earliest thing here that cannot be repaired later. Toronto accepts Mathematics: Applications and Interpretations SL for the Advanced Functions prerequisite only; UBC excludes it from its science programmes, the Faculty of Management, Sauder and the Vancouver School of Economics; McGill will not take it as a mathematics prerequisite at all. Dalhousie will. The choice is made in the first weeks of DP1, two years before any deadline on this page, and no Canadian university has an appeal route for it.

  Source 1 · Source 2 · Source 3 · Source 4

• No central deadline
  2027 admission

  Ontario — OUAC application, international and out-of-province applicants (Group B)

  Applies to: international and out-of-province applicants (OUAC Group B)

  Your own plan

  Details

  Not published by anyone — a date worth setting yourself.

  The OUAC's wording is exact and it is the whole of the answer: "There is no specific Undergraduate application deadline if you are a Group B applicant. Deadlines vary at each university and sometimes depend on the program." It adds the warning that costs people places: "You must ensure the OUAC has enough time to process your choices before the universities' program deadlines" — so the university's date is not the date you can submit on. Do not take the OUAC's own headline dates for yours. 15 January 2027 and 28 May 2027 are published on the same page under Group A, which is an applicant currently taking Ontario high school courses and under 21 — not an IB candidate at a school in Denmark. The University of Toronto's own dates are separate entries below; every other Ontario university sets its own, so read it on that university's page. The OUAC page was last updated on 14 September 2026, and its dates sit inside collapsed sections that open when clicked.

  Source 1 · Source 2

• Set by each institution
  2027 admission

  Ontario — accept the offer and pay the deposit

  Details

  Set in each university's own offer letter, and there is no Ontario-wide date for you. The OUAC publishes 1 June 2027 as "the earliest date a Group A applicant may be required to respond to an Ontario university offer of admission and give a financial commitment" — registration deposit, residence deposit, the lot. Read the words: it protects Group A applicants specifically, an applicant currently in an Ontario high school and under 21. It is not a promise to you, and an Ontario university may lawfully ask a Group B applicant for money before June. Ask the university what your response date is at the moment the offer arrives; do not count to 1 June.

  Source

• No central deadline
  2027 admission

  British Columbia — create and confirm an EducationPlannerBC account

  Your own plan

  Details

  Not published by anyone — a date worth setting yourself.

  Nothing can be submitted until the confirmation email has been acted on, so this is a task to finish in the week the applications open rather than the week they close. Use a personal address rather than a school one: the platform warns that school accounts are deactivated at graduation and the institutions correspond with the address on the account long afterwards.

  Source

• Date not published
  2027 admission

  British Columbia — UBC applications open

  Details

  UBC publishes this as "Early October 2026" — a month without a day — for the Winter Session running September 2027 to April 2028. There is no date here to count down to because UBC has not published one. Simon Fraser, on the same EducationPlannerBC platform, does give a day: 1 October 2026. Checking UBC's page in the last week of September 2026 is the only way to catch the opening.

  Source

• Set by each institution
  2027 admission

  British Columbia — University of Victoria applications close

  Details

  UVic publishes its deadlines on each programme page rather than centrally, and says so, so there is no single Victoria date. UBC's 15 January 2027 and Simon Fraser's 31 January 2027 each have their own entries above; do not assume UVic matches either, and read the date off the programme page you are actually applying to.

  Source 1 · Source 2

• No central deadline
  2027 intake

  British Columbia — enrol in the Medical Services Plan on arrival

  Your own plan

  Details

  Not published by anyone — a date worth setting yourself.

  Compulsory for a study permit of six months or more, and cover begins only after the balance of the arrival month plus two more. Arrive in late August for a September start and you are outside the provincial plan until 1 November, so carry private insurance until then.

  Source

• No central deadline
  2027 admission

  Apply direct — build the list of dates yourself, one university at a time

  Your own plan

  Details

  Not published by anyone — a date worth setting yourself.

  The defining property of the direct route, which serves Quebec, Alberta and Nova Scotia. No portal, no shared account, no shared calendar, and no page anywhere that lists your universities together. McGill's and Concordia's dates have their own entries below and they are six weeks apart for two universities two miles apart in the same city; Alberta publishes per programme, and Dalhousie closes its health programmes on 15 February 2027 and takes the rest as space allows. Build the list yourself in the autumn of DP2 and put every date in your own calendar, because nothing will remind you.

  Source 1 · Source 2

• Set by each institution
  2027 admission

  Alberta — University of Alberta and University of Calgary applications close

  Details

  Alberta publishes its Fall 2027 deadlines per programme behind a faculty-and-term filter rather than as one institutional date, so there is no single date. The page states that its deadlines "are valid for applications to the Fall 2027, Winter 2028, Spring 2028 and Summer 2028 terms", so the 2027 dates do exist — they are simply not reachable without choosing a programme first. Read yours off the programme. The minimum admission average also varies by faculty and changes every year, so last year's cut-off is not a target.

  Source

• No central deadline
  2027 intake

  Quebec — apply for the Certificat d'acceptation du Quebec

  Your own plan

  Details

  Not published by anyone — a date worth setting yourself.

  A Quebec immigration document with its own fee and its own financial test, required in addition to the federal study permit and granted before it. There is no published deadline because it is gated on your offer, not on a date — which makes it a big practical difference between choosing Montreal and choosing Toronto, and why Concordia asks international applicants to apply on 1 February rather than 1 March. Start it the day the offer arrives.

  Source

• No central deadline
  2027 intake

  Provincial Attestation Letter — outside Quebec

  Your own plan

  Details

  Not published by anyone — a date worth setting yourself.

  Requested by the university after you accept its offer, so there is no date you act on — but there is a quantity, and the quantity is the risk. In 2026 the allocations were Ontario 104,780, Quebec 93,069, British Columbia 32,596, Alberta 32,271 and Nova Scotia 8,480, out of 309,670 nationally: the maximum number of study permit applications Canada would accept for processing in the year. Master's and doctoral students at public institutions stopped needing a letter on 1 January 2026; a bachelor's student did not. No 2027 allocation had been published as of 23 September 2026, and the 2026 figures above are precedent, not next year's ceiling.

  Source 1 · Source 2

• No central deadline
  2027 intake

  Study permit application

  Your own plan

  Details

  Not published by anyone — a date worth setting yourself.

  As soon as you hold the offer and the attestation letter or CAQ — there is no published date and waiting for one is the mistake. A single applicant outside Quebec applying on or after 1 September 2026 must show CAD 23,448 for a year of living expenses, which excludes tuition and travel; the figure is updated each year, so check it rather than budgeting from this one. Quebec sets its own figure through its immigration ministry and it is not the federal one.

  Source

English-taught bachelors

The entire English-speaking system - every province except Quebec teaches primarily in English, and Quebec has three large English-language universities (McGill, Concordia, Bishop's).

Proving your English

Universities generally waive English testing for students educated in English, and an IB Diploma with English A is normally accepted as proof. The exact waiver rule differs by university, so check each one; where a test is required, typical minimums are IELTS 6.5-7.0 or TOEFL iBT 90-100.

Local language needed?

Not for English-taught programmes

• In Quebec you can study entirely in English, but daily life, part-time jobs and paperwork are in French. Quebec has its own immigration rules and its own financial requirement for study permits.
• French is useful but never required outside Quebec.

Tuition, EU/EEA

Not applicable - Canada has no EU/EEA fee category. EU/EEA students pay international fees. (2026/27)

Tuition, non-EU

Set by each university and not comparable across provinces. At UBC, for 2026/27: Arts CAD 51,530.40 for a 30-credit year, Science and Computer Science CAD 53,082.00, Engineering CAD 66,199.66 for a 37-credit first year, Commerce (Sauder) CAD 66,678.30. UBC also caps the annual increase at 3% for four years for a student starting in 2026/27. No figure is recorded for Ontario: the University of Toronto states that its fees for an academic year are finalised in the spring of that year, so the price for 2027/28 does not exist yet. (2026/27)

Application fee

Three different answers, one per route. Ontario: CAD 159 through the OUAC for three programme choices, CAD 51 for each further choice, plus a document evaluation fee to each separate university — CAD 98 at Toronto, CAD 125 at Western, CAD 95 at Queen’s, Waterloo and McMaster, CAD 93 at Ottawa, CAD 90 at York and Toronto Metropolitan, CAD 85 at Carleton, CAD 95 at Guelph. British Columbia: nothing to the platform, and the institution’s own fee — CAD 130 at Simon Fraser for an international applicant, CAD 173.25 at UBC for an applicant on a study permit, CAD 184.00 at Victoria where any transcript comes from outside Canada. Direct: one fee per university, CAD 150 at the University of Alberta for a new applicant.

Living costs

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada requires a single study permit applicant outside Quebec to show 23,448 CAD for 12 months of living expenses for applications submitted on or after 1 September 2026 - about 1,954 CAD a month. That is the immigration minimum, not a realistic Vancouver or Toronto budget. (2026)

• The CAD 23,448 figure covers living expenses only. You must separately show first-year tuition and return travel.
• Quebec sets its own financial requirement through its immigration ministry, assessed for the CAQ rather than by IRCC, and it is a different number.
• Compulsory student and health fees are charged on top of tuition at every university. In Ontario that includes UHIP, which is mandatory for international students because the provincial plan does not cover them.
• Not established: tuition at any Ontario university for 2027/28. Toronto says the figures are set in the spring of the year of entry and publishes no current international rate on its fees page.

Funding you could actually get

• Entrance scholarships from the university itself. Most Canadian universities award automatic or competitive entrance awards to strong international applicants; amounts of 5,000-20,000 CAD a year are common and a small number are full-cost. These are usually awarded from your admission application with no separate form, but some require an application by a deadline earlier than the admission deadline.
• Named large awards: the University of Toronto's Lester B. Pearson International Scholarships and UBC's International Scholars programmes are full-cost awards for internationals. Both require nomination by your school, with autumn deadlines well before the admission deadline - ask your studievejleder in September 2026.
• Faculty and programme awards, especially in engineering and commerce, awarded after first year on results.
• Danish SU can follow you here if you can claim it (Danish citizens, or EU/EEA citizens with equal status under EU rules) and meet the ties-to-Denmark requirement. A full degree outside the EU/EEA follows separate rules, with its own ties-to-Denmark form: check su.dk before budgeting. If you cannot claim SU, look first at your own country's student finance: several EU/EEA systems fund a full degree in another country.
• There is no Canadian government grant or loan for international undergraduates. Budget on the assumption you will pay tuition from family funds, savings and scholarships.

Residency

You need a study permit, not a visa-free stay. Since 2024 Canada caps the number of study permit applications it will process: for 2026 the cap is 309,670 application spaces for people who need a Provincial or Territorial Attestation Letter, allocated by province (Ontario 104,780, Quebec 93,069, British Columbia 32,596, down to 1,376 in Prince Edward Island). Undergraduates do need a PAL; from 1 January 2026 master's and doctoral students at public institutions do not. Your university requests the PAL for you. No allocation beyond 2026 had been published as of September 2026, so treat the 2027 rules as likely-but-unconfirmed and apply as early as you can. Sources: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/notices/2026-provincial-territorial-allocations-under-international-student-cap.html

Working

Study permit holders may work while studying and after graduating under conditions set on the permit. After your degree, the Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) is the main route: you must apply within 180 days of confirmation that you completed your studies, your study permit must have been valid during that window, and for a bachelor's, master's or doctoral degree there is no field-of-study restriction - the restriction to shortage occupations applies only to non-degree programmes. Degree graduates must show language ability at CLB 7 in English or NCLC 7 in French across all four skills. Source: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/study-canada/work/after-graduation/eligibility.html

Housing

Most universities guarantee residence to first-year students who apply by a separate housing deadline, usually in spring. Take the guarantee - Vancouver and Toronto private rentals are very expensive and finding a room from Denmark is very hard. From second year most students share a house or flat, which is where the real cost appears.

Healthcare

Health cover depends on the province, and the difference is large. Ontario leaves international students outside the public plan altogether and enrols them in UHIP instead, which is a cost for the whole degree. British Columbia, Alberta and Nova Scotia all admit international students to their provincial plans, each on its own condition and each after a wait during which you need private insurance. Quebec requires continuous health and hospitalisation cover for the entire study stay as a condition of the CAQ. The EHIC and the Danish yellow card are not valid anywhere in Canada.