Application Requirements

General Application Requirements

Individual programs may have unique application requirements. These are listed at the bottom of this page.

Transcripts are a record of your studies at an institution that include a list of courses completed, grades obtained, and indicate the conferral of your degree. Unofficial transcripts (i.e. scanned copies of your transcript or printouts of your student record) from every post-secondary institution you have attended must be uploaded as part of your online application. Post-secondary institutions are institutions attended after you have completed your secondary school or high school education, typically universities or colleges. Do not include transcripts for continuing education courses.

If your transcript does not clearly state that your degree was conferred, upload a copy of your degree certificate along with your transcript.

Scanned transcripts must conform to the following presentation standards:

One copy of the legend/grading scale information (normally found on the reverse of each transcript) must be included.
PDF format (.pdf extension); unprotected
Must be scanned as a single document
Transcript text orientation should be upright (if possible) and must be readable on a computer monitor without any adjustment by the viewer

Documents from non-English speaking institutions must be accompanied by a certified translation to English or a World Education Services (WES) course-by-course assessment of the credential.

If you are unable to obtain or provide transcripts, upload a document explaining the circumstances.

If you are offered admission to one of our programs, this offer will be conditional upon receiving official transcripts from all previously attended post-secondary institutions. These transcripts must be sent directly from the institution in unopened, sealed envelopes. We cannot accept unsealed, opened, photocopied, faxed, or scanned transcripts as official transcripts.

If an appropriate WES course-by-course assessment is not provided for an international credential, OCAD University reserves the right to require the provision of a credential assessment by the applicant at any point during the application or admissions process.

Recommendation Letters

All program applications require two (2) recommendation letters.

Recommenders must complete their recommendation letter directly through the Graduate Application Portal. Contact information for your recommenders must be entered into the application portal before your application is submitted. It is your responsibility to ensure that your recommenders complete this step in a timely manner. We encourage you to contact your recommenders as early as possible, as review of your application may be delayed until all recommendation letters are received.

We accept recommendation letters from both academic and professional recommenders. A good recommender is someone who can speak to your post-secondary performance, capacity for research, and potential for academic study at the graduate level.

Application Fee

The application fee is $110 CAD, payable through the Graduate Application Portal via credit card.

Application fees are non-refundable and charged for each program for which you apply. The application fee is charged when you submit your application.

English Language Competency

The official language of instruction at OCAD U is English. To demonstrate English language proficiency at a graduate level, you must meet one of the following criteria:

Completion of a Bachelor's, Master's, or doctoral degree (or equivalent) where the language of instruction was English;

Applicants should provide official documentation from the institution stating that the degree was taught in English, in one of the following ways:
A transcript that includes information on language of instruction;
A document issued by the institution stating that the language of instruction for the degree was English

Your first language is English;

Completion of an English language test within the 24 months prior to the application deadline, meeting the below minimum test scores:

TOEFL iBT or TOEFL iBT Home Edition
Overall: 90
Reading: 22
Listening : 20
Writing: 22
Speaking: 22
IELTS (Academic)
Overall: 7
Reading: 7
Listening: 7
Writing: 7
Speaking: 7
Duolingo English Test
Overall: 120
(OCAD U is temporarily accepting Duolingo English Test scores for Fall 2024 applicants to our graduate programs.)

Applicants who are required to provide TOEFL, IELTS, or Duolingo test scores are encouraged to schedule their test date as soon as possible to ensure that test scores are available prior to the application deadline. You will not be able to submit your application until you provide English language test scores.

If you are offered admission, we will verify your English language test results with the testing body. You may be asked to provide additional information (e.g. IELTS test report form number, or TOEFL registration number) at this point. When registering for your English language test, please make sure you select OCAD University as a score recipient.

OCAD University reserves the right to require an applicant to take the TOEFL, IELTS, or Duolingo test, or to provide documentation proving that the language of instruction at an institution attended was English, at any point during the application or admissions process.

Program-specific Application Requirements

Each graduate program has specific application requirements in addition to the general application requirements listed above.

Criticism & Curatorial Practice (MFA)

Application for admission into the MFA in Criticism & Curatorial Practice at OCAD U is a highly competitive process. Applicants must hold a BA, BFA, BDes, or comparable honours degree/certification with an average of 75 per cent (B+) or better during the last two years of study, or must demonstrate exceptional experience/expertise as a practising artist, designer, critic or curator. All applicants must demonstrate creative and conceptual competence at a high level.