Respond to Your Offer
Your Offer of Admission
Your official offer letter is the one that has been added to your application via the School of Graduate Studies online admission application. You will not receive a paper admission package in the mail.
Your offer letter provides important information about your studies, including:
- Department;
- Degree and Program Name;
- Session (when your program begins);
- Status (full-time, part-time);
- Minimum Degree Fee (applicable for all master’s degree programs);
- Faculty Advisor (designated by some programs, an OISE professor who can give you academic guidance and support);
- Conditions of Admission (if applicable); and
- Program Requirements.
Further details about your program requirements can be found in the School of Graduate Studies Calendar by graduate department:
- Department of Applied Psychology & Human Development
- Department of Curriculum, Teaching & Learning
- Department of Leadership, Higher & Adult Education
- Department of Social Justice Education
Please note, links will direct you to the 2024-2025 SGS Calendar and will be updated to the 2025-2026 Calendar when it becomes available.
Accepting Your Offer of Admission
Your offer letter includes a Confirmation Form. Once you decide to accept your offer of admission, complete, sign, date the form and upload it to the online admission application on your Application Status page as the “Admission Confirmation Form”.
You must respond to your offer within three weeks from the date of the offer letter or your offer will be cancelled. If your offer is cancelled, you must formally re-apply if you want to be considered for future admission.
If you accept an offer of admission to a program that requires a Tuition Fee Deposit (indicated on your offer letter), you must:
- Officially accept your offer of admission by uploading a completed Confirmation Form to the online admission application.
- Pay a $300.00 non-refundable tuition deposit by the date listed on your offer letter.
If you are waiting for a result letter from multiple OISE programs, you should still complete and upload the Confirmation Form for which you received an offer of admission. If you originally Accept an offer and later receive an offer of admission to another OISE program that you prefer, you should upload a Confirmation Form indicating Decline for the originally accepted offer plus a Confirmation Form indicating Accept for the new offer.
A student can only register and pursue one single OISE program of study at one time. So, you are allowed to accept one offer of admission at a time.
Overall, we will assume the most recent Confirmation Form indicating Accept you upload is accurate and valid, and all previous Accepts to other offers will be automatically declined.
If you accept an offer of admission to a program that requires a Tuition Fee Deposit (indicated on your offer letter), you must pay a $300.00 non-refundable tuition deposit by the date listed on your offer letter to secure your admission space in the program. Submission of the deposit constitutes acknowledgment that this fee is non-refundable.
You should pay your deposit to the program you intend to ultimately enrol. When studies in the program begin, the deposit will be credited toward applicable tuition fees.
To pay the deposit, make an online Mastercard or Visa credit card payment by logging in to your ACORN account. Use the JOINid credentials that were e-mailed to you when you completed and submitted your online admissions application.
If you have been offered admission to more than one program, be very careful to direct your payment to the program you confirmed (Confirmation Form uploaded) and want to undertake.
It can take 2-3 business days upon receipt of the payment to record the deposit payment in your ACORN account. It is your responsibility to ensure that the deposit payment has been recorded in your ACORN account by the deadline.
When you pay online, you will pay a convenience fee, which is a fee billed by the Moneris credit card service provider. This fee is non-refundable, even if you decide not to study at the University of Toronto. The convenience fee, charged at a rate of 2.5% of the fee payment, is billed directly by Moneris and is not remitted to the University of Toronto.
If you do not plan to accept your offer, formally declining your offer allows us to move to the next person on the waitlist. To officially decline an offer of admission, you must complete, sign, and date the applicable Confirmation Form and upload it to the online admission application on your Application Status page as the “Admission Confirmation Form”. If you decline your offer, you must formally re-apply if you want to be considered for future admission.
Delaying or Deferring Your Start Date
Admission is only valid for the date stated on your offer of admission in the "Program Begins" section (e.g., September, 2025).
Applicants unable to attend the session for which they have been accepted must re-apply and compete with other applicants for admission to a later session. Enrolling in courses or registering for an alternate start date is impossible unless special approval is granted by the Registrar's Office & Student Experience.
Note: Newly admitted students can request a delay/deferral of start date beginning April 15, 2025 (not before).
In exceptional circumstances, a program may approve a start date delay from Fall session (September) to the Winter session (January). It is important to note that a delay of start is rarely granted and should only be requested if you are unable to start in the Fall session.
To request a delay of start, you must accept your offer of admission (and pay the non-refundable deposit, if applicable) but you should not be registered in a program for the Fall session (i.e., no tuition fees paid). If your request is denied, you will need to reapply for Fall 2026.
The last day to request a delay of start is November 1, 2025.
To request a delay of start please email admissions.oise@utoronto.ca with your request and a member of our Admissions Team will add the delay of start/deferral form to the appropriate application on the online admission application. Please complete the form as per the instructions outlined. All requests are subject to approval and will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Note, a delay of start is not possible for the following programs:
- Adult Education and Community Development: MA (full-time), funded PhD
- Child Study and Education: MA, EdD
- Counselling and Clinical Psychology: MA, funded PhD
- Counselling Psychology: EdD, Counselling and Psychotherapy field, School Psychology field
- Counselling Psychology: MEd, Counselling and Psychotherapy field, Global Mental Health field, Guidance and Counselling field
- Developmental Psychology and Education: MEd, MA, funded PhD, flex-time PhD
- Master of Teaching
- School and Clinical Child Psychology: MA, funded PhD
In exceptional circumstances, a program may approve a deferral of admission for a maximum of twelve months (e.g., from September, 2025 to September, 2026). Please note that a deferral of admission is rarely granted and should only be requested if it is impossible for you to start in the Fall 2025 session.
To request a deferral to Fall 2026, you must accept your offer of admission but you should not pay your deposit (if applicable) or be registered in a program for the Fall session (i.e., no tuition fees paid). If you have paid your deposit and your request is approved, your deposit will be transferred to the deferred year. If your request is denied, you will need to reapply for Fall 2026.
If your deferral of admission request is approved, be aware that any changes made to the degree program requirements will be applicable when you begin your program. As well, an official transcript is required to document any new post-secondary study completed during the interim period.
The last day to request a deferral is:
- July 30, 2025, for the Master of Teaching and the Master of Arts in Child Study & Education programs
- Note: Deferral requests related to employment and financial circumstances are not approved by the Master of Teaching program.
- September 12, 2025, for all other programs
To request a deferral please email admissions.oise@utoronto.ca with your request and a member of our Admissions Team will add the deferral form to the appropriate application on online admission application. Please complete the form as per the instructions outlined. All requests are subject to approval and will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Note, a deferral is not possible for the following programs:
- Adult Education and Community Development: MA, funded PhD
- Counselling and Clinical Psychology: MA, funded PhD
- Counselling Psychology: MEd, Counselling and Psychotherapy field, Guidance and Counselling field
- Curriculum and Pedagogy: MA, funded PhD
- Developmental Psychology and Education: MA, funded PhD, flex-time PhD
- Higher Education: MEd, MA, EdD, funded PhD, flex-time PhD
- Language and Literacies Education: MA, funded PhD
- School and Clinical Child Psychology: MA, funded PhD
Changing Your Registration Status
Admission is only valid for the registration status stated in your offer of admission. It will show either full-time or part-time.
To request a change of registration status please email admissions.oise@utoronto.ca detailing your request. All requests are subject to approval and will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Note, the following programs are full-time only and do not permit part-time registration:
- All funded PhD programs
- Child Study and Education
- Counselling and Clinical Psychology: MA
- Counselling Psychology: EdD
- Counselling Psychology: MEd, Global Mental Health field
- Developmental Psychology and Education: MA
- Language and Literacies Education: MEd, Language Teaching field
- Master of Teaching
- School and Clinical Child Psychology: MA
