Studying Commerce/Business in Ontario
You can’t always apply to commerce/business directly. Some universities admit you straight into it; others admit you into a broad first-year category and you choose commerce/business later. That difference is why searching for a major by name can make it look like a university doesn’t offer it.
Apply straight to commerce/business
DAN Management & Organizational Studies (ED)
Western
Western has two business routes and neither works the way students expect. (1) DAN MOS (ED) is the direct-entry business degree from Grade 12 — a Bachelor of Management and Organizational Studies (BMOS), needing ENG4U plus two of MHF4U/MCV4U/MDM4U. You still cannot pick your discipline on OUAC; you apply to a module after first year. (2) Ivey HBA is a 2+2 and has no OUAC code: Ivey states 'AEO is not a program choice, it is a status.' You apply to any Western faculty, tick the Ivey Advanced Entry Opportunity radio button on OUAC, and submit a separate Ivey AEO application with two 500-word essays and a Kira Talent video interview. HBA itself starts in Year 3, and holding AEO requires a full 5.0-course load each year plus an 80% two-year average and at least 70% in Business 2257.
Queen's
Verified verbatim on Queen's requirements table: "English 4U, Calculus and Vectors 4U, and one additional 4U Mathematics course, with minimum grades of 80% in these three prerequisite courses." ONE 4U math is not enough — this is the single most common disqualifier. A Supplementary Application (one written response, one video response) is required; for Commerce it opens the first week of March and is due June 15.
McMaster
Direct entry to the DeGroote Bachelor of Commerce. McMaster lists the Business supplementary as an optional submission, not a requirement — but it is how you get assessed on more than grades, and its deadline is much later (mid-April) than the January ones. Integrated Business & Humanities is a separate, smaller OUAC choice with its own mandatory supplementary; applying to Business does not cover it.
U of T (St. George)
Rotman Commerce is a direct-entry BCom you apply to from Grade 12 with a supplemental application and MCV4U; range roughly mid-to-high 80s. It is the one Arts & Science category you cannot join after first year, so it must be on your OUAC application now.
U of T (Scarborough)
BBA. Requires a supplementary application (SAF, possible interview), Advanced Functions and Calculus & Vectors, mid 80s (mid-to-high 80s for co-op). You do not pick a business stream on OUAC — accounting, finance, marketing, HR, IT and strategic management are specialists declared later, and every BBA specialist is limited-enrolment.
Accounting and Financial Management
Waterloo
Waterloo has no BComm or BBA of its own, which surprises most people searching "business at Waterloo." AFM is the closest flagship business degree — School of Accounting and Finance, Faculty of Arts, co-op only, English/Advanced Functions/Calculus and Vectors all at 75%, admission average mid-80s. The other real business-side admission programs are Honours Arts and Business, Mathematics/Business Administration, the two Laurier double degrees where the BBA is granted by Laurier (one with Mathematics, one with Computer Science), Global Business and Digital Arts, Science and Business, Environment and Business, Science and Financial Management, and Sustainability and Financial Management.
Read off each university’s own admissions pages, and covering the seven campuses Ontario students apply to most. Entry structures change — confirm with the university before you build a timetable around one. Search all programs.