McMaster University

How McMaster actually handles things

From the OUAC’s Guidance Dialogues Resource Guide (Spring 2026), which OUAC publishes for guidance counsellors rather than students. Read the original. Policies change — confirm anything you’re about to act on.

If you repeat a course

Which mark they use when you take a course twice.

We will use the highest grade reported in the calculation of the admission average.

We may ask students who repeated more than 2 courses, or individual courses more than twice, to provide a letter detailing any extenuating circumstances that may have led to repeating multiple courses.

Summer school, night school, e-learning and private school

Whether courses taken outside your regular day school are treated the same.

We accept all Ministry-inspected and -approved courses. • Students may not use summer school courses taken in 2026 to meet the conditions of an offer of admission for September 2026 because the coursework is completed after the June 30, 2026, deadline.

Your Grade 11 marks

Whether they look at Grade 11, and when.

All programs will make offers of admission using Grade 12 grades only.

Midwifery may review Grade 11 Biology, Chemistry and English grades for applicants to the Midwifery program if the mandatory Grade 12 prerequisite courses are in progress at the time of application. Supplemental Application

Eleven direct-entry programs at McMaster require the submission of a supplementary application for admission consideration: Arts & Science, Bachelor of Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, Bachelor of Health Sciences (Honours), Integrated Biomedical Engineering & Health Sciences, Integrated Business & Humanities, Integrated Science (Honours), Midwifery, Nursing I and Wilson College Leadership and Civic Studies I.

iArts requires an electronic creative submission. • Business I offers students the opportunity to fill out an optional supplemental application. Ranking on OUAC Application

No effect on admission. Tuition Deposit

Visa and McMaster English Language Development applicants are required to submit a $2,000 tuition deposit. https://registrar.mcmaster.ca/payment-methods/#tab-10 First-year Course Selection Process

Automatic entrance scholarships

Money you get for your average without applying for it.

Guaranteed entrance scholarships are based on final admission averages. All awards are non-renewable. https://registrar.mcmaster.ca/entrance-awards

Scholarship deadlines

The general entrance award deadline is February 19, 2026 (past), at 11:59 pm (ET) though some award deadlines may vary. To learn more about individual awards, visit: https://registrar.mcmaster.ca/entrance-awards.

Bursaries

General Bursaries are available once a student is enrolled at the university. Applications open in August 2026. https://registrar.mcmaster.ca/entrance-awards

Special consideration

If something happened that affected your marks.

Students with extenuating circumstances may submit a request for a special consideration form. https://admissions.mcmaster.ca/manage/login?realm=&r=/portal/ extenuatingcircumstances

We evaluate extenuating circumstances on a case-by-case basis.

Deferring your offer

Taking a year before you start.

Students may submit a request to defer their offer for a period of 1 year.

We review requests on a case-by-case basis and make decisions on deferrals in late August.

If we grant a deferral, the student may not attend any educational institution (including high school) for the deferral period.

AP and IB

AP: We will consider applicants who completed AP courses for admission to a Level I program.

Applicants who completed the AP exams in acceptable courses with a minimum grade of 4 may be recommended for up to 18 units of advanced credit upon request.

IB: Students may present a full IB diploma or a combination of IB courses (certificate) and 4U/M courses (or equivalent).

Students may request to be evaluated for advanced credit of up to 18 units for completed Higher Level courses with a minimum final score of 5, at the discretion of the faculty.

Changing programs

Music 1 is still not offered for fall 2026. • Business 1 and Integrated Business and Humanities will now offer co-op. Students will have access to 4-, 8- and 12-month paid co-op work terms. Students apply to co-op after their first year and must complete a minimum of 12 months (maximum of 16 months) of work experience. • Midwifery: The minimum average required is now 85%. Students must obtain at least an 85% in the 3 required courses (Biology, Chemistry, English). Casper is no longer required. The Identity and Admissions Survey is still required. • Social Sciences: Co-op is now available for Anthropology, Environment & Society (Aging & Society and Health & Society) and Sociology (in addition to Economics, Political Science, and Work and Labour Studies).

Engineering & iBioMed: Applicants applying for fall 2027 will have the option to apply directly to a discipline or choose after Level I.

Transfer credit

https://future.mcmaster.ca/university-transfer-student

English proficiency

At our discretion, students may be exempt from submitting an English-language proficiency test if they have: a) resided in an English-speaking country for at least 4 years immediately prior to September 2026 or b) attended an English-medium educational institution in a full-time academic program for at least 4 years immediately prior to September 2026.