Minimum Admission Requirements

An appropriate bachelor’s degree from a recognized university, with an average grade equivalent to a University of Toronto B+ or better in the last year of the bachelor’s degree and a minimum B average in the previous year.

Applicants will not be admitted until they have secured an agreement with a graduate faculty member to sponsor and supervise the student’s research.

Unfortunately, due to the university’s funding structure, we are unable to accept international students into the MSc program.

Applicants may enter the PhD program via one of three routes:

1) following completion of a recognized MSc degree in ecology and evolutionary biology;
2) transfer from the University of Toronto’s EEB MSc program;
3) direct entry, typically following completion of a BSc degree.

PhD Program Minimum Admission Requirements

• Applicants will not be admitted until they have secured an agreement with a graduate faculty member to sponsor and supervise the student’s research and the applicant has been offered a graduate position by EEB.
• Applicants to this pathway of the EEB PhD program may be accepted after completion of a four-year BSc degree in biology and a research-based MSc degree in the fields of ecology or evolutionary biology. Applicants must have a grade average equivalent to at least a University of Toronto A– during the MSc and an average of at least B+ in the final two years of the bachelor’s program.

PhD Program Transfer Requirements

• Applicants may be accepted first into EEB’s MSc program from an appropriate bachelor’s degree program and, conditional upon evidence of research excellence as judged by the thesis supervisory committee through the EEB transfer exam process and an interview, may transfer into the PhD program.
• Transfers will not be permitted until the student has secured an agreement with a graduate faculty member to sponsor and supervise the student’s research.

PhD Program Direct Entry

• Applicants will not be admitted until they have secured an agreement with a graduate faculty member to sponsor and supervise the student’s research and the applicant has been offered a graduate position by EEB.
• Applicants may be accepted for direct entry into the PhD with a BSc degree with an average grade equivalent to a University of Toronto A– or better across the final two years of bachelor’s coursework and in any postgraduate work, including courses in ecology and evolutionary biology, and evidence of research potential. Applicants may be considered through this entrance pathway if they do not have a recognized research-based MSc degree in the fields of ecology or evolutionary biology, or if they completed a BSc in a discipline other than biology.

International applicants must meet the English language requirement (see Application Materials, below).

Both Canadian and international applicants interested in a PhD in our department may request an informal review of your CV and unofficial transcripts by the EEB Graduate Office to assess whether your application may be competitive prior to submitting the university’s application fee. Please include the names of 1-5 professors whose research interests you.

Applications are completed through the School of Graduate Studies Online Admissions Application portal. The SGS portal will only allow the completion of all application components after payment of an application fee.

Offers of admission are made between February and May. If you require a status update or an expedited admissions decision, please email both: Kitty Lam and your prospective supervisor(s) describing your situation.

If you have been awarded a major scholarship or are applying for a major scholarship that requires a conditional offer of admission, please email Kitty Lam, Graduate Administrator.

The purpose of the Graduate Application Statement is to learn about your academic preparation, motivations, and interests in pursuing graduate education in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto. Please describe in a 1 to 2 page written statement (maximum 3,000 characters):

• Your academic preparation, research experiences, employment, or other professional experiences that prepare you for this research-based graduate program in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto,
• Your academic interests and motivations, research interests, career goals; why you have them; what kinds of expertise you would like to gain in graduate school, and
• Why EEB at U of T is the right place for you to pursue these interests and goals, indicating names of 1-3 prospective faculty with whom you are interested in working with toward a graduate degree.

In your CV or resume (1-3 pages), please summarize:

• Your educational history (including dates, degrees or diplomas awarded or expected, titles and supervisors of any theses, major programs of study);
• Any experiences in research, employment, or other professional activities (including dates and supervisors);
• Any certifications or professional training activities;
• Any presentations (including date, title, and venue) or publications (including as appropriate, article full citation with DOI, journal submitted to for peer-review, or in preparation status);
• Any awards or honors (including dates, full award name and granting source, and any dollar amounts);
• Any leadership, mentorship, teaching, community-building, or public outreach experiences;
• Any other skills, interests, or experiences that would enhance your graduate education or contribute to the livelihood of our academic community (including language proficiencies, special software familiarity, nature interests, etc.).

We value lively scholarly exchange and variety in ideas and perspectives to advance education and research for our graduate students. We invite you to include an optional 1 page Individual History Statement (max 1,500 characters) to describe how your individual experiences inform your decision to pursue graduate education, any ways those experiences have prepared you to succeed as a graduate student, and any diverse perspectives they might contribute to fostering education and research by our community of scholars in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto. You may include any educational, familial, cultural, economic, or social experiences, challenges, community service, outreach activities, residency and citizenship, first-generation college status, or opportunities relevant to your academic journey; how your life experiences contribute to the social, intellectual, or cultural diversity within a campus community and your chosen field; or how you might serve educationally underrepresented and underserved segments of society with your graduate education.

This Individual History Statement is optional and, if included, should complement but not duplicate the content in the Graduate Application Statement. Choosing not to include an Individual History Statement will not adversely affect the evaluation of your application.

Please list the 6 courses (formatted with one course per line as: course code; full title; final grade. E.g., EEB318; Principles of Evolution; A) that you have taken that you think have best prepared your academic background to pursue graduate research in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology. Below this list, provide 3-4 sentences total describing how these courses prepared you for success in graduate school. Depending on the nature of research topics that you hope to pursue as a graduate student, these could include courses in life sciences, mathematics, statistics, computer science, writing, etc. In self-reporting your final grade for each course, please use the University of Toronto Letter Grade Scale; note that official transcripts also will be required for admission.

For reference, the University of Toronto Letter Grade Scale is provided in the below table:

At least two letters of reference must be submitted electronically by the referees via the SGS Online Admissions Application. Referees will be emailed instructions after you complete the appropriate section of the online application. Applicants should contact their referees early, and check in regularly to ensure their references are submitted by the deadline.

One electronic or scanned (paper) transcript is required from each post-secondary institution attended. These must be up to date and include the transcript legend (usually printed on the back). Ensure the file(s) are complete and readable before submitting. If you are admitted to the program, an official verified copy of your transcript is required before registration.

Current/former University of Toronto students do not need to submit official copies of U of T transcripts after acceptance—the original digital submission will suffice.

The university requires a non-refundable application fee of $130 CAD, paid by Visa or MasterCard through the online application system.

Domestic & International students: Please submit your completed application form by Dec 1, 2025. Recipients will be notified of results: Dec 3.

In the meantime, you may initiate your application through the University of Toronto School of Graduate Studies (SGS) application portal but please do not pay the application fee until you have been notified about the outcome of your application, as we are unable to offer reimbursements.

The Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology (EEB) aims to build a diverse community of scientists. We believe that diversity makes us a stronger and more vibrant centre of research and learning. SGS charges an application fee to all applicants. However, EEB is able to provide a fee waiver for 25 applicants to our graduate program. The EEB application fee waiver program aims to remove financial barriers to support our goals of equity, diversity and inclusion among our graduate applicants.

Fee waivers will be distributed by a lottery system in three rounds, depending on availability.

Completion of this Fee Waiver Application Form is voluntary and your responses to the questions will remain confidential. Additionally, your responses will not be shared with the graduate applications assessment committee and will not influence the assessment of your application into the EEB graduate program.