Welcome to
UofT Medicine.

The waitlist moves later than you expect. UofT MD draws from the waitlist as accepted students decline offers — a wave usually comes through in late May and early June, and another, smaller wave can come right up until the start of orientation in late August. People have come off the waitlist as late as the week before classes start.

If you're on the waitlist:

• Plan as if you're in. If a spot opens, the program needs to know you're ready quickly — sometimes within 24–48 hours. Have your transcripts ready, know what your timeline for housing would look like, and at least skim this guide so you're not starting from zero.
• Plan as if you're not. Apply for backups, accept other offers if you have them, and don't put your life on hold. UofT's waitlist policy lets you accept another school's offer and still hold your UofT spot — confirm the specifics with the admissions office for your year.
• Don't email asking for updates weekly. The admissions team can't tell you your waitlist position or odds. They'll reach out the moment something changes.

Statistically, the waitlist does move. People who didn't expect to get in often do.

Late June. Last year's class received their academy assignment by email on June 26 around 10 AM. The exact date shifts year to year, but late June is consistent. Don't sign a lease before this email arrives — if you ranked downtown academies and end up at MAM, your housing search resets entirely.

Deferrals exist but are rare and require documented reasons — typically medical, family caregiving, or a one-year fellowship/research opportunity that can't be redone later. Travel and "I want a gap year" are not approved reasons. If you're genuinely considering a deferral, contact the MD admissions office directly; the criteria and process are decided case by case.

Roughly 10% of each cohort is from outside Ontario. The transition involves a few extras the Ontario applicants don't deal with: registering for OHIP after your three-month wait period (or maintaining your home province's coverage during the transition), opening an Ontario bank account if you don't have one, and understanding that OSAP funding is calculated based on Ontario residency rules. None of this is hard, but it adds up — give yourself time.

Honestly, very little. The Foundations curriculum is built for students with a wide range of backgrounds — engineering, humanities, science, music. Don't pre-study anatomy or pharmacology. Don't watch lecture recordings before lectures start. The program will give you everything you need.

The one thing worth doing in the summer: rest. The pace once classes start is more sustained than what you've experienced before, and starting tired makes it worse. The students who do best in M1 are the ones who arrive at orientation rested, not the ones who tried to "get ahead."

It's expensive, but it's manageable. A studio downtown runs $1,800–2,400/month; a shared room or further-from-campus place can be $1,200–1,500. Most med students take out a Line of Credit to cover the gap between OSAP and actual costs — see the Finances page for the math. The rest depends on lifestyle: groceries are reasonable, transit is comparatively cheap, going out is what kills the budget.