How to Apply

Get Ready to Apply

Review admission requirements and make sure you have your required documents such as transcripts ready to be submitted.

Step 1: Complete School of Graduate Studies (SGS) Online Admissions Application

• Create an Account to begin your application. You will receive a verification code via email. Enter your verification code and create a password.
• Pay the mandatory application fee through the applicant status portal immediately after submitting your application. Your application will not be processed until the application fee is received.
• Upload required documents including unofficial transcripts, statements of intent, and more, through your applicant status portal.
• Enter information for referees. Referees will automatically receive a notification email that they have been requested to complete a reference for your application, along with instructions to submit their reference letter in the application system. If you need to change your referees, please contact connect.nursing@utoronto.ca (Subject line: Change referees for new applicant). Please provide your first and last name and U of T applicant number.
• You may send an email reminder to existingreferees through your applicant portal after submitting your application.
• You may view your application status, including outstanding requirements, by logging in to your account and selecting view applicant status portal.

Prepare Required Documents

Letter of Intent

For Applicants to the Clinical Field and Health Systems Leadership and Administration (HSLA) Field:

• Describe your short and long-term career objectives and how they will be advanced by the MN degree. Word limit: 300
• Outline any student, professional, or leadership contributions. Word limit: 300

Applicants to the Nurse Practitioner Field:

• Describe how your previous health studies and clinical experiences have led you to consider the NP program and influenced your choice of clinical focus (i.e., Adult or Primary Health Care – Global Health). Word limit: 200
• Describe your short and long-term career objectives and how they will be advanced by the Nurse Practitioner program. Word limit: 200
• Outline what you hope to gain from your clinical placements. Word limit: 200

Curriculum Vitae

You will be asked to upload your Curriculum Vitae (CV) to the online application. Use the categories listed below to help develop your CV. If a particular heading does not apply, you may leave it out.

• Academic education (post-secondary degrees, diplomas, certificates)
• Continuing education (including workshops, professional development)
• Awards and honours (e.g., practice awards from employing organization, bursaries, scholarships)
• Professional employment (Please note whether roles were full-time, part-time, or casual)
• Relevant presentations / publications / research
• Current membership in professional organizations
• Committees (e.g., work-related, professional)
• Clinical / administrative / practice innovations (please provide brief descriptions or examples)
• Membership in research-oriented organizations (please specify role)
• Relevant volunteer activities

Field of Study

Select your field of study:

• Health Systems Leadership and Administration

• Clinical Nursing

• Nurse Practitioner (Adult, or Primary Health Care – Global Health)

Two Letters of Reference

Letters of Reference are submitted electronically through the SGS online application. You will need to provide the referees’ email addresses in your application. Please communicate with your referees in advance to confirm their contact information. After you pay the application fee, your referees are contacted by email to complete and submit an online reference.

1. Academic Reference.

Ideally your academic reference will come from a professor/lecturer who taught you and graded your written work during your previous degree and who can speak to your academic abilities. A preceptor or clinical instructor is not an appropriate academic reference.

If you are unable to obtain an academic reference from a previous professor, you can provide a reference from someone who has taught you in a continuing education course.

2. Manager/Supervisor Reference

Ideally your reference will come from your manager or a direct supervisor who is familiar with your practice and professional accomplishments (e.g., leadership, contribution to nursing, involvement in professional organizations). 

A colleague is not an appropriate professional reference.

If you are unable to obtain a professional reference from a manager, you can provide a reference from someone who is familiar with your clinical practice such as a Clinical Educator.

Completion of Clinical Hours (NP & HSLA applicants only)

Applicants to the NP & HSLA program must complete a minimum of 3,900 clinical hours in a clinical practice environment as an RN by August 31, prior to beginning the program in September. As part of your application, you will complete a form indicating when and where you completed (or will complete) your clinical hours.

Considerations Related to Clinical Experience Pre NP-Application:

While each application is reviewed holistically, we do place a significant amount of weight in your clinical experience as a Registered Nurse. Considerations with respect to practice requirements for each emphasis are outlined below.

Primary Health/Global Health Care:  Applicants to the PHC-GH emphasis should demonstrate experience in primary healthcare and exposure to a wide variety of populations (e.g., refugees, people experiencing homelessness, underserved groups etc.) and age groups (infant through to older adults). This may include settings such as community health centres, family health teams and nurse practitioner led clinics. Please note that experience in settings such as COVID vaccination clinics or cosmetic clinics would not apply.

Adult: Applicants to the Adult emphasis should demonstrate experience caring for adults in a variety of settings with exposure to a broad range of conditions. This may include in patient settings such as general internal medicine, oncology, cardiology, respiratory care, complex continuing care and long-term care (provided that there is also experience with younger adults). Outpatient settings such as emergency departments (adult or all ages) or ambulatory clinics are also acceptable.

Very specialized tertiary and quaternary care experiences such as trauma and ICU should be supplemented with experiences in other settings that are less acute.

For each emphasis, applicants should demonstrate a variety of experiences, while also ensuring that there is consistent tenure.

Preference is given to applicants with more robust and long-term clinical experience given that they have had more time to develop their RN practice.

Proof of RN Registration

To be registered in our MN or NP programs, each student must be registered to practice as an RN. You will be asked to upload proof of registration to your application.

Electronic or Scanned Transcript

You will be asked to submit both an electronic copy of your transcript and an official transcript (paper copy by mail or electronic copy) to connect.nursing@utoronto.ca

Upload one electronic or scanned transcript from each post secondary institution you have attended. Scanned copies of transcripts must be up to date and must include the transcript “legend,” which is usually printed on the back of the paper transcript.

Technical Requirements

• Please scan your transcript in grayscale at the lowest dots per inch (dpi) setting that results in a legible document. We recommend 72 dpi whenever possible.
• The file must be in PDF format. Image files, such as those in .jpg or .bmp formats, must be converted to PDF before uploading.
• The file size of each scanned transcript file to be uploaded must not exceed 3 MB.
• If your transcript is double-sided, please be sure to scan the front and back of each page.
• The transcript legend (usually printed on the back of a paper transcript) must appear at least once for every scanned transcript submitted.
• Scanned documents must be clearly legible and print on standard CDN/US 8 1/2″ x 11″ paper.
• Do not upload a document that is password-protected or that contains macros.
• University of Toronto students may submit a screen capture of their academic history from the Student Web Services page of ACORN in place of a transcript. However, if you have attended multiple institutions, the other universities’ transcripts (with legend) must still be included in the file in chronological order.

Official Transcript(s)

In addition to uploading a copy of your transcript, you should also order your official transcript(s) from each university you have attended. Transcripts must be received by the Faculty of Nursing in an official envelope that is sealed and signed by the issuing institution across the seal OR by email directly from the issuing.

For University of Toronto transcripts, applicants may submit an ACORN print-out of grades rather than an official University of Toronto transcript.

English Proficiency Test Results

International applicants must submit a copy of their English proficiency test scores. Applications with unsatisfactory test scores will not be assessed. This requirement should be met at the time you submit your application.

Award Application

Admission awards for Master of Nursing students are available. To be considered for Bloomberg MN Admission Awards, applicants must submit both of the following applications by January 15, 2024:

• the SGS online admission application
• the Bloomberg Nursing award application [link]

Interviews

An interview with the Admissions Committee may be required. If this is the case, we will contact you by email to arrange for an in-person interview or, if this is not possible, an interview by telephone. Interviews typically take place from February to June.