Application Procedures

Graduate

Applying to the Graduate History Department

The application for graduate study at the University of Toronto is available online. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure all documents are submitted by the deadlines outline below. It is recommended that documentation be submitted well in advance of the deadlines to avoid any disappointment.

1. DEADLINES

APPLICATION & DOCUMENT DEADLINE: Applications for the 2016-2017 academic year are now being accepted and are due January 15, 2016 (all documents).

Please complete all parts (biography, education, program of study, reference contact and payment) of the online application by this date.

Please supply all documents online (including references and transcripts) by the above deadline. Once all documents are received your application can be reviewed for admission. It is your responsibility to monitor the status of your documents in the online application and to follow up with your referees if references are not received in advance of deadlines.

2. MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

Ensure that you meet the minimum requirements before applying. For complete information about our graduate programs, refer to the Department’s webpage.

3. ABOUT THE APPLICATION

Applications to the History Department must be submitted to the School of Graduate Studies (SGS) using an online application, which is housed on a secure server at the University of Toronto. The online application allows applicants to manage and submit biographical and educational information as well as specific documents (i.e. Statement of Interest, Applicant Information Form, etc.) immediately to the University. Applicants can edit an in progress application and check the status of all documents submitted using a secure password and Userid.

A valid email account is needed to complete the online application, as the University will correspond with applicants using email.

Applications are considered complete and will be reviewed only after all documentation is received by the graduate unit (this includes letters of reference). All documentation must be received online by the document deadline date.

4. HOW TO APPLY

1. Log in to the online application at the URL provided below.
2. Provide the biographical and education information requested.
3. Be prepared to submit contact information for THREE referees. Be sure to inform your referees that you are doing this and that the University of Toronto, School of Graduate Studies will be contacting them by email.
4. Pay your application fee online as instructed. Applications are not processed, until the payment is received. Any questions/concerns should be directed to payment.sgs@utoronto.ca.
5. Submit online a 500 word Statement of Interest describing your research interest in History precise sub-field you wish to study.
6. Fill out and submit online the Department of History Applicant Information form.
7. All applicants are required to upload one electronic or scanned transcript from each post-secondary institution 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. The admissions committee will make its decision about your application based on this scanned transcript. Please ensure that the file is complete and readable before submitting.
The following option applies to transcripts from Canadian universities only: In lieu of a scanned copy of a paper transcript, applicants may upload a .PDF file of their academic history from their university’s student web service. Printing to pdf directly from your web browser is ideal; if this is not possible you may copy and paste the information into a word processing program and print to pdf from there. Where possible, the file should include the university’s grading legend and your name. Some universities do not include the same information on the student web service as they do on the transcript (e.g., class size or average). If the admissions committee determines that the file is incomplete you may be asked to submit a copy of the transcript instead.
8. Submit online a copy of a writing sample (maximum 3000 words for MA applicant and 6000 word maximum for PhD applicant including footnotes, bibliography, etc).
9. Upload a 1-2 page CV (include such information as Education; Awards, Scholarships and Distinctions; Conference Presentations; Professional and/or Work Experience; and/or Volunteer Experience)
10. Arrange to submit TOEFL and TWE scores, if applicable. Please refer to the TOEFL website: http://www.ets.org/toefl
11. Be aware of the deadline dates for application and documents.

5. START YOUR APPLICATION

Go to: SGS On-line Application

6. Frequently Asked Questions:

Do I require transcripts from all of the post-secondary institutions attended?

YES, a scanned transcript is required from each university attended. Applicants who attended universities outside North America must provide scanned notarized English translations to accompany all foreign documentation not written in English. You may be asked to supply an official copy of all your transcripts at a later time during the admissions process (you may want to have official transcripts on hand for this purpose).

Can I provide more than three reference letters?

No, only three letters will be accepted.

Are there reference letter forms?

No, there are no special forms; letters of reference are submitted online. Once you have confirmed your application information and submitted payment, the system will email your referees with instructions on how to submit their letters of reference online.

What do you expect in the statement of intent?

Applicants must submit a 500-word specific research proposal, outlining a precise field and area of historical investigation. When reading these statements, the Admissions Committee will be looking for: originality, imaginativeness of approach, and awareness of theoretical issues. You should articulate a feasible programme of study, but you will not be bound to it.

You may submit the statement online in Word or PDF format. The document can be saved by following the “Upload” link on the document status page in the online application.

Can I send a writing sample longer than the length requested?

No, longer writing samples will not be read.

What if I am also applying for a Collaborative Program?

The Department of History participates in a number of collaborative degree programs. A complete list of collaborative programs will be pop up when you click on the tab “collaborative programs” within the SGS online application. See the Degree Programs page for a complete list of collaborative programmes.

Applicants who are also applying to a collaborative program may be required to submit separate application information directly to the collaborative program office of their choice, in addition to the information submitted to the Department of History. Application deadlines to the collaborative programs could be different from the History’s. Please contact the administrators of collaborative programs for their application deadlines and detailed program information.

Why are there three boxes for Fields of Study? How should I indicate my Fields of Study under Program Selection and on the Applicant Information Form?

As you work through the Program Selection section of the application, you will be asked to indicate Graduate unit, Program, Collaborative Programs (if applicable), and other information.

Under Fields of Study/Concentration, three boxes will be available.

Applicants are now permitted to indicate up to three fields. These should be entered in the Fields of Study/ Concentration boxes under Program Selection in the SGS system and on the Applicant Information Form in the supplementary documents section (available after you pay the Application Fee).

Note that this is not an either/or choice. We are asking you to indicate the different fields or clusters into which your research program or topic (as laid out in detail in your statement of interest) fits. A student studying American food history, for example, might attract the interest of our American historians and a broader group of food historians working on other parts of the world. We find that the option of more than one field provides a richer sense of a student’s interests and research proposal.

Many of our applicants indicate one geographic and one thematic field. You are permitted to enter up to three fields and you are not required to indicate more than one. No matter how many fields you enter, your application will be judged according to academic merit.

See the list of Fields of Study under Graduate>Fields of Study on the History web page.

Examples

Example One: A student proposing to study in the political activism among indigenous peoples of the Caribbean could select Caribbean and Latin American History as the first field and Empire, Colonialism, and Indigeneity as the second field. These field choices identify the file as of interest to historians of the Caribbean region and to a trans-national cluster of faculty interested in the history of Empire, Colonialism and Indigeneity.
Example Two: A student proposing a study of American empire through the prism of food could select History of the United States as the first field and indicate thematic interest in food and in empire as the second and third fields.
Example Three: A student proposing a trans-national study of sex workers moving between Europe and Africa could select: Gender, Sex, and Sexuality; European History; and African History.
Example Four: A student proposing a study of the Catholic Church’s approach to poverty in early modern Italy could choose to select only two fields: European history and the History of Religion and Society.

These choices do not determine admission. They are meant to flag your file as of interest to members of faculty in each field. In the end, it is academic merit not field of study that determines admission to the program.

What should I put on my CV?

You should provide information like Education; Awards, Scholarships and Distinctions; Conference Presentations; Professional and/or Work Experience; and/or Volunteer Experience.

What sort of sample of writing should I send?

It should be your very best work. The ideal is to send a history essay or an essay that demonstrates historical thinking. This helps us judge your skill as an emerging historian.

If you have difficulty accessing the forms or need further information about application procedures please contact the Graduate Assistant at 416-978-5800.

7. Financial Aid

Students who are eligible are encouraged to apply for external scholarships. Please refer to the Funding section for information about these awards.

For more information please contact:

Graduate Assistant
Department of History
Room 2070, Sidney Smith Hall
University of Toronto
100 St. George Street
Toronto, Ontario
M5S 3G3 Canada
416-978-5800
E-mail: hisgradi@chass.utoronto.ca