Admission requirements

Students admitted to a master's program will normally have the equivalent of a bachelor's degree in Mathematics or Statistics with a grade point average (GPA) of at least 5.0 (B) in the work of the last two years. (In reality, the average GPA of students accepted over the past two years is closer to 7.5 than to 5.0.)

Admission into the PhD program will normally require a master's degree in Mathematics or Statistics and excellent research potential, documented by the quality of the master's thesis or letters of recommendation. Students showing outstanding promise may be permitted to enroll directly in the PhD program with only a bachelor's degree.

All PhD students are admitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies as provisional candidates until they have passed their candidacy examinations, at which time they are automatically classified as candidates for Doctor of Philosophy.

Language Proficiency

Applicants whose first language is not English, and who have not resided in a designated English-speaking country for three years immediately prior to the entry-point applied for, must provide proof of English Language proficiency.

Normally this is done by providing results directly to the University from a TOEFL, IELTS or MELAB test. Official test score reports must be sent directly to the University of Victoria by the testing agency. Scores older than two years are not acceptable.

Applicants holding a recognized degree from a designated English-speaking country are exempted from the Language proficiency requirements.

TOEFL
The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). The minimum acceptable TOEFL score is 575 on the paper based test. For the Internet based TOEFL (IBT), we require a minimum of 90 with the following minimum section requirements: Listening 20; Speaking 20; Reading 20; Writing 20. Individual departments may set a higher standard. This requirement will not be waived.

IELTS (Academic)
A minimum overall score of Band 6.5, with no score less than 6.0 on each individual component, on the International English Language Testing System - Academic (IELTS)

MELAB
A score of 90 on the Michigan English Language Assessment Battery (MELAB) will be accepted as an alternative to a TOEFL score of 575.