Are you an American student potentially interested in attending college outside the U.S.? Well, you’ve come to the right place! Welcome to what will likely be a multi-part series on how U.S.-based high schoolers can apply to universities in other countries.
Today’s post covers the standardized testing requirements of eight of the most popular Canadian universities.
(Why should you take my word for it? Well, over the course of 15+ years of experience in the field, I’ve helped students of many nationalities achieve the SAT/ACT scores necessary to get a “yes” from their dream school….which sometimes happens to be located in a country they weren’t born in!)
So let’s dip our toes in, shall we?
ARTICLE CONTENTS
1. Watch this article as a video
2. What are the standardized testing requirements for American applicants to…
i. McGill applicants not submitting scores
ii. McGill applicants submitting scores
C. University of British Columbia
3. Conclusion
Watch this article as a video:
Canada: Standardized Testing Scores for Admissions
One general note before we plunge into our first school is that Canadian colleges’ websites tend to look a little different from American ones when it comes to SAT and ACT score reporting. Specifically, with the exception of University of Toronto, Canadian schools’ admissions pages tend to list minimum score requirements—as opposed to “most people are admitted within this range of scores.”
University of Toronto
Capisce? Ok, now let’s get into the nitty-gritty with each school on our list, beginning with the University of Toronto.
If you navigate to U of T’s U.S. Admissions page, you’ll see this text:
Students who have written SAT or ACT tests, and wish to have these considered in their assessment, may submit their scores. Please note that applicants to Engineering are required to fully disclose any and all test scores.
This basically means that University of Toronto is Test-Optional for everyone—meaning the admissions team is happy to look at your SAT and ACT scores IF you would like to submit them.
However, if you're applying to an Engineering program, U of T needs to see whatever test scores you’ve received—ALL of them. In other words, for Engineering admissions, Score Choice is NOT allowed.
Next, the website lists the data for the middle 50% of the students that the university admitted from U.S. high schools.
Half of admitted students did submit a test score, whether it was the SAT or the ACT.
The SAT range in the middle 50% of students was 1450 to 1550, meaning that one fourth of students who got in actually scored below the 1450 and a fourth actually scored above 1550.
For the ACT, that same range (middle 50% of students admitted) was 32 to 35. So, 25% scored below a 32 and 25% scored above a 35—i.e. a perfect 36.
McGill University
Now let’s talk about the second entry on my handy list of eight Canadian universities that you might want to apply to if you're thinking of venturing outside the United States for college.
McGill’s page on application requirements for students coming from the U.S. states that you must have taken either the ACT or the SAT (unless you’re applying to Music). However, just a bit further down, the website says that its test-optional/“ACT and SAT opt-out policy” has been extended to students applying to undergraduate studies for fall 2025 for the following programs:
Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
Arts
Bachelor of Arts & Sciences
Education (including Kinesiology)
Engineering (including Architecture)
Management
Nursing
Science
The website then explains that instructions on how to exclude the ACT/SAT requirement from your admissions review can be found in the standardized testing section.
Applicants not submitting scores
Ok, here's what all of those words from the website actually mean. If you are applying to enroll at McGill in Fall of 2025—so, as of the day this blog post is published, you are a senior in high school—then you don't have to submit a test score. However, we don’t know yet what the school’s policy will be for people applying to enroll as McGill freshmen in Fall 2026—i.e. people who are currently Juniors, i.e. the high school class of 2026.
If McGill decides NOT to keep extending their Test-Optional policy, it then it seems like you might have to take the Digital SAT or ACT. But…they might also decide a year from now that you don't have to take one of the standardized tests.
So if you're currently a high school senior—class of 2025—and you wish to exclude your scores from your McGill application, then you need to indicate that on the app.
Applicants who *Are* submitting scores
If you choose NOT to exclude your scores, then you need to provide the scores to McGill by the deadline—otherwise your application will be considered incomplete.
If you're a Junior or a Sophomore in high school right now, you should assume you're probably going to have to take the SAT or ACT—because McGill’s website does not currently state that they're extending their test-optional policy for you. They might choose to do so at some future point, but you have no guarantee that they will.
For those submitting scores—this admissions cycle or otherwise—the university’s website states that “Test score requirements for admission are set annually for the ACT composite and section sub scores. These requirements may vary by program. We cannot precisely predict minimum scores in advance.” This basically means: a number that’s competitive this year might not be what's competitive in next year’s applicant pool. But this year’s number IS still a decent guideline that you can use to create your target score.
For ACT-takers:
McGill wants you to submit a composite score of the four sections, including the Science section. (Though the new version of the ACT makes Science optional, you’ll want to opt into it if you’re planning to apply to McGill in a future year!)
A competitive score would be equal or greater than a composite of 26 and individual subject scores of 24.
So basically, you want to hit at least 24s—if not higher—in all four of the subjects on the ACT, and you want your composite to be a 26 or better.
For DSAT-takers:
It's your responsibility to get your official results sent directly to McGill from the College Board.
A competitive total score is ≥1250 for all majors except Engineering and Architecture.
For Engineering and Architecture, a competitive total score is ≥1290.
A competitive score in Reading and Writing is ≥670.
A competitive score in Math is ≥580.
However, if you're applying to the Engineering or Architecture programs, they want to see ≥620 in Math.
University of British Columbia
The third school on our list of awesome Canadian universities to which you might apply as a US student is…the University of British Columbia, aka UBC!
According to UBC’s website, for students “following the American secondary school curriculum,”
The submission of standardized test scores (SAT and ACT) is optional. Applicants who have a SAT or ACT test score and would like them to be considered as part of the UBC admissions process are welcome to submit their test score. Applicants will not be at a disadvantage if they cannot or choose not to submit a test score.
So this school is unambiguously test-optional for Americans. If you do have a good score, I would encourage you to submit it because it will act as an extra piece of evidence that you, in fact, are college-ready and will do well at UBC.
University of Alberta
Now on to the University of Alberta. If this is a school to which you would like to apply and you're coming from the United States, I’ve got good news for you. The admissions website explains:
If you are an American high school student “studying a U.S.-patterned curriculum at an accredited institution,” University of Alberta is test-optional for you. I believe this means that if you attend a brick-and-mortar high school—public, private, charter—it's accredited, and so you don't have to submit a test score.
“Students who attended unaccredited schools must continue to present standardized test scores (e.g., AP exam scores) in order to be evaluated for admissions consideration.” I have a feeling this phrasing means that you DO need to submit scores if you’re homeschooled.
If you’re unclear on whether you need to submit scores—or which scores you should submit between the AP, ACT, or SAT, etc.—University of Alberta provides you with an email address that you can message in order to confirm your particular requirements: maria.millan@ualberta.ca
University of Waterloo
Let’s proceed to the fifth of the eight Canadian universities I am going to talk about today.
The University of Waterloo offers a neat page on their website that helps you tabulate your individual admission requirements. You enter your info—where you attended high school, major of interest, etc.—and the site tells you exactly what the requirements are for YOU.
These will include AP requirements, which courses you need to have taken in high school, and—most relevant to our purposes today—the standardized testing requirements for an applicant who fits your profile.
Though no general test scores policy is listing, I like to try to figure out if there’s a general trend when it comes to situations like this. So, I did an experiment for you. I went through the page multiple times, selecting a few different possible programs. I tried to pick the more stringent majors—those that usually require the most competitive admissions materials, like engineering.
Granted, I did not go through ALL of the possible majors, but those majors I did check out all stated that for a U.S. student, test scores were not required.
So, you should definitely still use the website’s tool yourself if this is a place you want to apply to, because I can’t guarantee this is the case for every major. But to me it seems like Waterloo might just be a fully test-optional school for U.S. students.
Queen's University
Queen’s University is our sixth Canadian school that some Americans might be interested in applying to.
If we go to the admissions FAQ page and view the SAT and ACT requirements, we’re told that:
Queen’s has permanently moved to a Test Optional model, meaning applicants who have studied in the US will no longer be required to submit an SAT or ACT score. You may continue to submit your scores if you feel they will support your application.
So, no need to send in your scores if you don’t feel they show you in the best light—but if your scores are strong, then by all means submit them. Awesome!
Western University
Western University’s application requirements page for U.S. students tells us that you need:
A minimum SAT combined Evidence-based Reading + Writing and Math score of 1190, OR
A minimum ACT composite score of 24.
Score reports must be official and come directly from the College Board/ACT (and Western provides you with the school codes you’ll need to use to send those scores).
However, what’s interesting here is that the FAQs also include a note that “SAT and ACT scores are optional for Fall 2025 admission. If you already have or plan to take the SAT or ACT we still encourage you to submit your scores.” So again, this applies if you are currently a Senior—so, in the high school graduating class of 2025—and you're applying to go to Western in the Fall of 2025. That is the only group of people for whom the website is officially saying that SAT and ACT scores are optional.
If you are currently a Junior or below—so, high school graduating class of 2026 or later—the website does not specifically outline how/whether Western will still be test-optional by the time you’re applying.
Though it isn’t totally clear, if I were you, I would guess that you DO need to take one of the two tests, and (per the top of the info page) that they require a minimum score of 1190 for the SAT and a minimum of a 24 for the ACT.
Of course, they might change it up a year from now and say, “Oh, yeah, we're extending test optional to cover the class of 2026, too.” But because as of now they have not said that, it’s most strategic for you to assume that you probably will have to take the test and that you’ll need to achieve the minimum scores they’ve laid out for the high school class of 2025.
McMaster University
Last but not least, the eighth school we are going to pay a virtual visit to today is McMaster University.
Like the University of Waterloo, McMaster has a handy tool that lets you plug in basic info about yourself, and then you’re told what your application requirements are.
What I found while experimenting with this tool is that McMaster seems to be test-optional for every, or nearly every, academic area of study. They also don't seem to provide any minimum scores or indicate what a competitive range would be.
If you’re eyeing McMaster as a possible school to apply to, you’ll definitely want to go to the tool yourself and plug in your own intended major, etc., just to make sure.
Conclusion
So there you have it, my friends: eight Canadian universities and their standardized testing requirements if you are looking to apply as an American high schooler.
The tl;dr here is basically that all of these institutions appear to be test optional for people who are in the graduating class of 2025, at least.
If you are in the graduating class of 2026 or beyond, and eyeing McGill or Western, keep checking in on those schools’ FAQ pages. It seems from the language on their websites that they may still require a test score in future admissions cycles.
I hope this was helpful! As I do more research about other parts of the globe where you might want to apply to school, I will continue to publish videos and blog posts on the topic.
And if you also need help figuring out your SAT/ACT prep plan, or even a whole college applications plan more broadly, I offer expert one-on-one coaching in both of those subjects.
