Thank you for your interest in graduate studies in Pomology at the University of Guelph. If you have written in response to an advertised graduate research assistantship (GRA), please be advised that since numerous requests come in daily, only qualified and suitable candidates will be contacted for further eligibility requirements. If you do not have any formal training (course work, research, or practical experience) in Pomology, it is unlikely that you would qualify for a GRA within my research lab.
The Department does not consider applicants for scholarships until after they have been accepted into the graduate program. Nor can we provide letters of offer before applicants are accepted into the program.
- The following website will provide you with further information about the Department of Plant Agriculture (http://www.plant.uoguelph.ca/students/current-students/graduate-studies).
- Graduate Program policies and information may be found at the following website: http://www.uoguelph.ca/graduatestudies/.
- The following website provides useful financial information: http://www.uoguelph.ca/studfin/
- For scholarship opportunites please refer to the Office of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies’ website.
You are responsible for assembling the application materials, including ALL original transcripts, grading scale and Assessment Forms. We cannot stress strongly enough how important it is that you send the Assessment Forms to your referees and ask them to complete the ranking as well as the comment section. Faculty reviewing applications find it very difficult to evaluate an application with incomplete Assessment Forms. The application fee must be sent to Ontario University Application Centre (OUAC). Please ensure that you state your country of citizenship, the proposed date of entry into Canada and the status you expect to have in Canada (student visa or permanent resident) on the application form. You should make application at least six months in advance of the term in which you would prefer to begin study if accepted. Graduate studies can begin in any term. Spring, Fall, and Winter terms begin, respectively, during the first week of May, September, and January. Please include an e-mail address on the application form if applicable.
English Proficiency: Courses at the University of Guelph are completed in approximately 12 weeks. Students therefore must be proficient in the use of English, both written and oral, when they begin their studies at Guelph. The university requires that certification of such proficiency be provided by applicants whose first language is not English. Examples of acceptable assessment of proficiency include official scores or results from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) of the Educational Testing Service, the International English Language Testing System, the Michigan English Language Assessment Battery (MELAB), and the Canadian Academic English Language (CAEL) assessment. The minimum acceptable score is 550 for the paper-based TOEFL, 213 for the computer-based TOEFL, an overall score of 89 with no individual component below 21 for Internet Based TOEFL, 6.5 for IELTS, 85 for MELAB, and 60 for CAEL. (These minimum acceptable scores are subject to change.) Applicants should make arrangements to take one of these tests at least six to nine months before the opening date of the semester.
Applicants may also choose to enrol in the University of Guelph English Language Proficiency Program which is offered by the Office of Open Learning. Applicants who complete the advanced level of this program will be considered to be eligible to apply to a graduate program at the University of Guelph. Information on what advanced level constitutes may be found at http://www.eslguelph.ca/
Applications for graduate studies in the Department of Plant Agriculture will not be considered until proof of proficiency in the English language has been established.
Please note that international student tuition and other fees can be found at: https://www.uoguelph.ca/registrar/studentfinance/fees/guelph_gr, and are NOT waived. You may expect that you will require an additional $15,000 Cdn per year for living costs; thus you may require total funds of approximately $30,000 Cdn or more per year. This amount is NOT an overestimation, it is realistic.
Medical insurance (UHIP) is mandatory and payable in September each year or pro-rated for the term in which you start your program.
The Department does not consider applicants for scholarships until after they have been accepted into the graduate program.
