FAQ – Admissions

You may get several requests. Please always respond. If it is an international student and you are unsure of their eligibility, refer them to rsi.admin@utoronto.ca.

If you are not interested, inform the student that you are presently not taking students or not taking students with their qualifications. Top candidates should be referred to other faculty at RSI if you are not able/interested in taking the student. Please forward any potentially exceptional students to RSI Graduate Coordinators.

If you are interested in taking on a student, consider the following:

1. Does the student meet the minimum criteria for admission to RSI? Ask the student to share their curriculum vitae and transcript(s). Review their grade in relevant courses (e.g., research methods, statistics, etc.)
2. Do the student’s interests match yours? Do they have previous research experience? A phone conversation or in person meeting may help establish shared interests
3. Does the student’s style match yours? Although a meeting or phone call may be helpful, you may also consider putting the student in touch with other trainees that have worked closely with you
4. Is the student writing at the level to ensure success in graduate school? You may request a written sample from the student to get a feeling for their writing. You may ask them to critically appraise a relevant article of your or their choice. You may also choose to use an anti-plagiarism software to ascertain that this is their independent work
5. How do you work together to obtain funding? It is best that you develop a plan with the student on how to obtain funding. Consider scholarships that they could apply for and make sure you have input into the application. Consider your own financial situation and the amount you could contribute to the student’s stipend

MSc: Candidates for the MSc degree must have graduated with an average of B+ in senior level courses in the final two years of a four-year degree program from a recognized University, with a strong undergraduate science background, including a course in research design and/or statistics, and the equivalent of a four-year University of Toronto Bachelor of Science degree in a rehabilitation-related field (e.g. Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Psychology, Kinesiology, Biomedical Engineering, etc.)

PhD: PhD applicants must have graduated with an A- from a relevant (i.e. MScOT; MScPT, MSc. (in related field) master’s program.

The components of the application process are:

1. Two official transcripts from each university previously attended
2. A Letter of Intent describing the applicant’s proposed research program
3. Two letters of recommendation
4. A Recent Curriculum Vitae (CV)
5. A Letter from Potential supervisor indicating financial and supervisory support (optional)

Please refer to the RSI Student Funding Policy for details regarding current funding

Decisions on admission are communicated to the student only. The student is then expected to let the potential supervisor know.

The student and supervisor are responsible for notifying RSI office that funding has been secured so that the condition can be lifted.

If the student has only partial funding from scholarship or supervisor stipend, the student and supervisor can speak to the graduate coordinator to see if they can recommend other sources of funding. RSI might consider supplementing student to the required level of funding, if the student already holds a partial scholarship or supervisor has provided a significant stipend. RSI will not cover the whole financial package of a first-year student.

If the student’s full funding cannot be secured, the student should consider deferring admission to a later date to provide additional time to apply for funding.

All decisions of the admissions committee are final. However, students who are not accepted into RSI are encouraged to speak to the Graduate Coordinator to understand the reasons. The Graduate Coordinator will outline the rationale for the committee’s decision and will make recommendations for a future application.

Although RSI will not cover the whole financial package of a first year student, it will cover it in future years if the supervisor does not have funding, the the student provides evidence of application for external funding and they are in academic good standing.

In the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, the entire stipend is received as supplemental (T4A) income since Teaching Assistant salary payments are not considered part of the guaranteed graduate student stipend. Hence the relationship between the graduate student and supervisor is not an employment arrangement. The source of graduate student stipends may include the supervisors’research grants and in some cases industry contracts. To avoid conflict of interest, it is strongly recommended that supervisors not employ their graduate students whether the work is thesis-related or not.