FAQs before you apply
All our programs offered are listed here:
The application system will open for each academic year during the September preceding that academic year. For example, applications for the 2026-2027 academic year (commencing September 1, 2026) will open in September 2025.
When applying, you must choose "Graduate (B) Fall Term Start".
The Department does not normally accept applications for studies starting in January or May. In certain instances, we may make exceptions, especially if we have already had significant academic contact with a candidate (e.g. if they completed their prior studies at USask). In general, there is no guarantee that we can consider applications for any starting time other than September.
Please visit these pages to see our admission requirements:
Due to the large number of inquiries we receive we ask that you visit https://grad.usask.ca/admissions/admission-requirements.php and review the admission requirements. We will not review your degrees, transcripts, or any application documents prior to your application being complete within the official system or respond to emails requesting these services.
Applicants with no Mathematics/Statistics degree's will be considered after close review of all of their post-secondary transcripts by the Graduate Committee. The Graduate Committee must be confident that your previous studies in Mathematics/Statistics have prepared you for graduate-level course work and research. Only applicants that have paid the application fee and have uploaded their documents into the application will be reviewed.
Tuition and student fee information can be found here:
https://students.usask.ca/money/tuition-fees/graduate-tuition.php
The deadline to formally submit your application is December 15 (for admission for September of the following year). Late applications will not be considered.
We will typically allow an additional 2 weeks for you to upload certain documents that may require additional time (e.g. notarized transcripts) or for your letter writers to complete their reference requests, but you must still have formally submitted your application by December 15.
Please review this useful guide regarding how to apply:
While you may contact faculty about your interest in their research, and while you may ask them about their availability to supervise you, please do not ask faculty to "admit" you to the program and please do not ask them to review application materials unless they ask you for it.
You cannot be admitted to one of our programs without paying the application fee, applying formally, and having your application reviewed by our Graduate Committee (which may not include your intended supervisor).
Admission to our program is competitive and subject to the availability of resources (funding and faculty members' individual capacities to supervise students). For context, we often receive between 100 and 200 applications to our graduate programs in a given year and we are not usually able to recommend more than 10 funded offers of admission. As such, individual faculty cannot simply admit you and the decision for admission must be made by the Graduate Committee in consultation with the whole of the Department to ensure that our limited resources are being used effectively.
If you are admitted to one of our programs, we will assign a supervisor to you. We will take into account the interests and research needs of our faculty as well as your own interests as indicated in your application package. We welcome you to list in your application the faculty members whose research interests you.
The application fee is mandatory - no exceptions are possible. A non-refundable application fee of $120 CDN is required before your application will be processed. We recommend that you pay your application fee online at the time of application to avoid any delays in the processing of your application. You can only pay online during the initial application process. If you are unable to complete your credit card payment online, but still wish to pay with credit card, you can submit a Credit Card Payment Form (https://grad.usask.ca/documents/payment.pdf).
The Credit Card Payment Form can be faxed to 306-966-2115, or mailed to Student and Enrolment Services, 105 Administration Place, Saskatoon SK, Canada S7N 5A2.
FAQs regarding uploading your documents
No, it is required that all documents are uploaded to the official College of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies application system.
The application fee must be processed prior to accessing the options for uploading documents. If you still are encountering issues uploading documents after your application fee has been processed please refer to https://grad.usask.ca/admissions/uploading-documents.php#Requireddocuments
Here is a useful guide regarding the required documents:
https://grad.usask.ca/admissions/uploading-documents.php#RequireddocumentsThere is no template for the Research Statement. Below is a guide to assist in creating yours:
A brief statement of research interests (1-3 pages in length), should include:
- the general research areas you are interested in working in, ranking them if you have preferences (Pure Math, Applied Math, Discrete Math, Statistics); it is optimal to include this information in your opening paragraph;
- You can also include the names of faculty members whose research (as indicated on their research pages) aligns with your interests. If you have made contact with specific faculty and those faculty have responded positively and recommended you apply, please indicate that.
- any specific areas of interest that could lead to a thesis topic;
- information that highlights your abilities (e.g., publications, presentations, experience with research related software, etc.);
- a description of your educational and career goals and an assessment of how this graduate program will help you to achieve these goals.
We also suggest you try to write as clearly, concisely, and concretely as you can as this is your chance to set your first impression with a faculty. It is a good idea to have somebody proofread your document to catch errors and make sure it reads well.
Please attempt to fix this issue within your application in the document upload section. There is a help page for this here: https://grad.usask.ca/admissions/uploading-documents.php#Requireddocuments. If you still are encountering issues you can email mathgrad@math.usask.ca for further assistance but be aware there may be significant delays to your application due to the large number of emails we receive.
FAQs after the application has been submitted:
Send an email to mathgrad@math.usask.ca with your BID, details of the reference change needed, and any other useful information regarding the change request.
When processing your application if we notice an error, issue, or have further questions we will contact the applicant directly. Please try to respond to emails from mathgrad@math.usask.ca promptly to ensure your application is not delayed.
After the Department has considered your application (which usually occurs over the January to March), a recommendation for admission may be given to the College. The review process can take until the end of March before decisions are finalized. You will be notified by the Department of the final decision. If a recommendation for admission is given your application will be sent to the College for review. You will receive a letter from the College if accepted once they have reviewed your file.
We usually recommend acceptances by the end of March. Only complete applications will be considered
Applications that do not meet our minimum requirements will be notified at the time of pre-screening. All other applications will find out in April if they were declined or are on a short list.
If you have already applied to our graduate program and are inquiring about the status of your application, please note that due to the large number of applications we receive each year, we cannot routinely acknowledge when we receive each piece of information or provide updates on the application progress. We contact all applicants who have paid the application fee and provided all required documents with a final decision email. Contact can sometimes take an extended period of time due to the large number of applications we receive. Please be patient and wait for further contact from mathgrad@math.usask.ca.