FAQs before you apply

All our programs offered are listed here:

The Biostatistics program is offered by the School of Public Health, and is not administered by the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. If you apply for Biostatistics, we will not receive your application.

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.

 

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.

Funding is competitive and has higher requirements then the minimum requirements for admission. All applications that are complete by the application deadline and which qualify for funding awards will be considered, but no guarantees can be made.

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 January 15 (for admission for September of the following year). Late applications will not be considered.

Please review this useful guide regarding how to apply: 

https://grad.usask.ca/admissions/how-to-apply.php

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

FAQs related to the English requirement

The College of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies English requirements are listed here: 

https://grad.usask.ca/admissions/admission-requirements.php#Englishlanguageproficiencyrequirements

You must complete a degree with a minimum of 3 consecutive years in an institution where the exclusive language of instruction and examination is English. In order to be considered for exemption, the foreign college or university must be listed in the International Association of Universities' World Higher Education Database (WHED) http://www.whed.net/ as providing instruction solely in English:

https://grad.usask.ca/admissions/admission-requirements.php#Englishlanguageproficiencyrequirements   

https://grad.usask.ca/admissions/english-countries-institutions.php#Institutions

My current English results do not meet the requirements. Can I apply with my current results and replace them with new results when/if I pass my next test?

Yes, if you do not meet the requirements currently but plan to rewrite the test to raise the results to our minimum you can apply beforehand and email math.grad@usask.ca or upload your new results to the system. If your test is scheduled after December 15 (the application deadline) you can still apply with your old results but must email  math.grad@usask.ca details of your test date prior to the deadline so we can update your file accordingly. We prefer, if possible, that you forward an official confirmation that you have it scheduled. You will not be considered for scholarships or awards unless you have communicated with us that your test has been scheduled. 

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#Requireddocuments

There 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 useful 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 are encountering issues, you can email math.grad@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 math.grad@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 math.grad@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. 

Decisions are normally made by the end of March. Please note, only complete applications will be considered for admission.

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. All applicants who have paid the application fee and provided all required documents with receive a final decision on their application. Contact can sometimes take an extended period of time due to the large number of applications received. Please be patient and wait for further contact from math.grad@usask.ca.