If your school nominated you before October 9 and your OUAC application to the University of Toronto was submitted by October 16, you have until November 6, 2026 to complete and submit the Pearson Scholarship application. Four days. This post is written for those students.
If your school has not nominated you, the nomination window has already passed. The deadline to join the program as a participating school was also October 9. No student can start a new Pearson application from scratch today.
Quick facts
| Scholarship application deadline | November 6, 2026 |
| School nomination deadline | October 9, 2026 (closed) |
| OUAC admission deadline | October 16, 2026 (closed) |
| Award covers | Tuition, books, incidental fees, full residence for four years |
| Scholars selected per year | Approximately 37 |
| Eligible intake | September 2027, first-entry undergraduate |
| Official page | future.utoronto.ca/pearson |
Who is actually eligible
All three conditions must be true at the time you submit:
- You are an international student — a non-Canadian who requires a study permit.
- You are in your final year of secondary school in the 2026/2027 academic year, or you graduated no earlier than June 2026.
- You will begin studying at the University of Toronto in September 2027.
Students already enrolled in a post-secondary programme — at U of T or anywhere else — are not eligible. Neither are students starting a degree in January 2027 rather than September.
Each high school may nominate exactly one student per year. The school's guidance counsellor, principal, or head of school submits the nomination form through a secure link U of T sends in July.
What you need to submit by November 6
Once your school nominates you, U of T sends a private link to the Pearson Scholarship application form. You complete that form after your OUAC admission application is in. Before November 6, make sure every item below is uploaded and the form is submitted — a partial application does not count.
- Personal information and academic history as recorded on your OUAC application.
- A statement of leadership and impact: the committee wants specific examples, not general claims. Name the project, the problem, what you did, and what changed because of it.
- Two reference letters, ideally from teachers or counsellors who can speak to both academic ability and character.
- Evidence of community or extracurricular contribution: awards certificates, volunteer logs, or a short description of sustained commitment.
- Confirmation that your admission application was submitted before October 16.
The award, in real terms
Pearson is one of the most generous undergraduate awards available to international students in Canada. For four years, it covers:
- Full tuition for your first-entry undergraduate programme.
- All books and course materials.
- Incidental and ancillary fees.
- On-campus residence for the duration of the degree.
In 2024, the total Pearson funding package across all scholars exceeded CAD $12 million. The award is tenable only at U of T and cannot be transferred to another institution.
Decisions and notification
U of T notifies Pearson Scholarship recipients starting at the end of January 2027. All nominees — successful or not — are informed by April 2027. There is no appeal process for unsuccessful applications.
A warning about AI-generated content
The University of Toronto has stated explicitly: generative AI tools including ChatGPT and similar applications cannot be used to create any part of a Pearson Scholarship application. Nominees found to have submitted AI-generated content will be disqualified from award eligibility. Write your own words. Have a teacher read them. Submit them.
What to do if you are not nominated
The nomination window for the 2027 cycle is closed. Your options are:
- Prepare for the 2028 cycle: ask your school whether they received the nomination form access email in July 2026. If they missed this year, they should register before the July 2027 window opens.
- Explore other fully funded undergraduate routes in Canada: the University of Toronto Lester B. Pearson page also lists other institutional awards.
- Browse the ScholarMatch catalog: the fully funded page lists international scholarships that cover tuition plus a living stipend at every degree level, with deadline filters so you can find the ones still open.
- Check upcoming deadlines: upcoming deadlines in the catalog shows awards that close in the next 30 days so you can plan ahead rather than scramble.
Building a strong student profile now — field of study, degree level, country preferences — means the catalog can score your eligibility against every new award the moment it opens, without you rebuilding a search from scratch.
Sources: All dates, eligibility conditions and award terms in this article were verified against the official University of Toronto Pearson Scholarship page on 2 November 2026.