How to Apply to Biology at the University of Waterloo (Ontario, Canada): Choosing the Biology Major When You Apply to Life Sciences, Options and Minors, Co-op or Regular Study, and Admission Requirements and Prerequisites for Domestic, International (Including Chinese) and Transfer Applicants

The University of Waterloo is in Waterloo, Ontario. Its biology degree is offered by the Department of Biology in the Faculty of Science, and you apply to “Life Sciences”. Below are the key points for fall 2027 entry from Waterloo’s website (the deadlines page shows 2027 dates; the tuition page gives estimates for students starting in 2026), for domestic applicants (Canadian citizens and permanent residents), international applicants (including those from China) and transfer students. Biochemistry, biomedical sciences and other neighbouring programs are mentioned only where they overlap; pharmacy, optometry, health sciences, public health and other professional programs are outside this article, so see Waterloo’s website.

1. Degrees and areas

• Degree: the biology program page gives the degree as a Bachelor of Science in Biology, available as a co-op program, as a regular program and as a minor. The Department of Biology lists these undergraduate programs: Biology, Biochemistry, Biomedical Sciences, Biological and Medical Physics, and the Ecology specialization in Environmental Sciences.
• You choose the major when you apply: Waterloo says Life Sciences is a group of three related majors, Biochemistry, Biology and Psychology; you pick one major and choose co-op or the regular system of study. It says you dive into the Biology major from day one, with more than 80 biology courses, from human health (physiology, anatomy) and microbes (microbiology, pathogenesis) to plants and animals (botany, zoology) and ecology and conservation.
• Biology versus Biomedical Sciences and Biochemistry: Waterloo says Biology starts with a broad foundation and, after first year, electives let you focus on plants, animals or microbiology; Biomedical Sciences has a fairly general first year but keeps a focus on human and animal biology, includes a physics lab and prepares you for professional-school applications; Biochemistry studies the chemical reactions in living systems, with courses about 60% chemistry plus some biology and physics.
• Options and minors: you can add options in Bioinformatics, Cell and Molecular Biology, Ecology and Environmental Biology, or Microbiology (usually six to eight courses), minors (usually ten courses) in Biochemistry, Biophysics, Medical Physiology or Neuroscience, and the minors open to all Waterloo students; the page lists Medical Physiology and Chemistry as popular minors for Biology students.
• Diploma: students in Biology and Biomedical Sciences can earn a one-year Biotechnology Technician diploma from Conestoga College during their third year.
• Accreditation, research projects: accreditation is not published on the pages read here; the department site lists pages for a senior honours project and NSERC undergraduate research awards, for details of which see the department site. Field courses: Waterloo says there are hands-on field courses in terrestrial, aquatic or marine biology in places such as Algonquin Park and Jamaica.

2. Direct entry and the first year

• First year (Waterloo’s sample schedule; courses and when they run may change): September–December BIOL 110 (Biodiversity, Biomes, and Evolution), BIOL 130/130L (Introductory Cell Biology and lab), CHEM 120/120L (General Chemistry 1 and lab), MATH 127 (Calculus 1 for the Sciences) and one elective; January–April BIOL 239 (Genetics), CHEM 123/123L (General Chemistry 2 and lab), PHYS 111 (Physics 1) or PHYS 121 (Mechanics), ENGL 193/COMMST 193 (Communication in the Sciences) and one elective.
• After first year: most classes are biology courses and the rest are electives from about 100 subject areas; sample upper-year courses are BIOL 225 Plants and Civilization, BIOL 310 Invertebrate Zoology, BIOL 346 Microbial Ecology and Diversity and BIOL 472 Cell Biology of Human Disease.
• Changing majors after entry: not published on the pages read here; contact the Science Undergraduate Office or the department’s advisors.

3. Prerequisites

• Ontario high school students (the Biology and Life Sciences pages agree): six Grade 12 U and/or M courses including English (ENG4U, with a minimum final grade of 70%), Advanced Functions (at least 70%), Calculus and Vectors (at least 70%), and any two of Biology, Chemistry, Earth and Space Science, Mathematics of Data Management or Physics. The Admission averages line reads “Low 80s”. The page does not say whether Biology (SBI4U) or Chemistry (SCH4U) is required, so check Waterloo’s website.
• Applicants outside Ontario: given by Waterloo’s interactive admission-requirements tool, whose results were not shown on the static pages read here; check Waterloo’s website.
• Marks needed from A-level, AP or IB: likewise not published on the pages read here.

4. Co-op

• Waterloo says Biology graduates can have nearly two years of paid work experience; the co-op overview says most co-op programs take five years with four to six work terms. The biology page’s work-study sequence: your first work term is the winter term (January–April) of second year; first year is study in fall and winter with the spring off; second year is study in fall, work in winter and study in spring; third year is work in fall, study in winter and work in spring; fourth year is study in fall and work in winter and spring; fifth year is study in fall and winter.
• Sample co-op job titles listed: genetic counselling assistant, field and lab technician, plant pathology research assistant, bioinformatics assistant and animal care research assistant.
• Applying for co-op: check the co-op box on your OUAC application. Waterloo says space to switch into co-op in first year is very limited; if you apply to co-op and are not admitted to it, you may be considered for the regular program if space is available. Co-op is open to international students, but co-op jobs are not guaranteed: you apply and interview, and you may arrange your own job if it meets the requirements; how work permits are handled for international students is not on the co-op page, so see Waterloo’s international pages and the Government of Canada.

五. How and when to apply

• Route: full-time students apply through the Ontario Universities’ Application Centre (OUAC), which lets you apply to several Ontario universities; at Waterloo you can apply to at most three programs and receive a decision for each. To apply to co-op, check the co-op box on your OUAC application. Waterloo says it emails next steps within 24 to 48 hours of receiving your information from the OUAC.
• Deadlines (the deadlines page shows the year): for programs other than Engineering, the application deadline is February 1, 2027 and the documents deadline February 15, 2027; Waterloo says international students have the same deadlines; first-year students are admitted for September only; a deadline may be extended if a program is not yet full, and later applications are reviewed only if space is available. Application fee: not published on the pages read here; check OUAC and Waterloo.
• After you apply: log in to the applicant portal and complete the Declaration of Academic Experience (required for all applicants, about five minutes), which generates your personal document checklist. Waterloo says the Admission Information Form (AIF) is required only for Engineering and Faculty of Mathematics programs, so for biology rely on the portal checklist for any supplementary items.
• Transcripts: Ontario high schools send grades automatically; applicants from other provinces upload transcripts or order them through provincial systems; before an offer, unofficial transcripts can be used for review, and after an offer official documents must be sent directly by your school or the testing authority (uploaded or emailed copies are not official). Non-English transcripts need English-language copies, including predicted or mid-term grades.
• Essays, references, SAT/ACT: the application pages do not list them; whether they are required is not published on the pages read here.
• Contests: Waterloo says students who write the Sir Isaac Newton Contest, the Chem 13 News Contest or the Euclid Contest and are admitted to most Faculty of Science programs are automatically eligible for a $1,000 Faculty of Science Contest and Camp Award; the contests are optional, not an admission requirement, and are arranged through your school.

六. Domestic applicants (Canadian citizens and permanent residents)

• Ontario students: apply with the Ontario Grade 12 U/M courses listed above; the Admission averages line reads “low 80s”.
• Canadian students outside Ontario: the program page says to use Waterloo’s admission requirements search tool, an interactive page where you choose province, curriculum and program; its results are not shown on the static pages, so check your province’s subject requirements on Waterloo’s website. Applicants outside Ontario upload transcripts or order them through provincial systems (Alberta, BC/Yukon and Saskatchewan have separate instructions); Quebec CEGEP grades are sent automatically by the school.
• Fee categories: Waterloo lists separate figures for citizens and permanent residents living in Ontario and for those living outside Ontario or Canada; see the costs section.
• Standardized tests: the pages read here do not require the SAT or ACT.

七. International applicants: grades and English

• Grade requirements: the program page lists only the Ontario high school subjects; marks required from international curricula (IB, A-level, AP and others) are given by an interactive search tool, whose results were not shown on the static pages read here, so use Waterloo’s tool. For the IB, Waterloo says that if you are not completing the full diploma you must meet the admission standards of an accredited high school curriculum, and predicted IB scores are to be submitted as soon as available.
• When an English test is needed: if your four most recent years of full-time education have not been in an English-language school system. If they were taught entirely in English in Canada or another country, you may be exempt with transcripts that show the language of instruction or an official hard-copy letter from your school principal sent directly by the school (it must include your full name, date of birth and years attended; emailed letters are not accepted); full-time ESL programs do not count. Required academic English courses cannot replace a test. Scores must arrive by the document deadline, and Waterloo says exemptions will not be granted if you are unable to take a test by then.
• Required scores (Waterloo’s chart; only tests taken on or after May 1, 2025 count, and tests not on the chart are not accepted):
  • TOEFL iBT (including Home Edition and Paper Edition; MyBest scores and TOEFL Essentials are not used): for tests completed before January 21, 2026, 90 overall with 25 in writing and 25 in speaking; for tests completed as of January 21, 2026, the page gives 4.5 overall with 5 in writing and 5 in speaking (the new scale); institution code 0996, department code 00.
  • IELTS Academic (one-skill retake accepted): 6.5 overall with 6.5 in writing, 6.5 in speaking, 6.0 in reading and 6.0 in listening; the page also says an overall 7.0 with at least 6.0 in every component is acceptable.
  • PTE Academic (including Online): 63 overall with 65 in writing and 65 in speaking.
  • Cambridge English C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency: 180 overall with 176 in each of writing, reading, speaking and listening.
  • Duolingo English Test: for tests completed after July 1, 2024, 120 overall with Literacy and Production subscores of 125; results without subscores are not accepted.
  • English for Academic Success (EFAS) at Waterloo’s English Language Institute: 75% overall in level 400 and at least 70% in EFAS 420, 440 and 460.
• If you fall short: Waterloo’s Bridge to Academic Success in English (BASE) program lets you begin working toward a Waterloo degree while improving your English; students admitted to BASE qualify for the $10,000 entrance scholarship below.

八. Applicants from China

• China page: Waterloo has a page for students from China (with links to its Chinese-language website, university-waterloo.cn, the Chinese Students Association and WeChat and Ximalaya accounts), but it does not say whether gaokao results are considered or how they would be converted, and says nothing about the huikao or interviews; that is not published there, so ask Waterloo’s international recruitment team.
• Documents (the “Chinese system” row of the required-documents page): high school transcript and current mid-year grades as soon as available; after an offer you must submit China Credentials Verification (CSSD). Waterloo’s admission-requirements tool also lists mixed systems (“Chinese / A Levels”, “Chinese / American”), so check the one that matches your own system. Non-English documents need English-language copies.
• Grade requirements: the marks needed from Chinese high school results are given by the admission-requirements search tool and are not shown on the static pages read here; check Waterloo’s website.
• Visa: the international page links to study-permit guidance and mentions immigration consultants; see Waterloo’s website for how to apply.

九. Costs and scholarships

• Estimated first-year tuition (Faculty of Science, Canadian dollars, including incidental fees, for two terms/eight months and five courses per term; Waterloo says the figures are estimates for students starting in September 2026, and 2027 figures are not on the pages read here): citizens and permanent residents living in Ontario $9,000; citizens and permanent residents living outside Ontario or Canada $10,000; international students $54,000 (the page says all figures are in Canadian dollars); books and supplies are estimated at $1,500 in each case. The page also describes tuition arrangements for certain Indigenous students and for Native American students from the continental United States.
• Co-op fee: co-op students pay $836 per school term (the co-op page gives it as the 2026–27 figure; the number of times varies by program); no tuition is charged during work terms. Co-op adds about a year to the degree.
• International Student Entrance Scholarship: international fee-paying students admitted to a full-time first-year degree program automatically receive $10,000 for first year (no application; it appears in the applicant portal from mid-April; $5,000 against each of the first two terms’ tuition; first year only). It is not available to transfer students admitted with transfer credits, students who deferred an offer from a previous year, or 2+2 students; BASE students qualify; Waterloo says it does not replace or reduce other entrance scholarships and has no specific grade average attached beyond meeting your offer conditions.
• Faculty of Science international scholarships: for international fee-paying applicants to Faculty of Science undergraduate programs, 10 renewable scholarships totalling $80,000 each ($20,000 a year for four years, requiring an 80% cumulative average each term) and 5 scholarships of $25,000 each; they are awarded on academic achievement, the impact on your studies and your motivation to become a scientist, only after an offer of admission; an application is required. The deadline printed on the page is February 13, 2026 (the previous cycle), so check the 2027 deadline on Waterloo’s website.
• Other awards: Waterloo also mentions President’s and Merit scholarships and bursaries for Ontario students; see its website for their conditions.

十. Transfer students (including college transfers)

• Applying: through the OUAC; full-time study (three or more on-campus courses a term) and part-time study (one or two courses a term) have different routes. For programs other than Engineering the transfer application deadline is February 1, 2027; check the co-op box if you want co-op.
• Prerequisites: transfer applicants still need the courses listed in the program’s admission requirements, which can come from high school or equivalent university courses; a minimum transfer GPA is not published on the pages read here, so check Waterloo’s website or ask the admissions office.
• Credit: Waterloo says you may receive transfer credit for up to half of the courses needed for a Waterloo degree; college and CEGEP courses need a grade of at least 70% and university courses at least 60%; transferred grades are not included in your Waterloo averages; in the Faculty of Science, courses completed within the past 10 years are considered; assessment is automatic after admission, free, and credits cannot be declined. Detailed course syllabi are needed; brief calendar descriptions are not enough.
• Effect on co-op: Faculty of Science applicants who receive 7.0 units (14 term courses) or more of transfer credit are not eligible for co-op and are considered for the regular system of study. The Science policy also says PHYS 111 transfer credit cannot be awarded for programs that require PHYS 121, and PHYS 112 likewise for PHYS 122.
• College pathways: some programs have transfer-credit agreements with Ontario colleges, and Waterloo has a “college to university pathways” page, for details of which see its website.

Application checklist

Domestic applicants:

• Apply through the OUAC to Life Sciences and choose the Biology major; check the co-op box if you want co-op; Ontario students need ENG4U, Advanced Functions and Calculus and Vectors at 70% or higher, plus two more science or math Grade 12 courses
• Apply by February 1, 2027 and have documents in by February 15, 2027

International applicants (including China):

• High school transcript (with English copies) and mid-year grades; English test scores or exemption documents by February 15; China Credentials Verification after an offer
• The $10,000 entrance scholarship is automatic in first year; the Faculty of Science international scholarships need a separate application

Transfer students:

• Apply through the OUAC by February 1, 2027; college and university courses need at least 70% and 60% respectively to be considered for credit; prepare detailed course syllabi

Sources: University of Waterloo, Biology program page; Life Sciences page; Department of Biology undergraduate programs; Application and document deadlines; How to apply; Required documents; English language requirements; First-year tuition fees; Scholarships for international students; Faculty of Science international scholarships; International students page; Welcome, students from China; Co-op overview; Transfer students; Transfer applicants: how to apply; Transfer credits. The deadlines page shows 2027 dates; the tuition page gives estimates for students starting in September 2026, so check Waterloo’s website for the latest 2027 figures. Waterloo’s website is the authority for the latest information.