Universities in Ontario: the full list of 24, with cities, size and how to apply

Ontario's government lists 24 public universities. Its overview page counts 23 publicly assisted universities, because the 24th, the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, admits officer cadets through the Canadian Armed Forces. Ontario's 2024-25 enrolment data covers the 23 and leaves RMC out.

The list includes NOSM University, a medical school in Thunder Bay and Sudbury. It isn't a first-year option after high school: its MD program needs a four-year undergraduate degree and a GPA of at least 3.0, and you apply through OMSAS.

OUAC's page of links to Ontario universities lists the same schools, plus their affiliated colleges and extra campuses. It notes that it doesn't process RMC applications.

Five of the 24 have their main campus in Toronto: the University of Toronto, Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), York University, OCAD University and the Université de l'Ontario français (UOF).

U of T has three campuses: St. George downtown, Mississauga and Scarborough. York has its Keele campus, the bilingual Glendon campus and a Markham campus. The University of Guelph-Humber is also in Toronto, in the northwest of the city.

Several others teach in the wider GTA. Algoma has a Brampton campus, where 3,961 of its 5,724 full-time students studied in fall 2024. Ontario Tech is in Oshawa, Trent has a Durham GTA campus, and McMaster and Brock both have Burlington sites.

For Toronto engineering choices side by side, see our Toronto engineering comparison.

By full-time students in fall 2024, the five largest were the University of Toronto (94,498), York (45,556), Western (42,978), Ottawa (42,378) and Waterloo (38,622). McMaster (36,062) and TMU (34,758) came next.

The smallest were NOSM University (513), Université de Hearst (313) and the Université de l'Ontario français (317). Among schools that take first-year students in English, Nipissing (4,445) and OCAD U (4,604) were the smallest.

These numbers count full-time students at every level, from first year to PhD. Some include affiliated colleges: Western's total includes Huron (1,981) and King's (3,117), and Guelph's includes 3,559 students at Guelph-Humber. Ontario hides any count under 10 students, so a few small totals leave out a hidden cell.

OUAC runs one Undergraduate application for 2027 entry. It sorts you into Group A or Group B automatically. You're in Group A if you're taking an Ontario high school course now, you'll be under 21 on December 31, 2026, and you have or are working toward an OSSD (the Ontario Secondary School Diploma) with six 4U or 4M courses (Grade 12 university or university/college level).

Group A students apply by January 15, 2027. OUAC keeps processing later applications, but each university's own deadline then applies. Your school sends your Grade 11 and 12 marks to OUAC.

The base fee is $159 for your first three choices, and each extra choice costs $51. Some programs add their own fee. You don't pay OUAC to accept an offer.

RMC is the exception: you apply through the Canadian Armed Forces, usually the Regular Officer Training Plan. Read our OUAC application help and the full Ontario deadlines list before you start.

There's no official provincial ranking. The best school for you depends on your program, your average and where you want to live. A university that's strong in engineering may not be the right fit for nursing or business.

Start with the program. Our program pages give each school's own published range, supplements and dates, and our acceptance-rate pages show only what each university publishes. Compare co-op on our Ontario co-op guide, and read how we order schools on our ranking methodology page.

If you're torn between a degree and a diploma, our university vs college guide compares costs and routes.

Some Ontario schools are colleges inside a larger university. At U of T, every Arts & Science student on the St. George campus belongs to one of seven colleges, including Trinity, Victoria and St. Michael's. The college is your home base for community and support.

Western has two affiliated university colleges in London, Huron and King's. Waterloo has four university colleges: Conrad Grebel, Renison, St. Jerome's and United. St. Jerome's lets you finish an Honours Arts or Arts and Business degree there and graduate with a Waterloo degree.

Waterloo's residence guarantee for first-year students covers Renison, St. Jerome's and United. Conrad Grebel needs its own residence application.

Two Ontario universities teach only in French: the Université de l'Ontario français in downtown Toronto and the Université de Hearst in northern Ontario. The University of Ottawa lets you study in either official language, and Laurentian in Sudbury embraces bilingualism.

In Toronto, York's Glendon campus offers language pathways from foundational French to fully bilingual. Saint Paul University, federated with uOttawa, also teaches in a bilingual setting.

Most Ontario students apply to several schools in one OUAC application. The first three choices are in the $159 fee, so a typical plan of three to five choices costs $159 to $261 before any program fees.

Size changes daily life more than rankings do. A school with 4,000 students feels very different from one with 94,000. Visit if you can, and check our OSAP guide and the Top 6 average calculator to estimate aid and entrance scholarships.