Applicants must hold a bachelor's degree, or its equivalent, from a recognized institution in a field related to the subject selected for graduate work, and must display an adequate background in basic sciences.

The applicant must present evidence of high academic achievement. A standing equivalent to a cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of 3.0 out of a possible 4.0 is required by Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, however, the Integrated Program in Neuroscience (IPN) prefers applicants to show a higher academic standing, and requires a minimum CGPA of 3.3.

Applicants to graduate studies whose mother tongue is not English, and who have not completed an undergraduate or graduate degree from a recognized foreign institution where English is the language of instruction or from a recognized Canadian institution (anglophone or francophone), must submit results of the TOEFL exam with their application and have a minimum score of 86 on the Internet-based test (iBT, 567 on the paper-based test [PBT]) with each component score not less than 20.

IELTS (International English Language Testing System): a band score of 6.5 or greater (Academic module)