Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) and Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarship in Science and Technology (QEII-GSST) timeline

The timeline on this web page pertains to the 2025-2026 domestic and international competition for the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) and Queen Elizabeth Scholarship II in Science and Technology (QEII-GSST)Successful recipients will hold their awards during 2025-2026.

End of August/beginning of September 2024:

  • OGS/QEII-GSST program details will be posted on OGS/QEII-GSST webpage.

  • Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs (GSPA) will provide faculties with their OGS and QEII-GSST allocations when institutional quota is received from the Ministry.

September 1, 2024 – February 1, 2025:

  • Students order transcripts, contact their potential referees, prepare applications, and apply for graduate admission to Waterloo (if applicable).
  • Details on the process for ordering transcripts can be found on the OGS/QEII-GSST applicant transcript request web page (Graduate Studies forms website).

February 1, 2025 (Please note this is a Saturday and is a firm deadline) – ADMISSION DEADLINE:

  • Deadline for domestic OGS/QEII-GSST applicants, who are not currently registered in a graduate program at Waterloo, to apply for graduate admission.
    • Note: This deadline is not applicable to international applicants due to the limited number of awards available. International students must be currently registered in a graduate program at Waterloo or be on an approved leave of absence/inactive term by February 1, 2025 in order to be considered.

February 1, 2025 (Please note this is a Saturday and we will accept these documents up until February 3, 2025 at 4:00pm ET) – SCHOLARSHIP DEADLINE:

February 3 – 14, 2025:

  • GSPA will upload transcripts to SharePoint for department use.
  • GSPA will provide detailed instructions for departments.
  • GSPA prepares spreadsheets for departments by end of day February 14.

February 18 – March 14, 2025:

  • Departments merge applications with reference letters and transcripts, review them for eligibility and completeness and rank.
  • Departments must upload all applications and their completed OGS International and OGS/QEII-GSST Domestic spreadsheets with rankings to SharePoint for GSPA use by March 14.
  • Note: GSPA will only review applications for eligibility that have been selected for awarding at the faculty level.

March 14, 2025:

  • Departments must upload all applications and their completed OGS International and OGS/QEII-GSST Domestic spreadsheets with rankings to SharePoint for GSPA use.

March 17 – 28, 2025:

  • GSPA to compile department spreadsheets into six faculty-wide spreadsheets.
  • GSPA will provide detailed instructions for faculties.
  • GSPA will notify Faculty Administrators when spreadsheet is available on SharePoint. 

March 31 – April 23, 2025:

  • Faculty reviews international and domestic applications
  • Faculty saves spreadsheets with decisions to GSPA SharePoint by April 23.

April 23, 2025:

  • Deadline for Faculty to save OGS International and OGS/QEII-GSST Domestic spreadsheets with  decisions to GSPA SharePoint.

 April 24 – May 21, 2025:

  • GSPA combines faculty spreadsheets into university-wide OGS International and OGS/QEII-GSST Domestic spreadsheets.
  • Institutional selection committee selects 5 international OGS awardees and creates a ranked reversion list.
  • GSPA reviews applications selected to receive offers to confirm eligibility and graduate admission status.
  • Interim co-Associate Vice-Presidents, GSPA select 1-2 applicants from the university-wide spreadsheet/applications to receive the designated Indigenous OGS awards.

 May 22, 2025:

  • All applicants will receive an email notification from GSPA indicating whether or not they are being offered an OGS International or OGS/QEII-GSST Domestic award or are on the reversion list.
  • GSPA advises faculty and departments of the results.

June 12, 2025:

  • Deadline for recipients to accept first round of offers.

June 13, 2025 - until all awards distributed:

  • Following the initial acceptance deadline and based on declined awards, GSPA will make additional offers according to the faculty/GSPA reversion list.
  • GSPA will update faculty and department OGS/QEII-GSST summary spreadsheets in SharePoint weekly until competition is complete.
  • GSPA will send email communication to departments and faculties when all awards have been accepted.
  • GSPA will send email communication to applicants on the reversion list once the competition is deemed complete.

Revised August 20, 2024