The timeline on this web page pertains to the 2026-2027 domestic and international competition for the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) and Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarship in Science and Technology (QEII-GSST).
September 2025 to January 2026:
- OGS/QEII-GSST program details will be posted on the OGS/QEII-GSST webpage.
- Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs (GSPA) will provide faculties with their OGS and QEII-GSST allocations when the institutional quota is received from the Ministry.
- Students submit the intent to apply form, obtain transcripts, contact their potential referees, prepare applications, and apply for graduate admission to Waterloo (if applicable).
January 14, 2026 at 4:00 pm ET:
Intent to Apply form deadline
- Deadline for all OGS/QEII-GSST domestic and international applicants to submit OGS/QEII-GSST Intent to Apply form.
January 15 - 30, 2026:
- GSPA will provide and upload department spreadsheets along with detailed instructions to SharePoint by January 30.
February 1, 2026 (Please note this is a Sunday and is a firm deadline):
Application 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, 2026 in order to apply for an OGS/QEII-GSST.
February 1, 2026 (As this is a Sunday, documents will be accepted up until Monday, February 2, 2026, at 4:00 pm ET):
Application and reference letter deadline
- Deadline for all applicants to email their OGS/QEII-GSST application package, including transcripts, to their department graduate coordinator.
- Deadline for referees to email reference letters to the applicant's department graduate coordinator.
February 2 – March 13, 2026:
- 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 13.
- Note: GSPA will only review applications for eligibility that have been selected for awarding at the faculty level.
March 13, 2026:
- Departments must upload all applications and their completed OGS International and OGS/QEII-GSST Domestic spreadsheets with rankings to SharePoint for GSPA use.
March 16 – April 2, 2026:
- GSPA to compile department spreadsheets into six faculty-wide spreadsheets.
- GSPA will provide detailed instructions for faculties.
- GSPA will notify Faculty Administrators when the spreadsheet is available on SharePoint.
April 6 – 29, 2026:
- Faculty reviews international and domestic applications
- Faculty saves spreadsheets with decisions to GSPA SharePoint by April 29.
April 29, 2026:
- Deadline for Faculty to save OGS International and OGS/QEII-GSST Domestic spreadsheets with decisions to GSPA SharePoint.
April 30 – May 27, 2026:
- 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.
- GSPA selects up to two eligible applicants to receive the designated Indigenous OGS awards.
May 28, 2026:
- All applicants will receive an email notification from GSPA indicating whether 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 18, 2026:
- Deadline for recipients to accept first round of offers.
June 19, 2026 - until all awards are 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.