CREATE: Engineering Design Challenges

Eligibility

CREATE 2024 is offered to students in Grades 9-12 (2023/2024 academic year). Students need to have completed at least one year of high school to attend CREATE.

Creating an Active Account

If this is your first time registering or applying to one of our programs, you will be prompted to create an Active account as you register.

Please note that it is not possible to create an account before the application date.

How To Apply

Step #1: When ready to begin, please click on the 'Apply Here' button at the bottom of this page.

The report card and statement of interest are collected through Active as supplementary documents.

1. Report card or transcript
   We are looking for students who are on-track for undergraduate STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) post-secondary studies. The results of a recent science course and the results of a recent math course must be provided in the form of a report card or unofficial transcript. Report cards or transcripts can be from the past two years. 
2. A statement of interest for CREATE
   Your statement should be no more than 500 words long, and should answer the following questions:
   1. Why do you want to attend CREATE? What do you hope to get out of this experience?
   2. How will tackling an Engineering Design Challenge at CREATE help you reach your goals?

Incomplete applications will not be evaluated. Application fees are non-refundable.

Step #2: Wait to hear the results of your application.

Applications are assessed in three rounds:

• Round 1: February 22-March 7, 2024 (application fee: $50)
  The application fee for this early-bird round is discounted to acknowledge that not all course information and schedule is available yet.
• Round 2: March 8-March 28, 2024 (application fee: $60)
• Round 3: March 29-April 25, 2024 (application fee: $60)
• Round 4: April 26-June 30, 2024 (application fee: $60)
  Applications in Round 4 will be assessed on a rolling basis. Applicants can expect to hear back within two weeks of submitting their transcript and statement of interest.

Also interested in DEEP? Applicants submitting an application to both DEEP and CREATE programs will receive a discount on the second application. The fee for the second application is reduced to $10 in Round 1, and $15 in Round 2 and Round 3.

Applicants can expect to learn the outcome of their application approximately two weeks after the end of their round. 

Students who have been admitted into the program will receive instructions for next steps including course selection and registration.

Course Selection for Admitted Students

Only students accepted into the program will be eligible to register for courses.

Like applications, course registration will happen in rounds, so students accepted to the program in Round 1 will register for courses first. This means some courses may fill in Round 1 or Round 2. When courses fill the course description will be updated on this page.

Read the course descriptions to inform your course selections. Please note: only one course can be taken each week. 

Registration for each course is only secured when you have completed the online course-registration form, and made the $135 per-course, non-refundable deposit.

Course eligibility is calculated based on the most recent grade completed in the 2023-2024 school year (eg. grade 9/10 DEEP classes are for students who have just completed grade 9 or grade 10).

The deadline for payment of outstanding balances is 30 days prior to the start of each course. Any unpaid registrations will be released on this date.

Waitlist

If you see that a course is waitlisted on the registration page, that means there are no available spaces. If a space opens up in the course, those on the waitlist will be notified immediately in the order that they registered.

Course Fees

$675/week for domestic students
$1000/week for international students

Discounts:
Register for 4 weeks (any combination of DEEP and CREATE courses) and receive a $100 rebate.
Register for 6 weeks (any combination of DEEP and CREATE courses) and receive a $150 rebate.

Application Fees

Please note students must apply and be accepted into the program in order to register for courses. There are fees associated with the application; please see the "How to Qualify and Apply" section for more details. 

Cancellation Policy

The CREATE application fee is non-refundable.

For students accepted into the program and registered for a course, a refund, less a $135 administrative fee, is available for cancellation requests received by 11:59 PM ET on the Sunday before the session start date. No refunds or credits will be issued after this point. Please note that this charge is to cover administrative processing fees. Thank you for your understanding!

For more details regarding cancellation deadlines, please refer to your confirmation email once you have completed the registration process.

Bursaries

Bursaries are available to Canadian citizens, permanent residents and protected persons who demonstrate financial need. See our bursary page find out more about our bursary application process and to apply.

We look forward to bringing back residence in 2024.

You can read more about our residence option on our Summer Residence Program page.

Questions?

Do you have questions about CREATE?

Contact us at outreach@engineering.utoronto.ca

Does CREATE qualify for a High school credit?
No, CREATE is not a credit-bearing program.

Can a student who has just finished grade 8, going into grade 9 in the fall of 2024, attend CREATE?
Our CREATE courses are for students who have completed at least one year of high school, so a student who has just completed grade 8 would not be eligible for this year’s program.

Do you have language requirements for international students?
Students are expected to be able to communicate and learn in English in our programs. Here are requirements for various language frameworks/tests:

• CEFR: Upper B2 is the minimum, but we recommend C1
• IELTS: 6.5 minimum, 7.5 recommended
• TOEFL iBT: 79 minimum, 102 recommended

If a student is accepted into CREATE, can they enrol in DEEP courses (or vice versa)?
DEEP and CREATE have separate applications, so if a student is interested in both DEEP and CREATE they will need to complete an application for both programs.

Are lunches and snacks provided during CREATE courses?
No, students need to bring their own lunches, or buy their lunch on campus. Students are not supervised during the lunch period.

Do you offer financial assistance?
Bursaries are available to Canadian citizens, permanent residents and protected persons who demonstrate financial need. See our bursary page find out more about our bursary application process and to apply.

When will I be able to choose classes?
Application evaluations happen after each round closes. If you are accepted during your round, you will be send a link to register for your courses. Please note, if you are accepted to the program in round 2 or round 3 it is possible some courses may be full (but you may add yourself to the waitlist for any full courses).

How many courses can I register for?
If you are accepted into the program, you can attend as many weeks of CREATE as you like. Please note you can only attend one course per week.

If I’m an international student, do I need a student visa to attend?
No, since this is not a credit bearing course you do not need a student visa.

Will residence be offered this year?
Yes! Please see our Summer Residence Program page for more information.

Is there an advantage to applying early?
Yes- if you apply early, you may be considered for multiple acceptance rounds.