Application Process
Are students required to include their current Ontario high school in the My Background section?
Yes. Students must provide information about all institutions where they have registered in 1 or more high school or postsecondary courses.
Institutions may include, but are not limited to:
- Regular day schools
- Private schools
- Night schools
- Summer schools
- Online schools
What is the Applicant Diversity Census?
The Undergraduate application contains a series of questions about applicant diversity in the My Personal Details section.
The purpose of the Applicant Diversity Census is to:
- assist in the implementation of equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives,
- ensure that the universities are recruiting and selecting classes representative of the Canadian population and
- address barriers to a university education.
The Census allows applicants to self-identify their ethnicity, religion and/or spirituality, sexual orientation and disability and/or impairment by responding to 4 questions. If an applicant chooses not to provide this information, they can select the “Prefer not to answer” response option available for each question.
The universities an applicant applies to may use the answers to:
- identify any unconscious bias or systemic racism in the admission process and to monitor any programs implemented to address any bias.
- inform the applicant of specific programs, services or supports available to equity-seeking groups, in an effort to improve the availability of a university education for equity-seeking communities.
- support the admission process. Examples include, but are not limited to, making offers of admission and awarding scholarships.
As part of the Applicant Diversity Census, there are now more response options for the Gender Identity question in the My Personal Details section of the Undergraduate application. While the Gender Identity question is a required question, applicants may select the “Prefer not to answer” response option if they choose not to provide their gender identity.
For information on how the universities an applicant applies to may use this information:
- review the universities’ notices of collection of personal information available on their websites or
- contact the universities.
For information on the OUAC’s privacy practices, including how we collect, use and disclose your personal information, review the OUAC Privacy Statement.
What should students upload in the Document Upload section of the Undergraduate application?
Students may upload documents to support their application, like proof of status in Canada, proof of extenuating circumstances, English-language test scores, etc. These documents are not mandatory.
Not all universities accept the same types of documents. For some universities, students can upload documents in their application. For others, students send them directly to the university.
Important: Do not upload the same document to your application and send it to the university. Follow the instructions for either option, not both.
What do I do when students who transfer to our school from another school already applied to university from the other school?
You should do this as soon as the student’s Ontario Student Record (OSR) is transferred to your school.
If the OUAC does not receive this notification, correspondence will continue to be forwarded to the other school and your school will not be able to update the student’s academic information.
If the student is now attending another school within your board, you can change the MIDENT for the student on the Diploma Details tab using the Academic Information option in COLS. Otherwise, the OUAC can change the school MIDENT (BSID) number on their file.
General
Where is the Schedule of Dates?
We typically post the schedule for the next cycle in the spring.
What can students do if they are refused admission to all their choices?
Beginning in June, Ontario high school students can search for openings at Ontario universities.
To begin their search, students can visit the Undergraduate Application Guide and click “Search Open Programs”.
Once they find an open program they would like to apply to, they can add it to their Undergraduate application.
We also encourage students to contact universities directly for more information about available programs and to ask to be considered for late admission, as certain programs may have different deadlines. It may be possible to seek admission as late as August.
How can I change my COLS access level?
Contact the COLS administrator at your school. They can change your access level.
Grades
I have a student with several out-of-province and/or international courses. How do I indicate these equivalencies on their academic record?
You can add a comment using the Academic Information option in COLS.
Note: Not all universities collect “Comment” information from the OUAC.
If a student was granted equivalency credits for course work outside of the Ontario school system and you believe this information will affect the student’s admission decision, a hard-copy transcript from the out-of-province school should be sent to the admission offices of the universities the student has applied to.
How are midterm and final grades reported for courses taken at a school other than a student’s home school?
Schools can add and maintain courses for their part-time students through COLS. When a school updates a course for their part-time student, a notification is emailed automatically to the student’s home school.
Note that the student must add the part-time school to the Education section of their application.
Why is there no academic information showing when I’m in Application Information?
You are in Application Information and not in Academic Information, which is where this information is found in COLS.
Courses, grades and diploma details are available only under Academic Information. You can add, view or edit the academic information there.
I have a student who repeated a course and received a higher final mark. When I try to add the course in COLS and select “repeat” under Course Status, I get an error message. What am I doing wrong?
When an applicant repeated the same course and received a higher mark, the “Repeat” designation should be placed against the course with the lower passing final grade and the credit value set to “0000”.
Do not use the “Repeat” (code “R”) designation for failed attempts.
The course with the higher mark should have a credit value greater than 0000.
Refer to “Course Status” in How to Report Grades and Diploma Details.
A former student is applying to university this year after taking a year off school and has asked us to send transcripts. Where do we send the transcripts?
Some Ontario high schools participate in the electronic transcript management system (eTMS) through OCAS, which allows applicants who are not current Ontario high school students to request their Ontario high school transcript electronically within their application. These requests are processed electronically.
If your school does not participate in the eTMS, you will need to send the official hard-copy transcript directly to the admission office of the universities the student has selected on their application.
Indicate the student’s OUAC Reference Number on the transcripts. This number will assist the universities in matching the student’s transcripts with their application.
Do not send these transcripts to the OUAC. We cannot forward these documents to the universities or return them to the high school.
One of my students previously attended a high school outside of Ontario. They will not receive their OSSD by the end of the school year. Can we still submit their grades to the OUAC electronically with the rest of our university-bound applicants?
No. All applicants currently attending an Ontario high school who will not receive their OSSD by the end of the school year must send their transcripts, and any grades obtained from your school, directly to their university choices.
A student decided to apply to university after our February grades submission file had already been processed. Their academic data was included in the submission file. Will their February grades be included in their academic record even though they applied after the grades submission file was processed, or should I add their grades manually?
You do not need to add their grades manually. All academic information sent for the student should match with their application. You and the student should verify that all the information is correct. You can make any updates needed using the Academic Information option in COLS.
The Grade 12 students at my school will be making timetable changes for second semester by the end of January. Do I also need to make these changes to their academic data (through Academic Information) prior to our board’s February grades transmission to the OUAC?
No, you do not need to make these changes through COLS.
Any timetable changes for students on your school’s data system are usually sent to the OUAC in the February grades transmission. The OUAC will update the students’ files with any additions, deletions and changes that are on this transmission.
The same applies to changes sent on the April and July grades transmissions.
One of my students applied to Ontario universities but there are extenuating circumstances or disabilities that have affected their academic performance. How do I notify the universities they selected that they have requested special admission consideration?
Applicants are asked to communicate directly with each university they selected about any extenuating circumstance(s) that may have adversely affected their admission status. Refer to Extenuating Circumstances for each university’s policy.
Applicants should remember to include their OUAC Reference Number on all correspondence. The applicant may request that you provide supplementary documentation to support their request.
All communications should be directed to the admission office of the university the applicant has applied to for admission or, where specified, to the office responsible for students with disabilities to discuss the services or consideration that may be needed. These steps should be taken early in the application process so that individual needs can be adequately addressed.
Some universities also provide special residence accommodation for students with physical disabilities. We advise students to contact the appropriate residence administrator when seeking special residence accommodations.
Payment
Why is my student being charged an extra fee after selecting an additional university or program choice?
They must pay a fee of $50 per additional program or university choice (beyond their initial 3 choices).
Their additional choices will be accepted and processed only once the student has paid the related fee(s).