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OLSAS Declaration

Declaration and Notice of Collection, Use, Disclosure and Treatment of Your Personal Information Provided as Part of Your Ontario Law School Application Service (OLSAS) Application

The Ontario Universities’ Application Centre (OUAC) was created by the universities of Ontario through the Council of Ontario Universities (COU). The OUAC has been processing applications on behalf of universities in Ontario since 1971. To apply for admission to a law school at a university in Ontario, your application must be processed through the OUAC. The OUAC forwards your application information to the university(ies) of your choice. By applying through the OUAC, you agree that the university(ies) of your choice will obtain the personal information you have provided to the OUAC and the OUAC will collect, use, disclose and otherwise manage your personal information as set out in this Declaration and Notice.

The personal information requested in this application is required by the OUAC and by the law schools for the purpose of your application and must be provided together with your application fee. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Law schools may require additional personal information from you to complete your application. Law schools may use and disclose your personal information for other purposes in accordance with their own admission and personal information policies and practices, including requirements for government enrollment reporting, which you must investigate yourself. Universities disclose personal information to regulatory authorities, law enforcement or other persons, when authorized or required to do so by law.

It is your responsibility to ensure that your application information and all supporting documentation is truthful, complete and correct, and that your autobiographic and personal submissions are authored solely and entirely by you. The OUAC and the universities reserve the right to verify any information provided as part of this application. If any information in your application is determined to be false or misleading, concealed or withheld, or written by a third party, at the absolute discretion of the OUAC and/or a university, your application may be invalidated. This could result in its immediate rejection or in the revocation of an offer of admission or registration at a university. Any such information may be shared by the OUAC or by universities and colleges with the Law School Admission Council (LSAC), and with other universities and colleges across Canada.

The OUAC is committed to protecting your privacy in relation to the personal information you provide in support of your application. If, after providing your application, you do not register in an Ontario law school, the OUAC will not retain any original documentation or paper records in respect to your application. Transcripts, autobiographic and personal submissions, and supplementary material in support of applications filed in a specific academic year will not be returned, forwarded or copied to applicants, or forwarded to third parties prior to being destroyed at the end of each application cycle.

The OUAC retains the current (and historical) electronic version(s) of your demographic, academic and choice data provided in your application in accordance with the OUAC’s records retention policy, and maintains administrative, technical and physical safeguards in an effort to protect against unauthorized access, use, modification and disclosure of your personal information. The OUAC will maintain the confidentiality of all personal information it collects in connection with the application and will disclose such personal information only for the purposes described in this Declaration and Notice. The OUAC stores electronic records off-site as part of its disaster recovery procedures. You are solely responsible for keeping your OUAC application user identification, login information and other registration information confidential and secure. Notify the OUAC immediately if you suspect any unauthorized access, use or disclosure.

Collection of Personal Information:

  • The OUAC will collect the personal information you provide in your application, or in reference to your application, to process your application to the university(ies) of your choice.
  • The OUAC will collect transcripts from educational institutions, as provided by you.
  • The OUAC will collect your Law School Admission Test (LSAT) scores directly from the LSAC with the consent you provide when you submit this application.
  • The OUAC will collect personal information from individuals you provide as references.
  • The OUAC may collect information about your status as a Canadian Aboriginal person. You are not required to provide this information; however, if you provide it, the OUAC will forward it to the university(ies) of your choice to allow the university(ies) to inform you of specific services available to Canadian Aboriginal students.
  • The OUAC will collect payment information from you (or from whoever is paying for this application) to process your application payment. All credit card processing is done by a third party and no cardholder data is collected, transmitted or stored on OUAC systems.

Use of Personal Information:

  • The OUAC will compile and process your application and payment.
  • The OUAC will use personal information from all law school applications to create aggregate, non-personally identifiable information for use by the public via the OUAC website, by the admissions committees of the Ontario law schools; Ontario universities; the COU; the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU); and academic researchers (at the discretion of the OUAC and the law schools) for admissions, enrollment and other academic policy development and research purposes.
  • The OUAC and/or the university(ies) will use your date of birth for identification and document matching purposes.
  • If you have ordered electronic transcripts in support of your application, the OUAC may use your personal information to process your transcript request.

Disclosure of Personal Information:

  • The OUAC will disclose your demographic, academic and university/program choice data to all universities for which you have submitted an OLSAS application.
  • In the event that you have applied to a joint or collaborative university/university or university/college program, the OUAC and/or the universities will disclose your application information to the relevant partner Ontario college(s) or university(ies).
  • The OUAC will send the individuals you list as references an acknowledgement letter advising them that they have been named as a reference. If your references contact the OUAC with questions regarding your application, the OUAC will disclose personal information about you, as necessary and appropriate, to respond to the inquiry.
  • If a third party who is paying for this application has questions regarding the payment for your application, the OUAC will disclose personal information about you, as necessary and appropriate, to respond to the inquiry.
  • The OUAC and/or the university(ies) may use your personal information to validate or assign an Ontario Education Number (OEN). The OEN Registry is maintained by the Ministry of Education, and is used for tracking and research purposes by the Ministry of Education, the MTCU, and postsecondary institutions, as allowed within the Education Act.
  • If any information connected with your application is determined to be false or misleading, concealed or withheld, or contains evidence of academic dishonesty or inappropriate conduct, LSAC and universities and colleges across Canada will be advised, at the absolute discretion of the OUAC and/or a university.
  • The OUAC will disclose personal information from all law school applications in aggregate, non-personally identifiable form to the public via the OUAC website, to the admissions committees of the Ontario law schools; Ontario universities; the COU; the MTCU; and academic researchers (at the discretion of the OUAC and the law schools) for admissions, enrollment and other academic policy development and research purposes.
  • If you have accepted an offer for admission to law school, the law school will disclose this information to LSAC for enrollment purposes.
  • The OUAC may disclose your personal information to regulatory authorities, law enforcement or other persons, as authorized or required by law.
  • If you have ordered electronic transcripts in support of your application, the OUAC may disclose your personal information to the institution(s) from which you have ordered your transcripts to process your transcript request.
  • The OUAC will forward your selected university program choices to all universities to which you have applied.

For more information about the collection, use, disclosure, and treatment of your personal information at the OUAC, review the OUAC’s Privacy Code at www.ouac.on.ca/privacy/ or contact the OUAC Privacy Officer by email at privacyofficer@ouac.on.ca, by phone at 519-823-1940, or in writing at 170 Research Lane, Guelph ON  N1G 5E2.

Applicant’s Declaration:

Applicants are required to consent to the personal information practices as set out in the “Declaration and Notice of Collection, Use, Disclosure and Treatment of Your Personal Information Provided as Part of Your Ontario Law School Application Service (OLSAS) Application”, and to certify the following statement:

I certify that the personal information and documents submitted in this application, or to be submitted (all of which constitutes the application), are true, complete and correct in all respects, including my declarations as to citizenship and immigration status in Canada; that my autobiographic and personal submissions were authored solely and entirely by me; and that all information requested in this application has been disclosed. I understand that it is my responsibility to keep OLSAS and the law school(s) to which I have applied, or at which I register, informed of any changes to the information in my application materials, and I agree to do so in writing immediately after any such change occurs.

Last updated: June 21, 2013