The Ontario Universities’ Application Centre presents: How to Complete Your Undergraduate Application to an Ontario University
Welcome to the Ontario Universities’ Application Centre website (www.ouac.on.ca).
This video will show you how to complete the sections of your Undergraduate application, review your final submission and submit it to the universities.
In our first how-to video, we showed you how to create an OUAC account. We will continue on from when you select the Undergraduate option.
Log in with the username and password you created and select the Undergraduate application type to continue.
You are now on the Hub, where you can find helpful information throughout the application process.
- You can find emails from the OUAC in the Message Centre.
- At any time, you can click the Profile icon in the navigation menu to change your username and password, or re-send your email verification.
- You can use the chat feature if you need help while completing your application.
- Make sure to check the Hub regularly. It displays a summary of your application information and status updates.
From here, you can select “Start Application” to begin your Undergraduate application.
Read the Welcome page carefully, as it contains tips to help you get started. It also has information from the OUAC’s Privacy Statement that you need to read before you submit your application.
The application has 5 main sections, which are outlined in the Application Status bar.
The first section, My Personal Details, is divided into 4 sub-sections.
- Go through and fill in your personal information, starting with The Basics.
- Select “Next” to move through each section. The information you entered on that screen will be saved to your account.
- Add your details for Citizenship and Language.
- Select the question mark icons for more information about the questions.
- Ontario universities are committed to the principles of equity, diversity and inclusion, and have included optional questions to answer in the Applicant Diversity Census.
- You may select the “Prefer not to answer” response option for each question if you choose not to provide your diversity-based personal information.
- To answer these questions, click the plus sign to expand and select your response.
- In Contact Details, select the buttons to add your home and mailing address and at least 1 phone number.
- Ensure your email address is up to date. You will receive your OUAC acknowledgement email, university offers of admission and other important information by email.
- You will not be able to submit your application until your email is verified. If your email address is not verified, you can re-send your email verification.
The next section in the application is My Background.
- In Education, provide information about all institutions where you have registered in 1 or more secondary or postsecondary courses.
- These institutions include, but are not limited to:
- Regular day schools
- Private schools
- Night schools
- Summer schools
- Virtual schools
- Find your institution and then complete the academic details.
- Current Ontario high school students: Indicate whether you will be attending this institution at any time during this school year.
- Enter the year and month you first started attending this school and add the highest level you completed or expect to complete.
- These institutions include, but are not limited to:
- Depending on which institutions you have entered in your educational background, you may have other educational information to complete, which will show at the end of the page in the Tell Us More section.
- Review and complete the necessary details. If some optional sections do not apply to you, you can leave them blank.
Have you taken postsecondary courses?
Review the instructions to determine how to add your institutions and additional information, depending on which type of applicant you are.
Current Ontario high school students:
Do not add universities or colleges where your home high school registered you for dual credit or high school enrichment programs.
Postsecondary transfer students currently upgrading courses at an Ontario high school: Follow the instructions in each section to add your institutions and additional information. You should add your postsecondary institution, your high school and then select “I am not working toward my OSSD.” in the Tell Us More section.
- If you have finished high school: Complete the Activities and Employment section with details of any activities you’ve done or jobs you’ve had.
The third section in the application is My Choices.
You are now ready to add your program choices to your application.
Note: You can search for a university by name, geographic area or program code.
There are 5 steps to add a choice.
- Step 1: Select a university and review the specific university requirements, website links and important admission information.
- Step 2: If you have applied to or registered at this university before, you can add these details. If you have not applied to this university before, you can leave this section blank.
- Step 3: Review the list of programs available at this university and make your choice.
- Step 4: Review the Program Details, which may include prerequisites, important deadlines and additional admission requirements. Read this section carefully.
- Step 5: Complete the program details.
Notes:- “Expected Date of Enrollment” is when you wish to start classes.
- Select a “Subject of Major Interest” if one is available for the program you are applying to.
- Depending on the program, you may have additional program detail fields to complete (for example, “Co-op”.)
Save your program choice.
Your program choice will now appear on your Choices page. From here, you can add a new program, delete a program or edit the program details.
On this page, you must also rank your choices in order of preference.
Note: How you order your program choices does not affect your scholarship or admission consideration at the universities, unless a university specifically states that it does. The universities state their policies clearly in their own literature.
Reminder: You can apply to as many universities as you wish. However, you are limited to a maximum of 3 programs at any 1 university. Some universities may further limit the number of programs that you can apply to. Contact the universities directly for more information.
The fourth section, My Supporting Documents has different sub-sections depending on if you are a Group A or Group B applicant. (Find Group A and Group B criteria at: www.ouac.on.ca/undergrad-guide).
- Group A applicants: Grades and academic information sent by your high school will display in Academic Information 1 to 2 days after you submit your application.
- Groupe B applicants: The Transcripts section has information about requesting transcripts from the institutions you attended.
- On this page, you will request the transcript from any Ontario high school, university or college you attended.
- For all other institutions you attended (outside of Ontario or internationally), review the instructions on how to order your transcript.
- In the Document Upload section, you can upload documentation that supports your application, as specified by your university choices.
At this point, you have completed all the necessary information to submit your application and are ready to proceed into the fifth section, Review and Payment. Use the Quick Links to return to any of these sections, at any point, before submitting your application.
Note: Before you submit your application, you can log out and return to it at any time to review and edit the information you have saved.
The Review and Payment process is 4 steps.
- Step 1: Review Summary
- Review any errors or warnings at the top of this page. Use the Quick Links to return to any section of the application to make edits.
- Use the plus sign or eye icon to expand and review your application information section by section.
- You will be able to review all your application information, including the total amount you will have to pay.
- Check this information carefully and make sure that it is correct.
- Step 2: Declaration
- Review the Applicant’s Declaration. When you are ready, select “I Verify and Agree” to go to the payment page.
- Step 3: Pay
- The OUAC uses Flywire, which allows you to pay Canadian dollar fees in your local currency from anywhere in the world, anytime.
- Click “Pay Now” and follow the Flywire payment steps to complete your application.
- Notes:
- Once you click “Pay Now”, you will not be able to log back in and make changes to your application until the OUAC receives your payment.
- After we receive and process your payment, we will forward your application to your university choices. We recommend that you pay for your application at the same time you submit it.
- If you pay by credit or debit card, you will immediately receive an email receipt after we process your payment.
- Step 4: Confirmation
- Once you have completed your application, you will receive an OUAC Reference Number to use when you communicate with the OUAC or the universities.
- You will also receive an email to acknowledge your application was successfully submitted, which includes your OUAC Reference Number.
1 to 2 business days after you apply, we recommend you visit the Hub to check the status of your application.
You can log back in to add or delete program choices, edit your application information and respond to offers of admission.
Reminder: You will not be able to log back in to your application until we have processed your payment.
Now you have successfully applied to an Ontario university.
Thanks for watching!