Applying to Ontario Universities With OUAC 105: A Step-by-Step Guide

Confirm You Belong on OUAC 105

File OUAC 105 if you already graduated high school, live outside Ontario, are a mature student, or are transferring from a college or another university. Current Ontario secondary students use OUAC 101 instead through their school's guidance office. If you are unsure which applies to you, check the difference between the two forms before you register, since starting the wrong account wastes a submission fee.

Step 1: Create Your Own OUAC Account

Go to the OUAC undergraduate application guide and register for the 105 application. Unlike 101, there is no PIN from a school. You create the account yourself using your own name, date of birth, and contact details.

Step 2: List Every School You Attended

Enter every secondary school, college, and university you attended, including institutions outside Ontario. OUAC uses this list to know which transcripts it needs to request or which you need to send in yourself, depending on the institution.

Step 3: Order Your Transcripts

Request official transcripts from each institution on your list as early as you can. Some schools process transcript requests within days, others take weeks, particularly during their own exam or registration periods. If you attended a Canadian high school outside Ontario, confirm with the OUAC guide whether that province's ministry or the school itself issues the official copy. If your prior education happened outside Canada, check whether the university you are applying to requires a credential evaluation through a body such as the Canadian Information Centre for International Credentials before it can assess your transcript.

Step 4: Enter Your Academic History

Fill in the courses, grades, and credits from each institution as accurately as your transcripts show them. For transfer applicants, this includes every post-secondary course you completed, even ones you do not expect to transfer for credit, since admissions offices review your full record.

Step 5: Add Your Program Choices

Search for each program by its official name rather than typing it freehand. Mature and transfer applicants sometimes qualify for different admission pathways than students applying straight from high school, so check each program's specific mature student or transfer policy on the university's own admissions page before finalizing your list.

Step 6: Pay and Submit

Review your full application, then pay the application fee online to submit. Save your application reference number, since you use it whenever you contact OUAC or a university about missing documents.

Step 7: Send Any Outstanding Documents

Some transcripts route through OUAC electronically, others need to arrive by mail or through a separate transcript service depending on the institution. Confirm with each school you attended how they send official transcripts and follow up if a university tells you a document is still missing weeks after you requested it.

Step 8: Track Two Portals, Not One

Check your OUAC account for processing updates and your program-specific status. Most universities also open a separate applicant portal once they receive your file for supplementary forms, scholarship applications, and eventual offers. Register for both and check them regularly through the decision period.

Watch the Calendar

OUAC 105 applications open later in the year than 101 in most cycles, but both work toward the same equal consideration dates set by each university. Submit as early as your transcripts allow, since processing an out-of-province or foreign transcript takes longer than confirming an in-province one, and a late document can push your file past a program's review window even if you submitted the online form on time.

If You Are Applying as a Mature Student

Mature student policies differ by university, and OUAC itself does not decide whether you qualify. The university you apply to reviews your age, time out of school, and any work or life experience against its own published criteria. Read that specific university's mature student admission page before you submit, since some programs still expect certain prerequisite courses even for mature applicants, while others waive them.

Keeping Copies of Everything

Save a copy of every transcript, form, and confirmation email connected to your application. If a university reports a missing document weeks after you sent it, having your own record of when and how you sent it speeds up resolving the mix-up. This matters more for 105 applicants than 101 applicants, since you are coordinating documents from multiple institutions yourself rather than relying on one school's automatic feed.

If You Are Transferring Mid-Program

Transfer applicants should request a course-by-course transcript, not just a summary, since receiving universities assess transfer credit at the individual course level. Contact the admissions office of the university you want to transfer into directly if you want an early sense of how many credits might transfer, rather than waiting for a formal offer to find out.

If English Is Not Your First Language of Instruction

Some programs ask 105 applicants whose prior education was not in English or French to demonstrate language proficiency, even if you are a Canadian citizen or permanent resident. Check each program's own admission requirements page for its specific policy rather than assuming your citizenship status exempts you automatically, since the requirement is tied to your language of prior instruction, not your immigration status.