Choosing Your Five UCAS Course Choices as a Canadian Applicant

Five choices, one application, one fee

UCAS lets you list up to five course choices on a single application, in any mix of subjects and universities, for one flat fee. You do not pay more for using all five, and universities read each choice independently unless the subject rules below apply.

Use all five choices if you have five courses you would genuinely accept. A shorter list only makes sense when a course needs something the others do not, such as a portfolio or an admissions test on its own separate deadline.

The four-choice rule for medicine, dentistry and veterinary courses

If you apply to medicine, dentistry or veterinary medicine or science, UCAS restricts you to four choices total across those clinical subjects, even spread across four different universities. Your fifth choice has to sit outside these subjects.

Treat that fifth choice as your safety net. Clinical courses interview heavily and reject strong applicants for reasons unrelated to grades, so use a related non-clinical course, such as biomedical sciences or a science degree, for your fifth slot rather than leaving it unused.

Why other universities usually cannot see your other choices

For most subjects, a university only sees that you applied to them, not your other four choices. Medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine or science, and applications to Oxford or Cambridge, work differently. Every choice within this group is visible to every other choice in the group, so admissions teams see if you have applied to multiple medical schools or to both Oxbridge institutions.

You cannot hold an open application to both Oxford and Cambridge in the same undergraduate cycle. Pick one before you submit.

Building your five choices as a Canadian applicant

Attending five in-person open days from Canada is not realistic. Rely on each university's virtual open day recordings and course pages instead, and use the course's published entry requirements page to check whether your Grade 12 or CEGEP courses and marks, or your IB score and Higher Level subjects, fit before you add it to your list.

Spread your five choices across a realistic range rather than clustering them all near your predicted grades. Include at least one course where your predicted grades sit comfortably above the published requirement. This protects you if a more competitive choice does not come through.

Firm and insurance choices once offers arrive

Once you hold decisions from your choices, UCAS asks you to pick one firm choice, the offer you intend to accept, and, if you want a backup, one insurance choice with different or lower conditions. You then decline any remaining offers.

Choose your insurance choice with care. It only helps when its conditions are genuinely easier to meet than your firm choice. An insurance offer with the same or higher requirements gives you no real backup.

If none of your five choices work out

If you hold no offers, or you decline every offer you receive, UCAS Extra lets you add one further choice at a time until you find a place, without starting a new application. Watch UCAS Hub for when Extra opens to you and how long each Extra choice has to respond.