OUAC 101 vs OUAC 105: Which Ontario Application You Use and Why

Two Forms, One Application Centre

The Ontario Universities' Application Centre (OUAC) processes undergraduate applications for nearly every university in Ontario through one online system. Inside that system sit two separate forms, 101 and 105. Your enrolment status on the day you apply decides which one is yours. There is no choice involved and no benefit to picking the form that looks simpler.

OUAC 101: Current Ontario Secondary School Students

File OUAC 101 if you are enrolled at an Ontario secondary school and on track to complete your Ontario Secondary School Diploma in the school year you apply. Your guidance office issues you a Personal Identification Number that links your online account to your school. That link matters because your school sends your course list and grades directly to OUAC as they become available, including updated marks partway through the year.

You do not create this account on your own. Your school runs an information session, usually early in the fall term, that walks you through logging in, entering your program choices, and confirming your course selections match what your school has on file.

OUAC 105: Everyone Else

OUAC 105 covers any applicant who does not fit the 101 profile. That includes:

• Students who graduated Ontario high school in a previous year and are applying now

• Applicants from another Canadian province or territory, including CEGEP students in Quebec

• Mature students without a standard secondary school record

• College or university transfer students moving into an Ontario undergraduate program

• Home-schooled students

• Students who attended secondary school outside Canada

OUAC 105 splits into two tracks on the back end: 105D for domestic applicants (Canadian citizens and permanent residents) and 105F for applicants applying from outside Canada. Both run through the same online undergraduate guide , but the document checklist differs. If you studied abroad and are moving back to Canada to start university, you file under the domestic track and request your own transcripts, since no Ontario guidance office holds your record.

Comparing the Two

What Happens If You File the Wrong One

Universities read 101 and 105 files differently on their end. Submit a 105 while you are still an active Ontario secondary student and the school-side grade feed never connects to your file, so you end up chasing transcripts yourself and explaining the mismatch to each admissions office. Submit a 101 without a valid school PIN and your guidance office stops the application before it reaches OUAC.

Talk to your guidance counsellor first if your situation is not obvious, especially if you are repeating a semester, enrolled at a private or alternative Ontario school, or finishing your diploma through night school or credit recovery. Most of these students still qualify for 101 even though the path looks different from a standard four-year track.

Mature and Transfer Applicants Inside OUAC 105

"Mature student" and "transfer student" are not separate OUAC forms, they are categories inside 105. Each Ontario university sets its own mature student policy, built around your age, how long you have been out of secondary school, and whether you hold prior post-secondary credits. Check the specific university's admissions page for its own mature student criteria before you assume you qualify, since age and gap-year thresholds are not identical across schools.

Transfer applicants moving from a college or another university also file 105. You list your current or completed post-secondary institution and request official transcripts sent to OUAC, in addition to any secondary school transcript the university still wants on file.

Your Situation Changes Mid-Cycle

If you leave your Ontario high school partway through the application cycle, for example to switch to home study or move out of province, contact OUAC directly through your account rather than starting a second application. Submitting twice means paying twice and creates duplicate files that slow every university's review.

Before You Start

Confirm your category before you open an account. If you are unsure whether you count as a current Ontario secondary student, ask your guidance office directly, since they control PIN issuance and can tell you in a single conversation. Getting this step right the first time avoids a resubmission that pushes your file behind other applicants during a period when many programs review on a rolling basis.

If You Are a Canadian Citizen Who Studied Abroad

Citizenship and application form are not the same thing. A Canadian citizen who completed secondary school outside Canada still files under OUAC 105, not 101, since 101 is tied to enrolment at an Ontario secondary school, not to citizenship. Depending on where you studied, you may fall under the domestic or the applying-from-outside-Canada track inside 105, so check the current guide for how your specific situation is classified before you assume domestic status carries over automatically.

If Your PIN Does Not Work

A PIN that fails usually means one of a few things: your school has not yet entered you into the system, you copied a digit incorrectly, or your enrolment status changed and the school needs to reissue it. Go back to your guidance office rather than troubleshooting on your own, since PIN issues are almost always resolved on the school side, not the OUAC side.