What the Common App Supplemental Essays Ask That a Canadian OUAC Application Never Does
By Muntasir Minhaz • Published May 24, 2026 • Canadians Studying Abroad
The Common App requires one shared personal essay plus separate supplemental essays for most US schools, while the OUAC application Canadian students use for Ontario universities asks for no general essay at all.
🎓 Common App personal essay: 250-650 words, sent to every school on your list.
📩 Most US colleges add 1-8 more supplemental essays, each specific to that school.
OUAC 105 asks for grades, courses, and program choices, not essays.
A few competitive Ontario programs add a short supplementary form, far short of the US essay load.
⏱️ Start US supplements 8-10 weeks early. OUAC's timeline will not remind you.
Two Application Systems, Two Different Writing Loads
Ontario students apply to home universities through the Ontario Universities' Application Centre (OUAC) . The OUAC 105 form collects your grades, your course selections, and your program choices. It does not ask for a personal essay. Most US universities work the opposite way: the application centers on writing.
If you apply to US schools through the Common App alongside your OUAC applications, plan for a writing load with no Ontario equivalent.
What OUAC 105 Requires
OUAC 105D covers students currently at an Ontario secondary school. OUAC 105F covers everyone else, including CEGEP graduates, out-of-province applicants, and mature students. Both versions collect your academic history and your program preferences. You choose your universities and programs, then submit grades and course details, often through your school's guidance office.
A handful of Ontario programs add a short extra step, such as a program-specific supplementary form for select competitive programs. These add-ons stay short and apply to specific programs only. None resemble the multi-essay packet a US applicant assembles.
The One Common App Personal Essay
Every Common App applicant writes one personal essay, picked from a set of prompts covering your background, a challenge you worked through, a belief you questioned, or a topic you choose yourself. The essay runs 250 to 650 words and goes to every school on your list. Read the current prompt set on the Common App essay prompts page .
For a Canadian applicant used to OUAC, this single essay looks like the whole assignment. It is only the starting point.
Supplemental Essays: The Part OUAC Never Asks
Most selective US colleges add their own supplemental essays on top of the shared personal essay. One school might ask for a single short "why us" paragraph. Another might ask for four or five prompts covering your intended major, a community you belong to, and how you would use a specific campus resource. These prompts differ by school and change between admission cycles, so read each college's own supplement page before you draft anything.
Apply to eight US schools with three supplements each on average, and you are writing roughly 25 separate pieces of text before counting the shared personal essay. Nothing in the OUAC process comes close to this volume.
Side by Side
| Element | OUAC 105 | Common App for US schools |
|---|---|---|
| Personal essay | None required | One essay, 250-650 words, sent to every school |
| School-specific essays | Rare, tied to a handful of competitive programs | 1-8 per school, different prompts each |
| Number of schools per application | Multiple programs across your chosen Ontario universities | Add schools individually, no fixed cap |
| Main decision factor | Grades and course prerequisites | Essays combined with grades, activities, and recommendations |
Why Canadian Applicants Underestimate the Workload
Students who grew up with OUAC expect an application to be a form: grades in, offers out. The US model treats essays as a core admission factor, not paperwork. A Canadian applicant who starts supplemental essays in December, on an OUAC-style timeline, runs short on time before January deadlines.
Admission readers at US colleges look for specific, concrete answers tied to that exact campus. A generic paragraph written the night before a deadline reads that way.
How to Plan Around the Difference
List every school on your US list and count its total required essays before writing a single word.
Draft the Common App personal essay first. It goes to every school, so get it right once.
Group supplemental prompts by theme (why this school, why this major, community) and reuse your research across similar prompts, but never reuse a paragraph word for word.
Start supplements 8-10 weeks before your earliest US deadline. OUAC deadlines will not remind you when to start this work, so track US deadlines on a separate calendar.
Treat the Common App and OUAC as two separate projects on two separate timelines. Applying to schools in both systems does not mean the workload overlaps.