About Being Denied Admission

If you are denied admission by your original university or college choices, consider:

  • phoning the university or college Admissions Office and asking if they will record your request to be informed of any late openings in your desired program.
  • applying through OCAS or OUAC for admission to the Winter or Spring semester, rather than the traditional Fall semester.
  • finding employment for a year and either upgrading your high school credits or taking a single university course through Part-Time Studies/Continuing Education or online courses/distance education at university, to improve your chance of an acceptance when you re-apply for admission for the next semester / year.
  • exploring the possibility of attending another post secondary institution
  • making an appointment to see your assigned Guidance Counsellor

University

  • By the end of May, all secondary school applicants shall expect a response from an Ontario university. A response will include either an offer of admission, a refusal, or a deferral pending the receipt of specific additional information.
  • All applicants are expected to respond to an offer of admission. Please see details of the offer for specific dates.
  • From mid-June to the end of August, OUAC manages a late Admission Information - Referral Service to help you to try to find a university program that is still accepting late applications.
  • Read the section in INFO on Admission Guidelines and Programs of Study for information on Alternate Offers of Admission at university. (If a qualified student is denied admission to a highly competitive program like engineering, some universities will make an alternative offer of admission to a less competitive program like science.)
  • You can make changes to your choices online.
  • Changes to applications will be accepted and processed by OUAC at any time
  • Consider applying through OUAC for admission to the Winter or Spring semester, rather than the traditional Fall semester.

College

  • Colleges will begin to send out acceptance offers the day after the "equal consideration date".
  • OCAS does not establish admission requirements or make admission decisions.
  • The colleges do not provide OCAS with any information concerning whom they have placed on a wait-list.
  • You can use OCAS Find a Program to try to find a college program that is still accepting late applications.
    • Some program programs have more than one Start Date (year/month), so be careful that you are checking the availability for the correct START date.
    • "Open" means the college is still accepting applications to the program. If the start date has passed, consult the college. For students who are transferring colleges, admission may be considered for direct entry beyond semester one.
    • "Closed" means the program is already full for this start date.
    • "Wait Listed" means the college has established a waitlist of applicants for this program, but there's still time to apply.
  • After you have found a suitable open program, add it to your program choices and submit.
  • You can make changes to your personal information and/or program choices online using OCAS .
  • Consider applying through OCAS for admission to the Winter or Spring semester, rather than the traditional Fall semester.