Guides
The questions students ask every September, answered with what the universities actually do rather than what people on Reddit think they do. Each one is built from the same data as the rest of the site — the 23 universities’ own policies, every program’s published range, and the routes into each major at each campus.
What average do you need for university in Ontario?
There are 1,578 published answers, not one. The real distribution of Ontario admission averages: the median floor, what a 75 actually opens, where the 90s bar really is, and how to get your own answer instead of the province's.
The easiest universities to get into in Ontario, by their own numbers
Every Ontario campus ranked by where its typical program's published average starts, from Algoma to McMaster, with how each one publishes, and why a published minimum is not the bar.
Do Grade 11 marks matter for Ontario universities?
The admissions question every Grade 11 student asks, answered with what all 23 Ontario universities actually do — in their own words to guidance counsellors.
Night school, summer school, online courses: do Ontario universities care?
Whether a credit from night school, summer school, e-learning or a private school counts the same as day school — every Ontario university's actual policy, and the one — Waterloo — that reserves the right to ask questions.
How Ontario universities actually calculate your admission average
Your top six is not the same number at every university. Required courses are forced in whether or not they are your best marks, repeats are counted differently, and a published range is not a cutoff. The full mechanics, with a calculator that shows which programs your average reaches and a plan that recalculates it each program's way.
Can you get into medical school straight from high school in Ontario?
Not any more. QuARMS — the one program that attached medicine to a Grade 12 application — admitted its final cohort in 2024. What it was, what Queen's replaced it with, and what a Grade 12 student who wants medicine should actually do now.
Ivey and AEO status: what you actually apply to in Grade 12
Ivey's HBA starts in third year — nobody applies there from high school. What AEO status really is (low-90s plus leadership, weighed 50/50), the exact conditions that keep it, and why a mid-80s average closes the AEO door but not the Ivey door.
Applying to nursing in Ontario: every campus, every route
Every Ontario university nursing program open from Grade 12, the range each publishes, which ones are collaborative with a college, and the campuses where the published minimum sits well below what actually got in.
Ontario university acceptance rates: why you can't find one, and what to use instead
Ontario universities do not publish acceptance rates by program. Here is what they publish instead, what the numbers that do exist actually measure, and how to read a program's real bar.
Engineering in Ontario: common first year, or pick your discipline now?
At some Ontario universities you apply to Engineering and choose a discipline after a common first year. At others you must pick Mechanical, Civil or Software on the OUAC form itself. Which campus does which, with the ranges.
Becoming a teacher in Ontario: the campuses where you can start from Grade 12
Most Ontario teacher education is second-entry — finish a degree, then apply. Six campuses admit to a concurrent BEd straight from Grade 12, and three more guarantee a BEd seat from inside a BA. Which is which, and what each one asks.
When does OUAC open for 2027? It opened September 17 — what to do now in Grade 12
OUAC's fall 2027 application opened September 17, 2026, and your OEN is all you need to start. What to do now: prerequisites, supplementary deadlines, and your top six the way each program counts it.
How do you actually apply to university in Ontario?
One application covers every Ontario university, and OUAC set it to open September 17, 2026. What you need before you start, what Group A means, how many programs you can choose, what it costs and what happens after you submit — from OUAC's own instructions.
Supplementary applications: which Ontario programs want more than marks, and when
Portfolios, auditions, interviews, admission information forms, video responses. The Ontario programs that require one, what each asks for, and why each runs on the university's own deadline, not OUAC's.
When do Ontario universities actually see your marks?
Your school files grades with the OUAC on one date and universities receive them about a week later. The three November dates in order, what a university sees the first time, and every transmission date in the cycle.
Early offers from Ontario universities: who gets them, and when each one starts
Which Ontario universities make offers in November and December on Grade 11 marks, which wait for Grade 12, and how each runs its rounds — in the universities' own words to guidance counsellors.
Repeating a Grade 12 course: which mark each Ontario university uses
Most Ontario universities take your highest grade when you repeat a course. Queen's takes the most recent, Western averages after three repeats, Laurier weights first and last for required courses, U of T engineering may ignore the repeat. Every policy, verbatim.
Alternate offers: which Ontario universities catch you if you miss your first choice
Queen's, Western, OCAD and Guelph-Humber make no alternative offers — list each program separately or there is no second choice. Windsor, Carleton, Laurier and most others catch a near-miss automatically. Every university's policy, and how to build your OUAC list from it.