September of Grade 12: what to do this month

Updated August 22, 2026

Three things, in this order: confirm your timetable contains the prerequisite courses your target programs force into your average; find out which of your targets need a supplementary application, because those close before the January deadline; and work out your top six the way each program computes it. None of it is urgent yet. All of it is easier in September than in December.

What happens between now and January

Nothing is due in September. That is exactly why it is the month to do the work — every item below is easy now and a scramble in December. The dates, from OUAC’s own schedule:

• August 2026youThe OUAC relaunches Ontario Universities' Info and starts posting application material for fall 2027 admission. This is the month the information appears, not the month you can apply.
• Mid-September 2026youThe OUAC application opens for Ontario high school students. OUAC has not published an exact date for this cycle — anything you see online naming a specific day is not coming from OUAC.
• November 5, 2026your school → OUACThe deadline for your school to send your electronic student data file to the OUAC. Nothing has reached a university yet.
• November 19, 2026your school → OUACThe deadline for your school to send the OUAC every midterm or final 4U/M grade it has. Schools may report in-progress grades for full-year courses as soon as they are available.
• November 26, 2026OUAC → universitiesTarget date for the universities to receive those first-semester grades from the OUAC. This is the first point your marks are actually in front of an admissions office.
• January 15, 2027youThe deadline for Ontario high school students to submit their completed application. This is the one date everybody knows — but several supplementary applications land before it. The OUAC still processes applications received after this date, though individual university deadlines then apply.
• January 21, 2027OUAC → universitiesTarget date for the universities to receive all application data and grades for applications submitted by January 15.

Every date, with its source and a live countdown.

The September checklist

1. 1
   Check your timetable against your targets’ required courses. Every programme forces its prerequisites into your average — ENG4U nearly everywhere, MCV4U for engineering and most commerce, SCH4U and SBI4U for the life sciences. If a target needs a course you are not enrolled in, September is the last cheap moment to fix it. The five courses that gate the most programmes: ENG4U (1525), MHF4U (650), MCV4U (611), SCH4U (500), SPH4U (425).
2. 2
   Find out which of your targets want more than marks. 183 Ontario programmes require a portfolio, audition, interview, form or video, and most of those close before January 15 — some in early December. A portfolio takes weeks. The tracker, by what each asks for.
3. 3
   Work out your top six, each programme’s way. Not your best six — the six each target would use, with its required courses forced in. The same transcript gives a different number at every programme, and the gap between your number and the published range is the whole decision. How the average is actually calculated, with the calculator.
4. 4
   Know which targets make early offers. Several universities decide in December or February on Grade 11 marks plus first-semester Grade 12 midterms. If your Grade 11 was strong and a target is in that group, apply the week OUAC opens. If it was weak, the Grade 12-only universities will judge you on what you do this year. Which universities use Grade 11, verbatim.
5. 5
   Decide how many choices to list, and which ones catch you. OUAC lets you list several. At ten universities a near-miss on your first choice is caught automatically with an alternative offer. At Queen’s and Western it is not — you must list each programme separately or you get nothing. Who catches you, by university.
6. 6
   Star your targets and compare them. Star from any programme page and your plan becomes a checklist — the average each wants, the courses you are missing, which need a supplementary. Pick three and put them side by side.

What not to worry about yet

Scholarships: most entrance awards are automatic, decided on your average when you are admitted, with nothing to apply for. The ones that need an application mostly close in February or later. What your average is worth. Residence: after the offer. Tuition deposits: June 1 at the earliest — no university can demand one before then. Your first priority in September is the courses you are sitting in right now, because those marks are the application.