Wilfrid Laurier University — Waterloo

How Laurier (Waterloo) actually handles things

From the OUAC’s Guidance Dialogues Resource Guide (Spring 2026), which OUAC publishes for guidance counsellors rather than students. Read the original. Policies change — confirm anything you’re about to act on.

If you repeat a course

Which mark they use when you take a course twice.

Faculty of Science and the Lazaridis School of Business & Economics programs: We use a weighted average of the first and latest course attempts for required courses only.

All other programs and faculties: We use the highest grade in any repeated courses.

Summer school, night school, e-learning and private school

Whether courses taken outside your regular day school are treated the same.

We will accept Grade 12 U/M courses, provided the school or institution is accredited by the Ministry of Education.

Ontario high school students must submit the Summer School Registration Form if they intend to take summer school courses to meet the conditions of their offer. Final grades for summer courses must be submitted by August 12, 2026, to maintain an offer. If we receive documents after August 12, we may consider the student for an alternative offer or rescind the offer. Dates are subject to change, but we will inform applicants if they do.

Your Grade 11 marks

Whether they look at Grade 11, and when.

We consider Grade 11 U/M grades for early offers for qualified students. Supplemental Application

The optional Applicant Background Summary (ABS) form is available for all students, except Faculty of Music applicants (who have a unique admission process), to present extracurricular information for possible admission consideration.

The ABS form is due April 25, 2026, by 11:59 pm (ET). Ranking on OUAC Application

We do not assess a student based on choice relative to other university selections.

We assess students on academic merit and requirements. They will receive a decision on all programs they apply to. Tuition Deposit

We require a $2,000 tuition deposit from all undergraduate international students who accept an offer of admission. The tuition deposit is not an additional fee. It will be applied to the first-term tuition balance once the student enrolls in courses. First-year Course Selection Process

Automatic entrance scholarships

Money you get for your average without applying for it.

We automatically assess students for an entrance scholarship when they apply to Laurier. Scholarships are based on admission average, as of July 2026, and no application is required. The value of the entrance scholarship is split between the first 2 full-time terms of study. | www.wlu.ca/scholarships

Scholarship deadlines

Students can complete an awards profile to apply to all other competitive awards at Laurier starting in June (due September 2026).

Bursaries

Bursary supports are available for first-year, upper-year and transfer students, based on financial need, with opportunities to apply throughout the academic year. Application required.

The Laurier Tuition Bursary is available for upper-year and transfer students. We assess students based on financial need. To be eligible to apply, students must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents (landed immigrants).

Special consideration

If something happened that affected your marks.

If recent or present circumstances have impacted a student's ability to achieve a strong academic standing, they may submit a Special Case or Extenuating Circumstances Form. It is the student's decision to disclose any supporting details.

The Special Case or Extenuating Circumstances Form is due April 25, 2026, by 11:59 pm (ET).

Deferring your offer

Taking a year before you start.

Students may request a 1-year deferral by August 1, 2026. Deferrals are not guaranteed.

AP and IB

AP: We grant transfer credits (up to 6 courses depending on the program) for AP exams at a minimum grade of 4. We require official college board test results for transfer credit assessment.

IB: Refer to www.wlu.ca/admissions for IB requirements by program.

We assess students taking IB courses along with another curriculum based on their entire academic record.

We grant transfer credits (up to 6 courses) depending on the program. Students must have a minimum score of 5 in Higher Level courses and a grade of at least B in Theory of Knowledge and Extended Essay to be eligible for transfer credit.

Changing programs

None.

Transfer credit

Transfer applicants will receive an estimate of transfer credits with their offer of admission, but we will complete the final assessment and awarding of credits after they accept their offer. www.wlu.ca/transfer

English proficiency

A student's last 3 years of full-time education must be in English (without any ESL courses) or they will be required to submit evidence of their English proficiency. We reserve the right to request an English-language test for admission consideration.

CAEL: 70 overall with a minimum of 60 in each band; Duolingo: 120 overall; IELTS: 6.5 overall with a minimum of 6.0 in each band; TOEFL iBT: 4.5/83 overall with a minimum of 4.0/20 in each component. A full list of accepted English-language tests and academic English programs is available at: www.wlu.ca/englishproficiency.