Second, you must decide which universities and programs you wish to apply to. You may apply to as many Ontario universities/programs as you wish, but only the first three are covered by the $115 basic application fee. Each additional choice costs $38. If your mailing address is outside of Canada, an additional $10 surcharge is added. You will certainly need to research your options to make what you believe are your "top" three choices and add others if you wish to keep more possibilities open.

In each case, you identify:

• your university choice (for example,Toronto, Queen's, Wilfrid Laurier)
• the degree program you want (Arts, Science, Social Sciences, Business, Engineering, etc.)
• your choice of subject within the degree program (for example, Chemistry in the Science program, or History in the Social Sciences program)

• Read the basic information in the application booklet: it has been condensed to help save you time and energy. For more application information check out the OUAC web site at http://www.electronicinfo.ca/en/ . Their Einfo page will give you everything you need to know.
• Check out the prerequisites for every program which interests you. If you apply to a program for which you lack any prerequisite, you will receive a letter back from the university to tell you so, and this may delay your receiving relevant information and forms.
• Consult the university's first-year handbooks and calendars.
• Attend as many university information sessions at the school as possible. Even those which you think may not interest you may help you make good comparisons. Dates and times will be posted, updated, and e-mailed to you.
• Plan to visit universities in your breaks: the November and February breaks are good choices. You may be able to visit nearby Ontario universities on the Monday following the Parent Interview weekend.
• Read the new Maclean's survey and other books which are "impartial".
• Talk to former grads, to teachers who attended a university which interests you, use E-mail.
• Research universities on the Internet and CD-ROMs. See Appendix A1 and A2 for web links.

You may always schedule additional times to confer with Mrs. Johnston, Dr. Avery, Mr. Hagg. Our guidance assistant, Ms Brown, is also up-to-date with all the latest information, guidelines and procedures. She also handles the all-important transmission of marks, applications and supporting documents.

Once your application is submitted, the Application Centre will transmit to the universities you have chosen all their information (from the form) about you. You will begin to receive acknowledgments that your application has been received.

• Answer: OUAC — the Ontario Universities' Application Centre in Guelph, Ontario (your application's destination) has thought of everything.

  You will complete your online application in late November, as part of your Guidance class. You can, however, make changes at any time after that simply by going online and editing.

  We will be sure that everyone has the opportunity to do this, in a guidance class, or individually, and we will discuss your changes with you. (Occasionally, we take the initiative to encourage students to amend their forms, again, in individual conversations, and often as a result of your OAC marks to that date.)

  You may amend your choices more than once, but February 5, 2010 is the recommended date by which all program changes and additional choices should reach the Application Centre.

  The school will recommend that you make the changes with your guidance counselor by February 1, so we can be sure they reach the Centre by February 6.

  Changes made after February 6 will be accepted and processed, but some universities will begin to make their admissions process based on the information received by February 6. The school will also send your interim marks in all courses you are currently taking to the Application Centre, and these marks will be forwarded on to the universities to which you have applied by late March. (At the time you submit your original application, your marks from courses completed in the previous two years will also be sent in.)

• Answer: You may apply to a maximum of three programs at any university. The University of Toronto has a slightly different approach to choices, so students applying there should read their instructions carefully and discuss them with their guidance counselor.

• Answer: Yes, it is very important to read carefully first, and then complete any and all supplementary applications you may receive, even if (a) you think you have such a superior average you will get in without it!, (b) you think you may not want to go to this university or be in this program after all, or (c) you think you have too much else to do!
  Some universities require the supplementary application for you to be considered further for admission. This requirement will be clearly stated on the form; read it carefully, and note the deadline.
  

• Answer: Your application will almost certainly be rejected if you do not submit this supplementary form by the due date. In our experience in recent years, some students have been informed by universities that because their supplementary forms were late, they would not be considered for programs. Queen's University, for example, will not consider applications from students who did not complete their supplementary forms.
• Deadlines are always important!

  University policies vary, but universities which, instead of requiring the form, offer you the opportunity to submit personal information about yourself, your extra-curricular experiences, leadership positions, and other activities, do use it in making admissions decisions. There are always students with marks below the cutoff averages who are admitted to programs on the basis of personal information forms who would not have been offered a place otherwise.

  Don’t base your chances on marks alone; let the universities see the "whole picture" of you!

  And until you have made a final decision to go elsewhere, consider every university or program to which you have applied seriously. You probably don’t yet know the final outcome of any of your applications!

• Ontario universities are now making conditional offers of admission as early as late March or early April. Note the word "conditional." It means exactly that. Your admission is conditional upon your completing all of your courses satisfactorily and maintaining an average very close to your average at the time you applied. Some universities will state in the conditional offer exactly what average you must maintain. Pay attention! You should take their expectations seriously and work hard to maintain your average right through exams. The universities mean what they say!
• May 25, 2010 is the date by which all Ontario universities must respond to your application. Their response will be one of the following: an offer of admission, a refusal, or a deferral based on the university's request for additional information.

• Your letter offering you conditional admission will state the date by which you must accept their offer (or it will be assumed that you are declining!)
• This date is May 28, 2010. Do not miss this deadline!

• Lakefield will send your final grades for this year to the Application Centre by mid-July, and the universities will have them by late July. The universities will then confirm by letter that their admission decision on your application is no longer conditional, but final!
• In most cases, you will know from the conditional offer and your own knowledge of your final marks that everything is okay, so you do not need to spend the summer worrying. In most cases, you will be making decisions about the courses you will be taking during your first year at university during the summer also. Everything will begin to seem real!

Be sure you change your mailing address, if you have used the school as your address, by the deadline we suggest, so that letters and other information from the universities will reach you directly and promptly, after you leave the school.