University of Ottawa

If you are applying to the University of Ottawa from the United States or elsewhere abroad, the first thing to understand is that this is not the US Common App system, and there is no single personal essay to agonize over. Ottawa admits the large majority of undergraduate applicants on academic record, through the Ontario Universities' Application Centre (OUAC). Americans and other applicants who are not in an Ontario high school apply on the OUAC 105 form; you submit grades, transcripts, and proof of English or French language ability, then complete your file on uottawa.ca's uoZone portal.

The core challenge, then, is not writing a 650-word story about who you are. It is that the writing which does exist is narrow, program-specific, and easy to overlook. Some files ask for a short statement of purpose, a few competitive or specialized programs add their own steps, the School of Music requires an audition plus a short interview, and graduate-entry Medicine runs a separate process with the CASPer situational test and a multiple mini interview. If your program asks for nothing written, your grades carry the decision. If it does ask, that small amount of text or talk counts for a lot, because almost no one else has prepared it well.

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