Online Application Tutorial

Ontario College
Online Application
Your future starts here . . .
Step 1 – Research colleges and programs
FIND A COLLEGE – view the map
FIND A COLLEGE
Visit ontariocolleges.ca
and click on the “Choose a
College” button.
Links to college information
FIND A PROGRAM TOOL
• ontariocolleges.ca/find
Search by
keyword
Search by a
college
Links to college information
OTHER RESEARCH OPTIONS
College Information Program (CIP)
• September 22 – October 24, look for events near you.
• Full schedule at: ontariocolleges.ca/news/cip.
College Open Houses
• Held each fall and spring.
• See facebook.com/ontariocolleges.ca for upcoming events.
Important Dates
•Early October – Access the application at ontariocolleges.ca
•November 24, 2014 – First date that 2015 / 16 application data is sent
to colleges; earliest date that colleges may acknowledge applications.
•February 1, 2015 – Equal Consideration Date
-
Applications received and paid for by this date are considered equally by
the colleges.
-
This is not a deadline for submitting applications. It is, however,
critical to apply to highly competitive programs by this date.
-
Applications are still processed after this date, but are
considered on a first-come, first-served basis by the colleges.
Important Dates
•February 1, 2015 – Offer Date
- First day that colleges MAY release offers of admission.
- Not all offers are posted on this day. The colleges continually post
offers of admission until programs are filled.
•February 1, 2015 – Accept Offer Date
- Earliest date that applicants may confirm an offer of admission.
•May 1, 2015
- Applicants must confirm their acceptance of an offer of admission
by this date.
- Each college will determine the due date to confirm offers made
after May 1.
- Check your offer letter AND the expiry date of your offer of admission.
•June 15, 2015 – Tuition Fee Payment
- Earliest date that colleges may require payment of tuition fees.
Important Info Before You Apply
• The application processing fee is $95 (non-refundable).
• An application allows you up to 5 program choices, with
no more than 3 at any one college.
• All program choices must start within the same
academic year (August – July).
• Your username is permanent.
• Your password must be between 8 and 14 characters in length.
• DO NOT create more than one account.
• The application works best in the following browsers:
Internet Explorer 9, 10, 11
Firefox latest version
Chrome latest version
Safari 7+ & IOS 7+
Important Info Before You Apply
EMAIL ADDRESS
• Provide a valid email address.
- This allows ontariocolleges.ca to communicate with you for
important information about your application, account activation
and username / password recovery.
- The colleges you apply to use this email address to communicate
with you about your application and offers of admission.
• Check your email regularly.
- Update your email address if it changes.
• Check your junk / spam mailboxes if you do not receive emails from
‘[email protected]’. Add address to your safe senders list.
Important Info Before You Apply
PRIVACY STATEMENT
•Review our complete Privacy Statement. It explains how we use the
information provided as part of your college application.
•A link to the Privacy Statement is located in the footer of the
ontariocolleges.ca website and within the college application.
ACCOUNT INFORMATION
Some information is automatically added to your account based on the
information provided during account creation.
INFORMATION YOU CANNOT CHANGE ON YOUR
APPLICATION / ACCOUNT
•Name, date of birth, username, OEN & academic data.*
•To make changes to this information, call the ontariocolleges.ca Customer
Contact Centre.
*To make changes to academic data, see your guidance counsellor.
What You Need to Know Before You Apply
• OEN (Ontario Education Number) and Student Number
(found on your report card or high school transcript)
• Your complete home mailing address including postal code
• The city where your high school is located
Larger cities have this issue. Ex. is the school in ‘Toronto’ OR ‘Etobicoke’?)
Your ontariocolleges.ca Account
Your ontariocolleges.ca account allows you to:
• Apply to any of Ontario’s public colleges.
• Review and update your college application.
• Request Ontario high school transcripts (from participating schools).
(Note: current high school students have their transcripts sent automatically
by their high schools.)
• Request Ontario college / university transcripts.
• View and accept offers of admission.
Step 2 – Create an Account
Go to ontariocolleges.ca
Returning to your
application:
If you have an
existing account,
click ‘Log In’.
New Users:
If you have never
applied through
ontariocolleges.ca
before, click the
‘Create an Account’
button.
Create an Account
Complete required fields
Passwords that DO
NOT meet these
requirements will not
allow you to login.
Select a question
from the pulldown list, or create
your own.
If you do not agree to the
Terms and Conditions you
will be logged out of the
college application.
Activate Your Account
! You cannot log in to your account without first activating it
An activation email is sent to the email on file.
You need to activate your account via email.
Successful Account Activation
Log in using the username
and password created during
account sign up.
If you forget, click to
have your login info
sent to your email
address.
Forgotten Username / Password
Usernames / passwords are recovered separately. The process is identical.
Enter the email address
provided during account sign
up and click ‘Verify’.
Answer the challenge questions and
click ‘Recover’.
Note that answers must match exactly
and are cAse SenSitive.
The requested information will be sent
to the email address on file.
Privacy Statement
On first login only, you will be asked to review and accept our Privacy Statement.
If you do not accept the
Privacy Statement you
will not be able to
complete your application
to college.
Email Communications
On first login only, you will be asked to review and accept our Email Communications.
Check the boxes to receive
emails and click ‘Submit’.
Step 3 – Applicant Home Screen / Dashboard
Start your college application from this screen
MESSAGE CENTRE:
Important information about
your application is found
here. Check regularly.
MY PROFILE:
• A checkmark (
completed.
) will appear after each section is
• All sections (even if they do not apply to you) must be
completed, in order, when you complete your account for
the first time.
• Click ‘Save’ to continue to the next step.
MY PROFILE:
• Personal Information – basic demographic info, including legal name,
date of birth, etc.
• Contact Information – street address, email address, telephone
numbers
• Authorized Users– authorization to allow another individual access
to your account / application (e.g. parent, guidance counsellor).
(Note: not shared with the colleges.)
• Citizenship & Residency – Citizenship, residency status in Canada,
country of birth.
• Education – schools attending / attended; marks will be posted to
this section.
• Financial Support – agency sponsorship; this does not include OSAP.
• Experience – add employment or volunteer experience that relates
to your area of study.
MY APPLICATIONS:
• Program Choices – select or update your program choices in this
section.
• Basis of Admission – identify if you are / will be a high school
graduate or enrolled in a high school course.
• Payment Summary – listing of fees requiring payment.
ACTIVITY HISTORY:
• Summary of application’s day-to-day activities.
Personal Information
Complete all
required fields.
Click ‘Save and
Continue to
Next Step’.
Contact Information
Click to add your
mailing address.
Mailing Address
Complete all fields.
Click ‘Save and Continue’.
Contact Information
Click ‘Click to edit mailing address’
if your address is incorrect or
changes.
Complete any remaining fields.
Click ‘Save and Continue to
Next Step’.
Authorized Users
ADD AUTHORIZED USERS:
• Authorize another individual access to your account / application.
• Maximum of 3 individuals at one time.
• Authorization can be added, changed or revoked at any time.
• All actions made by authorized individuals appear in activity
history.
Complete required fields. Click ‘Save’.
Full Access – authorized individuals may
make payments AND changes to your
application information .
Read Only / Pay – authorized individuals
may make payments and ONLY VIEW your
application information.
Authorized Users Summary
• Authorized individuals, once added, receive account activation emails and are asked to
create their own unique usernames and passwords to access your account.
• Authorization can be added, changed or revoked at any time by using the ‘Edit’ and
‘Deactivate’ links.
• Deactivated individuals receive email notification of the change.
Citizenship and Residency
Complete fields by selecting
information from the drop-down
menu.
Canadian citizens – Select ‘Aboriginal
Ancestry’ if applicable.
Click ‘Save and Continue to Next Step’.
Education
Complete only the sections
that apply to your education
experience.
High School Education
Use the drop-down
menus to complete
all fields.
Ontario high school
students: use the ‘Find
School’ drop-down to
add your high school.
Important
for current
students.
All Applicants – enter
the date you began
high school.
Graduates / Former Students – enter the
date you completed / left high school.
! Current Students –
click the radio button.
To allow us to match your grades to your
application, your OEN, student number
and name (as it appears on your school
record) must be accurate.
Click ‘Save’ when done.
CURRENT ONTARIO HIGH
SCHOOL STUDENTS ONLY
Your high school will
automatically forward your
grades to ontariocolleges.ca.
Education Summary
A school record, once added,
cannot be deleted. Its contents
(e.g. attended dates), however,
can be modified.
Click ‘Save and Continue to Next
Step’ when done.
ONTARIO HIGH SCHOOL GRADES
• Grades will be listed in the ‘Academic
Data on File’ section.
• It is recommended that current
students check their grades several
times during the school year
(e.g. after mid-semester and final marks
for semester 1 and 2).
• Any errors should be reported to your
guidance counsellor.
Financial Support
Use the drop-down menu to
select the agency. Click ‘Save
and Continue to Next Step’.
Sponsor Agency – agency that will be paying
all or part of your educational or living
expenses while at college.
If you are applying for financial assistance
(e.g. OSAP, bursary, scholarship, etc.) you are
not considered ‘sponsored’ and should select
‘No Sponsorship’.
Experience
Add information in these sections
ONLY if it relates to your area of
study.
Skip the sections that do not
apply to you.
Add Job Experience – previous or
current paid employment.
Test Information – standardized
test information that will be
submitted to support your
application (e.g. GED, TOEFL,
nursing, etc.).
Other Activities – previous or
current volunteer experience,
association memberships, etc.
Complete the required fields.
Click ‘Save’ when done.
Experience Summary
‘Add’ buttons – use to add
additional information.
Edit Details – use to update
existing information.
Delete – remove
information.
Select Programs
Click the button with the start
date you wish to apply to.
Selecting programs from BOTH
application cycles will result in two
applications and an additional
application processing fee.
! Fees paid on duplicate
applications are non-refundable.
Programs with
start dates in:
• September 2015
• January 2016
• May 2016
Record your Account Number and
Application Number.
Received Date – is the date your
application processing fee payment
is received and processed.
You may apply to a maximum of FIVE program choices
with no more than THREE at any one college.
List your programs in order of preference.
You cannot create additional applications to apply to
more programs.
‘>’ – search for programs
at ONE college.
‘>>’ – search for program
at ALL colleges.
Enter ONE word of the program
title or the program code.
Click ‘Search’.
Click ‘Select’ to add
the program to
your application.
Make sure you select the
correct program start date
and campus.
Review the information and
complete any required fields.
Click ‘Save’ to return to the
program choice screen.
If you have previously applied
to or attended this college,
enter the dates. Otherwise,
leave the default values.
Entry Level 1 – the first
semester of the first year of
the program. Note:
programs with January start
dates are still Entry Level 1.
Manage Program Choices
Click ‘Search for a Program ’
to add additional programs.
Use the blue arrows
to reorder your
program choices (if
required).
Click ‘Save and Continue
to Next Step’.
Click ‘Edit’ to
change program
information OR
‘Delete’ to remove
the program from
your application.
Basis for Admission
Review and answer the questions.
Click ‘Save and Continue to Next
Step’ when done.
Current high school
students: make sure ‘Yes’
is selected for question 2.
Applicant Dashboard
Once programs choices are added, the
application status will be ‘Unpaid’.
After the application processing fee is
received the status is updated to ‘Paid’ and
the application information is forwarded to
your college choice(s).
Payment Summary
Review your fees.
Click ‘Process Payment’
to pay your application
processing fee.
Secure Online Credit Card (including Visa Debit)
or Interac Online Payment
Select a payment method:
Credit card (including Visa Debit)
or Interac Online.
Enter your credit card details.
Cardholder Name – must appear exactly
as on credit card.
Credit Card Number – numbers only. No
spaces or hyphens.
Expiry Date – select the dates using the
drop-down menu.
Click ‘Process Transaction’ or
‘Proceed to Online Banking’
to complete your payment.
Successful Payment Verification
Payment is verified ‘on
screen’ and confirmation
is also sent to your email.
Declined Payment Notification
DECLINED PAYMENT
A payment can be declined for a number
of reasons:
• Incorrect credit card number and / or
expiry date. Confirm that the
information you entered is accurate.
• Insufficient credit limit.
Offers of Admission
OFFERS OF ADMISSION
• Offers can only be viewed after they are
posted by the colleges.
• You may accept only ONE offer at a time.
• You may accept only ONE offer in one
24-hour period.
• A confirmation of your acceptance is sent
to your email.
Click ‘View Offers’
to view your offers
of admission.
CHANGING AN ACCEPTED OFFER
• If, after accepting an offer, you change your
mind or receive another that you prefer,
you may accept the new offer (before the
expiry date). The new acceptance will
cancel your previous one.
Application Activity History
Select the application number you
wish to review and click ‘Retrieve’.
Read only.
General – day-to-day summary.
College Transmission – Summary of
information that has been sent to
your college choice(s). Updated
nightly.
Application Activity History – General
Read only
Returning to / Making Changes to Application
Remember to
log out when
you finish
each session.
Clear your
computer
cache after
you log out.
• At any time you may resume your application
where you left off.
• Once ALL sections are completed (as indicated
by the green checkmarks), you may return to
each section to view or make edits.
Need Help?
FOR APPLICATION HELP:
• Click ‘FAQ’ to see answers to Frequently Asked Questions
(www.ontariocolleges.ca/faq).
• Click ‘Live Chat’ under ‘Contact Us’ at ontariocolleges.ca, to reach one of our
Customer Contact Centre staff (real-time website feature).
• Email the Customer Contact Centre at [email protected].
• Call the Customer Contact Centre at 1 888 892 2228.
• Find us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/ontariocolleges.ca).
• Follow us on Twitter (www.twitter.com/ontariocolleges).
TO CORRECT HIGH SCHOOL GRADES:
• See your guidance counsellor.
OFFER OF ACCEPTANCE INFORMATION:
• Contact the college(s) you have applied to.