This is a gentle reminder that submitting an application to the Ontario Universities’ Application Centre (OUAC) is just the first step in the full application process. If you have submitted an application to a Waterloo Engineering program, you will eventually receive a request to complete the Admission Information Form (AIF) and a request to complete an (optional) online interview using the Kira Talent platform. For non-Ontario Secondary School students, you will also have other tasks to complete such as uploading transcripts and test scores.
You will likely receive periodic reminders to complete these tasks over the coming weeks. I use the word “likely” because some students fail to enter correct contact information during the application process. If the e-mail address you provide is invalid, you will not receive any reminders. Make sure your e-mail address is correct and make sure you are reading your e-mail so that you do not miss out on something important. Waterloo Engineering students face a constant challenge of keeping track of important deadlines. Shown below is one example of an information system designed to help students keep track of important events on campus. This information system is located outside the Coffee and Donut (C&D) Shop in Carl Pollock Hall.
One way to avoid receiving periodic reminders is to complete your application as soon as you can. Completing the application process early will ensure that your application receives full consideration for both early admission offers and scholarships. We will not send out early offers of admission to students who have not completed the required portions of the application process.
The online interview is not a required portion of the application process but completion of the online interview is highly recommended. We assign scores to the interviews. These scores are added to your admission average. Completion of the online interview has the effect of increasing your admission average.
Failure to complete a required task by the admission deadline can result in an offer of admission not being granted to a qualified applicant. There were a few students last year who were denied offers of admission for not completing the AIF. The students were academically strong enough to receive an offer of admission if they had completed their applications. Unfortunately, they did not do so. We will only issue an offer of admission if applications are complete.
The Road to Engineering 
I appreciate you writing these blog posts sir, may I ask, however. Is it possible to get a rough timeframe of when the first round of engineering offers will be sent out? I haven’t found a reliable source of any such timeframe yet. Thanks in advance.
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We do not advertise specific dates for our early rounds of offers. The reason for not advertising dates in advance is that our admission timeline is subject to change due to external factors beyond our control. We hope to send out our first offers sometime in mid-March, after our March Break Open House. We will not make any offers until we receive the first semester final grades to use in our assessments.
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Please Help.
My Computer Engineering application says Applicant Withdrawal: Your current status indicates that you have either withdrawn your application or declined your Offer of Admission.
I did not withdraw from my application or anything like that. Is there is a way we can fix this before 1st of March.
All I know is that the alternate choice page allowed for 2 options while I was supposed to put only 1. I am back now at one choice but I was kicked out of my first choice for about a week. I already sent an email to (myapplication@uwaterloo.ca) but no reply.
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I do apologize on behalf of our central admission team. My understanding is that this is a very busy time of the year and that e-mail responses are sometimes delayed due to high volume. We also experienced unusual delays as a result of two closures of the university due to extreme weather events.
It does appear that you withdrew your application to Computer Engineering but your application to Nanotechnology Engineering remains active. This change would have required confirmation from you. Based on what I can see, this change was made in December 18, 2018 on the OUAC website. Had this been discovered prior to February 1st, this problem could have been resolved on the OUAC website. Unfortunately, the application deadline has passed and the OUAC website no longer accepts changes after the deadline.
If you receive an offer of admission to Nanotechnology Engineering, you can ask to be considered for Computer Engineering upon receipt of your initial offer. This is no different, materially, from what would have happened if you had not accidentally withdrew your application to Computer Engineering. You would first be considered for Nanotechnology Engineering since it is your preferred choice within the Faculty of Engineering. You would only receive an offer to Computer Engineering if you were not selected for Nanotechnology Engineering and we felt you were more suitable for Computer Engineering.
Asking to switch programs after receiving an offer of admission comes with risk. When we re-assess an applicant for another engineering program, we revoke any previous offers of admission to the Faculty of Engineering. I would only recommend this path for an applicant who is willing to go elsewhere if they do not receive their choice of program.
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