Stop! Did you get a confirmation number?!

Happy May 28th!

Our office has been strangely quiet today…must be all the busy decision-making going on!

Just one more reminder that for all students currently attending school in Ontario, this is your last day to accept a university’s offer through the OUAC website! Also – and this is really, really important – after you have selected a university and program, you should receive a confirmation number – if you don’t receive a confirmation number, your acceptance has not gone through! It takes a few days for your acceptance to appear on ASQ, so please don’t panic if you check ASQ tomorrow and don’t see it – as long as you have a confirmation number, then your acceptance has been received at the OUAC.

Only a few hours left…good luck!!

Danyal Martin – Admission Coordinator

The campus is alive…with the sound of music?

Interestingly enough, as I wrote that title, the sound of bagpipes drifted in through my window – this is convocation season at Queen’s, so campus is actually alive with music…as well as excited grads in long, flowing robs, and their even more excited families. It’s a busy place today!

The title of this post, however, is actually in reference to a soon-to-be graduate of Queen’s. Kristin Rodgerson, a native Kingstonian and a member of the Arts class of 2008, is a finalist for the CBC’s upcoming “How do you solve a problem like Maria?” The show, which will debut on the CBC on June 15th, will detail the Canada-wide search for a lead actor for “The Sound of Music” at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto. Kristin is a veteran of the stage, having appeared in numerous performances in the city and on campus. To find out more, check out the article in the local newspaper, or tune in on June 15th!

Danyal Martin – Admission Coordinator

P.S. May 28th is tomorrow! Don’t forget to make a university decision on the OUAC’s website – and don’t forget to write down your confirmation number!

Booming jobs in mining engineering…

…get it? “Booming” jobs in mining engineering?

That was your Monday afternoon pun. Okay, I’ll stop.

I came across this article from the Globe and Mail and thought it might be of interest – it details the growing demand for graduates with engineering experience, especially in fields related to natural resources and the mining industry. As one of only nine schools to offer mining engineering programs in Canada, we find this pretty exciting!

For more information about Queen’s Engineering (mining and otherwise!), please visit the Faculty of Applied Science website!

Danyal Martin – Admission Coordinator

Next steps…

Okay, so you’ve made a decision, but what comes next?

In terms of next steps, there are really only two big ones: residence and choosing courses. As I mentioned in a couple of posts ago, for more information about residence, please visit the Queen’s residence website. The application and deposit are due by June 4^th and both can be completed online (the deposit can be done through internet or telephone banking – just use your student number as your account number).

Regarding your courses, for those of you in programs like Engineering, Commerce, and Nursing, much of your first year will essentially be laid out for you, but for those of you in Arts and Science (including Arts, Science, Con-Ed, Music, Kinesiology, Fine Art, Phys-Ed, and Computing), you will need to pre-register for your courses in early summer. You will receive more information about this in the next few weeks, but if you’d like to get started, please visit the Faculty of Arts and Science website and check out the First Year Students section.

For students in all faculties, if you’d like to read up on the courses of instruction available within your program, you can check out the courses calendars here. Three tips for this: 1) in general, 100-level courses are first year courses, 200-level are second year courses, etc.; 2) you’ll notice that the calendar will often make reference to “Honours” degrees – this is essentially a four year degree and you are all automatically enrolled in an Honours program; and 3) next to each course name, you’ll notice that it’s weighted as either 1.0 or 0.5 – 1.0 means that the course is a full-credit, or full-year, course, while 0.5 means that it is a half-credit, or half-year course.

There are a few other things that you’ll need to do over the summer (e.g. submitting information to Health Services, choosing a meal plan, making a minimum registration deposit on August 15^th) but these are two big ones in the next couple of months. Keep an eye on this website for more updates!

Have a great weekend!

Danyal Martin – Admission Coordinator

May 28th – It’s kind of a big deal…

May 28^th.

For those of you currently finishing high school in Ontario, you might have heard of it once or twice. Maybe your friend mentioned it in class, maybe your guidance counsellor sent out a reminder, maybe you read it in a letter, or maybe there’s a calendar on the fridge at home with a big arrow pointing towards it. In any case, you’ve heard of it – and if you haven’t noticed, it’s almost here…

For those of you who are not finishing high school in Ontario right now, you’re probably a little confused. To clarify, May 28^th is the common university acceptance deadline for Ontario high school students (typically, those out of the province had an earlier deadline), which means that a lot of people have to make a very big decision by next week. No pressure, right?

The main point of this posting was to provide a reminder about responding to your offer, but I would be remiss if I didn’t offer one little piece of personal advice: while this is a big decision, it’s important to also remember that it’s a pretty exciting decision – at the risk of sounding cheesy, you’re about to embark on a new adventure. It can also be a very difficult decision, and while it is important to talk to your family, guidance counsellors, and friends, at the end of the day, whichever university you pick is going to be your home for four years – don’t forget to pay attention to your gut. And to all parents – especially those who are doing this for the first time – we know that this can be a pretty big decision for you too, so don’t hesitate to contact us if you have questions!

Of course, after you’ve finally made this decision, the next big step is to actually accept the offer. To accept your offer, please log into your account through the Ontario Universities’ Application Centre (OUAC) website and indicate your choice. You’ll find a bit more information here, but make sure that you receive a confirmation number – you can even write it on the space provided on your offer letter. You can confirm that we’ve received it through ASQ, though note that it sometimes takes a day or two for us to receive your acceptance from the OUAC. Within a couple of days of receiving your acceptance, we will send you an email with more information about next steps.

Now you that you know what you need to do, all you need to do now is make a decision…

See you in September!

Danyal Martin – Admission Coordinator