After many hours of review and work by the admissions team, the final set of admissions decisions are done. I’ll just summarize a few things for now.
- Offers are being posted to Quest initially, and will get updated on OUAC in the next few days. Ontario (OUAC 101) offers come out first (like today), and out of province (OUAC 105) offers take a few more days to process, so probably by the end of this week.
- Emails should go out shortly too (I think). Mailed packages take a bit more time to assemble and deliver.
- As we suspected, competition for the limited number of spaces was higher again this year, about 1,000 more applications than last year. At the end, we received a bit over 10,000 applications, and made about 3,000 offers. This should give us about 1,600 new students in September, which is our target. On the downside, there will be about 7,000 disappointed applicants.
- At first glance, it seems that the increased competition pushed up the typical admission averages by about 1% across all the programs. We will have to update our admission stats for the 2015 cycle in the coming weeks.
- Some people will call the office to find out why they didn’t get an offer, or didn’t get their first choice program. It’s a bit pointless however, since the answer is always the same…in the ranked list of applicants, the program was filled before we got down to that part of the list. In many programs we were filling the last few spots with applicants having low 90s averages, and there were still 500+ applicants left in the list.
- We will have a waitlist for those who want to be reconsidered in June if there are any open spaces. You can ask to be put on the waitlist by emailing enginfo@uwaterloo.ca with your name, ID# and desired program.
- I see that there are dozens of comments on other posts that I haven’t had time to address. Sorry, but I’ll have to delete most of them and start fresh, unless they are key questions of general interest.
A Professor in Waterloo Engineering 
Thank you for your hard work, patience and effort for this years admissions.
Thanks, but it’s really the many staff behind the scenes that make it all work out.
How does the wait list process work? Is it purely based off final marks or does the person have to express interest to be put on the wait list?
Normally, how many people from the wait list will be accepted to Civil Engineering?
You have to ask to be put on the waitlist. The number accepted depends entirely on whether there are any spaces available (i.e. if we undershoot the target). If spaces are available, the people on the waitlist are reconsidered in another competition based on grades and AIF.
Hello Professor,
With this round of offers have scholarship offers been decided as well? If so how and when will applicants be informed.
Thank you in advance
Scholarship decisions are in progress and information will probably go out next week.
well I guess I have a few days left to figure out my status. Thank you for posting and answering my questions it was very helpful.
At this point, if my application still says “Application”, it is safe to assume that I was not accepted to any of my 3 choices?
For a OUAC 101 applicant that is probably true. 105 results are still in process.
Professor Anderson, does Waterloo Engineering admissions require a Grade 11 language ex. french for admission requirement, i wasnt able to find this information on the website.
No, and I’m not aware of any Ontario engineering schools that require a second language.
“We will have a waitlist for those who want to be reconsidered in June if there are any open spaces. You can ask to be put on the waitlist by emailing enginfo@uwaterloo.ca with your name, ID# and desired program.”
By this, what do you mean by ID#? OUAC ID?
Preferably the Waterloo ID#, but the OUAC number would work too.
Hi Professor Anderson,
What would be the exact mechanics of the wait list? I have an offer from CS at Waterloo, which I will accept if I don’t get an offer from Engineering (I haven’t gotten anything yet since I’m a 105, but my average was on the lower side). That will need to be done by June 2nd. If I get an offer from the wait list, would I be able to accept and transfer easily (since it’s the same school)? Would I be forced to take offer, or could I stay with CS?
This is all dependent on whether I apply for the wait list, which I may not if I decide I’m happy with CS, but I thought I would do some research beforehand.
Thanks,
Neil
See my new post on the wait list.
Hi Professor,
If we were accepted to one of our lower ranked alternatives, would there be a chance for us to be moved into a higher choice if space is available within that program?
Should we email Waterloo and ask to be put on the waitlist for this program?
Thank you.
See my new post.
Does that mean all offers are live on Quest right now or some are still being posted to Quest in the next hours/days? (The decisions are done but not fully released)
All the 101 offers are loaded on Quest. the 105 offer coding are still in process.
Hey Prof Bill,
When considering transfers from June-Sept, are final or midterm marks considered from semester 2?
We use final marks when they are available.
Would you know the admission average for Eng/Chem Eng? If not, where could I find out, and when?
Also, thank you so much for taking the time to help the incoming first-year students!
We will be posting the new admission range information in a few weeks as we start preparing for the 2015 admission cycle.
Have the second semester intermin marks for BC students been forwarded to UWaterloo yet?
I’m not sure, but they come too late for us to use.
Im pretty sure i didn’t get accepted due to competition but thanks for all the updates, i will apply for wait list though since waterloo is my dream school 🙂 so hopefully i get lucky. Do we apply for wait list after we get declined?
Yes, you can ask for the waitlist once you’re sure.
Hello Sir
About how many spaces are left for the Mechanical Engineering Program ?
Thanking You
In theory, there are no spaces left in any programs now that the offers have been completed.
Regarding the wait list, when will the staff notify students of their admission of open space? Don’t students have until June 2 to choose which university to attend?
See my new wait list post.
If an offer is given out to someone from the waitlist, is it mandatory they take the offer. What if they have already accepted another offer.
No, it’s not mandatory and you can decide to stick with your other acceptance.
wow I’m glad I made it to SYDE to 96 avg but my friend did not make to civil with 94. Was very surprised…. competition must be tough
anyhow, thanks for the admission info, I’ve been reading this blog since I was in grade 11!
one question though, did programs like geological engineering entrance average shoot up to low 90s?
Yes, high 80s to low 90s is about right.
Congrats. Yes, the competition is rather stunning from my perspective.
Thanks for all the insightful posts. They were very helpful throughout this whole process.
I was accepted yesterday into Computer Engineering, and I was wondering if we will ever get to find out our AIF score. Thanks again.
Congrats. No, we don’t have the resources to respond to thousands of AIF score requests.
I am a student in Ontario. In my quest account, under status it still says “Application.” Does that mean I am rejected to the program I wish? Thank you
It probably means that.
I didn’t get an alternative offer to Software Engineering, but also didn’t get rejected yet. Am I still considered for the program?
If you’re a 101 applicant it is probably bad news. If you’re a 105 applicant we are still working on it.
when I expect to hear the scholarship decision if any?
Probably in about a week.
Hey Professor,
I was accepted to computer engineering (my first choice). Is it still possible to switch into some other engineering? Like Software Engineering?
Thank you
You can ask. See the new wait list post.
If an alternative offer was been made, do you need to request to be put on the waitlist for the original program.
Yes, you have to request it, otherwise we assume you’re satisfied with that program.
Hi sir
Firstly, I want to say thank you for all the helpful information you provide.
I know that you are a professor in engineering but could you by any chance shed some light on when the math faculty will send out their acceptances?
Sorry, no. Our processes are completely separate.
When being put on the wait list for a potential admission in June, is the decision based on the final grade 12 marks or the same marks that were processed during midterms? Also since we are being reconsidered in June and the deadline for accepting offers is June 2nd, does that mean applicants are to not accept any offers?
See my new wait list post. In June we will still only have the same midterm marks. You’d better think about accepting some offer or you may be left with nothing.
Can the admission team possibly changed the status to Rejection instead of leaving it as Application?
Yes, Quest will be updated to show “Deny” but it takes a few days because the staff are busy with other stuff.
For OUAC 105 applicants, ie., out of province, international, mature student and transfer applicants, will there be a single batch of acceptances for OUAC 105 applicants or will there be several waves of acceptances?
There will be a single upload in a day or two.
what about students who wanted an internal transfer into 1A engineering? have they all been notified through email already?
No, we’re working on those.
sorry I was not more specific. What i meant to ask was: have all the ADMITTED internal transfer applicants who want to transfer into 1A engineering been emailed already?
No, I don’t think we’ve done that yet.
1. Can you ask to be put on a wait list for two programs? I applied for Software Engineering as well as Computer Science co-op and I was offered Computer Engineering and Mathematics instead.
2. If I enrol in Computer Engineering, is it possible to switch to Computer Science or Software Engineering before or during my first semester?
Thank you!
You can ask Engineering for the Software wait list. I don’t know anything about the Computer Science processes. See the wait list post for more info.
Do all offers really come out in Quest? I checked it, but it is still in Application phase. My application is OUAC 105.
Those are still in progress.
First of all, thanks for all of the work you have done on this blog. I’m sure many other future undergrads appreciate this as much as I do.
Anyways, which ID # do we use for the waitlist? Our OUAC reference number or WatIAM ID? Also, how many open spaces are available on average by the time June comes?
The Waterloo id is easiest for us to use, but either will work. In June it’s highly variable…I’ve seen anything from none to a dozen.
If we didn’t get into our desired program, were we supposed to get an alternative offer? What if we got no offers at all?
You would only get an alternate offer if you were competitive for that program. As I noted, 7,000 applicants got no offer and should consider their other choices.
Will we be getting denial emails to? When should all the emails be sent out by?
I’m not sure about the exact timing, but maybe next week.
hi professor, I wanted to ask about when the second offers of may will be handed since may 5th has already passed, so basically when should I be expecting a reply from Waterloo? Also, are the offers for ouac 101 applicant done and the rest is only for the others?
The 101 offers have all been posted in Quest. Further communications will probably come out next week.
I applied for software engineering, yesterday my admission was still pending. Today when I logged onto quest, my program changed to Honours Mathematics. I did not apply for Mathematics, and on OUAC my first choice still remains software engineering. Why did this happen? If it was not supposed to happen can anyone tell me what to do about it?
I’m not sure about that. You can try myapplication@uwaterloo.ca for help.
so are all the admissions sent out? like all the international applicant combined ?
and all the college applicants are also part of the ten thousand ?
I’m not sure what you mean. The 10,000 is the total number of applicants to Engineering from whatever source.
No, the OUAC 105 offers should come out Friday.
Hi sir,
When does Waterloo look at my final transcript? I am an IB student in Ontario, Would waterloo wait for my IB transcript in July for scholarships? is it possible for waterloo to revoke my acceptance and scholarships due too poor IB scores? Is it also possible to upgrade scholarships if the scores are better than the predictions?
Thanks again
I believe that we just use the Ontario curriculum final grades for conditions and scholarships (i.e. what your school assigns at the end of June)
If I don’t accept my offfer until the deadline, is there a chance that all the spots are “filled up”? I know you guys probably have this down to a science, but is it possible?
No, you have until the deadline in June to decide, without any problems.
If on quest, it says that I was denied, does that also apply to my second and 3rd engineering choices?
Yes, unfortunately.
What about the applicants for 105, when will they likely to be out. Also, I only mailed my transcript in last week (when the mid-term marks first came out), they should’ve already arrived. However, the document status still shows my last upload was in March. Does it just takes a long time for them to update it or did the mail got lost and didn’t get there?
105 decisions should be uploaded by the end of the week. We’re unable to process documents submitted much past the middle of April, so it’s probably still awaiting upload.
I got accepted in Feb. Thank you 🙂
my marks improved so would it be possible for me to get a higher scholarship in May? i sent in my updated marks last month with a higher avverage
Yes, if final grades improve some scholarships can be upgraded.
For my admission average, chem 35ib was used, a course I dropped with no penalty (due to only needing 2 ib sciences for diploma). My mark was a 78, and because I didn’t know chem 35 was used over chem 30, my school didn’t delete this mark off my transcript until semester 3. This mark brought my average down to 89.8%, so I got the $1000 scholarship. Would it be possible for you guys to reconsider my scholarship now? My average would of been around 93 with my chem 30 mark.
Thanks in advance!
You would have to follow up with your admissions officer on that.
My quest is acting weird since it randomly replaced the spot for software engineering, so now I have two computer.science slots (I was already offered early acceptance for computer Science
That is strange.
Hi Professor, do you know exactly the date that the rest of QUAC 105 offers will come out?
I can’t guarantee it, but probably Friday.
hello professor,
I applied for electrical engineering. I am just anxious to know how soon can i know if my application is either denied or accepted. I am outside of Canada and OUAC 105 applicant
Probably by Friday.
Are rejection letters sent out by mail? Or do we just receive an email if we did not get accepted?
I’m not actually sure. One of the other offices takes care of those things.
Dear Professor,
Could you perhaps shed some light on how a 105 applicant are assessed in contrast to a 101? If not how many spots are available for them? ( To be clear; By 105 I mean mature students who have never been to post secondary not international or transfer applicants).
Much Appreciated
We don’t have specific numbers of spots for 101 and 105. They’re both assessed in the same way, by calculating an average for the required courses and using an AIF score.
I was offered computer science as an alternative to software engineering, even though i got an offer to computer science in January. So I am very confused.
Sometimes CS sends offers to unsuccessful Software applicants, and that might explain it (although they should send another offer to the same program; maybe one is co-op and one is regular?)
Hi,
I recently got denied for Mech Eng, but one of my top marks was updated a couple days ago. Is there any way I can get in contact with you guys to make sure that mark was seen?
Thanks!
You can ask us to take another look (enginfo@uwaterloo.ca) to see if it makes any significant difference.
I got an offer to Geomatics Honors – coop. I wanted to know if its the same thing as geomatics engineering and also what can I major in if i complete a degree in this program.
No, that’s not an engineering program, but it is quite an interesting one (in my opinion). See their website.