How to Plan for University & Scholarship Applications
With the start of the school year just around the corner, many Grade 12 students (including myself) are starting to think about (or more so freak out about) the fact that university applications are in a few months.
How do you make sure you don’t miss deadlines? How do you keep track of all the scholarships you’d like to apply for? The answer I’ve found to be most effective: spreadsheets. But that’s not all. Let’s delve into how you can plan effectively for university and scholarship applications.
Finding the Right Programs & Scholarships
First, let’s look at a few resources that are super useful when looking into which university programs and scholarships are out there. There are lots but I’ve listed out a few that I’ve found most helpful:
Scholarship Resources
- Scholarships Canada
- ScholarTree
- International scholarship opportunities for non-Canadians
- RBC Royal Bank Scholarships
University Program Resources
When it comes to universities, it’s often best to consult their individual websites to get the most details about what programs are offered. But if you’re looking for a centralized database, I have two recommendations, both of which unfortunately solely include universities in Ontario.
Ontario Universities Info is a great website that includes pretty much any information you would want about an Ontario university. That includes all of the programs offered by each university, their requirements, (usually) their class sizes, scholarships, and lots more. This is likely a website you’ll want to bookmark as you go through the application process.
Next up is the Ontario Universities’ Application Centre (OUAC). As you may or may not know, OUAC is how you submit your marks and other information necessary to apply to all Ontario universities. But something that’s often not talked about is that you can browse university programs and information before you even receive your login information from your guidance counsellor(s). Just click on “Undergrad 101” on the homepage and then “Browse Programs.” You’ll get access to a list of all the programs offered by different universities and their OUAC codes (more on that later).
And if you’re ever struggling to decide between universities (either before or after applying) make sure you check out our previous blogs about the different aspects of how to choose the university that’s right for you (school-related factors, extracurriculars and culture, and practical tips).
Organizing: Never Miss a Deadline
Getting Ready for University Applications
Now that you have a handful of resources to help you research, it’s time to get to the actual planning or organization. This is my favourite (and many’s least favourite) part of the process and often involves some sort of spreadsheet. To ensure that the information you’re finding through the resources I listed above (and others you may be using) is centralized in one place where you can access them easily, spreadsheets are incredibly useful. Plus, you can add in information like deadlines and a column to check off whether you’ve completed a scholarship application to keep track of your progress.
This may seem overwhelming but don’t worry, I’ve created a template I’ll explain below (and linked at the end) to make the process much simpler.
As you can see above, the first two columns of the spreadsheet are exactly what you’d expect: the name of the university and program. I’ve “frozen” these two columns which means that when you scroll around the spreadsheet, those columns will always stay visible.
The next column gets a bit more interesting. Each university program in Ontario is assigned an OUAC (program) code which is a two or three-letter code. This code is what you’ll use when applying to universities through OUAC. It’s recommended that you keep track of these codes so this is the place to do it.
Then we have the application deadline which is quite simple. What makes it a bit more interesting though is the three green lines beside the column title. Those allow you to sort the table we’ve created by earliest or latest application deadline. This way, you can always keep track of the next application you should be working on depending on how close the deadline is.
Next, we have the two columns titled “Course Requirements” and “Other Requirements.” The first is self-explanatory: just list what courses each program needs you to complete and this way, you can keep track of what courses you still need to complete. “Other Requirements” is a place for you to list information about requirements that aren’t course-related, like instance supplementary applications or references. For instance, McMaster’s Integrated Biomedical Engineering & Health Sciences includes a video application portion, something you may want to note in the spreadsheet if you plan on applying to this program.
Our penultimate column is a place to write down the class size; this is a big deciding factor for some since you may decide that you enjoy having a closer-knit class or a lecture-size class more. You could also modify this column to include information about another factor you care about such as estimated tuition.
Finally, the last column is a place to add any relevant links that you may want to reference in the future like a webpage that lists the requirements for a program.
Getting Ready for Scholarship Applications
The final step in your planning journey is to plan for scholarships. These can be even more hectic than universities since most of them don’t share any deadlines so keeping a spreadsheet is a fantastic idea.
The scholarships spreadsheet shares a few similarities and differences with the university one. Of course, we begin with the name of the scholarship. Then we have the due date which you can sort just like with the university one.
There’s also a column where you can list the monetary value of the scholarship. In this case, you can also sort by the amount (either descending or ascending). This may be helpful if later choose to focus more so on the scholarships with higher/lower values.
Next up is the “Requirements” column where you, once again, list the requirements. Some scholarships require essays and some don’t. Others need an official transcript. So it is incredibly important to have a centralized list that you can refer to and ensure you have all the materials you need.
The next column is one we haven’t seen before and it refers to whether the scholarship is independent of a university or dependent on one. For instance, the Loran Scholarship can be used at many universities while the University of Toronto’s National Scholarship can only be used at the University of Toronto. This column has a dropdown option where you can select which applies to the scholarship you’re recording.
After that, there’s the “Application Link” column which — you guessed it — includes the link to where you can apply for the scholarship.
Then we have a column to list your reference for the scholarship. This only applies to some scholarships that specifically require it but I’ve found it helpful since it helps you plan out who you’re going to ask to be your reference. By planning in advance, you won’t accidentally ask the same person many times.
Finally, there’s a column with checkboxes where you can check off scholarships as you submit your applications. This is a way to keep organized but it’s also simply very satisfying to check these off.
With that, we’ve reached the end of the blog post. If you’re interested, you can get a copy of the templates here. Happy planning!
About the Author
Parmin Sedigh is a 16-year-old stem cell and science communications enthusiast as well as a student researcher, based in Kingston, ON. She’s currently the VP of Communications at Eye Hope Canada. You can usually find her on her computer following her curiosity. Connect with her on LinkedIn.
