Common questions about the AIF

It's an important part of your admission decision.

The AIF is required for admission for

• programs in the faculties of Engineering and Mathematics
• Conditional Admissions to Pharmacy (CAP)
• Pharmacy
• Optometry, and
• Social Work programs.

No. You must complete and submit the AIF on your own.

You are responsible for ensuring that all of your application information is truthful, complete, and correct. Your application may be rejected or an offer of admission could be revoked if we have reasonable grounds to believe your AIF was written by someone other than you.

You'll need to submit only one AIF but you'll need to submit ALL sections for the programs that you have applied to.

If you have changed your application or added a program, you may need to complete additional sections.

• The About You – Part A and B sections of the AIF – are the same for all faculties and programs.
• If you applied to any of the following programs, there will be at least one additional section to complete on your AIF.
  • Faculty of Engineering
  • Faculty of Mathematics
• If the program that you originally applied to is listed above, the information submitted on the program/faculty section will still be listed on your AIF. That is fine and you don't need to worry.

If it's before the submission deadline, you can make up to 2 amendments per page (except for the Optometry, Pharmacy, and Social Work (BSW) programs).

If at any time after you have selected "Submit-Page Finished" and you wish to add to your AIF, scroll to the bottom of the page and you will see "Make an Amendment."

You can't change any previously submitted information but there will be space where you can add a correction or additional information.

We recommend that you submit only amendments that are crucial for the committee to take into consideration.

You do not need to amend your AIF with updated grades. If you're a current Ontario high school student, we will receive updated information through the Ontario Universities' Application Centre. For all other students, updated grades will be included when we receive your academic transcripts.

The Admission Information Form is available through your Quest account. You'll receive instructions once you apply. You can view screen shots that provide step-by-step instructions.

Deadline dates vary by program.

Some questions have a character limit. It's important for the reviewers that you provide clear and concise responses, so you must provide your responses in the space allowed. The character limit includes spaces, punctuation, and special characters.

We recommend that you type your response to questions in Microsoft Word, etc. so that you can use spell check and count the number of characters you have used.

If you receive this message: "Your text answer is too long. Please go back and edit it to fit the number of characters allowed for the question," then you must shorten your response.

List any extracurricular activities or areas of significant interest and a time estimate spent on the activity. These could include athletics, clubs, organizations, personal interests in or outside of school. If the activity has not ended, leave the End Date blank.

You can save your information as many times as you like, and the committee will not see it until you click submit. As long as the deadline for submission has not passed, you can edit and save your information as many times as you like before you submit it.

If you do not submit your AIF, it will not be reviewed and considered incomplete on your application.

Applied to a program in the Faculty of Mathematics or Faculty of Engineering?

If you do not save and SUBMIT all sections of your AIF, you will NOT be considered for admission.

Completing the Courses, Level, and Course Grade columns

List all courses you are currently taking and plan to take during the applicable school year. There is an 8-character limit.

• Current Ontario high school students: List all Grade 12 U or M courses using the course code, i.e. ENG4U. The level will be 'U' or 'M'. List the final grade if you have it. Otherwise, record 'IP' for In Progress.
• High school students outside of Ontario: List the abbreviated subject name (i.e. CHEM for Chemistry) for each Grade 12 course you are taking / will take during the current school year. The level will be either 'Grade 12' or if applicable, 'AL' for A-Level, 'AP' for Advanced Placement, 'IB' for International Baccalaureate, 'CEGEP' for Quebec students.
• Students not currently in high school: Ignore the column headings and list all high school and post-secondary courses relevant to our admission requirements for the program(s) you are applying to. Please explain your educational background in Question 3: Additional Courses Information.

If you're unsure about the end time for your course(s), you can leave that section blank.

If you see a * (star) at the beginning of the question, you must fill in a response to that question. For example, this question is required: *Question 1 - Reasons for choosing your program and Waterloo.

You will not be able to check spelling or grammar while you're completing the online AIF. Before you submit your AIF, we recommend that you write your responses in Word or other software so that you can check your spelling and grammar. Then you can copy and paste your responses into the online AIF from your Word document.

You can provide additional information by selecting the "+" sign to add another row, or you can delete information by selecting the "-." You should add rows only to the end of the chart, not in the middle.

Only if you're applying to Conditional Admission to Pharmacy (CAP), Pharmacy, Optometry, and Bachelor of Social Work (post-BA program) will you need to provide references.

It will take up to 3 business days after you have provided your referee contact information (through your Admission Information Form) for us to send them instructions on submitting a reference for you.

Send an e-mail to myapplication@uwaterloo.ca with the following information.

• Subject Line: Change of Referee Email address
• Waterloo ID number (provided in your acknowledgement email)
• Program
• Referee Name
• Old referee email address
• New referee email address

Send an e-mail to myapplication@uwaterloo.ca with the following information.

• Subject Line: Change of Referee
• Waterloo ID number (provided in your acknowledgement email)
• Program
• Old Referee Name
• New Referee Name and Title
• School or Employer
• Referee telephone and email address

Note: Changing your referee can take up to 2 weeks.

It will take up to 3 business days after you have provided your referee contact information (through your Admission Information Form) for us to send them instructions on submitting a reference for you.

Only if you're applying to Conditional Admission to Pharmacy (CAP), Pharmacy, Optometry, and Bachelor of Social Work (post-BA program) will you need to provide references.

The referee should check their spam or junk mail folder to see if the reference form email is there.

If they still have not received an email, please ask the referee to send an email to myapplication@uwaterloo.ca and include your Waterloo ID number. Additionally, please verify on your AIF that you have provided the correct email address for your referees.

You will need to send an email to myapplication@uwaterloo.ca with the following information.

• Subject: Re-send Referee Email
• Your Waterloo ID number (provided in your acknowledgement email)
• The program you applied to
• Referee name
• Referee email address

Note: Due to the high volume of emails we receive, requesting an email be sent to your referee can take up to 2 weeks.