OMSAS: The Ontario Medical School Application Service Explained

What OMSAS is (and what it is not)

The Ontario Medical School Application Service (OMSAS) is a single, centralized application portal run by the Ontario Universities' Application Centre (OUAC), a division of the Council of Ontario Universities. Instead of applying to each Ontario medical school separately, you build one OMSAS application and select the participating MD programs you want it sent to.

OMSAS is the application mechanism, not an admissions committee. It collects and standardizes your file — grades, autobiographical sketch, references, transcripts — and forwards it to the medical schools you chose. Each school then makes its own admission decision using its own criteria, so OMSAS is where the logistics live, while the pathway into medicine (prerequisites, the MCAT, interviews) is decided by the schools.

Because the mechanics here (the OMSAS GPA scale, the sketch, the verifier system) are specific to Ontario, this guide covers how the portal itself works. For the wider route into a medical career in Canada, see the study-medicine guide linked at the end.

Which medical schools use OMSAS

OMSAS is the shared front door for Ontario's medical (MD) programs. Long-standing participating schools include the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine (McMaster University), NOSM University, the University of Ottawa, Queen's University, the University of Toronto, and the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry (Western University), and Ontario's medical-school roster has been expanding with newer programs.

Ontario's medical-school landscape changes as new programs launch, so the current, definitive list of programs you can select is always the one shown inside the live OMSAS application on the OUAC website. Confirm the roster and each school's specific requirements there before you build your program choices.

• One OMSAS application can be sent to several Ontario MD programs at once.
• Each school sets its own eligibility, prerequisites, and selection process.
• Always confirm the current participating-program list inside the live OMSAS portal.

The OMSAS GPA scale and transcripts

To compare applicants fairly across very different universities and grading systems, OMSAS converts every applicant's grades to a standardized OMSAS 4.0 GPA scale. You do not calculate this yourself — you request official transcripts, and OMSAS applies its published conversion so schools evaluate everyone on the same scale.

You are responsible for arranging that official transcripts from every post-secondary institution you attended reach OMSAS. If your studies were outside Canada or the United States, an evaluation through World Education Services (WES) is typically required as part of the process. Some programs also weight your GPA in specific ways (for example, emphasizing your most recent years) — those weighting rules belong to the schools, not to OMSAS.

• OMSAS converts all grades to its own 4.0 scale for a like-for-like comparison.
• Order official transcripts from every institution you attended.
• International coursework usually needs a WES evaluation — check the current requirement.
• Exact GPA thresholds and weighting differ by school and change yearly.

The autobiographical sketch and verifiers

The signature feature of OMSAS is the Autobiographical Sketch (ABS). Rather than a single personal-statement essay, the ABS is a structured record of your activities and experiences — employment, volunteering, research, extracurriculars, awards, and more — usually going back to a set age. Each entry has dates, a time commitment, and a short description, so admissions committees can see the breadth and depth of what you have actually done.

Many entries require a verifier: a named contact (not a reference letter writer) who can confirm that you took part in the activity as described. Choose verifiers who genuinely know your involvement and whose contact details are current, because schools may reach out to confirm. Treat the ABS as a factual, well-organized inventory — accurate, specific, and honest — not a place to embellish.

• The ABS replaces a traditional single essay with structured activity entries.
• A verifier simply confirms an activity happened as you described it.
• Keep verifier contact details current and accurate; misrepresentation is serious.

References, MCAT and CASPer

OMSAS collects references through Confidential Assessment Forms (CAFs). You enter your referees' details in the portal and they submit their assessments directly to OMSAS — so give them plenty of lead time before the deadline. The number and type of referees expected can vary by program, so follow each school's instructions.

Beyond OMSAS itself, some schools require the MCAT (the standardized medical-school admissions test) and/or the CASPer situational-judgement test. These are separate registrations you arrange with their own test providers, and each Ontario medical school decides whether it uses them and how it weights them. Because these requirements are set — and sometimes changed — by the individual schools, verify exactly what each program on your list needs, and by when, before you finalize your application.

• References are submitted as Confidential Assessment Forms directly to OMSAS.
• The MCAT and CASPer are separate tests with their own registration and providers.
• Whether a school requires the MCAT or CASPer varies — confirm per program.

Fees, deadlines and how to submit

The OMSAS cycle runs on a fixed schedule: the application typically opens in the summer and closes in the autumn, with transcripts, references, and any required test scores due around the same window. Because a medical-school application has many moving parts arriving from different places, work backwards from the deadline and start early.

OMSAS charges a service fee plus a per-program fee for each school you select, and separate fees apply to transcript evaluations and to tests like the MCAT and CASPer. Exact fees and dates change every cycle, so treat the figures you see in old guides as out of date and confirm the current fee schedule and key dates inside the live OMSAS application on the OUAC website before you pay or submit.

• The portal opens in summer and closes in autumn — start well before the deadline.
• Expect a base service fee plus a fee per program, and separate test/transcript fees.
• Fees and deadlines change each cycle — verify the current ones on the OUAC OMSAS site.