A smiling student with long wavy hair sits at a study table with open binders and notebooks in a bright, modern campus space.

Education Advising

Okanagan College Education Advisors help you plan your studies to get the most out of your time at our institution.

Meet an advisor Resources For upgrading students

How we can help you

Whether you take a full credential, or a few transferable courses, your decision to come to school is a life-changing choice.

Education Advising is a collaborative process that involves teamwork to create an academic plan to meet your needs.

We'll review requirements and pre-requisites, program checklists and course planning with you. We're here to help you navigate college processes and plan out your time here at OC.

Learn what we do

Meet an advisor

Get assistance from our advisors for your education planning.

Plan your courses

View our resources on course planning.

FAQ

Check our FAQ on admissions requirements and course registration.

Career discovery

Discover your potential and the ideal career match for you.

Meet an advisor

Book an education advising appointment

Book an appointment through our online booking system. You may choose to meet with an advisor in person, virtually, or by telephone. If you don't see appointments available, come to Virtual drop-ins.

Book an Education Advising Appointment

Join a drop-in session

Need to ask a quick question? Join us for a virtual or in-person drop-in session to get your answers.

Join drop-in session

Ask an advisor

Have questions about your education at OC? Our team will will do their best to get back to you within 48 business hours.

Ask an advisor

Virtual drop-ins for current OC students*

Participants will:

Enter into a virtual waiting room
Get moved into a private virtual room by an advisor when it's their drop-in session
Have 10 minutes to ask questions
Have chance to return later for another session
Check this page to confirm no changes have been made to the virtual drop-in schedule

Join virtual drop-in

*These drop-in sessions are intended for registered students. If you are interested in becoming a student please make an appointment or join a drop in with our future student advisors. See the schedule here: okanagancollege.ca/future-students

Wednesday Nov 4: 2:00pm-3:00pm
Friday Nov 6: 10:00am-11:30am
Tuesday Nov 10: 10:00am-11:30am
Thursday Nov 12: 11:30am-1:00pm
Friday Nov 13: 10:00am-11:30am

* Please note that drop-in sessions may be subject to change or cancellation with short notice.

In-person drop-ins for OC students*

Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays : 12:30pm-2:00pm
- Thursday Nov. 5th *CANCELLED

Location: Centre for Learning (E Building) - Room E110

*Please note there will be no drop-ins on statutory holidays

Tuesdays: 9:00am-11:30am
Thursdays: 1:30pm-4:00pm

Location: Ashnola Building, Room PL 112

TBD

Location: Students please wait in the Main Building - Lobby

TBD

Location: Vernon Campus, Education Planning Centre - Room A202

*These drop-in sessions are intended for registered students. If you are interested in becoming a student please make an appointment or join a drop in with our future student advisors. See the schedule here: okanagancollege.ca/future-students

Participate: Be prepared for your appointment. Make a list of OC programs or courses that interest you. Browse Classes and review Okanagan College program information and class schedules. Bring questions and documents like high school transcripts or other supporting materials.

Engage: Do your best to keep any appointment you have made. If you must cancel, please give us advance notice. Keep up to date with your email. Okanagan College communicates with students about deadlines and important events by email. Please bring any emails you have questions about to your appointment.

Review: Make it a habit to look back on your semester and identify areas for improvement. Bring any ideas or concerns to the attention of your Education Advisor so that they can help refer you to available services.

Inform: Keep us up to date if your plans change. We may be able to guide you in a new direction.

We understand that deciding to go back to school can be overwhelming, or that you have a lot of questions. Education Advisors are here to help! We will walk you through each step from:

The application and admission process
The Skills Assessment process
Deciding how many courses to take
How to register
Financial Aid and Awards can help you with grants and supports available that may be available to you

Upgrading courses are tuition free, flexible and are offered at all campuses or online. For more information about free upgrading courses, please visit Upgrading | Okanagan College.

Resources

Admissions and course registration FAQ

In order to take a course at Okanagan College, you need to apply and be accepted to a program. Once you are admitted to a program you can then register for courses within your area for which you have the course prerequisites. The first step is to decide which program(s) you wish to apply to.

Here is some information to get you started:

All programs require that you have graduated from high school, OR are at least 19 years of age and have not attended a traditional high school for at least 12 months
Most programs will require an academic English admission requirement and may require that you complete other academic courses. Some programs require and English language admission requirement
Some programs will require you to completed non-academic requirements for admission
You will need to send an official copy of your high school transcript and post-secondary transcripts to Okanagan College
- How to Apply
- How to submit a transcript

If you have questions about changing programs, meet with an advisor, review admission information and program description for your prospective program and apply for admission to your new program.

How to Apply

Use the B.C. Transfer Guide to see how your Okanagan College courses transfer out to other colleges and universities in British Columbia. It is your responsibility to contact a program advisor at your intended school early in your studies at OC. There may be other courses they would wish you to take for your particular program.

If you want to transfer courses from a previous college or university to OC, please review our Transfer Credit policies and procedures for guidance and deadlines.

They are welcome to come with you to an advising appointment. However, without you being present, they cannot get advice for you unless you give Okanagan College permission to release your information to them. This is true for parents, spouses or sponsors; no information can be shared without your prior consent.

Do you consent to the release of your information?

Log into myOkanagan and fill out the "Consent to Release Information" online form.

If you have been out of high school for five years or more, or you do not have the pre-requisite course, we recommended that you complete the Skills Assessment to determine which Okanagan College upgrading class is the best fit for you. Contact an Education Advisor for assistance.

After you apply to Adult Upgrading, you will be automatically enrolled in our Math and English skills assessments, which you will see in your course registrations as MATH 001P and ENGL 001P. They are free, and you can access these skills assessments in Moodle at any time and complete these to find out which Math and/or English courses you should choose when you register for upgrading courses.

If you are in a program where registrations are completed for you, you should take the prescribed number of classes.

If you are in an Arts, Science, Business diploma or degree program, five courses (15 credits) per semester is the traditional course load for university students. If you are an upgrading student, it is a good idea to consider your work and family responsibilities. Take the amount of courses that would enable you to succeed in your classes. You are the one who knows what the right decision is for you!

If you receive funding from student loans, a sponsor, scholarship or bursary, consult with Financial Aid and Awards (or your sponsor) to find out how many courses they require you to take.

Two courses (6 credits) is usually considered part-time study, three courses (9 credits) or more is full-time study. In addition to your funding requirements, consider your work and family responsibilities and take the amount of courses that would enable you to succeed in your classes.

All university transfer courses are 3 credits each, 3 hours of lecture time (more in-class time for courses with labs and/or seminars). You should plan for 6-9 hours of homework each week for every class. Six courses are the maximum you can take without written approval from the appropriate dean or designate; this would not be recommended in your first year of study.

Meet with an advisor, review admission information and program description for your prospective program and apply for admission to your new program

See the Important Dates page for the withdrawal deadlines for your program and Financial Aid and Awards (or your sponsor) to find out how it may affect your funding. Meet with an Education Advisor to find out how withdrawing might impact your academics or if you are withdrawing for medical or compassionate reasons.

Prerequisites are courses that must be taken BEFORE another course is take, so it is extremely important that you check for prerequisites in a course description. Success in the course could be jeopardized if you do not possess the prerequisite and you will also risk being dropped from the course just before it starts. It is also important to look ahead to courses you wish to take in future terms and ensure you take the required prerequisite courses beforehand.

Corequisites are courses that need to be taken together.

Always read the course description for a class. They can be found in ClassFinder or in the calendar under course descriptions. See the "Course Layout and Definitions" tab for a full breakdown of course description terms.

The answer is entirely at the professor's discretion and will be based on their faculty's practices and policies. You can approach the professor with a Request to Waive Pre or Corequisites form and ask for their permission. Be prepared to give academic reasons why you feel you will be successful in the course without the pre- or corequisite. Permission is not always granted, but if they say yes, take the completed form to the Registrar's Office or Administration Office.

Upgrading students can get their Adult Dogwood or simply take the courses they need for admission to a college program. Okanagan College offers upgrading courses in a variety of different subjects such as math, English, sciences and more. To see what courses are available, please visit Upgrading | Okanagan College.

Applicants can meet with an education advisor for assistance with course planning for upgrading.

There are many ways to complete the BC Adult Graduation Diploma (known as the "Adult Dogwood"), some of which may allow you to take academic or vocational programs at the college.

The Adult High School Graduation Diploma consists of:

English 12 (or Communications 12)
Advanced Math (a minimum of Workplace Math 11 or Accounting 11, Math 080, or OADM 143 at OC).

And one of the following (or a combination of the following):

3 Grade 12 subjects OR
Social Studies 11 and 2 Grade 12 subjects OR
300 hours of a certificate program (100-120 hours equals 1 Grade 12 subject)

After you have applied you may register online through your myOkanagan portal. Classes can be attended in person or online in real time. You can get in-person help anytime at a campus Learner Lab.

All Upgrading courses will have a hybrid delivery format, where instructors teach you in real time, and you can attend in-person or online as you are able. Each course will have at least two components: a lecture and a seminar. Science courses will have a third component for labs.

LECTURES: Instructors deliver course content via live lectures - two days a week, 2-hour classes. Attendance is required. Students can attend in person at the campus where it is offered or attend online through Zoom.

SEMINARS: Instructors offer seminars for each subject on each campus. These are available on every campus for at least 4 hours every week so that you can get any extra instruction or help that you may need. Attendance is not mandatory/required but you will still need to select it to proceed in the registration process.

LABS: Science labs will be held in person two times during the semester, once mid-semester and once near the end of the semester. Attendance for these labs is required. They will be held during the scheduled seminar times of that subject.

See the How to Register page for details on registration and how build a course schedule using "Plan Ahead". If you need assistance you can meet with an education advisor.