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Your guide to first year, school and life, one step at a time. Free for students.

  • Free for students
  • Every step links to the official source
  • Every source shows when it was last checked

Try it

Now try it yourself.

This phone is a small sample of the app: three of its screens. Tap through it.

  • Home: what matters this week, first
  • Your path: where you are in the year
  • A step: mark it done, or say you’re stuck

The full app also has your courses, calendar, guides and people.

Try the app

Hello

Here’s what matters for your university.

Due in 3 days

Tuition is due in 3 days.

Pay in your student portal. About 10 min

5 days

Quiz 1 closes

Coming up

12daysLast day to add a fall course

28daysFall reading week

Two students walking along a campus path in autumn, seen from behind. One points ahead.

Why Orient exists

First year is a new school and a new life at the same time. Classes and deadlines, and also rent, groceries, winter and missing home.

Orient helps with both. Everything you need to do well in first year, in one place.

The path

From your offer to the end of first year.

School and life, in one place. Walk through a year with Orient.

Every path is tailored to you.

A few questions at the start, and Orient builds yours, in your language. See how it changes:

The cards below show an example student. Names and dates are examples.

  1. Stage 1

    Before university

    From your offer to the day you arrive.

    1. Chapter: Papers

      One step, broken into small parts

      You never get a long checklist. Each step comes with why it matters, the small parts to do, and how long it takes.

    2. Chapter: Papers

      Your papers, in order

      A chapter holds the steps that belong together. Yours has only the ones that apply to you.

    3. Chapter: PermitChapter: Papers

      The official source, every time

      The rules come from the Government of Canada, not from Orient. Each step opens the official page and names the office that can help.Each step opens the place where you really do it, and names the office that can help.

    4. Chapter: Flight and landingChapter: Getting hereGuide: Getting around

      Getting here, and your first nightGetting to campus

      Aim to arrive before your move-in date and first class, and know where you’ll sleep the first night.Living at home, your path skips the move. You get the bus and train guide instead.

  2. Stage 2

    Orientation

    Your first days on campus.

    1. Orientation week

      Mark it done. The next one opens.

      One thing at a time, in the right order. When a week is finished, the next one opens.

    2. People

      Find your people

      People is off until you turn it on. Circles of first-years, one matched buddy, and student associations. Real names, no photos.

  3. Stage 3

    First semester

    Week by week, to exams.

    1. Week 1

      See what your fees already pay for

      You may already have paid for services you haven’t used. Short lessons show you what they are and how to start.

    2. Courses

      Your courses, organized

      Drop in a course outline. Orient organizes the rest: your times, your rooms and every test date. It’s read on your device and isn’t uploaded.

    3. Week 2

      The dates that cost money get marked

      Every date comes with what it means. Orient shows the date; you pay or do the quiz in your university’s own systems.

    4. Home

      What matters this week, first

      Open Orient and the most urgent thing is on top, with what’s coming up under it.

    5. Whenever you need it

      StuckStuck? See who can help

      Tap “I’m stuck” on any step and say where. Orient points you to the office that can fix it. Your university sees that the step is stuck, not why.

  4. Stage 4

    Second semester

    New courses, new routines.

    1. January

      Winter term, marked too

      Winter has its own dates and its own tuition. They’re on your calendar before the term starts.

    2. Guide: Money

      A budget only you can see

      Know what’s due and when, and ask early if it won’t work. Your budget stays private. Your university can’t see it.

    3. Guide

      Guides made for you

      Find it by what you need. Each guide is a few short lessons, plus who can help.

    4. Any time

      Ask Orient

      Ask in plain words. Orient answers from what it has, and when it’s a judgment call on your permit, it sends you to a licensed advisor.Ask in plain words. Orient answers from what it has, or points you to the step or the office that can help.

  5. Stage 5

    Leaving first year ready

    Summer and what comes next.

    1. April

      Ready for summer, and second year

      Housing, work and travel all need planning before April. Orient helps you finish first year ready for the next one.

  6. And after

    It doesn’t end with first year.

    Orient grows with you, and any student can use it.

    • Upcoming

      Second year and beyond

      Your path keeps going: new courses, housing, jobs and what comes next.

    • Any student can use it

      Students at any school in Canada get the Canada-wide guide, whatever year they’re in.

    • More on the way

      More schools, more cities and new features, built with students.

Orient shows you the official steps and deadlines and connects you with licensed advisors for anything that needs a professional.

Who it’s for

Every first-year, with a path that fits.

A traveller with a backpack pulls a suitcase through a sunlit airport arrivals hall, seen from behind.

Arriving in Canada

You’re an international student and everything is new at once: the paperwork, the city, the winter.

A young person carries a moving box into an empty apartment, with more boxes by the door.

Moving cities on your own

It’s your first time living away from home, and nobody has handed you the order of things.

A student with a backpack waits at a bus stop on an autumn street, seen from behind.

Coming back for university

You grew up abroad and you’re returning for school. Home on paper, new in practice.

Also for students living at home, in residence, transferring in, starting later in life, or first in their family at university. Your answers shape your path.

Starting in Ottawa. At another school? You’ll still get the guide to university life in Canada.

Your privacy

Your information stays yours.

  • Your university never sees your documents, messages, budget, health, or what you choose to skip.
  • Universities see totals, not names, unless you ask them to contact you.
  • Stored in Canada. Delete your account and everything about you any time.
  • No ads and no trackers.

Read the full privacy notice

Questions

Good to know.

Is Orient free?

Yes. Orient is free for students. Universities license it.

Does my university see my information?

Your university never sees your documents, messages, budget, health, or what you choose to skip. Universities see totals, not names, unless you ask them to contact you.

Is this immigration advice?

No. Orient gives general information and links every step to the official source. It is not legal or immigration advice. Orient shows you the official steps and deadlines and connects you with licensed advisors for anything that needs a professional.

Which schools does it work for?

Orient is starting in Ottawa. Students at any school in Canada get the Canada-wide guide, whatever year they’re in.

Who is behind Orient?

Orient is built by Humberto Garcia Henriquez and Zak Foura, in Ottawa, Canada.

Early access

Get your first step.

Orient is opening to a first group of students in Ottawa. Join the list and we’ll write to you when it’s your turn.

  • Free for students
  • Four questions, under a minute
Which one is you?

We’ll only use this to write to you about Orient. We never share it. See our privacy notice.

Work at a university? See Orient for universities