§ 5 · The student journey

Applying for admission

Applicants create their own account, then fill a ten-step form at their own pace. Nothing is lost between sittings — the form saves as a draft and shows a completion percentage — but it cannot be submitted until every required document is attached.

What it is for

Completing and submitting an application to study at CUofSS.

Who can do it

ApplicantsAdmissions Officer (to advise)

Needed first
  • An email address you can open
  • Your certificates
  • Two referees
  • Evidence of the application fee payment
Where it ends

A submitted application that appears in the Admissions Workspace.

Before you start

Read the guidelines page first. It is public, it is written for each intake, and it lists the documents that intake requires. Applications fail far more often for a missing document than for a weak record.

The Application Guidelines and Requirements page listing entry requirements and the documents needed for the current intake.
Guidelines at apply.cuo-ss.…/before-you-apply, also reachable from View Application Guidelines & Requirements at the top of the form itself.
Have these ready before you begin
  • An email address you can actually open — the account is verified by email, and every decision is sent there.
  • Your certificates, scanned or photographed clearly.
  • Two referees: names, titles, phone numbers, addresses, and their signed endorsement letter.
  • A passport photograph, JPG or PNG, under 2 MB.
  • Proof that you paid the application fee — the deposit slip, transfer reference or mobile-money transaction ID, plus a scan or photo of the receipt (PDF, JPG or PNG, under 5 MB).

Creating your account

  1. Go to https://apply.cuo-ss.sektechsoftsolutions.co.ke.
  2. Press Create an applicant account below the login button.
    The applicant registration form asking for names, email address and a password.
    Registration. The university does not create applicant accounts — you create your own.
  3. Fill the form and submit it. Check your inbox — and your spam folder — for the verification message, and follow the link in it.
  4. Sign back in at the same address with that email and your password.
Use one account only

If you register a second time with a different email address, you get a second, empty application. Your first draft still exists but you will not be able to see it while signed in as the second account, and the Admissions Office will see two part-finished applications from one person. If you have lost access to your first email address, contact the Admissions Office rather than registering again.

The ten steps

The form opens on your dashboard and remembers where you left off. The band across the top names the intake you are applying to, the dates the window is open, and the fee — check it is the intake you meant.

Step 3 of the application form, Programme Choices, showing the intake band, an 89 percent completion bar, the ten numbered step buttons, and dropdowns for preferred campus, study level, mode of study, sponsor category and three programme choices.
The form's furniture, on every step. The gold band names the intake, window and fee. Below it the completion bar and the ten step buttons — click any of them to jump straight there. At the foot: Back, Save & Continue, Dashboard.
Saving

Save & Continue saves the step you are on and moves to the next. Jumping between steps with the numbered buttons does not save — press Save & Continue before you jump, or you will lose what you typed.

1 · Personal Information

Names, date of birth, gender, citizenship, place and state of origin, county, religious denomination, blood group, home diocese, marital status, telephone, email, ID type and number, address.

Step 1, Personal Information, with fields for full name as on certificate, surname, other names, date of birth, gender, citizenship, place of birth, state and county of origin, religious denomination, blood group, home diocese, marital status, telephone, email, ID type and number, and address. Sample values are shown.
Step 1. The values shown here are invented for this manual. The first field matters more than it looks — see the warning below.
Full name as on certificate

The first field, Full name as on certificate, is the name that will be printed on your transcript and your degree certificate. Type it exactly as it appears on your school certificate, including the order of the names. Correcting it after graduation means reissuing documents.

2 · Employment, Family & Sponsor Details

Three Yes/No questions, each of which opens or hides a section. Answer No to Are you employed? and the employer fields disappear and are not required. The same for family details and for a sponsor — the form itself says that answering No means the sponsor document is not asked for either.

Step 2 with Yes/No radio buttons for employment, family details and sponsor, each revealing a group of fields.
Step 2. Answer the Yes/No questions honestly — a No genuinely removes the requirement rather than hiding it.

3 · Programme Choices

Preferred campus, study level, mode of study, sponsor category, then up to three programme choices in order of preference.

Choose Study Level first

The form says so, and it matters: the three choice dropdowns are filtered by the level you pick. If a programme you expect is missing from the list, you have almost certainly left Study Level on the wrong value.

4 · Education History

One block per qualification: level, institution, dates from and to, qualification, certificate type, examination body, grade obtained and certificate year, plus two tick boxes for Certificate authenticated and Foreign certificate requiring authentication review.

Step 4, Education History, with a block of qualification fields and an Add another education history button.
Step 4. Enter your most recent qualification first, then use Add another education history for earlier ones.

5 · Personal Essay & How You Heard About Us

Your essay, then a dropdown recording where you heard about the university. The form states plainly that the marketing question is not part of your admission assessment and may be left blank. The essay is assessed; write it yourself, because the declaration at step 9 asks you to confirm that you did.

6 · Referee Endorsements

Two referees: name, title, category, phone, date and address for each. The signed endorsement letter itself is not uploaded here — it goes on the Documents step. This changed; no signature file is required on this page any more.

Step 6 with two blocks of referee fields: name, title, category, phone, date and address.
Step 6. Both referees are required. Give a phone number that actually reaches them — Admissions may call.

7 · Supporting Documents

This step does not upload anything itself. It tells you to save the draft and then use the Documents page, and it states the rule that catches most applicants: you will not be able to submit until every Required item is uploaded.

Step 7, Supporting Documents, explaining that documents are uploaded on the Documents page and that all required items must be present before submission.
Step 7. The list of required items comes from the admission cycle's setup, so it can differ between intakes. Read it here rather than assuming last year's list.

8 · Passport Photo

JPG or PNG, maximum 2 MB. This photo becomes your profile picture and is printed on academic documents, so use a plain passport-style photograph — not a screenshot, not a group photo.

Step 8, Passport Photo, with a Choose File control and a preview of the currently uploaded image, blurred in this manual.
Step 8. The preview shows what is currently attached; uploading again replaces it. The image and file name are blurred here because this is a public manual.

9 · Declaration & Signature

A tick box declaring that the information is accurate and that the essay is your own work, then your name typed as a signature, and the date.

10 · Application Fee & Receipt

Payment method, reference, amount, date, bank, depositor name, branch, any notes, and the receipt file (PDF, JPG or PNG, maximum 5 MB).

Step 10 with payment method, reference, amount paid, payment date, bank, depositor, branch, notes and a receipt upload control.
Step 10. The screen states the rule: whichever mode you use, your payment is sent to the Finance office and stays pending until a Cashier or the Bursar verifies it. Uploading the receipt is not the same as the fee being confirmed.

Worked example

Worked example

A school leaver applying for the September intake

Achol finished secondary school this year and wants to study Information Technology at Juba Campus. She has her certificate, a passport photo on her phone, and she paid the application fee at the bank this morning.

RegisterEmail achol.deng@example.com, sets a password, verifies from her inbox
Step 1Full name as on certificate ACHOL MARY DENG — exactly as the certificate reads. Surname DENG, other names Achol Mary, born 2004-05-17, citizenship South Sudanese, home diocese Archdiocese of Juba
Step 2Employed? No. Family details? Yes — mother's name and phone. Sponsor? No, she is self-funding, so no sponsor document is required
Step 3Campus Juba Campus; Study Level Bachelor first; mode Full Time; first choice Bsc of IT, second Bachelor of Software Engineering
Step 4Most recent qualification first: South Sudan Certificate of Secondary Education, her school, 2022–2025, grade obtained, certificate year 2025
Step 5Writes the essay herself. Leaves the marketing question blank — it is not assessed
Step 6Her head teacher and her parish priest, with phone numbers that work
Step 7Reads the required list, goes to the Documents page, uploads certificate, ID and the signed referee letter
Step 8Plain passport photograph, 900 KB JPG
Step 9Ticks the declaration, types Achol Mary Deng, dates it
Step 10Method Bank deposit, reference the slip number, amount 50,000.00, uploads a photo of the slip
ThenCompletion reaches 100% and Submit becomes available. After submitting she can still view the application but not edit it

After you submit

You submit→ Documents verified→ Screening→ Academic review→ Decision→ Published & letter issued

Watch your dashboard and your email. The offices that handle each of those stages, and what they are checking, are described in Admissions office. Once you are admitted and your record is activated, you move to the Student portal — a different address, and you sign in with a student number rather than your email.

ProblemWhat it meansWhat to do
The Submit button will not activateAt least one Required document is missingOpen the Documents page and look for items marked Required without a file
Your programme is not in the choice listStudy Level is set to a different levelChange Study Level, then reopen the choice dropdown
You never received the verification emailWrong address, or it went to spamCheck spam first; if the address was wrong, contact Admissions rather than registering again
The fee still shows as pending days laterPayment evidence is verified by hand in the Finance officeAsk Admissions to chase Finance; keep the original slip
You cannot edit after submittingSubmission locks the record deliberatelyAsk the Admissions Office — they can return an application for correction