Langara vs. Douglas College 2016 or 2017

[BCCordillera]

I am trying to decide which Nursing Program is better and weighing the Pros and Cons especially that Douglas College and Langara College have changed their curriculum and admissions process in the recent years. It can be confusing sometimes and stressful especially when you are waiting or trying to get admitted.

So here's a thread to compare which LC vs. DC Nursing 2016/2017 program is better since I do have questions so feel free to answer and comment especially after talking to admissions officers, profs or students in the programs.

Douglas College (DC) vs. Langara College (LC) comparisons:

1. Academic Admission:

DC (10 courses) vs LC (5 courses)

DC: Pathophysiology and Microbiolgy is unique mostly done at DC

LC: Recent change has been made for Winter 2017

-When do you hear back after applying?

-How does admissions select (factors)?

(DC: First Qualified, First Admitted policy where semester/period of finishing requirements > Date of Application (not sure if time is used as factor?) > Grades as last resort) vs. (LC: GPA of required 5 courses > presence of a bachelor's degree > grades of CGPA- if with bachelor or time of application: not sure about these?)

2. Whole 3 years of Nursing cost:

DC (6 Semesters) vs. LC (9 Semesters)

-How much each including the breakdown of tuition fees, all the shots, materials and books?

3. Technology (Simulation Centre which one has better classroom and technology):

I heard that LC will move to the new $50 Million Science and Tech building while DC had a new centre in the year ~2009)

4. Professors (ratings like from RateMyProf or any students experiences/feedbacks):

-Who are awesome faculty members especially the ones who care for their students or the ones who are enthusiastic that you are able to learn a lot?

5. Attrition rates (how many people dropped from program from previous intakes?):

-Are you able to take a year off or transfer?

6. GPA Cutoffs for Langara (for the previous intakes):

-Last intake had an AVERAGE of what like ~3.6-3.9? Or for those applicants who had a bachelors ~3.0-3.4? Not sure.

7. NCLEX passing rate:

I heard LC had the highest passing rate in the last exam (where do you find the stats?) Not sure if they referred to being in BC or Canada though. What was DC grads NCLEX passing rate anyways?

8. Student experience & miscellaneous:

-Competitive atmosphere while in program?

-Class size or standard time table?

-What resources available?

-Average age of grads or even the male vs. female ratio?

-Which courses in each program were the most rigorous? (Pharmacology? What made it hard: the deadlines of papers, exams, etc. while doing clinicals?)

-Anything else that you found unique or worth mentioning about each program?

For example, UBC in 2014 the average GPA of those offered a place was around 80% (or 3.7), and students were aged between 19-51 years old, from a wide range of cultural backgrounds, 82.5% were female and about 78% had completed a prior first degree qualification. I wonder what are these stats for in DC vs. LC.

[alohacanada]

I heard Douglas' Program is less competitive and easier with Summers off while Langara's is has a highly competitive pool of applicants based on high GPA with no summers off so keep those in mind. A lot of people I expect to have a higher GPA than 3.4 for Langara while Douglas students can get in with all courses with a C+ satisfactory grade since it's by time of when someone satisfies the requirements. I expect Douglas to be cheaper since you have less courses to fulfill since you only need to do 6 semesters. If you wanna challenge yourself go to Langara but if you wanna play it safe just wait for Douglas' offer which probably came out on Friday for some. You can easily burn out in Langara's program since there are no summers off but you may have better work ethics as a result. Would you rather work and study together or work and rest in the summers? At the end, they are both 3 years in length anyways so it's up to you which college fits best. Langara's offers comes out in March, good luck!

[babyfriendly]

Douglas very quietly added a line about GPA to their admissions criteria. Used to be plain 1st come 1st served but now it says in the event of students qualifying for admission at the same time (ie finishing their pre reqs) & there being more applicants than spaces, offers will be given to higher GPA applicants.

This is starting with the Jan 17 intake (which is already full)

[chellard]

I have applied for Douglas psych nursing September 2017 and am waiting to hear back.

I don´t get how GPA would not be considered.... It seems so unfair that people with the minimum would be getting in before people who worked for As.

From what I understand theres 65 seats for regular BSN, and I bet alot more people finish prereqs then that every semester (theres way more than 2 classes of micro+patho each semester) so how else would they choose who to accept if it wasnt based on GPA?

(I understand that they now ¨look at GPA as a last resort¨ but how is it a ¨last resort¨ and how did they not before)

:S

[DCNursingStudent]

so how else would they choose who to accept if it wasnt based on GPA?

(I understand that they now ¨look at GPA as a last resort¨ but how is it a ¨last resort¨ and how did they not before)

:S

Not sure about psych nursing. But for regular nursing, Douglas College looks at GPA. The official policy is "first qualified, first accepted". The "first qualified" portion screens out those who have completed all the prerequisites at some cut off dates (i.e., Fall 2015 for the fall 2017 intake). They will then determine who gets in by GPA among this group of applicants to be "first accepted". So High GPA counts!! I am a living proof.