UBC Nursing

Hi green_tea, sorry you didn't get an invitation :icon_hug:...but on the flip side, this gives you time to start thinking about next year's application...giving you a slight edge over the other applicants as you already know the format of the supplemental application =) We're rooting for you 100% of the way =)

My boyfriend gave me one VERY useful tip while I was working away on my supplemental during the Christmas break, and that tip is: It's not really what you write about, its how you write it. The supplemental is basically an opportunity for you to sell yourself to the admission committee (not, as some people may say, an opportunity to brag about yourself) --think of it as your sales pitch to the committee, and the decision as to whether they will "buy" your application hinges on how well your supplement is written. I didn't think my experiences were all that spectacular, but I did write about what I learned from each experience, and I think that definitely helped to boost my supplemental sales pitch to the committee.

Here are my experiences, based on supplemental question order (I skipped the education and hobbies question, because they're more of filler questions) :
Leadership: MUG leader at UBC Orientation, a reading mentor for a summer reading program at the local library, and an instructor's assistant at a daycare.
Community service/volunteer experience: UBC Hospital, various odd jobs at the local community centre, and at a nursing home.
Working with others experience: parental assistant at a daycare (a different daycare than the one I put for the previous question), cashier at a local grocery store, ticket seller for the PNE.
Membership in organizations: UBC International Red Cross Club, Biological Science Society of UBC, service club in highschool.
Other experiences and accomplishments: my struggle with the academic transiton from highschool to UBC, and how I overcame that, and how my grandmother sponsoring a child in Africa changed my view of the world we live in.

As you can see, my experiences aren't all that spectacular--nothing special or fancy--but for each experience, I wrote about what I learned. For example, here is an excerpt from one of the experiences that I talked about:

I did that for every one of the experiences I talked about, being as precise and descriptive as I could, as well as adding my personal insights when appropriate. Basically, I listed out the hard and soft skills that I learned, and demonstrated how it relates to whatever experience I was talking about. Of course, I was keeping in mind of detailing the skills that I learned that would be of an asset to nursing, but I wasn't targetting only those skills--doing so would seem narrow and very biased. Another thing to keep in mind is to vary your experiences--it makes you look well rounded. I made sure I have at least some sort of experiences with people throughout the life spectrum--toddler, young children, elementary school aged children, youth, adults and seniors.

As for my personal statement...I told them a story of my hospitalization when I was young, and how the nurse that took care of me made a profound impression on me and how she influenced me to pursue this career path.

Hope this helps. You're welcome to PM me if you need further clarification/help from what I wrote here. I am not sure if I made myself all that clear...I hope the post is not too long for you to digest. =S

Anything to help =)

And I've been meaning to ask you...how do you ask them about your academic and supplemental average?

oh thanks =) If you don't mind me asking, what was the average of both? Just out of curiosity's sake. No rush to get back to me on this. Just if you have time =)

Because the numbers given are averages only, I'm positive that there are people with lower than the average GPA that got an interview invitation. Your supplementary application is ranked against all other candidates' supplementary applications...I think it's probably based on how well balanced/rounded your experiences are, as well as how well written you wrote the application.