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by tkhun

This is my first post on allnurses.com. I am currently taking A&P offered by Athabasca university and hope to apply early next year for the BSN program offered by UBC. I have heard that it is very hard to get accepted into this program, so I am looking for any information that may help me increase my chances of getting accepted. I'd love to hear from anyone who has gone through this program or is going through it or knows anyone who has been through it. Any thoughts, ideas, information you can share concerning this topic will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[noworries]

Re: Accelerated BSN program at UBC (Vancouver)

Hi!
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news(?).. but the competition for this program definately IS very tough.

I Happen to be applying to the program this year (I'm taking the AP course at UBC Vancouver right now). I'm a second year science (biophysics) major right now, and I can see that alot of the smart people from my science classes last year are in the same A-P class with me! These guys have averages of over 80% in their cumulative GPA.. they all want to get into nursing for some reason (many of them want to use it as backup for dental and medical schools.)

I've also met some arts students that plan on transferring into Nursing and their averages are just as high if not higher (easier courses I believe..).
These are the people that are using nursing as a backup for social work...
Its very unfortunate that UBC is not really training future nurses anymore.. but people that want to fall back on nursing incase their other plans dont' work out..

So yeah.. competition is tough
to give you some actual numbers I got from the admissions office
lowest cGPA accepted last year (from all credits taken at post-sec) was roughly ~73%. The average GPA was 77%. About 400-600 applicants apply, and only ~120 make it to the interview stage.. and after that only ~60 are accepted. I say roughly 60 because some people may fail their 3rd year in UBC's nursing program, and have to repeat it.

Pre interview they look at your:
1) GPA
2) Extra curricular work/personal statement
(both are equally weighted

Post interview (decision whether your accepted or not)
will be based on 3 things
1) GPA
2) Extra currics/personal statement
3) Interview

I believe interview makes up around 40% of their decision
while 30% goes to GPA and 30% goes to extra curricular work.

Anyway, Good luck to you!
Maybe we'll be in the same class together next year,

noworries

[tkhun]

Re: Accelerated BSN program at UBC (Vancouver)

Thanks so much noworries. You are right, this IS bad news, but I am glad you shared it because now I know what I am up against. Forewarned is fore-armed. I am not too worried about my GPA (I am working hard on passing A&P though I find the work to be a bit too much) but am more concerned about the extracurricular activities - specifically volunteer work. I last worked as a volunteer 4 years ago (at the Vancouver Crisis Center) and I don't know if they will take this into account since the application form asks for volunteer experience gained within the past 3 years. I am trying to rescucitate my volunteer experience, but with one toddler and a baby on the way, plus a husband to look after, I have very little time to spare. Do you know if they prefer volunteer work done in a hospital as opposed to all other kinds of volunteer work? Thanks again for the information.

[noworries]

Re: Accelerated BSN program at UBC (Vancouver)

No problem tkhun,

As for your question, hospital work will generally give you a slightly higher boost on your application, but they state that any volunteer work is okay,
their main concern is that you have shown dedication to one area in your
life (I guess this shows them that you won't be likely to ditch nursing?)..

They also want to see that through your previous career or volunteering that you've worked with a variaty of people; with ethnic differences and age differences (from baby's to seniors). Not all of these qualities are needed ofcourse.. but they will definately help.

[dear_amber]

Re: Accelerated BSN program at UBC (Vancouver)

Originally Posted by noworries

Hi!
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news(?).. but the competition for this program definately IS very tough.

I Happen to be applying to the program this year (I'm taking the AP course at UBC Vancouver right now). I'm a second year science (biophysics) major right now, and I can see that alot of the smart people from my science classes last year are in the same A-P class with me! These guys have averages of over 80% in their cumulative GPA.. they all want to get into nursing for some reason (many of them want to use it as backup for dental and medical schools.)

I've also met some arts students that plan on transferring into Nursing and their averages are just as high if not higher (easier courses I believe..).
These are the people that are using nursing as a backup for social work...
Its very unfortunate that UBC is not really training future nurses anymore.. but people that want to fall back on nursing incase their other plans dont' work out..

So yeah.. competition is tough
to give you some actual numbers I got from the admissions office
lowest cGPA accepted last year (from all credits taken at post-sec) was roughly ~73%. The average GPA was 77%. About 400-600 applicants apply, and only ~120 make it to the interview stage.. and after that only ~60 are accepted. I say roughly 60 because some people may fail their 3rd year in UBC's nursing program, and have to repeat it.

Pre interview they look at your:
1) GPA
2) Extra curricular work/personal statement
(both are equally weighted

Post interview (decision whether your accepted or not)
will be based on 3 things
1) GPA
2) Extra currics/personal statement
3) Interview

I believe interview makes up around 40% of their decision
while 30% goes to GPA and 30% goes to extra curricular work.

Anyway, Good luck to you!
Maybe we'll be in the same class together next year,

noworries

Hi noworries,

The information you posted is VERY helpful to me so I just want to say thank you! Also, do you know if UBC still weighs volunteer experience and GPA equally? If so, that would make me feel A LOT better because I have a lot of hospital volunteer experience, but my GPA is 3.3 and that makes me very nervous.