Sorry if this should be posted under the 'student' forum instead, but all I could really find there was about American schools.
I'm greatly interested in pursuing a career in nursing (wish I'd just gone straight in from highschool!) but I'm desperately scared I won't get in anywhere!
I'm graduating from a BA in psychology at the University of Waterloo in 4 months. I'll have about a 73% average cumulatively, ~80% in my final year if all goes as planned. My marks haven't been spectacular, but there's been a lot of health and family difficulties I've overcome, and I'm proud I've finally finished!
My highschool average was 85.2%, my pre-req average was ~83, depending on how they calculate it.
I'm planning on applying to St. Lawrence, Seneca/York, Centennial/Ryerson, Loyalist and George Brown/Ryerson. I'm not sure if I should even bother applying to universities, as they and even some of the colleges will base my admission on my university marks rather than highschool.
Long story short, should I even bother applying to a BScN program at all? Are colleges such as these really as insanely competitive as people make them seem? Would it make more sense to apply to an RPN program and bridge later, or are they just as competitive as well?
If you apply through ontariocolleges.ca, which most of the colleges require you do, you can apply for a maximum of 5 programs and no more than 3 programs at any one institution. You can't pay more to apply for more or create another account to apply for more. I think it's completely stupid, I applied for at least 8 programs when I went to university 4 years ago, but somehow 5 is enough for college students?
I noticed that too And either way, my apps are used up. Do people normally get in to a BScN program right out of highschool without a pre-health program? It seems like they do, at least in Ontario. In my mind you'd absolutely need to take a pre-health program if you graduated before the reform in curriculum for Ontario high-schools, or if you graduated either without taking the pre-reqs or without a high enough average for admission.
I emailed St. Lawrence's admissions office to ask about their policy on alternative admission offers, so we'll see what happens with that!
First of all, I'm wondering why you were trolling the AllNurses site on New Years Eve and not out celebrating (hehe). I'm going to have to agree with some of the other people who posted by saying that you've really got nothing to lose by applying. I'm in a similar boat as you are as I'm applying for a Nurse Practitioner program and will only get in if the program is under prescribed (I won't have the required hours by admission deadline but will have them by program start date). I've gone back and forth on whether to apply as I have many other things to spend $200 on than an application that may very well be null and void.
Sometimes the only way to move forward in life is to take on risk. I like you was a mature student when I applied for my BSCN back in 2004. Without going into too much detail, as this isn't really about me, I pretty much quit my job, sold my house, and moved to Windsor to go back to school (before I was actually accepted). Looking back at my decision now, it was pretty nuts, but had I not risked everything, I wouldn't be an RN working in an awesome job in Northern Ontario and on my way to becoming in NP in my rural community.
Many people live their lives with a safety net in place at all times, and my hat does go off to them. In my opinion though, you need to cross the double yellow line sometimes to get where you want to go.
I do have some suggestions and tips though. First of all, I'd apply to both University and College. In my case, St. Claire actually rejected my application whereas the University of Windsor let me plead my case in an interview. That brings me to my second recommendation. You need to let the Institutions know that you're interested. In my case, I met with the Dean of Nursing and while I was on the wait list became a fixture in the Nursing office. I often wonder if they let me in just to stop me from visiting so often.
In my case, if you look at the hard numbers, I should not have gotten in to a BSCN program. However as a mature student they looked at my life experience and other factors and in the end I surprised even myself by graduating with distinction. The marks that you have in your previous degree look fine to me, but hey I'm not the one who makes the decision.
Anyway, please do yourself a favor, set your sights high, and apply. What's the worst that can happen?
Thanks so much, heart! I've definitely got the marks and prereqs to get in for practical nursing, but the BScN threads that I've read for Ontario make it seem like it's ridiculously difficult if you're a 'mature student'... like out of a class of 180, 29 will apply and 9 will get in! I don't think that competition has increased much in the last few years, so I've got my fingers crossed!
I guess my next problem is that I only get to apply to 5 programs, which I've used up between BScN's and PN options. Do they typically offer a 'downgrade' program admission if you don't get into the one of your choice? (I know when I applied to university if you didn't get into say, coop biochemistry they would offer you biology or general science instead.)
Sorry if all my questions are annoying anyone!
I have never heard of rejected nursing getting alternate acceptances but thats not to say it does not happen.
Alos I was soooooo stressed when I was applying as I wanted in the program more than anything in the world--- I wrote a letter to the lady who did the admission/recruitment for the BScN program explaining my situation and why I was suitable for this program...
Also I know some school takes grades and use them as advance standing.. so if someone is applying with a degree over somone who has no degree then the person with the degree (if marks were good) would get the spot... not sure if thats the case with the places your applying to but maybe you could look into that..
not sure if this is all relevent I havent read all the posts.. just more of my input..
Hi, I was in the same situation as you. Already spent 25,000 on a degree and pursuing a degree in a field that I was not really content in. I decided to go into nursing at age 24 I know that's pretty late but I think it was the best decision I've ever made. I basically spent a year getting my prereqs and upgrading my high school marks as my science marks were abysmal this was extremely hard but I worked my @ss off studying day and night and got a B+ or higher in all of the courses I took including anatomy + physiology. I wasnt really sure where I wanted to go to school yet but I applied to as many schools as I could, there was 5 that accepted my prerequisite and I got an admission offer from 2 . York and U of Alberta. I decided to go with U of A. Ontario is very competitive but you need to look into other provinces to maximize your chances. I know i'll be in a debt when i graduate but I'll be doing something you love, that's what I told myself.
Like I said, many colleges require you to take a pre nursing program if you have been out of high school for more than a certain number of years. Just speaking from experience, there are friends of mine in my program that are 21 and had to take pre nursing because they were considered mature students. I am just suggesting pre nursing because it will take the "what if" factor. If you take a pre nursing program at your college and get the admission grades, you are in. No ifs ands or buts.
Thanks everyone! I got an email back from St. Lawrence and they said they will go by my highschool admissions only, then by my post-sec grades if necessary. Their entrance average was only 80% last year, so I'm not as stressed out about it as I was before. She also said that they don't offer alternative admission, but there's generally plenty of time between their 'rejection' offers and their final enrollment dates for pre-health, so if I don't get in, I should just apply to that.
So it's nice because I also don't have to spend a flipping fortune sending in my uni transcripts unless they ask for it
Hopefully I get in! Like I said, I'll take the pre-health if I don't get in, but there's no sense to me to just enroll in it and spend a year doing it when, by all the college's accounts, I don't need to. I'm a 'mature student', but I'm in school and still have the qualifying OSSD credits, and apparently that makes the difference.
And either way, my apps are used up. Do people normally get in to a BScN program right out of highschool without a pre-health program? It seems like they do, at least in Ontario. In my mind you'd absolutely need to take a pre-health program if you graduated before the reform in curriculum for Ontario high-schools, or if you graduated either without taking the pre-reqs or without a high enough average for admission.
loriangel14, RN
6,933 Posts
Why are you saying you can only apply to 5?I've never heard of a restriction on the number of applications.