Feeling defeated...already

planetoi · Jan 13, 2015

The nice thing about nursing is that since it's such a popular profession, there are so many different ways to get in if you don't succeed the first time around. So try not to panic! There's lots you can do to get in. First of all, I think you should still apply. There's no harm in trying, right? You never know. Also, have you considered taking a pre-health course at one of the colleges? A lot of colleges that have collab nursing programs with nearby universities have a course called pre health, which is a one year certificate that can help get you into a collaborative nursing program. I know for sure that Mohawk and Fanshawe have them, and I think Seneca might too. They're nice because you get all the pre-reqs for nursing, and many programs will give you special consideration for taking these courses, since they overlap with quite a few courses in first year nursing.

If you'd rather save the money, or if you can't be going to college full time right now, you could always get a credit through ILC too. Is it just chem you need? Because you can take all kinds of classes through ILC. You could even upgrade your bio mark if you wanted. It is online, so you'd have to be prepared to teach yourself. You have access to a teacher if you need to ask questions though. You did say that you were doing well with chemistry even though your teacher sucked, so I suspect you'll do just fine if you do decide to take it online. It's only 40 dollars which is hundreds of dollars cheaper than most online courses. Another good thing about ILC is that you can work through the course as fast or slow as you want. It's probably a little faster than night school or adult education, since you said you wanted speedy.

Another thing you could do is apply to the RPN program and bridge to BScN. It's not ideal and it takes a little longer, but usually those programs are slightly easier to get into than RN programs. Also, apply for a January start as well as a September start. A lot of people are hung up on the ideal September start and don't apply for January, so sometimes that makes it a little easier to get in.

That's about all I can think of right now. I hope you find a path that works well for you! Good luck :)

Toronto1977, BSN, LPN, RN · Jan 14, 2015

Thank you SO much of responding! I didn't even know what ILC was, let alone that it was an option. But this is certainly a better route than spending hundreds on another chem class through Seneca. I wish I had known this before I did that the first time. They really don't give any sort of guidance when navigating these roads. Thank goodness for this forum! I think I will apply for the May start anyways, like you suggested, even with my low marks, and just stay positive. The answer is always no if you don't ask, right? Thanks again! :)

planetoi · Jan 16, 2015

Thank you SO much of responding! I didn't even know what ILC was, let alone that it was an option. But this is certainly a better route than spending hundreds on another chem class through Seneca. I wish I had known this before I did that the first time. They really don't give any sort of guidance when navigating these roads. Thank goodness for this forum! I think I will apply for the May start anyways, like you suggested, even with my low marks, and just stay positive. The answer is always no if you don't ask, right? Thanks again! :)

You're very welcome :) ILC is a great option for people in Ontario because its so cheap to take it and it gives you sooo much freedom. I hope it works well for you!

Cloud number 9 · Feb 2, 2015

Ilc worked for me

!

Missmissa · Feb 2, 2015

Don't go to Fanshawe for pre health, from personal experience it's very hard and unfair. I was there last semester and we had 600 students at the London campus, it went to 250 students. Not trying to tell you where to go or anything, I just don't want you to waste your money and time, and you basically have to ace every class, and trust me it's not easy. I had 3 friends and only 1 of them went onto second semester. If you are really strong in sciences, and are good at not having to use a calculator in math, this program is for you. I would recommend another school, like conestoga, mohawk, or Georgian, those I hear are great.

Missmissa · Feb 2, 2015

If you fail a course in pre health at Fanshawe in first semester they kick you out, and the courses you did pass do not count and you'll have to repeat the whole semester. :bored: They have really great programs to get into, if you want to go to BSCN program with Fanshawe/Western, its "recommend" that you get an 80%, in the first week we had an admissions officer told us we needed a 90%.. I wish I was joking. If you don't want to take pre health, they have a general arts and science steam, they only take 2% of those students, and thats only for practical nursing, um dental hygienist.. I forget what else. Even if you get great marks, doesn't mean you'll get in.

xokw, BSN, RN · Feb 2, 2015

Prehealth really is challenging, regardless of where you take it. Same with nursing. It's just a lot of hard work.

During prehealth at Conestoga we lost a substantial amount of people very, very quickly. A friend of mine is in prehealth at Mohawk and says it is no different. It's a shame, even some students who do make it through prehealth and get into nursing end up not lasting long because it gets harder.

A lot of students joke that prehealth is basically a technique used to wean people out who don't cut it. Not a nice joke at all, very unfair but seems to be true.

Missmissa · Feb 2, 2015

Aha it is true unfortunately..

klovesedamame · Feb 3, 2015

@Missmissa Did you start pre-health in September 2014 or January 2014 at Fanshawe I just finished up pre-health at Fanshawe in December, because I was a January start (2014). I actually loved the program a lot, but do agree with a lot of what you have said. The unfairness of having to repeat a WHOLE semester for failing one class (I'm pretty sure we had a transfer from st. thomas to repeat first semester because he failed success strategies). When we had the admission person from Western come to talk to us, he told us that anybody who ever got an A in every single class got into nursing. The cut-off for the collab in September 2013 was apparently 3.83.

Missmissa · Feb 3, 2015

I started Sept 2014 and ended in 2015 lol... I didn't even know anything about transferring... I know a lot of students who are in general arts stream, hoping to get into RPN and other programs, and are told they "won't" because their marks are not high enough... talk about money grabbers. They tell you one thing/promise you and then are told something else, seems to happen often here. We had an admissions officer came in from Fanshawe to talk to us about future programs and literally scared everyone because of the admission process... basically they rank you (obviously) on grades, but if you are a current student or past student you get 5 extra points just for being alumi and reapplying for something else... it's all a points system.

klovesedamame · Feb 3, 2015

Haha! You guys got crammed with soooo many people in your program. When we ran the open house in November this year, P**** was telling people that they usually accept like 375-400 kids, and this year it was closer to 500! And with so many people they had to find so many random teachers to teach the like 7 sections. I think my group had the course leads for every class, except in second semester we had KJ**** for Math instead of J*****.

I didn't know you could do GAS and get into RPN and stuff. The points system will never make sense to me. Ever. They explained it during the open house during lunch and I still was like ? Lol. Because they were saying if you did better in chem in high school they will take that mark over the PHS chem and you still get points. I don't even know.

I can't believe though how many kids aren't left in your start. My friend is repeating some semester 2 classes and I tag along the odd time and everyone is in a huge lecture hall at main for phys/bio. (Which is fine for Bio I guess because its more just listening + W**** is teaching it and is literally the queen of pre-health~ lol). And there are only like 260 kids. It's crazy. We started with about 225 kids, and when we wrote the final exams last December there were only 77 of us still registered. I am really hoping to god for one of the 40 spots for the BScN collab.