Hi, What are some good Nursing schools in Canada that are not too competitive???

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Sep 7, 2006

I don't think there's a blanket answer for that. Most people who have been nursing awhile aren't going to know and I don't think there are too many nursing instructors or nursing school admisistrators who frequent this site/forum. (Prove me wrong!! Please.) There is a severe shortage of nursing faculty in Canada and the schools are getting very picky. My best advice would be to request the information directly from the schools you're interested in. The nurses from Ontario and Quebec will give you some help in choosing, I'm sure. You can draft an email then send it to all the schools using the BCC feature in your email software... so they think you're only interested in them! A word or two of caution... unless you are fluent in French (oral, in writing and comprehension) I wouldn't recommend Quebec; you'll have to pass a government-administered French language exam before you can work. They also have the lowest starting pay in the country to go along with a fairly high cost of living.

Soon2BPaeds · Sep 7, 2006

I know in Ontario some of the colleges that run the joint programs with the universities had seats left in their programs late into the summer this year. As long as you met their entrance requirements I imagine you would be able to get into one of those. The universities tended to have more applicants than spots so it got quite competitive (their were 350 applicants for my program with 56 spots this year)

noworries · Sep 7, 2006

Langara College (located in Greater Vancouver (west end)), they take people based on waitlist so if you really want in apply today!!

Waitlist is about 1 year to 1.5 years long (they actually say 3-4 years once you apply but MANY people drop out prior to starting the program). The pre-requisites can be found here:

http://www.langara.bc.ca/programs/NURS.html

Basically you just need a C+ average in highschool and you're good to go!

Bicycleboy · Sep 8, 2006

At St-lawrence college in Cornwall there is room for 50 first year students, this year there are 30, and last year there were 20. So it should be no problem to get into thier programme

HollieRN · Sep 9, 2006

I agree that you should look into the college/university collaborative programs in Ontario.

I graduated from the Loyalist/Brock program and i think they still had seats available when i was there ... We were accepting students from other schools mid-program! Worth checking out ...

Little.Bird · Sep 25, 2006

Don't forget the east coast! :) I'm at UNB in Fredericton and I know that they are trying to increase the enrollment in both the general nursing program, and the advanced standing/fast track program.

Fiona59 · Sep 26, 2006

I think it really depends on where you want to go to school. Locally, it can be very difficult to get into an RN programme. My PN class had 32 people who were rejected by the local university and community college and that was before the bridge for PN to RN existed.

The entrance requirements are getting more stringent each year, they go by marks, not life experience or common sense. A fact that we have to deal with when clinicals roll round. 1200 applicants for 120 seats was not uncommon the last I heard.

ltvixen · Sep 26, 2006

Hi i go to Dalhousie university in Nova Scotia. I applied late to my program, was put on a waiting list, then eventually told there was no room. then one week before classes started was told there was a seat if i still wanted it! and once i started classes, heard the same story from a lot of classmates! i'm not sure if there was just something going on that particular year, or if that's the normal process. also, nova scotia has 3 nursing programs, all within a 6 hour drive from each other, so there's lots of places to apply (St. Francis Xavier and Cape Breton University are the other 2). pm me if you have any more questions