Ontario Second-Entry Nursing (2015)

eerichardson · Mar 25, 2015

@tdmah
I applied to Western last year (didn't get in) however I received my rejection mid-may, a lot of other people also received their rejection/acceptance on the exact same day I did so I would guess that there is a specific date mid-may that they send out most notices. Western likes to wait for final grades (did my undergrad there) and that's probably why it's so late, however your average is super competitive so I would expect you are probably going to hear back before then.

Do you mind sharing what your average/GPA was when you did not get accepted?

smwxo · Mar 25, 2015

@tdmah

I think you are definitely a good candidate for a conditional offer! I applied to a few programs this year, but I did not apply to Western

smwxo · Mar 25, 2015

@eerichardson

When I applied to Western last year I had ~81% (not entirely sure) and I believe their cut-off was 85.00%

rwkip · Mar 26, 2015

hello, i'm currently finishing up my second semester at york (feels like its taking forever to end). if anyone has questions about the program, feel free to ask.

butter413 · Mar 26, 2015

@rwkip do you mind sharing your gpa? and have you met anybody in the program who got in with around a 3.0?

Liiv · Mar 26, 2015

hello, i'm currently finishing up my second semester at york (feels like its taking forever to end). if anyone has questions about the program, feel free to ask.

Hi, do you happen to remember what your cGPA/GPA was and when you got accepted? And is the strike affecting you? Thanks in advance for answering, haha.

clcl · Mar 26, 2015

hello, i'm currently finishing up my second semester at york (feels like its taking forever to end). if anyone has questions about the program, feel free to ask.

how is the course load like? it says that i don't have to take biochem since I've taken that already and therefore, I'll be taking 4 courses (from what I believe) in fall 2015. Is it possible to work part time while studying?

rwkip · Mar 26, 2015

i got my acceptance middle of may, cGPA was a B. like dead on B, on york's GPA scale it was exactly a 6. i think it that is equivalent to a 3.0. as for my last 30 credits, it was a B+.

as for the strike i only missed a week and a half of classes but that was due to the fact that the contract workers ratified their deal. if they hadn't i would probably be still at home doing jack ****. that said, the only thing is that our semester has been extended in order to make up for the classes missed and also commuting to school via car is annoying because of being stuck behind cars from the picket lines. luckily i've only been stuck for 10-20 minutes but i know others who had waited for at least 2 hours just to get onto campus. the good thing is that all our classes are in the morning so really we can get to school early and avoid it since they start picketing at 7:30 in the morning. it's just a pain to have to get up a little earlier than usual but hey, that's what coffee is for right?

rwkip · Mar 26, 2015

how is the course load like? it says that i don't have to take biochem since I've taken that already and therefore, I'll be taking 4 courses (from what I believe) in fall 2015. Is it possible to work part time while studying?

i took 5 because i've never taken biochem. but it's a great GPA booster because it's so damn easy. i honestly always studied the night before and pulled As. your first semester is a huge joke compared to the upcoming ones. it will seem like a lot and you will grumble and think you won't come out alive but when the next semester rolls around, the first will feel like a walk in a park.

i didn't have a job in first semester so i literally would get home from school and study, study on my day off and weekends. basically i think studying was like a full time job haha but having a part time job is totally do-able, just know how to time manage. i'm working part time now since the 2nd week of january and i'm having no problems juggling school and work. but then again my manager is nice and only gives me 6-8 hours/week.

i know a lot of people who work while in school in this program, my friend works 30 hours a week and still manages good grades. i don't know how he finds time to study. there are also a lot of mother's as well who are also managing so i think you should be okay. just feel it out and see how you do. i think that if you quit your job and will have financial support focus on studying. but if you need money and rely on work for it then keep the job, textbooks and supplies cost a lot. like a lot.

rwkip · Mar 27, 2015

no one asked about this yet but i'll just write something about it in case the question comes up. for clinical rotations, in chronological order by semester: long term care, rehabilitation, medical/surgical (acute care), community, peds or mental health (random draw who gets what), and then IP where you are with a nurse preceptor one on one. your placements will be random, i want to say they take into account your preferences but i think it's just random. for my first clinical i was in a facility literally 10 minutes away, for this one i'm 40 minutes. i know some people who had to drive all the way to vaughan for LTC and they lived in burlington.

for my long term care rotation we worked along side the PSWs. be comfortable with poop, there will poop and potentially a lot of it. there will be smells you are not used to and it may make you gag and want to throw up. you may or may not be greatly affected by what you see and go home with a heavy heart every clinical day, some of my colleagues told me they would go home in tears. many of my friends were nervous about interacting with the residents in LTC, especially the ones who were in the locked units. the residents in those units had some kind of dementia and many could not take care of themselves. i had volunteered at the LTC wing at a hospital so i was used to it and this rotation came easily to me.

right now i am in rehabilitation. there were rumors floating around that students could be placed in LTC again because there are only so many rehabilitation units in the GTA. in a sense it does feel like it depending where you are. some of my colleagues were placed in continuing care, burns + trauma, transplant + cardiac, spinal rehab, neuro, or musculoskeletal. i think the ones who are in continuing care are more in a LTC setting. i'm currently placed in an amputee unit and it's pretty useless to be honest. most of the patients are independent so they do their own transfers, can ambulate themselves etc. but the plus is that we really got to hone in on our full body assessment and also documentation.

i have two more clinical days left and in a couple weeks or so will find out where i'm placed for med/surg. i'm really hoping for a UHN hospital or sunnybrook. will provide an update when that happens and also let you all know how it is

smwxo · Mar 27, 2015

@rwkip

Thanks so much for all of your information! When you applied initially, did you apply to other schools as well? If so, why did you choose York? Also, are you able to give an example of what one of your weeks would be like in the nursing program? (i.e. how many hours of class/what classes/what days you do placement)

rwkip · Mar 27, 2015

@rwkip
Thanks so much for all of your information! When you applied initially, did you apply to other schools as well? If so, why did you choose York? Also, are you able to give an example of what one of your weeks would be like in the nursing program? (i.e. how many hours of class/what classes/what days you do placement)

i applied to UofT as well, got wait listed in the first group and then end of august they emailed saying i didn't get in. i would have went to york either way because it's closer to home and didn't want to commute downtown and i didn't want to deal with the competitive nature at UofT. overall i'm finding this program alright, i wish our placements were more acute because the only time we are in acute care is in the summer. the people, though, are really what make this program great. i went in not wanting to make friends and not caring but as of now there are people i have met and can't imagine surviving the program without them. by the 2nd week in the program it was as if we were family and it is absolutely amazing.

all classes in first semester and now start at 8:30. the only time there was variation was in first semester on our Tuesdays (which also became our clinical day) was just lab and you could choose between 3 different times, i picked 8:30am. mondays was two courses back to back from 8:30am - 2:30pm or you could start at 11:30 and end at 4:30. Tuesday, when it was lab it just depended when it was and they were 3 hours long, when it was clinical it was a full 8 hours but instead of starting at 8:30 you got to the clinical site at 6:30 (depending what time your instructor wanted you there) and started at 7:00am until 3:00pm. wednesday, depending when you chose lab, you could end at 12:30 or 5:30, i unfortunately had to end at 5:30. thursday was a day off and then friday was another early morning only because i had to take biochem. if you are exempt then you get to sleep in but still have a class in the morning but it started at 11:30.

right now we have clinical on mondays for 12 hours. what time you leave is up to the instructor you get, some have their students stay the full 12 hours, others let them leave after just 6-8 hours on site. Tuesdays are our day off. Wednesday is a full day for me at least (9 hours back to back) because there are two classes in the morning and a lab. thursdays there is a class and friday there is one as well.

i hope this was clear? if not i'll try and explain again