helgurk

I'm in the McMaster accelerated program right now so I can explain to you. For community, it's kinda crap right now. For one half of the course you do some online bs where you're given a community and you have to look up information about it. Not fun at all and imo, is an utter waste of time. Then for the other half, we are administering Covid vaccines. I had my first day administering vaccines today and it was an awesome experience! And yes, you're right in that for the first 3 semesters we have no choice in our placements. I unfortunately got placed in a placement that I did not want so now I have to endure it for the next few weeks before we get our new placement. For the Summer, you get either pediatrics, maternity, or mental health for one half and then for the other half you get a med-surg placement. Completely random where you end up. In the 4th and 5th semester you get to choose what unit you want.

Hey! I'm in the Mac accelerated program too! I wonder if we know each other ?. Hello whoever you are! But ya @jupitersea I can vouch for what this person is saying. I would also suggest that as soon at they allow you buy the custom courseware for PBL (you'll know what that means when the syllabus gets posted) I strongly recommend you get a head start on readings because for that class you MUST do the readings since that's what the tests are based on. And the readings can be a lot so start them early if possible. And then if you want, just like look up Youtube videos for how to perform physical assessments for cardio, respiratory, abdominal, MSK, neuro, and mental status for nursing. That's what your entire first semester is based on. First semester and second semester is chill imo. I'm currently in the third semester of the program and it's a lot... so enjoy those first 2 semesters hehe.

I'm currently in the Mac program. 1) No. There are actually a decent number of students in the program who got in only after completing their first 2 years of undergrad. 2) Yes, that is competitive.

As someone currently in the program, let me clarify this comment as it's not entirely true. Between Fall and Winter you have your standard Winter holiday break (app. 2.5 weeks). Between Winter and Spring/Summer semester is the worst because the break is extremely short (only 6 days...). But between Summer and Fall you have 1 month off (August is off). For an accelerated program is this is pretty typical.

When I entered (September 2020) we were a cohort of about 120 people! So I do think they've recently increased the numbers.

Here are some pros and cons about the Mac accelerated program I can come up with. Note that some of these may or may not be similar to other nursing schools, but this is what I've experienced at Mac so far. Pros: - The staff (professors and TAs aka tutors) are some of the nicest people I have ever met - and I mean that sincerely. Everybody is super approachable and willing to go out of their way to help you out. - The courses are designed in such a way where often you will see a lot of overlap in the material, just maybe viewed in a slightly different perspective. This is done on purpose. For ex. In patho you'll have a lecture on cardiovascular disease that places a huge emphasis on the molecular manifestations of the disease but then in PBL you will have a cardiovascular disease care scenario that is more focused on nursing interventions (but you will still review and be tested on the patho as well). It's a great design as it reinforces the information you are learning. - The tests are extremely fair - and if I'm being honest, I find them a little "too easy" hahaha compared to the exams I've had to endure in my previous degree. But that could just be because we are accelerated students and we are by nature all pretty smart. I've gotten straight As both last semester and this semester. - Class sizes are very small - lots of opportunities to meet and get to know people, even while online during Covid! Everybody I've met is super super friendly. Cons: - In both first semester and second semester, you have a lab component where you go in person and the TA teaches you how to perform certain assessments and hands-on skills that are important to nursing. So for both the first and semester class they give you a "lab manual" that lays out all the steps you need to do when performing a particular skill or assessment - imo the lab manual is not that great... the steps they give you are super vague and so often you have to read the textbook and/or look up Youtube videos for how to perform the skills. Because of Covid, we didn't have access to the lab during off-hours and that imo really hindered my learning. Furthermore, the lab exam you have to perform (they give you a fake patient and ask you to perform some skills on them) was very disorganized in terms of telling us what we needed to know for the exam. They basically just say learn everything and the administration got mad when the TAs gave hints as to what to focus on. And you have to pass this exam to pass the course, regardless of your performance in the other aspects of the course so it's SO DAMN STRESSFUL. - Some of the courses in the program are very hit or miss. I personally performed well in every course, including some of these more questionable ones, but some of my friends struggled and I could see why. Even at first for these courses I was very confused as to how to approach learning the material. For example, first semester you take a class called Social Determinants of Health. It's an interesting topic at face value but sometimes the material is indeed dry and they were never clear as to how important the readings were, and the readings could be quite heavy (note: the readings didn't end up being important for the exams, just the lecture material and the Youtube videos they assign for viewing). In second semester we took a class called Research Appraisal where you learn to critically appraise research papers. Again, extremely dry material and unclear what was important for us to focus on. - PBL can be hit or miss. I made an extensive comment about my thoughts on PBL so just click on my profile and go see my previous comment if you wanna know more. It's not a deal-breaker though and there are a couple cool aspects about it (see my comment).

Currently finishing up my first year at Mac accelerated. What would you like to know? I can't compare to UofT but I can certainly tell you anything you wanna know about Mac.

Hmm that's weird I'm not sure what the accurate number is. All I know is that our prof was told that 4000 students applied this year. I guess take that with a grain of salt. Yes, they literally just the take the top applicants in terms of GPA and Casper score. I was shocked as well if I'm being honest.

Hi! Only one class every semester is PBL. So I'll just expand on that right now since I know somebody will ask this (if not, you should definitely be aware of what PBL is). Even though there are ~120 students in the program, your PBL class is only ~25 students in which you're all divided into groups of 4 or 5 that you will collaborate with for the entire semester. This is actually a cool concept because I'm used to in my previous degree being in classes with hundreds of students but you get to actually interact with the whole class. My closest friends I've made in this program are literally from the 2 PBL groups I've had this year. So personally, I'm not a fan of the PBL method of teaching. And everybody I've made friends with also does not like PBL. But it's not a deal-breaker by any means. Basically every 2 weeks you're introduced to a fake patient scenario that's trying to highlight a specific health dilemma (e.g. this semester our 6 care scenarios were about diabetes, pain/sepsis, cardiovascular disease, breast cancer, palliative care, kidney disease). The exam is explicitly based on the readings - there are NO formal lectures in class. And there is A LOT of readings (but manageable!) so you MUST do them. The idea is the details they provide in the care scenario are supposed to "guide" your learning (e.g. "this person is having a heart attack and this lab value is elevated hmm I guess we'll have to research what that's all about"). Instead it's a 4 hour tutorial session where basically the TA makes you do these extra ungraded weekly research tasks (e.g. "OK so your group will research the pros and cons of hemodialysis and present it next week"). The idea of PBL is that students "teach each other" the content and that's supposed to somehow enhance everybody's learning. So every week you're basically spending 4 hours having discussions with the class. The problem is these weekly group presentations are not always based on the readings, oftentimes it's extra research ON TOP of the required readings. So sure you might learn some cool things, but at the end of the day you're not learning all the material you need to know for the final exam and the NCLEX. For that you must do the readings. It really is a lot of extra unnecessary work imo. In summary, PBL is a cool concept in theory but imo it's not executed well. Pros: You bond really well with the members in your small group; The care scenarios are actually cool and get you to think like a nurse. Cons: A lot of extra ungraded, unnecessary work.

Hi everyone! I'm just about to finish my first year of the accelerated nursing program at McMaster (two more exams). I remember being on these forums last year and I got so much helpful information and reassurance that I thought I'd come back here and try to give back (and also get some nostalgia as I haven't been on here in a year LOL). If anyone is interested in knowing anything about the McMaster accelerated program and my opinions about the program and its courses, reply to me with any questions! I think when I'm done exams I'll come back and put together a full write up of some useful advice about the program. For starters, I received my acceptance on May 1st. Also, we were told by one of our profs that this year apparently 4000 students applied to the program when normally it's about 800 or so. Insane.

Glad to hear this! I'll let you know as soon as I receive my letter in the mail so you can get an idea how long it took to send LOL. Hopefully not too long.

Hi there, thanks for the response! When did you do your fast processing request? Because I'm looking online and TPS mentions that they've actually suspended their fast processing since the middle of March due to COVID-19. At the moment, they're only allowing you to mail in your Vulnerable Sector Check forms, no in-person dropping off is being allowed. You also can't make a Vulnerable Sector Check request online for some reason. It must be mailed in. I'm reallyyyyy hoping it doesn't take 10 weeks to process the request. On the TPS website, it actually mentions that they're currently processing VSC requests from June 1st (today is June 4th). So maybe the process won't take long after all??

Hey, which email did you request it from? Because I requested my form and they responded to me the next day (today). The email is fhsprof (at) mcmaster (dot) ca. It's actually a pretty inefficient process they have going: you have to email Mac to ask them for a Toronto Police letter for which they will MAIL it to you (they won't scan it and email it to you). Once you receive the letter in the mail, you have to fill it out and then MAIL it to Toronto Police Headquarters (40 College St). After that, TPS will process your request and then MAIL the clearance letter back to you. There's a document Mac released (https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/pcbe/documents/VSCtemporaryprocess.pdf) that outlines the different scenarios and what to do (look at #4). Basically, as long as you've mailed in your request to TPS it seems like Mac will provide some leniency. Also, another thing I want to add. I noticed on the TPS website it states that they're currently processing Vulnerable Sector requests from June 1st. Today is June 4th. So I'm thinking the processing is actually happening pretty quickly?? IDK. But I remember putting in a request last year that I needed for a Summer job and my request was processed in 3 weeks. 7 weeks I've never of like somebody else mentioned... Regarding CPR training, I'm currently looking into it but it seems like there are a lot of in-person classes readily available pretty much everyday. Try using this website (https://myrc.redcross.ca/en/). It doesn't seem like there are any fully online courses available (if somebody finds one please post it!!). But they make mention of ensuring health and safety protocols and social distancing guidelines are being followed.

Hey guys! Bit of an off topic question - Does anybody know how long it takes for Toronto Police to process Vulnerable Sector Screening forms, especially during these times? I'm in the process of asking my university to send me a form so that I can forward it to Toronto Police. But unfortunately I have to resort to mailing instead of handing in the form in-person which I think really prolongs the process. My university (McMaster) requires these forms by July 31 but they said they understand there will be delays and to just let them know the day you mail out the form at the very least. IDK maybe I'm overthinking but I'm just worried I've started this process a little too late. I've done these screenings in the past and they usually took me about 3 weeks. But with Covid-19... I don't really know. Is anybody else in a similar situation?

For anyone that was accepted to McMaster's accelerated program, do we have to do anything yet? Since being accepted I haven't received any information regarding tuition deposits or other administrative details. Am I missing something? My Mosaic account still looks the exact same even after accepting my offer on OUAC.