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So I don't personally know anyone in the AST program; however, I was talking to a friend of mine who does and she was saying that her friend's number one issue was that it was "intense"-- meaning it was difficult to have a part-time job, volunteer, participate in extracurriculars, etc. With that being said, given that most accelerated nursing programs are all intended to cram 4 years into 2, I feel like "intense" is probably a good way to describe any of these programs. "It's all about time management,"-- how many times have we heard this!? Anyway, I'm still trying to find someone already in the program that I can talk to, to get a better idea of what to expect, so if that works out I'll be sure to share the advice here!!

I was recently accepted to Queen's AST as well. I'm just wrapping up my undergrad at Queen's right now and attended an info session on the program in November. From what I understand, there are approximately 40 AST students that take classes with the students in the 4-year program. AST students take these classes in a weird order, though (Look at Page 5). I think clinical begins in second semester of the first year of the program. Clinical can take place at a number of places, including: Hotel Dieu Hospital (downtown Kingston ≈ 10 minute walk from campus), Kingston General Hospital (on Queen's campus), and St. Mary's of the Lake (nearby Queen's West Campus, ≈ 10 minute walk from campus). The course calendar might help clear up more questions you have about the program-- I know it did for me! Alternatively, if you have any questions about Queen's or Kingston in general, I'd be happy to answer them for you! I have tentatively accepted my offer from Queen's (still waiting on other offers); however I'm 99% sure I'll return to Queen's-- I love it here!!

Yup! My interview is on Friday and I received a confirmation on April 2.

Hey all! I'll be flying to Vancouver on the 17th for my interview that's on the 19th and leaving on the 20th. Is anyone here from the area and have any recommendations on where to stay that's reasonably affordable? Or is anyone else heading to Vancouver around the same time and feel comfortable sharing a hotel room or another accommodation? I'd be happy to Skype or FaceTime, whatever makes you feel comfortable, I'm just really trying to reduce the cost of this trip!! Private message me (or email me @ [email protected]) if you're interested!!

They're not exactly second degree programs (they only need 2 years of an undergraduate degree, much like UBC's program) but here's a link to all of the accelerated nursing programs in Canada: Fast Track/Accelerated BACC Programs: Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing / Association canadienne des écoles de sciences infirmières (CASN / ACESI)

To those who have received an interview invitation: I've gone through some of the past forums and copied & pasted what advice was offered. I hope this helps in interview prep! Can't wait to meet some of you in a couple weeks! >> I have been in the program for 2 terms and I have been enjoying my time here in ubc nursing as well. As for the MMI, I, too, did not have much time to really prepare for it as my interview was a day after I was done all my finals in my 4th year. The questions themselves were quite a mixture of nursing ethics, critical thinking, current healthcare issues, and personal aspirations. I tried reading up on the CRNBC webpage but, IMO, it didn't really help me in any direct sense during the interviews. However, reading up about nursing standards and nursing roles did help me to get a sense of what nurses do professionally, which gave me some basis to form my answers at the MMI. >> Really the questions are not super difficult. You don't need to "know" anything. It would be good to have an idea of what nurses do just for yourself but they don't ask specific questions that would require you to have done some research. It really comes down to just knowing yourself, knowing your personal values/morals and knowing what you believe in. Most of the questions are just so the interviewer can get a good sense of who you are. If I remember correctly you have about 2 mins to read the questions before you have to go in and answer them so just read through it slowly and there is a copy in the room for you to remind you if you forget. Think about how the question makes you feel and for most of them there is no "wrong" answer. Just be relaxed and talk honestly about what you think. The interviewers are very nice and supportive and you can ask them for prompts... they will often ask you some questions to make sure you fully answer the question. >> Try to familiarize yourself with the MMI interview process. That said, I remember reading somethings last year about MMI interviews in which you really have to role play (sometimes with hired actors), this is not the case for the UBC interviews. Your interviewers are profs and grad students, and they're really nice. >> To prepare for the interview I would mostly say have a good idea why you want to become a nurse, what you think are important qualities for a nurse to have. If you have any personal experiences that back up those qualities try to work them into your interview answers. All of the questions are posed as scenarios, you are not supposed to demonstrate nursing knowledge but you should be able to show that you are a good critical thinker and are able to formulate well thought out answers. If you have a chance to familiarize yourself with the nursing code of ethics it might be helpful (I didn't do that, so don't stress if you don't have time).

For those of you who had relatively low GPAs, like me, I just received an invitation-- so don't lose hope! My GPA for my last 30 credits was around 3.0 (WAY lower if calculated cumulatively) and though I initially thought my supplemental was pretty strong, based on some of the posts here, I guess I'm pretty average (volunteered in a hospital for 2 years, various work experience, involvement in a few clubs, etc.). I'm from out of province (Ontario) and will be completing my degree in biochemistry this year. Good luck to everyone still waiting!! Keep your heads up!

Thanks so much! Good luck with your application!

Hey all-- I'm working on the Supplemental App right now, while I'm home for break. Just wanted to find out how others are formatting their responses to the questions. Initially, I just had a list of my schooling, activities, and roles with dates in brackets, but I feel like I would benefit more from a paragraph-like response. Basically, do you think it's more about quality (just a few 'points' with detailed explanations) or quantity (many 'points' with little explanation)? Thanks so much and I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays!

Here's the list that I used when I was looking into fast track programs: Fast Track/Accelerated BACC Programs: Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing / Association canadienne des écoles de sciences infirmières (CASN / ACESI) Hope that helps!