cw3421

Completed Trent Compressed BScN program - when enrolled: Sept 2013 - workload: Overall, pretty easy. Most fast-track students managed a part time job throughout at least the first 12 months; beyond that depended on the individual. Heaviest semesters were semester 4 (pharmacology requires a LOT of study time, depending on your background) and 5 (depending on whether you enter with the correct transfer credit) - learning style: Semesters 1-5 are all lecture-based with tutorials alongside clinical placements. Many courses will utilize a group presentation/project in tutorials for part of the course grade. All tutorials are run by professors/course instructors. Earlier semesters, you'll take courses along with the first year collaborative students but later on, you'll be in courses with upper year students and/or just the compressed track students. Honestly found the program to be pretty easy, except for pharm and acute care nursing. Some courses are total jokes and some are so poorly run, even the professors don't know what's going on. - placements: Most placements are in the Peterborough region. Hospital placements usually at Peterborough Regional Health Centre; other options include the hospitals in Lindsay and Cobourg. You get two 300-hr consolidation placements where you get to request where you want and be as general or specific as you want (e.g. I requested and got a specific unit at a specific hospital for consolidation). Critical care placements (ED, ICU) requires taking advanced pharm & patho in third year, which requires passing patho and pharm with ~75-80%. - entering the profession: Nursing theory is basically garbage, never gets used in the real working world. Some of the courses are total garbage. I didn't once review any course material for the NCLEX (program was in the middle of the CRNE->NCLEX transition when I was there) nor when preparing for interviews (used NCLEX review stuff instead). Labs teach skills, skills are practiced in clinical placements. Some knowledge/information is more useful than others, depending on what area you're placed in for clinicals, consolidation, and where you interview/end up working. Overall, the program didn't really prepare me, but you make do with what you get and fill in the gaps along the way via self-learning - anything insightful: Trent is super easy to get high marks for grad school. Profs are mostly nice and helpful, some are more hippy/"out there"/weird, some I downright wonder how they got a job teaching. Peterborough is pretty boring. Campus is nice looking, lots of greenery, river running through campus. PM me if you want more information.

Hey cli074, I can't find the group on Facebook. Is the name spelled correctly and the group privacy settings correct (i.e. set to "open" or "closed")? I'd love to connect with my future classmates! Thanks!

Been a silent observer for a while now and I guess I should contribute. I also got an interview for the Nipissing SPP program! I really only applied to it because it's based in Toronto and I live there but otherwise, I haven't heard anything about it. It's a brand new program with the first class having just graduated this past April so no one really knows much about it. I'm hoping that I won't need to attend Nipissing at all so right now, I've been lazy preparing for the interview and researching about the program. A little about myself, I'm a male who just graduated with an honours BA from McMaster in Sociology. My cumulative GPA is a B-, last two year GPA is around a B (took a letter of permission course so I can't really calculate this), and final year GPA is a B. I applied to McMaster, Queen's, Western, Toronto, Trent, Nipissing, and Ottawa - all second-entry. Screwed up the application to Ottawa (missed the deadline to send in documents because I applied 6 days before the deadline), accepted to Trent, interview at Nipissing, waitlist at Queen's, waiting to hear back from Mac, Western, Toronto. Congrats to everyone who's already been accepted/know where they're going and good luck to all those still waiting for responses!