AgathaKitty

Hi db123, Thanks for the questions! I will try to answer them since the application process at UBC is still fresh in my mind: "Does anyone know of any scholarships that are available to nursing students? Most of the UBC scholarships I have found only accept students straight out of high school. Does the school of nursing offer any entrance scholarships?" According to the briefing we got in the interview, there doesn't seem to be many scholarships for Nursing students in their first year. I think they mentioned a couple, solely based on academic marks. Since the Nursing program at UBC requires 60 or so university credits, the usual entrance scholarships from high school won't apply. Most students (me included) will be taking out a student loan or other loan of some kind to pay for schooling. "Is there enough time to have a part-time job while in school?" The program is 5 days a week, 9-4, and is notoriously intensive. I'm guessing some people pull it off, but it will probably be super difficult. UBC has the ESN program (Employed student nurse) though. "What is the cost of living on and off campus at UBC? I know this varies a lot depending where you live. I would be looking in the lower range." Vancouver is an expensive city to live in. Student housing is an affordable option (rents starting at $600 for shared and up), but do check with UBC's housing website. There's lots of information there. If you want to live near UBC, that area of the city is very expensive. Well, all of Vancouver is very expensive (around 1000+ for a one bedroom). Things are cheaper outside the city (in cities outside Vancouver, like Burnaby, Surrey or New Westminster), but you'll pay with commuting time. The good thing is that UBC has a transit pass system, so commuting costs will be reduced. But the transit is very packed with people in any case. "Does anyone have any advice for preparing for MMIs? I have fairly high grades and quite a bit of volunteer experience, but am terrified about the MMIs!" There is some information about MMIs and in threads here as well (including this one). You can't really prepare for it. The questions are based on ethics and your values, and how you think and approach a difficult situation. There is no right or wrong answer. I would practice talking out a problem for 6 minutes straight! Hope that helps!

Yup, they're sending them now. I just got my acceptance email as well! Wishing everyone here gets good news this week....

Congrats on completing the interview! I'm sure you all did great. Everyone I met there seemed super nice, smart, and really top-notch. Everyone seemed really perfect, but in a cool way, if you know what I mean. Luckily for me I barely remember my answers or even the questions, which means I'm really not worrying about it. There is nothing we can do now but wait. I know the numbers say that some of us will get rejected, but making it this far is pretty impressive. They had 500+ applicants, quite a bit more than last year, so the competition was very high. I can't help but think these things are a matter of luck & circumstance. Good luck to everyone!

To those still waiting: there may be still hope. I was waiting for my rejection but to my surprise today I was actually contacted for an interview to be held on April 11. I was stunned, because I didn't think I had a chance. They gave me a deadline to reply of April 7, so there might be a chance that someone else might withdraw from the process? My stats: I'm older than most of you, in my thirties, 2 arts degrees (undergrad and grad). A few years of working in non-profits and teaching ESL. SPCA volunteer. I think my average from my undergrad was around 84% or 85%. I'm also a writer and have things published here and there. I run a podcast and a blog. No health care experience, so imagine my surprise when I got contacted for an interview! To those who didn't make it to the next round: I'm so sorry. You are worthy. You are good enough. These selections are really subjective and might depend on if they selection committee had a good day or bad day. Or they might be wanting a select number of people to fill in some gaps. Try again, try with other schools. Try again next year. If you want to be a nurse you can be one. Don't despair. Much love to you.

I'm guessing they are done with the initial emails. We likely won't hear anything until those selected for interviews decline it for some reason, and new openings come up. Sad to say.

The out-of-province is definitely a good theory, and it seems like it judging from the offers people have got so far. The interviews are earlier than last year (which started around April 15th I think), so travel arrangements will have to be made, and very quickly too. But gennrichard applied from BC and got an interview, so may be that theory is out of the window? I know it's a waste of time speculating, but I can't seem to help it. Is it alphabetical? Best to worst? Science background? Yup, stressful times. For those that got interviews, did they give you a date to confirm the interview by? Just curious.

Congrats to those that have gotten interviews so far! Good luck to the rest of us that are still waiting. Sigh, I've been checking my email every few minutes, ha ha. But judging from last year's UBC thread, it can take them a while to get to all of us. Stay positive

Hi @amychow0, I was just browsing last year's UBC thread and it looks like interview dates were mid April, from the 15th to 19th. I imagine it will be around the same dates this year. People started getting invites around March 20-something.

Thanks for this. This is a great reminder! I've also been inspired to change my avatar from the generic kitty one. Being new to AN, I struggle with being too careful about information I share and wanting to reveal myself more. For example, I struggled with using my own pet as the avatar but then thought it might be too identifying! Balance comes with practice, I guess.

As a pre-nursing student just starting to apply to nursing school, I would like to say thanks to all those who have given their thoughts and opinions about the realities of nursing. All of the posts have been enlightening and worthwhile. It may sound weird, but I am very thankful for the messages about the negative aspects of nursing, because to me it's better to know how bad it can get. I need to go into this with my eyes fully open. It scares me that some nurses find themselves stuck in office politics or toxic environments, or have to deal with abusive patients and disrespectful employers. But it's better to know instead of being all roses and sunshine about it. I also appreciate the positive aspects that posters wrote about this career. But the truth is that I don't think I will know if I'm made to be a great nurse who can deal with the terrible things that may come my way until I actually I'm in that job. I'm trying to prepare myself by reading nursing school survival guides, talking to nurses and reading lots in this forum, but there is so much learning you can do about a career, you know? I'm in my thirties and have considered nursing for a long while. It's been thrilling and scary to decide to go back to school for nursing, after many years of office work. Of course I want to go into nursing for all the cliche reasons - wanting to make a difference, wanting to help people. But I like the practical aspects of the career - shift work, the job prospects (which I've gathered from this forum are imaginary - sigh), the good salary (in Canada it's still good, I think). But I also really want to be able to learn a profession, and extremely useful skills (as opposed to learning an excel spreadsheet!). So, thanks.

It's great to hear that people are submitting or are working on their supplementals! I just submitted mine today - after reading and rereading my answers, and it's good to have that done. Re: job description - yes, I put short description of my duties and responsibilities, sinch this is like the job experience part of the resume. I doubt they expect anything lengthy since there is the word count limit. I have what might be a silly question. I'm currently taking A&P classes from TRU and UBC is requesting "official interim transcripts." Does anyone know what that might be? I emailed TRU and they said that they only produce "official transcripts" which will only show the two courses as being "in progress" (so it won't have the grades I have so far). I know there's something that I can upload myself - should I be uploading a statement of assignment marks (from the TRU online portal)? Or is this something different altogether? I feel like I'm missing something. I just don't want to have my application not count because I didn't submit something I'm supposed to. I did email UBC to ask and they will get back to me in a few days. But I wanted to check if anyone had any idea about this? Anyways - the Jan 30 deadline is coming up! Good luck to all who have applied and are working on their application!

Hi futurenursecanada - here is UBC's GPA page: http://students.arts.ubc.ca/advising/academic-performance/gpa-equivalency UBC uses percentages instead of GPA - word is that last year's average was 78%, but that just means there are still some students admitted with grades below and some above that. I'm not sure what your school uses as a GPA scale, but do you know the percentage? With regards to the supplementary portion, I wouldn't worry about what you don't have, but rather emphasize the things that you do have. For sure health related activities are a huge bonus, but I'm guessing the UBC just wants to know that you are passionate, committed, involved in the community in some way and have good reasons to go into nursing. But I'm still only working on my on application, so I'm really not an expert! Thoughts: Working with others - I'm thinking they want to know if you have worked in a team environment on a project, or if you have experience working with the public? Not sure though. Hobbies/interest - I would be honest and describe what your interests are. They probably want to know more about you.

Thanks for the info and support veggie_girl! Some questions, if you don't mind my asking.... Do you and your cohorts have time to relax a little on the weekend or evenings? Or do you need to study all the time? I read the program has clinicals starting in the first or second month - is that in a hospital setting or other community settings, or does it vary? Do they try to place you nearer to where you live or is it random? [sorry for all the questions!] @aje8 - Vancouver is pretty expensive, especially if you don't want to live on campus. UBC is in a more expensive side of town, and rents are pretty up there; one bedrooms are usually $1000+ per month, bachelor suites maybe around $800-ish. You might need to have roommates to make things work. I live outside the city, which is a little more affordable. But it takes me an hour to come to downtown where I work.

@skittles12, I'm applying to BCIT but am not sure for August or January (depends if I can finish up my prerequisites on time). I'm considering Douglas but it's a longer program. I've started the UBC supplemental and it's going very slowly. 300 words seems a lot for each section. I'm going to try to work really hard on it though. Do others have thoughts about the supplemental? It seems like people with healthcare volunteer experience have the best shot, but from what I've read in the forums it counts that your supplemental is well-written and shows your true interest/self as well.

Hello all, I'm applying to the 2014 UBC intake as well, and it's great to be in your company. I'm in my thirties, so this will be a second career for me (if I get into a school, that is). Anyway, I've been reading the forum and have been inspired by so many of your stories. I'm not too sure how good my chances are, but I'm hoping for the best. Looking forward to sharing this journey with you!