post-it

The other schools I applied to were Trent, Mac, U of T, and Humber. At Humber I was waitlisted with my fall grades and then they recalculated and accepted me off the waitlist with my winter grades. I cant say what happens with Trent because I was accepted there in February. Mac and U of T had rolling offers, and I wasn't waitlisted or rejected there until the end of June at which point they had my winter grades. So while Western is the only school that sends you an official letter to say they are deferring their admission decision, as long as you hold the prereqs I believe all of those schools wait until they have your winter grades to make their final decision.

If you have > 80% Western defers their admission decision until your winter grades released.

I was in the same situation choosing between schools last year. I chose Western primarily based on the length of the program, and also because of its reputation with employers. After a year in the program I'm not really sure what the right answer is. I am happy that I will be done soon but there has been a lot of disorganization and chaos, and am overall very dissatisfied with the program. It is undergoing some curriculum changes which we were not informed about until after we entered the program. I have looked at the new curriculum for the incoming class next year and the clinical practice has been significantly cut. You basically only get practical experience in the hospital and your final consolidation, wherever you are placed for that. The curriculum is not very well rounded, whereas Trents gives you practical experience in almost every area (with the exception of maternal and mental health which I believe you choose between). If you are looking for clinical practice then Trent is probably your best option.

Hmm yeah I guess I'm not sure! I am surprised they would have expanded since they were having a hard time finding placement spots when they increased from 64 to 96.

As I mentioned in a previous thread, looking at the posts from last year is not reliable. Last year Western found out they had the ability to increase the size of their program from 64 to 96 spaces and this was done between June and July by taking people off the wait list. This year they started out with 96 spaces and this has not changed. I am not trying to be discouraging, I just wanted to provide you with all the info! Best of luck.

I was on the waitlist last year, people started hearing back in June and I was accepted off it in July. However, last year they increased the spaces in the program from 64 to 96 after the waitlist was created so 32 people got off of it. This was a bit of a different situation so I wouldn't necessarily rely on that information or the posts from last years thread.

An awesome book! "The Makings of a Nurse" by Tilda Shalof is also similar and a great read.

No, anything they accept as transfer credits appears on your transcript as pass/fail.

If you are looking for the updated curriculum it is correct on their site now.

When I was accepted to Trent last year I also had four or five transfer credits. It is definetly possible to decrease your courseload, I think I had three transfer credits in the first semester and one or two in other semesters. I looked into trying to shorten the length of the program and it essentially not possible because the courses are only offered in sequential order according to the standard 'compressed' schedule.

I remember from the application process last year it was the same way, so I don't think it has to do with your application. Trent provided lots of info, more then any of the other programs I applied to (Western, U of T, Mac, Humber).

I am currently in the Western program, just finished up first year and starting the summer semester shortly. I was deciding between Western and Trent and ultimately chose Western for the same reason (it was significantly shorter then Trent's). Knowing what I do now, I would have definitely given Trent more thought. With the changes at Western I do not feel like we are getting a well rounded nursing experience since we no longer have a pediatric/maternal health class or placement. We had a long term placement in our first semester this year, but that has been taken out so you will only have sim lab in first semester (which is absolutely nothing like placement). I also don't feel like the Western program challenges critical thinking or prepares you for the NCLEX, so far in the program anyways. Our pharmacology was not specific enough to nursing students, and didn't even include pain medications, cardiac medications (except for those for hypertension), or several other classes of drugs. Everything also just feels very disorganized; our summer semester starts in two weeks and we don't know when or where our community health placements are yet. Considering how much we pay for tuition it often does not feel like we are being treated fairly. I am not saying don't choose Western. The school itself is wonderful, as is London. If I had the choice again I would probably still choose it for the sake of getting into the workforce sooner. The area is not as saturated with new graduate nurses either, to the extent Toronto is, so from what I have heard it is better to try and get a job here. I am just trying to offer the insight that I wish someone could have told me last year, because knowing what I know now I do not feel that I made an informed decision when I chose Western. But, as they say....hindsight is 20/20! I am not sure if that is helpful or not but if you have any other questions, let me know.

the first thing I saw when I was trying to come up with a random username!

Westerns program is 19 months (Fall/Winter/Summer/Fall/Winter) while Trent's is 27 months (Fall/Winter/Summer/Fall/Winter/Summer/Fall). After already having debt from my first degree I wanted to be out working as soon as I could, and it was also two semesters less tuition and living before I have my own pay cheque. Western is also connected to 3 major teaching hospitals (and a bunch of others) so I thought the placements would be good and also my chance of getting a job after graduation. The program also seemed pretty reputable but I am learning through experience its not all its cracked up to be. Western and London are wonderful, and I am very passionate about nursing , but the program and our curriculum are a huge mess. My top choices were actually Mac and U of T and I didn't think I had a shot at Western so I didn't even really consider it until I got accepted of the waitlist during the summer.

One more thing about job prospects, it really depends on how flexible you are. Getting your dream job out of school isn't always possible, especially in some specialities. I think in today's economy you have to be willing to take any job and/or relocate in order to gain some kind of experience and make yourself more marketable. I've heard that after your first job it gets easier to move around.

I am finishing up the first year at Western. I was accepted to the program with an average between 83-84 on my last two years of my undergrad, and my average is about the same now. So yes it is absolutely possible to get a B average. Depending on what type of masters program (for ex. I'm interested in eventually pursuing my Primary Health Care Nurse Practicioners) I think well above a B average is required to competitive, even though they state that as a minimum. As for the intensity of the program, it is definitely heavier then my other undergrad. There is a quite a learning curve in the first semester in adjusting to the pace of the classes, the heavier class schedule, etc. I wouldn't say I have no life but I do focus a lot of time on studying. Now that I am more in the swing of things in terms of the program I am looking for a part-time job. It's kind of a difficult question to answer since how you perceive the difficulty of the program really depends on the person. For example I will spend more time preparing for a test and get a similar grade to someone who works and has only been able to prepare for a day or two. As for breaks, there is fall break which is a Thurs/Fri at the end of October, Christmas break like other schools normally do, a couple weeks between spring and summer depending on when exams fall, and the month of August off. I can't comment on the courses or the setup of the program because it is changing for next yeras intake. I have heard mixed reviews about getting a job as a new grad. Yes there is an aging population and a lot of nurses are set to retire in the next five years. BUT currently I have heard of many positions where nurses have retired and the positions just don't get filled. The hospital I recently did my placement at has part of the unit closed because they cut two full time RNs. They were offered retirement packages and there positions just weren't filled after they left. The bottom line, unfortunately, is money to keep the positions open. I feel that London is probably better in terms of job prospects then Toronto. LHSC employs 3000 nurses, and there are quite a few other smaller hospitals in and around London. The advantage to London is that the only nearby school or school that offers placements here is Western, so you are only competing against Western grads (for the most part). In Toronto there are obviously more nursing positions but there are also new grads from York/UofT/Humber/Ryerson/George Brown/etc. Wherever you are, your final placement is basically full time 'work' so it is really a job interview and your best chances of getting a job after.

I am in the Western Compressed Time Frame program currently. I will agree the program is quite disorganized, although I don't have any other nursing education to compare it to. Our curriculum was changed this year due to a lack of placements, so like the collaborative program, we no longer have a pediatric/family placement or a mental health placement. The mental health placement is replaced with a sim lab and the peds/family placement is replaced with an online modules. Just so other readers are aware, many of the other classes you mentioned are not included in the CTF curriculum anyways. With regards to the NCLEX, I think the problem is much bigger then Western's curriculum. The NCLEX is not geared to the curriculum that Canadian nursing schools have previously taught, and there hasn't been enough time for the schools to adapt to the new test yet. Our profs told us that the pass rate for the CTF students on the NCLEX was 80% which is well above the average and I believe the highest in the country. Unfortunately this data has been published anymore to have a closer look at it. It is also a drop from 99% pass rate on the CRNE, but again I am not sure how much the pass rate for other schools has dropped since the switch to the NCLEX. I can agree that I don't feel my critical thinking is being challenged, with the exception of in placement. The program makes you think in blocks ie. nursing, pathology, pharmacology, microbiology,etc. are all taught in different classes so it is up to you to make the links between the classes in placement. I have read that other schools combine a lot of this info in a class and the students found it overwhelming so Im not sure what the 'right way' is. I have been doing NCLEX questions to help supplement my studying for my classes and hopefully this will also help to prepare me to write the test next year. Hope that gives some potential Western students some more insight into the compressed program.

I was waitlisted originally but got accepted off the waitlist in early June. I'm assuming this is when they got my final transcripts and re-ranked me on the list, since my average was much higher once my winter marks were included.

Thats awesome, congrats!!

ltang62, just thought I would let you know that the new curriculum is posted on the uwo nursing website now (if you haven't already seen it).

My grades definitely improved because of my study habits, but I also had more of an interest in my classes. I knew that in order to get in I had to get essentially everything over 80 in the last two years. If I switched to RPN I was going to essentially lose the first two years of university and all the time and money I spent. I wouldn't get any transfer credits going from university to college. I felt like it was a waste. BUT if I had've had an option to switch to a 4 year BScN and use some of my credits as transfer credits then I probably wouldn't have felt that way. The only school I applied to that required an academic reference letter was U of T. I taught swimming lessons at the pool on campus and I had a prof's kids on more then one occasion. I took her class, met with her on several occasions for school, and sat in the front row. However, I didn't get in to U of T and you don't get to see the reference letter so I can't really say whether or not that worked in my favour. I thought I had a good supplementary app for U of T and McMaster, but I didn't get in to these places so in the end (ironically) it was my grades that got me in. I got accepted at Trent, Humber, and Western.

Hi bubbles3012, Although I am not able to tell you what you should do I can share with you my story as I feel it is very similar to yours. I went to U of G and realized in my second year my science degree would not get me very far and I didn't have a real passion for any of the jobs or education that would come out of it. I didn't have any previous exposure to nursing but as I learned more about it I knew it was perfect for me. I did not have the grades to transfer to a 4 year BScN degree, but if I had have I know I would've gone anywhere to do the program. I applied to several RPN programs and got accepted. I ended up deciding I wanted to finish my undergrad degree having already put two years in. I worked hard to get my grades up so I could apply to second entry programs. I am now finishing up my 1st year in Western's compressed 2 year program. At the time, the decision of where to go and what to do with my education was terrifying. Looking back now I see that there wasn't really a wrong choice as they all would've got me where I needed to go in the end. So my first piece of advice is try not to stress too much! If you switch to a 4 year program now or if you finish your current 4 year degree and then do an accelerated 2 year nursing program you will have 4 more years in total either way. Yes the second entry programs are competitive but if I can do it I promise you can do it! My overall average went from in the high 60s in 2nd year to a 75 by graduation. Most of the second entry programs only look at your last two years or your final year. That being said I did not have the variety of choices in schools that some other people did, but I was just happy to get in. I guess what it comes down to is do you want the guarantee of being in a nursing program now even if you have to sacrifice location, or would you rather work towards a different program with the hopes of having more say in where you are. In terms of time, money, job outcomes, etc. the options are similar. Regardless of when or where you do your BScN make sure it is something you are passionate about rather then just something to get a job. Our 2 year program is very demanding and I know when I get done I still won't have first pick at my dream job. There will always be nursing jobs but as a new grad you don't get to be as picky about the location or specialty. Hope that helps :)

Hi Kissunshine, I am an undergraduate student so unfortunately I'm not able to answer question, but I was curious about your credentials to get an interview with U of T. Would you mind sharing your education/work experience/ undergrad GPA/etc. I am not able to apply for a few years but I have heard these programs are quite competitive so I'm wondering what it takes to get an interview.

Np! They advise against it, however after getting through the first year I intend on starting to work part-time. Lots of other people are also working part time or volunteering. There are definetly times it is more challenging to balance everything since it is much more demanding then your previous undergraduate degree.

Personally, I wouldn't recommend it. The program is very heavy and is especially challenging the second half of each semester when you are in placement for a couple of days a week. I am just finishing up term 2 and most of us are pretty drained. That being said every person is different; I know that I have to go through the content more then others in my class to get a similar grade. In the end I'm sure it is possible but I wouldn't recommend it unless the course is especially important to you. I also briefly remember the lab coordinator saying there was going to be another lab course added specifically for med admin, so it's especially hard to say when there isn't a finalized timetable.