Transfer to Canada

HandsOffMySteth · Jan 13, 2020

You will first need to check the school in Canada you wish to transfer to and see if they will take your credits. It would appear that many will, however they may require some other courses before you can apply to a nursing school.

Sarah.anna · Jan 13, 2020

Yeah, I need to do a lot more research myself. But thought I would reach out here too if any one had personal experience to help clarify.

Thanks for your input!

Silverdragon102, BSN · Jan 13, 2020

Moved to the International Nursing forum

Nurse training will be expensive in Canada. Better to do your training where you are now then look at registration in Canada, especially if you have plans later on to return back to the US

Lucydog14 · Jan 29, 2020

Be aware that you need a BSN to work in Canada.

Fiona59 · Jan 29, 2020

Most Canadian universities charge foreign students roughly double the fees that they charge Canadian students.

You also need to factor in how you are going to support yourself during those four years. Often student visas have limits to the number of hours of paid employment the student can do

Sarah.anna · Jan 30, 2020

So then it would be easier to just do it all here first

Lucydog14 · Jan 30, 2020

Yes it would be easier to do your BSN there.

CYXD · Mar 25, 2020

Hi Sarah,

I hope my post finds you well. I did my RN prerequisite courses at a college in Cali and I was able to get into the BScN program in Canada. It's possible to get into the nursing program here but not easy. I can tell you my experience and what I did to get into the the program. Everything I say please take with a grain of salt as program requirements may have changed since I applied/graduated. Also note that I am Canadian and when I applied it was back in 2005.

First thing first is do your research. Check out the the schools that you are interested in and see what their requirements are as not all BScN program requirements are the same. The best thing to do is to reach out to the schools and enquire more information for international students.

Make sure you have good grades in biology, Chemistry, mathematics, and english and a high GPA. It's very competitive here. I entered with a 3.8 GPA overall and I yet still I faced adversities. I believe the GPA requirement is 3.0 or mid B average.

**Very Important** Keep/obtain copies of your course outlines/description for each class you've completed in college. The BScN programs will ask for this. Make sure it mentions "university transferable" somewhere on the course outline. That statement is very important. I'm assuming you completed your RN pre-reqs at a community college too? Well let me tell you something Canada. I've learned that the academic level between college and university are not viewed equally in Canada. The terms "college" and "university" are not used interchangeably in Canada like in the US. It's not like the states where you can do 2 years at a community college and than transfer into a UC or state university. That doesn't work in Canada and that is where the confusion and misunderstanding may occur when Canadian universities are reviewing your transcripts. I had a tough time convincing the nursing programs that my college courses were equivalent and transferable to a university. I received a lot of rejection letters because of this and because they didn't read my course outline/description properly. Even though I got a lot of no's, there were a few schools that were interested in me and luckily, I was able to transfer all my pre-req courses as well which lessen my course load during Year 1 & 2 of the program.

The nursing program is expensive in Canada and given that you are a foreigner, it will be more expensive for you. If money isn't an issue for you then apply to a canadian nursing program. When applying for university you apply through https://www.ouac.on.ca/ouac-105/
You will submit all your documents through this site or through mail to OUAC. Make sure you submit all your transcripts from all colleges including courses from your CNA program. You probably will need to submit 2 or more copies of each transcripts. You can double check with OUAC if you apply.

Honestly, I think you are better off doing the RN program in the US (unless you're Canadian). You'll have less debt to pay back. You probably have access to financial aid and/or grants that can assist with your tuition. You don't have to worry about getting a student visa, passport, finding a place to stay, moving expense, plane ticket, etc. No headache trying to explain your classes because they're transferable to UC and CSU or any college in the US. You have the option to do the ADN or BSN program and you have a lot more choices of schools to choose from as well. What ever path you pick, I wish you all the best. If you have any questions, feel free to DM me.

Seona, BSN, RN · Apr 29, 2020

It's been a while this post was on... but "transfer" that you meant is obviously school to school, which can be university to university, college to college, or college to university (easier than university to college, I heard).

First of all, as above members, the tuition won't be easy to pay because there are 75% or more for international students, although Canada is one country so there is usually no difference from each province resident.

...and there are health insurance and other fees, et cetera, et cetera..., which all eventually cost twice more than Canadians.

Except, nursing (either BSN or LPN) is quite high demanding program, waitlists might be hectic, but residents in the province (supposed to, or usually) have priority.

Better acceptance than other health related majors maybe... cuz as far as I know medical, pharmacy, dental schools accept only PRs (Permanent Residents) and citizens for a loooooong time (only 11 medical schools? I think... similar numbers in other majors).

Nursing used to be open, but any health relative program should accept (pretty much every college is like that, so I guess some kind of policies?) the current residents of the province first, so nursing also, would prefer accept their provincial residents first, as last decades.

Anyway, the problem is, as CYXD has mentioned above, if they (whichever school that you contact) are going to accept your previous credits.

There is RPL (or PLAR... abbreviation for credit transfer/challenge/evaluation programs; Recognition of Prior Learning used by universities and colleges... although each school can have some difference, but mostly similar... as long as you pay the application fee first. There is additional fees and these sort of policies are in US schools, too)

For example, internationally, CGFNS does that kind of job, except it's a third party company to do works for college/university/boards (of nursing or other health professions) that don't have enough human resources to do internally. (needs experts in RPL / credentiality major or certificates, of course)

The schools won't reply you for the details of whether they accept your credits or not, until they get your application first then process the rest... in the middle, "international credentiality" will be requested.

I met some students who gave up on transferring "credits" to enter other major programs, (a US university to a Canadian college) and I even heard a Canadian college graduate was asked to submit "translated documents" to prove her prerequisite courses.

... she was not from Quebec, but I guess some far-away college assessors didn't know where Canada is. (well, a long time ago)

A long story short, unless you are determined to do something in Canada, it would be a long journey with process, documents, communications, fees, and whatever might not be worth trying - especially time consuming... I went through CGFNS a couple times, so I think it would be easier if I were dragged by a same town college... that I can visit even sacrificing my time with long line-ups.

Oh, and some programs might ask you for English exam, even if your first language is English. (mostly reading ... since there are less literate students, of course. More like just proving you are qualified to understand their lectures. Very high demanding language scores in some colleges... Sometimes frustrating because I have met people who barely graduated from high school but acceptable into colleges without English literacy because they were born there.)

Anyway, you must research the potential schools first because every school has slightly different policies and procedures, even though all look same outside. (school is school? no way... administrations and student records are different too.)

You need more averaged info and statistics. (It would be nice if there are "Compare Products" buttons on colleges altogether... *sigh*.)

Good luck on your search and adventure.