Volunteer and Work Experiences

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Just wondering what volunteer and work exeperiences are preferred by nursing schools admissions?

I applied to UBC Nursing this year and I didn't get in. My supplmental was the one that was lacking and I want to make it stronger for future.

My supplmental included

- Tutoring a child with autism

- Mentorship volunteer for a child with autism

- Canucks Autism Network volunteer

- University club vice president

- Summercamp Counsellor

I just want to know what more I can do for this and I am just really frustrated right now.

It is true that I don't have any experiences directly at a hospital, but is that really needed?

Any suggestion is appreciated!

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Not exactly sure about UBC, but here in Ontario, marks are way more important than volunteer or related experiences. Some school even needs 85+ average.

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

I don't think that they really care about volunteer experience.Grades are what they are really looking at.

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Volunteer work basically gives them an idea if you can follow through on a commitment. If you are reliable and dependable. It also gives them a reference that didn't teach or pay you.

Ultimately, it's your academic record that is the deciding factor. I've seen paramedics turned down for nursing school with students from Grade 12 being accepted. Made no sense at the time to anybody involved.

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I'm from BC and I knew so many amazing students who didn't make it into the program and I have no idea why. These were straight A students, top of their classes, presidents of clubs, with TONS of volunteer work. I have no idea what they're looking for at UBC, but I would send an email during the off-season, or try calling or going to an info session.

Did you already have a bachelors degree? Or just 2 years of school? Because that's a huge one.

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Also, how long term were those volunteer commitments? There is a preference for long term, frequent volunteer work.

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The admissions criteria for nursing in the western part of Canada take into consideration volunteer and work experiences. They use some point scale to evaluate and base their decisions since spaces may often be quite limited! Mentoring is great experience to add on and see if you can find a mentor yourself thats a nurse so you will get insight about the nursing profession thereby strengthening your decisions and goals for pursuing nursing!

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