Well that’s it, we are complete semester 2 and enjoying a nice little break! I am catching up on working with the military and bringing in a little extra spending money for the summer.
I’m sure many of you have questions regarding the admissions process, so I thought I would touch base on that briefly this week. One of the first requirements for any potential RDPN student is to call in to an information session held over the phone. The RDPN program typically has 2 intakes a year, with the information sessions running every so often throughout the intake process. From there, you can decide whether or not the program is right for you, they give lots of information on the program, the outline, information on the administrators, costs, and schedule for that particular intake.
After the information session, if you choose to apply, admissions is on a first-come first-served basis, so if you want to get in for that particular intake, it is a good idea to line up your ducks and submit the required documents to one of the program registrars as soon as possible. The process may take a few weeks as the two registrars have to process everything as it comes it, and then they prioritize the applications based on the final document being submitted.
At that point, they will also connect you in with Stenberg’s financial aid officer, who will help you through the process of applying for student loans, she was fantastic as I had never done student loans prior, she made the whole process seamless and I was approved within days of submitting my documents to the national student loan centre. One of the nice things about government student loans is that they are based on need rather than traditional bank loans of debt-servicing ratios, this allows even low-income earners to apply for and be approved for higher amounts, it remains interest and payment free until you complete your studies.
Once you are accepted, you are sent an enrolment package with lots more paperwork: the contract, information, student policies, they eventually send you a pre-learning guide along with medical forms to be resubmitted. Those forms include TB skin tests, first aid, handbook, and more. Expect to be printing, signing, and scanning lots of forms!
When it comes to online learning, it certainly takes lots of motivation. Don’t let anyone you know who might be in the program fool you, it is a full-time commitment, with 5 courses plus clinical after semester 1. While the later semesters in year 2 have a slightly less course load, 4 versus 5 courses, we anticipate the challenging nature of each course to increase as we enter our second year. In the meantime, we are all focusing on preparing for semester 3. I think having the mantra of setting yourself for hard work and a heavy course load will make the transition into school much smoother. I know some of my classmates had quite the shock when they realized how much work and reading was actually involved, so hopefully after reading this everyone will be more prepared for that aspect.
Good luck!
