Hi Serena,
I'm also in Mac Nursing first year right now. I was in the same position as you last year, did lots of research and trying to figure out if I can prep for anything at all for September. What I found last year about Ryerson was that from online forums, some students commented that Ryerson didn't really care about your clinical placement choices despite the fact that you're asked to rank the placements based on preference. It might be a lottery system, but I'm not 100% sure how their program is laid out so I can't say too much, that information was just what I found while I was doing research.
As for McMaster, we care about clinical/hands on experience too! You'll get controlled lab times with Standardized Patients (actors who act like patients for simulation) for you to practice your clinical skills before they start you off in the hospital for second year. You'll get a hospital placement during 2nd, 3rd and 4th year.
At the end of first year, there's an "OSCE" (Objective Structured Clinical Examination) to test your skills and make sure you are safe enough to be in the hospital for your placement. So, basically, you don't start HOSPITAL placements until second year but you will get lab times 4 hrs a week + extra lab times.
There's a COMMUNITY placement(Nursing 1K02, as browneyedgirl mentioned), where you go volunteer for a variety of purposes: practice communication skills, gain connections, be involved in the city of Hamilton etc. You can volunteer at one out of so many places, from breakfast programs at high schools to talking to older adults in senior homes, you'll definitely gain a little something out of any of these placements.
For PBL, I'm going to have to disagree with browneyedgirl and tell you I loved PBL this year. It really depends on your luck, whether if you get a good tutor or good classmates or not because those certainly will contribute to your feelings towards PBL. I guess you have to like the materials taught in PBL in order to like the class too. I heard upper year PBL is nothing like first year PBL, but first year was not bad at all!
What I like best about this program? Profs try to integrate what you learn from other classes into their classes so that you're kind of learning the same concept simultaneously with many different angles. The Nursing faculty cares about you! You just have to go talk to them and they'll definitely respond to the best of their abilities.
It will be stressful and overwhelming at times but you'll get used to it and adapt to it. At the end of your first term, you won't even believe that you made it till the end and once you're in Nursing, you WILL start to think like a nurse!
What I like least about the program... Anatomy is hard................. ....You'll stress, you'll get upset, but you'll survive. You'll make lots of friends who will help you along the way.
Preparation wise, get your immunization done etc, but if you're REALLY keen on it, start looking for used nursing books over the summer as soon as your booklist if out. Trust me, you'll save LOTS of money. I remember in the summer last year, I calculated that if I bought all the books on the list new, it would cost about $1400. But I managed to get around it and started looking for books super early and compared the prices and everything, I bought the mandatory books for the last 3 digits of that price.
Another tip to do something over the summer (only if you're extremely bored/have nothing to do) is to review your biology notes, organic chem, exercise science/kinesiology (if you took that in high school). I didn't take exercise science and I regret it because the first day I went to anatomy lecture I was sooooo lost. If you didn't, then don't worry about it too much either because you'll get used to it and it'll come to you VERY quickly! That being said, you probably want to start just learning about the basics of human anatomy, just to get yourself familiar with terms, locations, functions etc. It's a lot, but doing a little is better than none at all.
However, it's completely your choice to do whatever, those are just some tips I wish I had done over my grade 12 summer. DO enjoy your summer and the rest of your high school career! You can never go back to them! Good luck.
