What I Would Do Differently If I Started Nursing School Again in Canada

Looking back now, there are a few things I wish I had done differently.

I've been an RPN for about eight years. I work at Sunnybrook, one of the larger hospitals in Toronto, and lately I've been sitting with an RN bridging application I'm not yet qualified to submit. That process has a way of making you look back. Not with regret, exactly. More like the quiet, slightly uncomfortable clarity you get when you finally see something for what it was.

So here's what I'd tell myself, if I could go back.

I'd Take English Seriously Before Anything Else

This one stings a little to write.

When I started my RPN program at 26, my English was functional. Conversational. Good enough to get through a day. But nursing school doesn't run on conversational English — it runs on dense, technical, academically written textbooks. And I wasn't ready for that.

I spent most of the program relying on notes summarized by a classmate rather than reading the source material myself. There were essays I couldn't have gotten through without my girlfriend at the time — now my wife — stepping in to help with the writing. I passed. But I also missed a lot. Concepts I had to piece together later through clinical experience, rather than actually understanding them in school.

That gap is part of why, years later, my grades aren't where they need to be to move forward.

If I were starting over, I'd spend serious time — six months, a year if needed — getting to the point where I could sit down with a nursing textbook and actually read it. Not translate it. Read it. English in healthcare education isn't just a language barrier. It's an access barrier.

I'd Skip the Pre-Health Program

I did a one-year Pre-Health Sciences program before my RPN. Honest reason: I was nervous about sitting in an English-language university classroom and not being able to keep up. Pre-health felt like a safer entry point.

What I didn't expect was how far below my level it would be. I'd already completed two years of nursing school in Korea. The biology and chemistry were review. The math started with basic arithmetic and barely reached middle school level by the time the year ended. I sat through twelve months of that, paying tuition, waiting to actually start.

If you have the prerequisites — or close to them — skip it. Not every path needs a warm-up act, and some warm-up acts just waste your time.

I Would Have Figured Out the Money Before I Enrolled

Working while studying is something a lot of immigrant students in Canada just do. It's not a choice in the way people sometimes frame it — it's a reality.

I had family support, but even with that, the numbers didn't work without picking up work on the side. Waiting tables, moving furniture, whatever was available. At 25, 26 — also in a relationship, trying to be present for someone who mattered to me — the time and energy that went into staying afloat was real.

The problem wasn't working. The problem was that financial stress became the filter through which I made academic decisions. I'd decide a subject was "good enough" and redirect my energy toward earning more instead of pushing for higher marks. When you're worried about next month's rent, perfecting your pharmacology grade feels abstract.

I don't regret surviving. But I wish I'd figured out the financial picture more deliberately before I enrolled — saved more, looked into bursaries and grants for newcomers and internationally educated students, mapped out exactly what I needed per month. Even a small buffer changes how your brain operates in the classroom.

I'd Find My People Early — and Protect That Group

This is the one thing I got right, and I got it almost by accident.

Early in the program, I fell in with a group of classmates who studied together, ate together, and got through the hard weeks together. That group carried me in more ways than I can fully explain. When I missed something in class, someone had it. When I was overwhelmed, there was always someone who'd sat in the same chair the week before.

One of those friends stood beside me as my best man on my wedding day. That tells you most of what you need to know.

A lot of students — especially those new to Canada, working, or managing a relationship while studying — tend to isolate out of necessity or habit. I'd push back on that instinct. The network you build in nursing school isn't just about notes and study sessions. It's about having people who understand exactly what you're carrying, because they're carrying it too.

Find those people early. Show up for them. Let them show up for you.

I'd Stop Treating Grades as a Ceiling Instead of a Floor

My relationship with grades was transactional. Pass the course, move on. If I was already passing, I saw no reason to push further.

The problem with that mindset is that it didn't just affect my GPA — it affected how much I actually learned. And grades matter more than I thought they would. Not just for the piece of paper, but for what comes after. RN bridging programs look at your academic record and make real decisions based on it.

I know that now. I'm sitting on the other side of an application I can't submit yet.

I'm not saying everyone needs to be a straight-A student. But there's a real difference between understanding something deeply and understanding it just well enough to pass. Eight years into clinical practice, I can feel that difference. And I feel it even more now.

One Last Thing

Nursing school in Canada is hard for reasons that go beyond the coursework. If you're an immigrant, if English isn't your first language, if you're working to support yourself and still trying to show up for the people in your life — you're already doing something most people don't fully appreciate.

Going through it imperfectly isn't failure. It's just the reality of going through it.

But if you're still at the beginning, with the chance to do a few things differently? Take the time on English. Sort out the finances before you start. Skip the pre-health if you don't need it. And when you find people who feel like your people — don't let that go.

That last one, I'd tell myself twice.

What's one thing you wish you'd known before starting nursing school? Drop it in the comments — I'd genuinely like to hear it.