@Aeternus: I'm assuming your Canadian since you mentioned a hospital in Toronto. I was wondering if you've ever considered working for FNIHB as an option? They always need registered nurses for the First Nation reserve communities. Though, I know it's not for everyone since you can end up in some very remote communities and there's usually no doctors there on a day-to-day basis. Not to mention the cultural differences.

I'm going to be spending most of next year in a remote northern FN community once I start my research and I'm alittle nervous about it even though I know what I'm getting myself into.

@Oracle
It's a bit of both, actually. According to what they've told us, it'll be like this: each student gets a number from 1 to however many students there are. Whoever has number 1 gets to choose first, the person with no. 2 gets to choose second, etc. Then, next term, when it comes to choosing another clinical placement, it'll be in reverse order, so whoever chose last before will get to choose first and whoever got number 1 will choose last. Make sense? ^^

@Mizzou
...[silence]...

Are you a mind reader or something? XD To tell you the truth, I've been wanting to look into working in remote communities but had no idea how. My school has a program that offers international and Canadian outpost placements over the summer but, unfortunately, I need to work during the summer or else I won't have enough money to get myself through the school year so I can't really do it without putting myself into debt (which is one of my main goals).

So just a few questions, if you don't mind! What's FNIHB? What will you be doing?

I also need to figure out how much experience I'll need. I do realize that nurses who work in remote communities have a large degree of independence since there are so few doctors around; but that would mean working alone. If I start as a new graduate, that would be rather difficult since I would have relatively little experience to go off of with no one to really rely on if I need help or advice. That part scares me ^^

@Aeternus: FNIHB is the First Nation and Inuit Health Branch. Your other question I'll answer by PM. I don't want to include all the specifics here. I'll also send you the website about it. I suspect you might need alittle more experience than just doing it straight out of school but at least it will give you an idea of what you would need.

hey there guys! finally came here!

hmm.. let me introduce myself in terms of my school life.

i'm called nicC (nik-si) by my schoolmates at school and just nicole for my teachers.

anyway, i'm a senior highschool student in the philippines and after a few months, will finally be in college! i can't wait!

hmm.. my favorite subjects are math (i find myself good at it), english (the teacher's really great and i love the subject) and music (since this is my ultimate forte)

though.. this year, i really find it hard in physics, rather than chemistry from the previous year. at least i get the hang a bit now.

well, nice to meet you guys! and to those to i already know... HI

The more you get into physics, the more complicated, abstract, and theoretical it gets and it gets difficult FAST. I found it the same with chemistry, though I didn't take senior-level physics. I quit physics after I finished grade 11 (physics was one of my mose hated subjects...I found it boring...)

Anyway, I went to my clinical "lottery" this morning and I ended up choosing an inpatient psychiatry unit. Should prove to be interesting XD

I remember taking physics in high school. It was actually my blow-off class my senior year and was really easy. I think I could have failed the final and I still would have gotten an A (I had lots of extra credit). My other classes were all AP classes and I had a college-level class so I was more worried about those.

But I'm glad I never took physics in college. It was the weed-out class for the engineering students. Several of my friends were in it and they really struggled with it.

Not in college, still like reading, math, art, music, and P.E. I'm in a Enhanced Learning Facility, and I apparently have music smarts. I can't stand a day without music. I'm listening to some now, actually.

lol. same thing with the music, shadowlove.

anyway, about the physics thing, for me... it is the most difficult subject i've encountered so far, though my grade is higher than what i expected.

we just received our grades a week before, and i'm quite happy with it .

my lowest is 'filipino' our native language. O_O wow... so embarassing. oh well, still have months to fix my grade

I actually really liked physics, because it explains how and why everything in our world works the way it does.

Physics is a great precursor to studying engineering, so I guess that's another reason I liked it.

Modern Physics was the only really weird class. That's where we learned about Einstein's Theory of Relativity and delved into Quantum Physics. Those topics are very @_@

well, my parents were chemical engineers, and they liked chemistry more.

that might explain why i like chem better

though, you are right how physics explains a lot of things

Hmm...I very much preferred biology out of the three main branches of science (bio, chem, and physics). While I didn't care so much for ecology, I loved learning about the human body, like the systems and genetics (though we didn't get TOO indepth with genetics, which can get extremely complex). It's interesting how one kink in the system can wreak havoc on the body...and then it's interesting to learn how the body tries to cope with it and what can be done medically when the body can't handle it.

And having parents who like something doesn't necessarily mean you'll like it XD My friend's parents are both heavily into chemistry but my friend hates science in general, LOL. She ended up really loving business and politics. Even within my own family, we're all different. My brother ended up as a mechanical engineer, my sister ended up in business, and I ended up in nursing

I would have to agree with Aeternus, having parents who are interest in one subject doesn't mean the kids are going to like it. Both of my parents majored in Chemistry and I knew pretty quick that I did not want to do that. I was good at chemistry but didn't want to work in a lab.

cool aeternus. i guess you're right. anyway, i prefer business more. i'll be taking that up for college, after music

anyway, i would never see myself in any medical field, cause my number one fear is blood. that's why bio seems a bit weird and not right for me :|

So I've started my third year of a PhD and so far it's not too bad, probably because I don't have any courses to take. *does a little happy dance* Though after next week, I might change my mind.

But on the negative side, no classes means more time to slack off. I do have several deadlines to meet and they are creeping up alot faster than I like. Is it just me or does the time go by alot faster the longer you're in school?

This is such an interesting club. I've been meaning to open up a thread asking about the educational systems in different countries. Because I know that ours is quite different from many that I've heard about.

I'm a uni student (started my eighth year now, which isn't that uncommon for language students that began their studies before 2005). I'm going to have to do my BA and my MA this year, since the BA became compulsory, 'cause I didn't graduate before the deadline. The system just changed a few years back, making the bachelor degree compulsory for all (it wasn't before) and putting time limits on the degrees (so unfair, because the work load is so different for a person taking two languages from a person studying business and marketing), and there was a transation period for students that started before 2005, and it ended this summer. I meant to graduate this summer, but then I got really ill and couldn't finish my thesis, so here I am.

I study English and I've got minors in youth work and Intercultural Communication Studies. My uni is actually great, since we can choose which minors we take freely, and no application needed. Some have entrance exams, though (languages, and such), and obviously we can't study medicine as a minor. The uni system is quite different here than many other countries. First of all, it's free (well, the student union fee is 85 euro a year, but it's not tuition even though it's compulsory), so even people like me (who don't have rich parents) get to educate ourselfes. Second, when we apply, we don't apply to a uni, we apply to study a subject (at a certain uni). And third, we get a student allowance from the government, a small sum of money while we study (it's enough to live on, if you mind your money very carefully).

A very long babble, again... Thanks for your patience in reading this.

@Mae
Wow, your tuition is free? That's amazing. Here, average undergraduate tuition is about $5,000-6,000 CAD per year, although I've heard of tuitions as high as $20,000 CAD. On top of that, we also have student union fees, book costs, living costs (if you live away from home like I do), etc. It's a pain.

We also have government support for those who struggle financially, but you have to apply for it. Where I am, it's called OSAP, which gives out interest-free student loans, I believe, and grants, too, for those who can get them based on their status (for example, my friend gets a grant because she comes from a farming family).

It's weird, though, that you have a time limit. How long is it? Or does it depend on what you're taking?

@Aeternus: I wouldn't have been able to attend uni if we had any tuition or if the government didn't support us financially. I'm not that good of a student (even though I did manage to get into the uni with the best English department in Finland, where only 8,5% of the applicants got in in my year, but I had one of the lowest accepted scores in the entrance exam). So I really do like the system that far.

The aimed time for a master's here is now five years, but it's possible to go over that by two years, if you get ill or pregnant or have to go do your military duty. I'm against that, because it's the same for all. For example languages take time (our language skills are supposed to be equvalent to a native's by graduation), and the work load is so very different than in business. Example: for the same amount of credits, a business student has to read two books and take an exam, and a language student has to attend lectures (one a week) and seminars (one a week) for four months, do their homework each week (about 50 pages of reading), write a ten-page essay (with at least two reference books beyond the reading material in the course) and take an exam. That's just not very fair... The government is pushing to, at the same time, graduate fast, have many children and get extensive work experience.

If you don't graduate in time, I don't think there are serious consequences yet, it's just that those that do graduate in five years, get some sort of student loan subventions. So basically that means that those that are likely to graduate fast, and are also likely to get high paid jobs, get all the monetary benefits and those that study subjects that lead to lower-paid jobs, get punished because the subjects take time...

If you managed to miss it in my rant, I'm very passionate about this issue...

Although it sounds unfair, I can see why the government would want to do that. If they're paying for all your tuitions, then it gets expensive if people are taking more time than necessary to get their degree. Here, people are motivated to finish as soon as possible because then they won't have to pay tuition for extra years - in other words, the longer it takes, the more they have to pay.

And, hey, don't think that people in other programs get off without readings and course assignments, too

What I meant with the unfair bit was that the time limits are the same for all. It sounds very equal, but it's not. And the business and languages are just opposite ends of the spectrum. Of course other people have to work for their courses, but the examples are from real life. Plus, it does mean something that the average study time for a business student has long been that five years, but for a language student, it's eight years. It's not that language students are lazy or something, it's just that there aren't enough resources to arrange all the courses every year (since it's not that commercial, and therefore not worth investing in), and we have to spend time abroad for our studies and all.

Yikes, five years for a Master's degree. I can't imagine spending that much time on one degree. I'm really hoping to get through my PhD in four otherwise I'm going to have trouble finding funding.

My university experience has been with schools in the United States and in Canada. There's really no set time limit for degrees. It's more of a recommended time frame: 4 for Bachelors, 1-2 for Masters, it depends on the program, and 4 for PhD. If you take too long, it can get harder to find ways to pay for it other than working and the tuition in the States isn't cheap. Tuition in Canada isn't too bad comparatively speaking.