lolamatopoeia | Nipissing

I woke up this morning to find an Offer of Admission to the BEd program at Nipissing University in my inbox. Uh oh. This is where things get complicated.

I am fully aware that Teacher Education programs in Ontario are ridiculously competitive and notoriously difficult to get into and so to anyone else this would be fantastic news and I don't want to take that for granted - but then I've got New Zealand and the University of Canterbury's Offer dangling in front of me. FUCK. I want to go the NZ for what I see as the experience of a lifetime and take a chance, my one last shot at a dream, but at the same time this is my education we're talking about and I've got to consider if I should go to a school that is known for a quality program or for one that let me in likely partially because I'm an international student (and is thus usually a last resort for wannabe teachers in Ontario who otherwise could not get in here). But I've never even been on a plane before! If I chose to stay that's like choosing to be stuck here in Ontario forever! FUCK fuck fuckity FUCK fuck FUCK FUCK.

Edit: The deadline to accept their Offer is April 17th.

FUCK.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Urghhhhhhhhhh- what an awful choice.

Ummm...good luck??

:( thanks!

I know, right? I even just got a sympathetic message on Facebook from a current teacher who went to Nipissing and congratulated me on getting in. She wrote that she 'had a blast' while she was there and it's the best program, but when I asked her if she would chose it over New Zealand her reaction was 'If I didn't have anything holding me back here I would definitely go to NZ just for the experience, but then again Nipissing is such a great program and has such a great reputation and ... ooh tough choice.' Ak!

Do you want to teach in Ontario? Because from what I understand, Ontario is horribly competitive for teaching positions (unless one of your teachables is French). In that case, it would be better, careerwise, to go to Nipissing, where you would be able to forge connections by volunteering in the schools in the area, making it easier to get on the sub list, and then a teacher position, especially in something very competitive like English. And you could always travel or teach abroad later on.

On the other hand, if you're not planning to teach in Ontario, then Canterbury sounds like an amazing opportunity. It might be even worth it if you *are* planning to start your teaching career in Ontario - do you know their placement rates for new teachers? or years to teaching position?

See, that's the thing - I do want to be able to teach in Ontario eventually but I also want to be able to teach across the provinces and in different countries with as minimal difficulty as possible. I don't necessarily want to teach in Ontario right away though - like stay around where I am and then just slide into a job locally and never stray from the area. I want change, I want something new, and I want it soon and I want to be able to teach and travel at the same time - hence the NZ Teachers College thing - but I don't want it to screw me over in the long run (while it'll definitely be more fun in the short run) because I want to be able to teach and travel as well as possible. I mean, I know that I can't just hop and skip around and expect to get jobs right away, but I would hate to constantly get roadblocked throughout my career just because my degree is from NZ rather than Ontario. I know that may sound minor, but I know that there is a stigma attached to NZ and AUS degrees for Canadian teachers (esp. since there's been a trend where the people who couldn't get in to school here got in over there) and I know that Nipissing's BEd program is very well regarded, even internationally. *sigh* I could still travel to NZ, right?

p.s. any way to find out placement rates for new teachers or years to teaching stats?

You should be able to ask the education departments at the schools for their stats. Much like grad schools, if their stats are any good, they will *probably* keep track of them and tell you. If they don't, that could be a warning sign.

Also, you could ask about the two programs on http://community.livejournal.com/ontario_teacher/ or even on community.livejournal.com/teaching (since vthat comm gets higher traffic).

Is there a big difference in costs in the two programs?

Finally, there's the point that if you want a full-time position within your first year or two, it won't be in Ontario. Alberta or northern Canada would be probably your best bet. So, wherever you go, you won't be stuck in Ontario forever.

Thanks, and I'll definitely post the question in the Teaching community.

The cost difference? Oh yes. That's a HUGE issue. Tudor and I have done spreadsheets comparing the estimated costs for the year, including tuition and all school and living expenses and the figures are (no joke):

Nipissing: $15-18k for the year
New Zealand: $35-39k (!) for the year

Yeah ...

Hi! Well, I know nothing about your situation and am not exactly the best person to give advice - but if it were me, I'd go overseas. Just because it meant I got to go overseas.

Hmm, yeah, maybe put some thought into it! Good luck!

Thanks :). Yeah, I've got only 13 days left to think on it. Lately, I've been leaning most toward the Nipissing offer, even though it's not going to be as life changing and fun as NZ in the short term, in the long term it will mean that I will have more opportunity to travel since the Nipissing degree is recognized in more places and the debt I'll incur with it will be significantly more manageable (Nipissing = $15-18000 total, maximum, for the year, and New Zealand = $35-39000 total debt for the year ... at a time when Teaching jobs are so competitive that I'll likely be waiting at least 2 years or more before I get any sort of full time work). At the same time, *sigh* I need to travel like, now.

Nipissing

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