The past year has been a big change for me in terms of my academics. I graduated from the University of Waterloo in April 2019 and started my journey to be an MLA/T at the college by the end of September. I had gotten so used to the undergrad life that going into the college I thought it was going to be the same atmosphere and experience… I was wrong. This wasn’t a bad thing, it was just quite a bit of adjusting to do!
University
During my time in UWaterloo, I was taking up to 5 courses per semester some of which had lab components and tutorials with them; there were a lot of assignments and lab reports to look out for those classes. All those classes were also spread out throughout the week and had varying times. In addition to my classes, I was also apart of 3 clubs and volunteered during my free time at the science coffee and donut shop and events at the university. So all those plus trying to balance my part-time job and my hobbies, as you can imagine, my schedule was really hectic.
So when I entered the classroom for my first day at the college, it felt like the first day of high school all over again.
Career College
I should mention that this college I go to is a career/private college. It’s different than your typical Ontario post-secondary school since it’s primarily targetted to those who want to switch careers or those new to Canada. You can think about it as a school focused on continuing education. It’s also different in the way that admissions go, as you talk one-on-one with a representative to see if you’re qualified and enrol in the school rather than through a website like Ontario Colleges and the Ontario Universities’ Application Centre. All I had to do to get in was to show proof of my BSc. and then I was in. A quick and easy process.
Here’s a quick summary of how my program is run (and before COVID hit):
- Classes are Monday to Friday for 4 hours
- We tackle one subject at a time
- For example, we focused on Medical Terminology/Anatomy and Physiology for 4 weeks. We would then have an exam at the end of those 4 weeks before moving onto our next subject: Laboratory Safety and Asepsis
- We have one instructor throughout the whole program (with exception to the one instructor for Student Success at the beginning of the program)
- For 2 hours we would be in the lab practicing what we learned, the other 2 hours would be in the classroom learning theory
- And we were with the same people throughout the whole program (there was initially 20+ of us but it went down to 16)
I just got high school vibes; it was such a different atmosphere compared to the university. It was much more relaxed in a sense. Maybe it was because I decided to give myself a break and just take on a part-time job rather than both a job and volunteer, but regardless it was a much simpler atmosphere. In university, I had gotten so used to the competition, everyone trying their best to shine and to be the very best. Here in the college, it felt like you started off with a fresh plate.
A lot of people in my class had already had a background in the sciences and were either newcomers or were planning on a career change (for example, they were PSW’s (personal support workers) but now wanted to become an MLA/T). There was a good handful that had no background in the sciences at all and had careers such as a graphic designer and a mechanic. As you can see, everyone came from different backgrounds and going into this program really allowed us to have a fresh start since they start you off assuming you have just a basic understanding of the sciences. With such a small class size too, it allowed us all to get to know one another and to help each other out when we had questions or were unsure about anything during our courses.
It was also great having to focus on just one subject at a time rather than 3-5 subjects and being able to talk to the instructor during those class times. I know that in university you also have that opportunity to do so with their profs, but for someone like me who’s super quiet and timid, it’s difficult to go up to a professor who will probably forget who you are if you don’t constantly talk to them. So having an instructor who already knows your name and makes the effort to know you are such important things to me. Yes, I’m still quiet in my class, but I’m comfortable with going up for help when I don’t understand something.
With labs every day it helped me gain confidence in the tests and procedures we were expected to do in the workplace, which is super important considering MLA/Ts are in healthcare. At first, we focused on venipuncture, using a dummy and poking it with real needles for about a week until our instructor felt we were ready to poke each other. It was crazy as most of us felt that we weren’t ready to do so. From there we added more tests and procedures as we were going along with the theory portion of it; we learned at least one new test and procedure per subject.
Here’s what we learned in the lab:
- Clinical Lab: venipuncture and about lab safety and procedures
- Hematology/ Hemostasis/ Immuno-Hematology: erythrocyte sedimentation rates (ESR), hematocrit, separation of plasma and serum, bleeding time, blood grouping, how to make blood smears, differential counts, and red blood cell counts
- Cardiovascular System and ECG: vital signs (such as breathing, pulse, temperature and blood pressure) and how to set up ECG leads
At this point, COVID happened and our studies moved onto Microsoft Teams. It was difficult at first since we left off at Quality Assurance and Lab Math, but then once that subject was finished we got had gotten used to our daily lectures and was able to finish the rest of our subjects (Clinical Chemistry and Urinalysis, Clinical Microbiology, Anatomical Pathology: Histology/ Cytology, Interpersonal Workplace Skills, and Standards of Practice and Ethics). The only thing left for us to do is finish learning how to do clinical chemistry/ urinalysis and clinical microbiology tests/ procedures in the lab, and then apply those things we learned in our 6-week practicum.
Typing this out made me miss all of my classmates, I wish we had the full 10 months together. I really miss being in the classroom and especially miss being in the lab. It’s been hard knowing that our practicum is pushed back, thus making our graduation date further back. I sucks but, we can only stay home and stay safe. It’s been a great 10 months in this program, I would definitely recommend looking into these colleges when you want to switch careers!
I hope this post gives you some insight into my life after university and what it’s been like in my MLA/T program. It’s definitely been a great experience, and I’m so glad that I decided to do this!
Now it’s over to you! How was your school year been? What do you like about your program? Has COVID -19 affected your studies? Feel free to comment down below!
Thanks for reading this far on this very long blog post! I really appreciate it 🙂
Noemi’s Corner 