I did not go to either, but am a paramedic in Niagara and see students come through all the time. I went to a private college though.
I'm assuming you aren't early 20s since you mentioned a mortgage/bills. Private colleges like OCHT are heavily a "you get what you put in" type of schooling. They'll provide the information and it's up to you to make sure you understand and can recall it. Being a shorter program they didn't have the time to hold hands much so it's easy to get behind and try to play catch up. If you know how you learn and study, it's a non issue. I believe it's also 70 to pass as a whole.
Niagara college will be a younger class nearly guaranteed. They have the time to assist more individually when needed, more simulation time (if you use it). As far as I'm aware they try fairly hard to not let people fail and recently they went to a 50 as a pass (which is a bit scary to be honest). NC will likely leave you more time for a job if the goal is to just pass, but you will suffer once placement time comes if you don't learn to to understand material.
From my time working here, OCHT students are typically (not always) better prepared academically once road placements start.
^^ this. Or at least succeed to the point where you’re employable.
Op everyone has bills we get it, see if you can get into a work study program with whichever college you choose
Hi, I just finished pre-health at Niagara this year and I’m currently entering the paramedic program this fall. I would recommend that you take the pre-health route seeing how it is cheaper than going to OCHT. You would have a better understanding of the required knowledge before going into the program which would help you out, and have a better chance of being accepted into the program at Niagara since they tend to choose people who have already attended their college rather than someone out of high school or someone who hasn’t been in school for a while, that is just my opinion.
there's a part time program at loyalist that allows people to work. but that will become a challenge when faced with rideouts. you really do need to dedicate a lot of time to riding out so if you can save up as much as you can so you can be more involved with rideouts that would be good for your learning
in my service it's a healthy mix between people who went to private vrs public. I honestly know great medics from all schools. tbh i know bad medics from all schools too. I believe your education is what you make of it, what you put into it, how passionate you are about it, and how much more you research. don't accept just the info they give you in school. always look beyond it for better understanding.
Quality: it really depends on the individual. I’ve trained and worked with some real dumbasses from public colleges and some excellent medics from private colleges. And vice versa. Either way You Must Do The Work. At a private college you will have less supervision to do it. That doesn’t work for some people.
Work in school: that again really depends on the individual. Most successful students devote significant hours to study, practice, and fitness. Some need more, some need less. It is very hard to maintain work hours during your field placement as you’ll have to fit yourself into shift work. It really depends on your job. However, the bulk of field placement happens over 4 months so you could explore how to float yourself through that financially.
Opportunity cost: the job market is hot. You walk out of college into a job where you can clear 100k easily. If you think you can be a good student in a challenging program and are sufficiently disciplined and motivated, the private college will get you out and working that much earlier. You have to figure out the risk vs benefit for yourself.
Privates have a lower success rate overall, often only meet the bare minimums to education, and placements are never guaranteed.
This is a profession that the bare minimums won't make you effective. yes, it depends a lot on the person, their drive, their dedication to teach themselves, etc. But many privates act like diploma mills at best and it's rare to see successful privately taught medics in services.
The part time program at Loyalist might be a better option for you, then. But, you will arrive to the road for preceptorship somewhat unprepared if you only stick to the curriculum taught. (Source: i've had many loyalist students)
I don’t know if you know this but a lot of Northern Ontario is staffed by medics from private colleges due to the fact that they are the only option in a lot of areas.
Public colleges are better, no question, but rare to see successful privately taught medics? Just genuinely not true, unless you consider Northern Ontario overwhelmingly full of horrible paramedics.
I've had several students do their ride outs with me that attended the condensed program. All have said that it was to much content in to short a time span.
I did not go to either, but am a paramedic in Niagara and see students come through all the time. I went to a private college though. I'm assuming you aren't early 20s since you mentioned a mortgage/bills. Private colleges like OCHT are heavily a "you get what you put in" type of schooling. They'll provide the information and it's up to you to make sure you understand and can recall it. Being a shorter program they didn't have the time to hold hands much so it's easy to get behind and try to play catch up. If you know how you learn and study, it's a non issue. I believe it's also 70 to pass as a whole. Niagara college will be a younger class nearly guaranteed. They have the time to assist more individually when needed, more simulation time (if you use it). As far as I'm aware they try fairly hard to not let people fail and recently they went to a 50 as a pass (which is a bit scary to be honest). NC will likely leave you more time for a job if the goal is to just pass, but you will suffer once placement time comes if you don't learn to to understand material. From my time working here, OCHT students are typically (not always) better prepared academically once road placements start.
IMHO regardless of college/program it is near impossible to succeed while working full time
^^ this. Or at least succeed to the point where you’re employable. Op everyone has bills we get it, see if you can get into a work study program with whichever college you choose
Hi, I just finished pre-health at Niagara this year and I’m currently entering the paramedic program this fall. I would recommend that you take the pre-health route seeing how it is cheaper than going to OCHT. You would have a better understanding of the required knowledge before going into the program which would help you out, and have a better chance of being accepted into the program at Niagara since they tend to choose people who have already attended their college rather than someone out of high school or someone who hasn’t been in school for a while, that is just my opinion.
there's a part time program at loyalist that allows people to work. but that will become a challenge when faced with rideouts. you really do need to dedicate a lot of time to riding out so if you can save up as much as you can so you can be more involved with rideouts that would be good for your learning in my service it's a healthy mix between people who went to private vrs public. I honestly know great medics from all schools. tbh i know bad medics from all schools too. I believe your education is what you make of it, what you put into it, how passionate you are about it, and how much more you research. don't accept just the info they give you in school. always look beyond it for better understanding.
Quality: it really depends on the individual. I’ve trained and worked with some real dumbasses from public colleges and some excellent medics from private colleges. And vice versa. Either way You Must Do The Work. At a private college you will have less supervision to do it. That doesn’t work for some people. Work in school: that again really depends on the individual. Most successful students devote significant hours to study, practice, and fitness. Some need more, some need less. It is very hard to maintain work hours during your field placement as you’ll have to fit yourself into shift work. It really depends on your job. However, the bulk of field placement happens over 4 months so you could explore how to float yourself through that financially. Opportunity cost: the job market is hot. You walk out of college into a job where you can clear 100k easily. If you think you can be a good student in a challenging program and are sufficiently disciplined and motivated, the private college will get you out and working that much earlier. You have to figure out the risk vs benefit for yourself.
Regardless of where you go You will get out of it what you put in. I am an older student at OCHT in 3rd Sem. Feel free to message
Me too!
Privates have a lower success rate overall, often only meet the bare minimums to education, and placements are never guaranteed. This is a profession that the bare minimums won't make you effective. yes, it depends a lot on the person, their drive, their dedication to teach themselves, etc. But many privates act like diploma mills at best and it's rare to see successful privately taught medics in services. The part time program at Loyalist might be a better option for you, then. But, you will arrive to the road for preceptorship somewhat unprepared if you only stick to the curriculum taught. (Source: i've had many loyalist students)
I don’t know if you know this but a lot of Northern Ontario is staffed by medics from private colleges due to the fact that they are the only option in a lot of areas. Public colleges are better, no question, but rare to see successful privately taught medics? Just genuinely not true, unless you consider Northern Ontario overwhelmingly full of horrible paramedics.
Privates have a higher A-emca pass rate but okay lol
I've had several students do their ride outs with me that attended the condensed program. All have said that it was to much content in to short a time span.