At Douglas College in New Westminster, Canada, Academic Foundations for Potential Nursing Applicants Certificate is offered as a certificate in Health Sciences programme. The programme runs for 1 year, delivered on campus. Teaching is in English. Tuition is CAD 3,600 per total for local students.
At a glance
Degree:Certificate
Field:Health Sciences
Duration: 1 year
Delivery: On Campus
Language: English
Local tuition: CAD 3,600 / total
Information for the 2027/28 academic year · Last reviewed September 2026 ·
Program details
Overview
If you plan on applying to the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) at Douglas College, you will need to first complete the one-year Certificate in Academic Foundations for Potential Nursing Applicants. You'll take 10 university-transferable courses (30 credits) in the sciences and liberal arts that will prepare you for entrance to the BSN program. Acceptance to this program and completion of the required courses does not guarantee admission to the BSN program. Once you have completed the required 30 credits with a minimum grade of C+ in each course, you may apply to the BSN program.
Requirements
Admission Requirements: ENTRY TO THIS CERTIFICATE: the general college admission requirements, plus a minimum grade of B in each of English 12, English Studies 12 or English First Peoples 12; Biology 11 or 12, Life Sciences 11 or Anatomy and Physiology 12; and Foundations of Math 11 or 12. University-transfer coursework in those subject areas can usually stand in. WHAT IT LEADS TO: the certificate is the priority route into the Bachelor of Science in Nursing, but a seat here does not guarantee a BSN seat, and Douglas warns that the BSN is in very high demand and tells applicants to have a second plan. To be eligible for the BSN afterwards you need those 30 university-transfer credits at a cumulative GPA of 2.67 with at least C+ in each — BIOL 1103, BIOL 1203, BIOL 2200, BIOL 2401; ENGL 1130 and a further university-transfer ENGL elective; MATH 1160 or PSYC 2300; 3 credits of university-transfer social science or humanities; and 6 credits of university-transfer electives — inside a two-attempt limit per required course (a W counts as an attempt) with at most two of those courses repeated. Every attempt anywhere counts toward the GPA, transcripts from all previous institutions must come straight to Douglas, and a previous withdrawal from any Canadian nursing programme rules you out. On EducationPlannerBC this entry is listed under the Nursing Academic Foundations name. The programme page carries an international application block. International applicants must also clear Douglas's separately published international entry standard on top of anything listed here: for undergraduate study that is a final-year school average of at least 60 percent (or one of the college's age routes) plus Grade 11 Mathematics at C for most programmes, and for post-degree and post-baccalaureate study a bachelor's degree of at least three years with a cumulative average of at least 60 percent. The international English minimums are TOEFL iBT 83 (writing 21 or better for post-degree and post-baccalaureate credentials), IELTS Academic 6.5 with no band under 6.0 for those same credentials, PTE Academic 56, Duolingo 110, CAEL 60, CLB 8 in each skill, Cambridge CAE 75, Cambridge CPE 60, or EIKEN Grade 1.
Application Details
Start Date:Douglas runs three fifteen-week semesters a year: Fall from September to December, Winter from January to April and Summer from May to August. The programme page lists intakes in Fall (September) and Winter (January). The Fall 2026 semester began on 8 September 2026 and Winter 2027 classes begin on 4 January 2027.
Application Deadline:Douglas publishes college-wide application windows rather than a single date for every programme, and the domestic and international timetables are different. DOMESTIC APPLICANTS apply on EducationPlannerBC. Applications for a semester open about eleven months ahead, at 9:00 a.m. on the first business day of the opening month: 1 October for the following Fall, 1 February for the following Winter. Douglas labels this a limited-enrolment programme, so it sets no single fixed closing date: the round shuts when the intake fills, and the college’s own test is whether the programme still appears in the EducationPlannerBC drop-down list. Applicants are acknowledged in writing about two to three weeks after applying, and qualified applicants are then ranked against the programme’s published criteria. This programme adds its own dated step: Winter 2027 domestic applications are closed and Fall 2027 domestic applications open at 9:00 a.m. on 1 October 2026. INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS follow Douglas’s separate college-wide dates, not the domestic ones: the Fall (September) 2026 intake closed on 31 May 2026, Winter (January) 2027 closes on 30 September 2026, and Summer (May) 2027 closes on 31 January 2027. Limited-enrolment programmes can fill before those dates and open-enrolment ones last only while seats do, so Douglas advises applying early enough to leave room for a study-permit application. Read from the programme page and the college deadline pages on 6 September 2026; Douglas had not yet published Summer 2027 domestic closing dates.
