Diploma in Practical Nursing is a diploma in Nursing programme offered by Mohawk College in Hamilton, Canada. The programme runs for 16 months, delivered on campus. Teaching is in English. Tuition for international students is CAD 9,780 per semester (CAD 1,695 per semester for local students).
At a glance
Degree:Diploma
Field:Nursing
Duration: 16 months
Delivery: On Campus
Language: English
Local tuition: CAD 1,695 / semester
International tuition: CAD 9,780 / semester
Information for the 2027/28 academic year · Last reviewed September 2026 ·
Program details
Overview
Become a Registered Practical Nurse (RPN) and pursue an exciting health care career that offers diverse opportunities. Program Highlights Collaborative learning environment where you and your peers will experience simulated and real-life opportunities in state-of-the-art labs.Complete the program in 16 consecutive months and have a variety of academic pathways for further education and training.The PN Program is a hybrid program to support study-life balance, with both online courses and in-person courses. Theory courses have mandatory in-person midterm and final exams regardless of delivery mode. All lab-based courses are in-person and attendance is mandatory.Professional practice courses (clinical) are in-person at health care agencies. Shifts may be scheduled during the week or on weekends. Semester 1 is two 7hr shifts per week, Semester 2 and 3 is one 12hr shift per week, and Semester 4 is 40 hrs per week for the final 7 weeks of the Semester (days, nights, weekend shifts).Students choose their own timetable "block" each Semester, and courses can potentially be scheduled in the morning, afternoon, or evening. See "Program of studies" tab for more details on specific courses in each Semester.Preplacement RequirementsStudents are not required to obtain preplacement requirements, such as CPR training, immunizations, and police checks, as a condition of acceptance. However, students are required to obtain preplacement requirements before they are permitted to participate in clinical practice in semester two. Failure to meet these requirements may impact a student's ability to meet the criteria required to graduate. Please see the requirements listed under the Experiential Learning tab or visit the Preplacement site for more information. The Practical Nurse Program at Mohawk College is approved by the College of Nurses of Ontario. Current graduates from this program are eligible to apply for registration as a Registered Practical Nurse in Ontario. What you'll learnInteract with faculty members who provide structure and act as facilitators through consultation, assisting with group collaborative activities and providing feedback.Acquire the professional knowledge, skills, accountability and responsibility for nursing practice through curriculum that is grounded in the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) RPN Entry-to-Practice Competencies. Program LengthFull-time program over 16 calendar months (continuous over 4 semesters).
Requirements
Admission Requirements: Mohawk marks Practical Nursing as a competitive program and as a late-release program, so applying by the equal consideration date matters: 1 February for the September start, 1 June for January and 1 October for May.
ACADEMIC ENTRY (the same list for domestic and international applicants): an OSSD or its equivalent - Mohawk Academic Upgrading or a GED counts - and within it Grade 12 English at the C or U level or equivalent; Grade 11 or 12 Mathematics at the C, M or U level, with M or U preferred; and two Grade 11 or 12 sciences at the C or U level drawn from biology, chemistry and physics. Mohawk suggests a cumulative average of about 85 to 88 per cent across those required courses to be competitive - that is guidance, not a published cut-off. Mohawk also publishes a mature-applicant route for people without the school credits.
ENGLISH, where it is not your first language: this program sets its own scores, higher than Mohawk's general diploma table - IELTS Academic 6.5 overall with no band under 6.0; or TOEFL iBT 83 (paper-based 560); or CAEL 70 with no sub-test under 60; or PTE Academic 60 overall with at least 60 in both writing and speaking; or Duolingo 115-120 with no band under 105; or completion of level 8 of Mohawk's General Arts and Science - English for Academic Purposes (478).
PLACEMENT REQUIREMENTS: Mohawk is explicit that pre-placement items such as CPR certification, immunisations and a police record check are NOT a condition of being accepted. They are required before you may start clinical practice in the second semester, and not having them can stop you graduating. Clinical shifts run in person at health-care sites and can fall on weekdays, evenings or weekends.
Application Details
Start Date:Starts Mohawk lists on this program’s own page, checked 6 September 2026. Domestic applicants: September 2026 at Institute for Applied Health Sciences at McMaster (IH); January 2027 at Institute for Applied Health Sciences at McMaster (IH); May 2027 at Institute for Applied Health Sciences at McMaster (IH). International applicants: May, September, January intakes. Mohawk runs a Fall term from September, a Winter term from January and a Spring/Summer term from May; not every program runs every term, and the seat status shown beside a start (open, waitlist, closed) moves as intakes fill.
Application Deadline:This program’s own page prints the equal consideration date, so the date below is the one Mohawk states for it.
DOMESTIC APPLICANTS (Canadian citizens and permanent residents) apply through ontariocolleges.ca. Equal consideration date: 1 February for a September start; 1 June for a January start; 1 October for a May start. Applications that reach Ontario Colleges by then are read together in the first round of offers. Applying afterwards is still allowed, but remaining seats go first-come, first-served, and a competitive program is usually full by that point. Where a program draws more qualified applicants than it has seats, Mohawk ranks them on the average of their highest senior-level final grades in the required courses, and offers go to Ontario permanent residents first, then residents of other Canadian provinces and territories, then international applicants. Mohawk flags this as a late-release program, meaning its offers go out later than the general schedule rather than from the usual first-round date.
INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS (citizens of another country without Canadian permanent residence) do not use the equal consideration dates. They apply through the OCAS International Application Service, which sets a separate deadline for each intake rather than one annual date; the current list is on Mohawk’s international apply page. For the January 2027 intake, applications opened in February 2026 and close in November 2026. Files arriving after a deadline are judged on remaining program capacity, visa status and study-permit processing time for the applicant’s region, and Mohawk states it may cap applications or impose deadlines by region. The CAD 100 application fee is non-refundable and covers up to two program choices starting in the same August-to-July academic year.
