Episode #90: 100 Students Want to Be Doctors. 3% Will Make It. Here's What Nobody Tells the Rest with Jason Chu
Most people picture a career college student as someone fresh out of high school looking for a fast path to a job. Jason Chu wants you to think again.
As Director of Operations at AAPS College of Health Sciences and Technology — formerly the Academy of Applied Pharmaceutical Sciences, founded in Toronto in 2003 — Jason works with students who already hold bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, and PhDs. Scientists who went through every academic credential the system offers and still couldn't land a job in the field they trained for. Internationally educated medical doctors who practiced for a decade and arrived in Canada to find their credentials didn't transfer. Food science graduates discovering that there's no job title called "biologist" — but dozens of openings in quality control.
AAPS exists to bridge that gap. In this episode of the EdUp Canada Podcast, Jason walks host Michael Sangster through what that actually looks like: a six-to-eleven-month postgraduate diploma program, industry professionals teaching live curriculum, an alumni network of managing directors and VPs who recruit directly from current cohorts, and career services that starts halfway through the program — because three months in, students are already applying for jobs.
He also tells the stories that stay with him: a PhD student who'd lost all hope, hired within three months of starting. A medical doctor who practiced overseas for a decade, companies lining up before he graduated. And a clear-eyed argument for why the career college sector — misconceptions and all — is doing work Canada can't afford to undervalue.
What to expect
[00:03:00] — "To Bridge That Gap Between Academia and Industry"
[00:05:00] — The Alumni Network That Recruits for You
[00:09:30] — "500 Applicants. 90 to 95% Not What They're Looking For."
[00:13:00] — What Professors Tell Him at University Talks
[00:16:00] — The PhD Who Lost All Hope
[00:18:00] — The Doctor Who Couldn't Start Over
[00:21:00] — "I'll Give You Three Days to Sort This Out"
[00:25:30] — "If You Have a Bad Batch of Tylenol"
Listen to past episodes here:www.edupcanada.ca