Education (assistance required)

It really depends on what you want to do and how long you want to take to get into the BNUR.

You can do a bridging program. Contact the uni's you want to go to, as they will usually have their own program, which will usually guarante you entry, upon completion, into any degree they offer. These bridging programs are usually a semester, so if they have a semester 2 intake, you could be doing nursing by sem 2 this year. Bridging programs are free so there will be no costs involved other than pens, papers and maybe a calculator if you need one.

Then there is the diploma- 18 to 24 months full time depending on the provider. The diploma is not a walk in the park. It literally is like a fulltime job- requiring campus attendance 5 days a week from 8:30am until 4:30pm. RPL for the diploma will usually slot you into the second year- but you have already spent longer than that year you miss just to get the diploma. Doing the diploma will put you as doing the BNUR in about 2 years time. Some places offer vet-help, which is like a loan that you pay fortnightly, others you have to pay each semester costs upfront (and it's not cheap).

You can also look on places such as HUBBARDS (google it) that offer at your own pace english, maths and science subjects that people use to rise their ATAR/rank. This is effectively year 11 and 12 squashed into one subject, so it may take a bit of time (I did this to get Bio requirements- this one can get expensive, as it's pay up front, and because it's year 11 and 12 squashed into the one subject, it may take a bit of time to do it.

Bridging programs are usually all the same- it's a basic english/communications course and a maths course.

The maths course you do will depend on the required level of maths for nursing which the uni feels you need. It isn't anything hard (they save that for the future engineer students). I did it at the start of last year, but I just couldn't accept my offer for nursing with them, as the local campus I was doin the bridging course on didn't do nursing. I would have had to travel 2 hours each way to get to the campus that does. Maths will be basic fractions, graphs, cos, tan, sin and percentages. So everything you would have just done in high school.

English/comms will show you how to write an essay, which is different to the high school way, what markers want to see in an assignment, so in uni when you have to do an assignment/essay you will get the best marks possible, how to research correctly, time managment and some uni's include a careers councellor who will also set an assignment on the career you want and then go through that with you so your path is clear.

If the uni feels that a science is needed for entry (it's a package, so if you do one, you usually have to do all that they feel you need for nursing), you will also do a science.

When I did it the majority of students were fresh out of year 12 and just hadn't gotten the score they needed. It honestly is simple content- just about everyone I know finished the subjects with HD's. If you do it for entry to a different uni you do the bridging with, it still counts just as much. I did mine with USQ but applied at Griffith (where I got an early offer too, so shows it really does help lift it higher to where you are a 'desirable' student).

One thing I did forget- the Diploma does not guarante you entry to BNUR. You still have to apply and hope. Most people do get in with it, but some don't. You may also find that for the diploma, you might have to apply with the same company that you apply for uni with, and that their ATAR marks for entry are the same as the BNUR. Check it out to see. I know it's something new for QLD now and have seen a few others mention the same thing for another state (can't remember which one, which is why I said 'might')

Good Luck!!!

No no. Not saying that. Doing the diploma, anywhere, won't mean you are guaranted entry. But it has helped many get in.

It was the briding course I was talking about- most uni's have it that if you do it through them, once you complete it they will guarante you entry into any of the degrees you offer.

STAT can get you in- it does give your scores a nice boost too, but I didn't go that route. I also didn't like the idea of hinging my uni dreams on the one test.