I need some clarity in this sea of unis, course options and decision making!!

Nice to meet you, we are in the same soup. What I would advice is that you go first start with external studies, it could be RN or EN. At the moment I am at Charles Darwin doing my RN externally; they also have EN externally. I am only doing a couple of units at the moment and will do some summer classes as well so hopefully I should finish my course in about 3.5 years. Pilbara Tafe in WA also offers EN externally. Please get back to me if you want some clarifications.

THanks for the reply guys. I would really like to finish my studies asap so the f/t is probably my best option. I like the idea of extenal studies but fear that i will lose motivation as I have done external studies b4 and found it really hard to be accountable. Is there good support with the CDU? Do you do your placements in your home state or do you have to travel to certain locations? How many hours should i be prepared to do placements in 1st, 2nd and 3rd year roughly? How many hours/days did you spend at uni doing it f/t schizo? I want to do the bare minimum to acheave results so i would be looking at only doing crucial training at uni and doing as much from home as i can :)

Hi Mumma04,

I'm planning on starting a B. of Nursing next year (although writing up my PCA in the hopes of getting into sem 2 this year). Being 12 years since high school, do you havea current rank at all or are you doing the STAT to gain a rank?

It's been 9 years since I was in high school, and started looking at my options early this year. To get into nursing, I didn't have a rank and didn't want to sit the STAT. I'm now enrolled with USQ for a bridging course they do (fantastic by the way!!). This is one semester and at successful completion, gives you a rank to use at QTAC. CQU also offer a similar course called WIST (for women only). If you do find you need additional studies to get in, check out CQU and their WIST course. Successful completion is guaranteed entry (whether 50% or 100%) into their b. of nursing. Both WIST and their b. of nursing are offered by distance too :) I'm sorta wishing I had of done WIST instead of TPP with USQ (USQ also offers guaranteed entry into a degree of choice, but don't do nursing by distance and my closest campus that offers nursing is 2.5 hours away).

Good luck

Thanks Long Haul, yes i am from Vic, I thought there was a shortage of nurses in this country? Why are they making it so hard to get into a course and begin!!? I am a little confused due to all the different states and how things are done, it should be the same for all states you would think? My closest uni is about 1 hour away but to get in is very competetive and although i have a ENTER score from when i finished VCE, i dont think it would be much good to the score they are asking for to get a place. So i have to enter as a mature age student and that means either having recogisition of prior learning, or have completed some of the units to the course..i think? I still think there must be another way but i have not looked any further as of yet. I am starting to think Victoria is the hardest state to get in to study, so dont think of moving lol

Hey mumma04, I am a 3rd year nursing student full time, I do not have any kids but try to work as close to full time as I can......and sometimes it can be tough! I study in Melbourne, la trobe, and in 1 st year we just did a week placement at the end of the year so that was pretty manageable, you have quite lot of new material to grasp so they just kinda focus on that for the 1st year, like you I hadn't studied for quite some time, I am 31 this year. In 2 nd year we did 10 weeks placement, one was 4 weeks straight, but all were around melbourne, however some people in my class were spread abit further and more rural. This year we will have 11 weeks placement, there is alot of work to do and sometimes it can feel a little overwhelming when you are in the middle of it but it really doesn't feel like I have been studying almost 3 years and will be a paid nurse next year! It is such a rewarding choice of career to me already and I have barely started. A lot of lectures these days are filmed and put on line so you don,t need to be there in person, just watch them when you can. Good luck!