Nursing/Midwifery students (or wannabes LOL)....

Hey Sara, I just read your latest post.
Did you get into the bachelor of Mid in the second round offers? I hope so! But if you didn't, could you just do a few subjects from the BN then swap to BMID next year?

I didn't know that UniSA offered the BMID externally. I applied to get into the BMID at ACU in Brisbane and I got in, but as I have a small bub, live on the Gold Coast, and ACU only offer it fulltime I ended up turning down the offer and resigned myself to the fact that I would have to do the BN and then the Masters of MID at Griffith University on the coast here instead.

How did you go about applying for UniSA?

I'd love to hear from anyone who is currently studying externally through UniSA and how you are finding it . . .

Hi Charli'smumma. Congrats on getting in. Sorry you were unable to take up the offer. I have just started studying nursing externally through UniSA. I've only just started so I cant comment much on it just yet.. But Mother Goose completed her nursing degree through UniSA so I'm sure she will be able to give you some good info. All I can really say is that you are given access to their online learning materials and you use those as well as the texts to study. I applied through SATAC (www.satac.edu.au).

Hi All,

just wanted to share some exciting news. I got a phone call from the Manager of Academic Services at UniSA today and they have offered me a place in Midwifery!!!! They had a couple of places open up and asked if I would like a spot!

I am totally blown away, can't stop smiling, keep pinching myself and so excited. I can accept my place tomorrow through SATAC and enrol straight away in my subjects. I am just so absolutely wrapped. I am now a Student Midwife!

I cannot believe it!!

Congratulations SM I hope you really enjoy the experience:)

Hi girls!

Charli'smumma - Nope have'nt heard anything back from UniSA. Seems as though they might be handing out some leftover places from SM's post!! I hope to be receving one of those calls! :pray: Karina has pretty much told you everything you need to know about applying for BMID through UniSA.

SM - Congratulations!!!! :dance: Good luck with it all!

Hey Sara, oh I hope you get that phonecall, I have my fingers crossed for you! Will you start out doing the BN otherwise?

karina, thankyou for the link for SATAC. I shall have to check it out

Studyingmumma CONGRATULATIONS:clap: Will you be enrolling in the fulltime study load? I'd love for you to keep me posted on how you find juggling the external study and motherhood

Ohhh, I'm definately going to look into doing the BMID through UniSA, it was so heartbreaking for me to turn down my offer with ACU. I'm so glad I found out about it all through this thread. Thanks guys!:)

I am currently a 2nd year nursing student & hope to pick up midwifery when im finished because where im from we dont have a mid course so i decided to do it later on :D

I love the course & those starting this year im sure you will too :) if you need anything just ask :dance:

Congrats to those that have gotten in, and *hope* to those who are still waiting!!

I'm going into 2nd year in just 11 days and am excited and a bit overwhelmed. I've had 5 births this year already and when I am asked what year I'm in, I have to remind myself that I'm a second year and say it proudly ;). I get treated very differently even now and it's a big reminder that in just 2 years, I'll be registered and Real.

Oooh I'm scared of that too, Emma. I start next week though with an intensive workshop. Drug calc test on Thursday morning! Anyhoo, I'll see you on the weekend! ;)

Hi all,

thank you so much for all of your congratulations. I still think I am on a bit of a high after the offer yesterday. I went onto SATAC today as soon as the offer was up and accepted it, so it is now official. I should be able to start enrolling in subjects by Monday and then just have to work out a study plan with one of the program directors. Because all of the subjects that I completed in my nursing degree last year are subjects that the midwifery students did too I should be able to get them transferred to the midwifery degree or get credit for them. So it means I only have the specialist mid subjects and I am trying to get them all spread out over the full three years so that I can allow as much time as possible for my follow throughs and I am aiming to get myself a 3rd year undergraduate position in a hospital if possible!

I just can't wait to get into it now and to start getting my books and everything too. It is all just so thrilling and cannot wait to sink my teeth into the subjects! The best thing too, is that my best friend was accepted into UniSA post graduate midwifery this year so alot of the subjects we will be doing, we will do together which is even better. We have been best friends for about 7 years and fell pregnant and had our boys at the same time, so to be sharing this with her just means the world to me!

charli'smumma - I was studying a 3/4 load last year with my 4 kids, and although hard it has been doable. The only difference with this course will be doing the follow throughs of the pregnant women which may take a bit of juggling but will be so worth it. I found just really wanting it helped me get through the days I felt it was all too hard. Stick to what you want will get you there - you can do it!

Okay, off to do some last minute stuff before bed, thank you again for all of your kind words and I look forward to sharing this time with you all!

Hi All
I haven't posted for a while but just wanted to say to StudyingMumma - congratulations! I'm so pleased for you. I really felt for you when you got the bad news that you hadn't got a place and now it's all worked well anyway!
I've been having a terribly stressful time the last few weeks. I was accepted into the BMid external UniSA course and have spent the last few weeks trying to work out if it is going to be possible for me to do it. I withdrew from the local nursing course because I'm pregnant and they said that I couldn't defer for 12 months for the baby. I've spent the last few weeks talking to all the local hospitals in Tasmania and then talking to heaps of different staff at UniSA trying to see if I will get placements locally and whether I'll be able to complete the follow throughs in Tas. Because of little kids I can't come to Adelaide for placements. It's been a nightmare - heaps of waiting for hospitals to get back to me, getting my hopes up, then getting more bad news. It's been so hard trying to work out what to do. Today I had a bit of good news though - one of the local private hospitals will let me do my first placement there! But of course there're no guarantees that I'll be able to get further placements in Hobart or be able to do my follow throughs here. I think I've found out everything I possibly can now. So now I've just got to decide. Everytime I got bad news I tried to think "oh well, it's for the best, it would have been a lot of work and too expensive/difficult anyway" etc etc but finally now a little bit of good news and I just have to make a decision. So stressful. In my heart I'm so passionate about becoming a midwife that I think I would really regret not doing it even if there are still so many doubts about whether it will come off. Tasmania appears to be pretty backward in this area and I would be the first BMid student here ever. The course starts in a week and I would still need to book flights for the two workshops, organise childcare while I'm away, do the senior first aid certificate, get the police check done etc etc all the while with a large expanding belly and a 2.5 year old to worry about!! Sigh. I think I'll probably just decide to give it a go and try and make it work - everyone at the uni has been so supportive, friendly and flexible.
I hope everyone else about to start studying is enjoying getting ready for the new year. Good luck.
Nina

Hi Nina,

It's tough deciding what to do hey? There is a woman on my course who is from Tas. She actually moved to Adelaide to do the Bmid, of course she doesn't have children so it's much easier for her! I have a contact in Tas who has just finished her Grad Dip, and if her reaction to Bmid students is indicative of Tas's view of Bmid students, well..it doesn't sound like a very supportive environment!!
Good luck with your decision.

hey Studyingmumma, thanks for the advice. And happy student midwifing you lucky thing:) BTW, where are you from? Was it easy for you to find placements locally?
hey Nina, I kinda know how you feel. I've wanted to be a midwife for 12 years and I finally applied to get into the BMid through ACU in Brisbane - AND I GOT IN! i was so excited but then reality started to kick in.
You see, I live a 2 hour train ride away from the Uni, I have a 5 month old bub and when i downloaded the course timetable I found it was very inflexible - I'd be required to go to Uni 5 days a week. And the only thing I had to go for on a friday was a 50minute lecture at 3pm and unfortunately ACU requires you to go to the lectures (they don't publish the notes on the web like most other uni's do).
So I ended up turning the offer down, which was heartbreaking.

I'm actually now looking into applying though UniSA also.

Nina, if you've got the support you need from family etc, then I say GO FOR IT!
And I've got my fingers crossed that you get a spot in one of your local hospitals.

Hello everyone!
I'm new here, I happened on the site looking for info about studying midwifery in Aust. :)
I want to study nursing and midwifery in SA, but I don't know very much about what the difference is between the universities here - I was wondering if anyone who's studied in the undergrad nursing program or the postgrad midwife in SA could tell me a little about their experiences, and which uni they would recommend? I wont be in the state for the open days, so I don't know how to work out which is the better course for me... The Adelaide uni website says it has the most hands-on course, lots of pracs and clinical work even in first year, which sounds really good, but I know that what they write on their websites and what actually happens can be pretty different! Adelaide doesn't offer post-grad in midwifery though, so I would have to transfer to UniSA or Flinders at some point anyway... Maybe someone here has transferred from one of these uni's to another, and they can tell me their thoughts? :pray:
My passions are midwifery and psychology, but the undergrad nursing degree opens both options up to me, gives me the possibility of an income after a short time if I need it, and looks much more flexible, hands on and interesting than the dry, academic psych course, or the rather inflexible (but admittedly tempting) midwife course. I'm a carer for my Mum, so being able to change plans to external study or part time if she gets sick is important to me. I don't know how to choose between the uni's and I really don't just want to guess and once I've got in find out a different one had a much better/more suitable course!!:doh:
Any help from anyone would be SO appreciated!! I hope to be studying in 2009, assuming I can get all my ducks in a row...
Thanks so much :dance:
Sarah:pray:

Hi Sarah,

I did Nursing through UniSA and had few drama's. I studied externally and loved it. Although I do understand the structure has changed since I completed my degree - the duration of placements has changed. When I was studying, it was not that easy to move from external to internal (not sure about the other way) and I don't know if that has improved.
Adelaide Uni has only recently begun to offer the Bachelor of Nursing (pre-registration). I think this is either the first or second year they have offered it. They do have a large clinical component because the way they do it is you spend x number of days at Uni in classes and the rest working in a hospital... at least that was the rumour when they first announced they were offering it. Adelaide Uni has a great reputation for it's medical students so one would hope that nursing students would be of similar calibre... but it is only early days for them and they wouldn't have had any graduates yet to judge by.
The general "rule" between Flinders and UniSA is that Flinders is more clinically minded and UniSA is more academic. Having never studied at Flinders, I can't really comment on that.
If you're interested in doing the double degree for Nursing and Mid, you can do that through UniSA (although it is very difficult to get in). I am not sure if Flinders also offer the double degree.
You are correct that only Flinders and UniSA offer post-grad mid in SA.

You said that Mid doesn't have much felxibility. Keep in mind that if you want to do Mid straight off, you can study it externally through UniSA.

HTH and good luck with your decision!

MG

Hi Sarahseashell

I'm currently doing Nursing through UniSA. With the nursing degree, you only do 3 placements: one 4 week in 2nd year, and two 8 week placements in 3rd year. So you dont do any placements in 1st year at all. To me, the thought of an 8 week placement is a bit unappealing though. but thats just me! One of the placements is aged care, another is surgical and I dont know what the other is.

For midwifery at UniSA, you do actually do placements in 1st year. I know they were doing placements in June, so you do them pretty early on. I understand you can do midwifery there part time if you cant do full time.

hope this info helps.

Hi Karina, Are you doing the nursing via distance ED at Uni SA?

Studying mumma, how is the BMid going? Are you doing a full study load or part time?

spice, yes I am.

I have, however, just applied for one of my local unis as I have decided I want to study on campus now.