I want to be a midwife, but no idea where to start, or even if I can :(

It has been my ambition for a while now to be a midwife. I went back to school this year as an adult student to complete my VCE, and I have just finished year 11 :dance: I am in the process of re-enrolling and choosing my year 12 subjects for next year, but I'm not sure what to choose. After I started looking at uni sites etc, I'm feeling really nervous that I am not going to get a score high enough to study midwifery :( Doing a science subject will be hopeless for me, as will maths. I'm quite good at English, so I'll definately be doing that. I was also thinking of doing Psychology, Health & Human Development and Classical Studies.

Does anyone know if I will be able to do a midwifery course (maybe a combined nursing course?) with subjects like that? Or any uni's whose prerequisites are not as stringent? OR anyone who did midwifery and wasn't the brightest tool in the shed when it came to maths/science?

TIA ladies :)

I did Biology and Chemistry in Year12. I did the lowest English (am science, maths person not an english history person). I started Nursing and once I was a registered Nurse then went on and did my midwifery. I wouldn't describe myself as the brightest tool in the shed. I was very very average but as I have gotton older I think I would do so much better if I went back to school. My intentions were always to do Nursing only to do midwifery. When I started training to be a midwife you had to be a registered nurse where as now some places do offer dirct entry midwifery which means you don't have to do nursing first.
I would seriously consider doing a science subject but stick to an easy one like Biology and avoid Physics and Chemistry as they are much harder. Although they are pre-requirements for uni its not essential and you can do bridging course when you start uni to catch up so to speak so not doing a science subject wont ruin your chances of getting a placement.
There are a number of ways you can do midwifery depending on how quick you want to do it. Also you don't always have to have Yr12 to get into uni. I am not sure what mature age is now. I think its come down the age it might be 20 now not 21.
Is there a uni near you that offers the dirct entry midwifery? I don't know much about this but I do know most places do not offer this. They might offer it with nursing as a double degree.
If your after a way to earn money whilst your studying then enrolled Nursing would be one option as you get paid to do it, you cement the foundations of nursing however after your qualified you would then have to do registered nursing and then midwifery so its the long way around so to speak. The other options would be to start your bachelor of nursing at uni and once finished then do midwifery or do the double degree that would mean you would be a midwife and a registered nurse once you finish or do the direct entry midwifery which is a harder course to get into and it might mean moving depending on where you live to study it.
Best of luck if thats what you want to do you will get there.

Thanks for the advice Emmy! You've given me a lot to think about lol. I will look into doing Biol, but I still don't think I'm 'smart' enough for it, I think I'll just try to get near perfect scores in my other subjects lol. Enrolled nursing sounds like an intersting option, may look into that a bit more...I don't mind going the long way round, just so long as I get there ;)

Biology is not as science-like as other maths/science subjects. Unless the curriculum has changed a great deal it's mostly cell studies, genetics, DNA and evolution. It's not like chemistry where you have to wrap your head around things - it's more a memory subject - if you can remember what's what you will get it!

I got fairly average (30-35) scores in all my subjects (PhysEd, Further Maths, English, Psychology, Indonesian, Biology, Chemistry) - for a ballpark figure. Psych and Biology were my two 10% subjects. Most of those subjects the scaling is the same - except for Chem which, with a Raw score of 19 - was still my lowest subject; and Indonesian which ended up being my highest (scaled to 37). And as I did 3 years of VCE and a seventh subject Chemistry wasn't counted.

Unless university states a pre-requisite - take the subjects you are comfortable with. I know girls that failed biology but got high 40's in HHD (health & human). PhysEd is fascinating but a really tough subject to comprehend a lot of the body processes - should be a science not arts/humanities ;) In the end, most uni's have relatively low ENTER expectation for nursing because it's in the 'Australia must have' band.

I think it Victoria you will find the only dual degree course is at LaTrobe Bundoora, otherwise most of them do nursing and then you have the direct midwifery option with ACU or Monash ... think maybe deakin have a grad dip but that's your post-grad option obviously.

Dont know if this helped at all but Good Luck!!!

Yeah, you'd be able to get in. I don't think UniSA have any pre-req's for nursing or mid. However, a basic class in Biology will help you with Uni. Many Uni's now offer undergrad mid. but nursing and then doing mid is def an option. You can even do combined nursing/mid straight off.

Don't be put off by Uni either. I often tell people that it isn't so much HARD to study but a lot of work (I'm a nurse).

HTH and good luck!

MG

Thanks for all your help/advice girls. After a quick look around the web, I found out that although most uni's do a combined nursing/midwifery course, there are some that offer straight midwifery. ACU (Australian Catholic University) offers a three-year full time Bachelor of Midwifery, with a cut-off ENTER of 75.50, which I am very confident I can attain. And the only pre-reqs listed were a 30 or more in Units 3 & 4 English, which again, I am pretty sure I can manage. Yay, I feel so relieved, I thought I'd start looking around and see stuff everywhere telling me I had to do Further Maths and Chem etc etc :dance: Can't wait to finish up my VCE and get cracking.

Sounds wonderful PumpkinZulu. It can be such a relief and help if you know where you want to go/achieve.

I've just applied for Nursing (in QLD) and I think the only pre-requisite was a Sound Acheivement in English! I am no way a smart person (tend to remember irrelevent things rather than the important!) but I keep telling myself, as do others, that I'm plenty clever enough to do it!

Don't doubt yourself! You can do it!

Entry pathways
That is the pathway for Monash Mid (which is what i am starting next year) basic maths and English. The others do up your score if you have them, but i don't think they are necessary.

Also, at their open day, they say that if you don't get in to the course first time around, you can enroll in just one or 2 of the first year subjects, and if you do well in them, are a lot more likely to get an offer the following year. Although doing this you have to pay the full price to do just the single subjects, but you get the credit for them when you get into the course anyway.

Goodluck :D

Was just having a little look on Google and came across this thread and thought I might be able to help ;)

I am studying Mid at ACU this year (first year) along with a GF. We both applied as mature age students. We sat the STAT test late last year. My GF only completed year 10 about 8 years ago and she still got in with no other study history so you definatly have a chance.

As somebody else said, the other option is to study a few units on their own and use them as an entry pathway.

Edit: Just realised I have been a member for over 2 years and this is my first post