What's the best university to go in Melbourne for a Bachelor of Nursing?

[Voltman.N]

Hey guys,

I'm considering starting a Bachelor of Nursing in semester 2, 2016.

I would be based in Melbourne and was just wondering, which universities do you guys reckon are the best for nursing?

Anyone studying nursing and from Victoria?

Any thoughts from anyone?

Thanks,
Voltman.N

 

[Benjamin]

I don't know of anyone that frequents the forum who studies nursing at the moment - my advice would be to attend the Open Uni Day if you can (most have them in 1st semester) and discuss with the students who are volunteering why you should apply to their university. There is no better information than straight from the students themselves.

I don't think there is likely to be a great deal of variability in nursing degree quality either as I'm fairly sure they're all accredited.. I'm not 100% sure about this though so it'd be worthwhile looking into it.

 

[Voltman.N]

I don't think there is likely to be a great deal of variability in nursing degree quality either as I'm fairly sure they're all accredited.. I'm not 100% sure about this though so it'd be worthwhile looking into it.

I have heard that some universities have affiliations with certain hospitals and this helps enormously in regards to getting graduate jobs after completing a Bachelors in Nursing. Everyone says La Trobe University is the best and on their website it says that they are the first nursing school in Australia and that they have high proportion of their graduates finding work in the field but the statistics go back to 2012 only and I'm not sure how biased the website is. One problem I have with ACU is that they're not very good at answering emails. Though Monash/ACU would be closest most convenient, location wise but I might not mind moving places if I got an offer from La Trobe Uni. Guess I will have to just weigh the pros and cons.

 

[Benjamin]

I have heard that some universities have affiliations with certain hospitals and this helps enormously in regards to getting graduate jobs after completing a Bachelors in Nursing.

This is largely true with regard to nursing - the hospital you do the majority of your training at is where you will most likely be hired out of university ... if you were a good student. This is mostly because it means they aren't hiring a freshly qualified nurse with no insight into their skills beyond a piece of paper but rather hiring someone whose strengths and weaknesses are already known to them.

Much like with medicine, try and choose a university in a region where you would like to live, study and work.

Otherwise, the information you seek is not going to be readily provided by the university - all they will do is sing praises about their course. You will need to talk directly to students who are about to graduate or who have recently graduated in order to get that insight (GO TO THE OPEN DAYS).

 

[Voltman.N]

This is largely true with regard to nursing - the hospital you do the majority of your training at is where you will most likely be hired out of university ... if you were a good student. This is mostly because it means they aren't hiring a freshly qualified nurse with no insight into their skills beyond a piece of paper but rather hiring someone whose strengths and weaknesses are already known to them.

Much like with medicine, try and choose a university in a region where you would like to live, study and work.

Otherwise, the information you seek is not going to be readily provided by the university - all they will do is sing praises about their course. You will need to talk directly to students who are about to graduate or who have recently graduated in order to get that insight (GO TO THE OPEN DAYS).

So, the university you should be choosing is the one closest to where I would like to live, study and work?
Typically, would their placements in hospitals be closer from the university than other universities (I would assume so but have never formally checked this)?

Are you sure there are many graduates or past students in Open Days? I have attended a few Open Days but I don't think it's always past students (e.g. there might be nurses talking about work in the field who didn't go to university or others who studied from other institutions). Is this a fair/correct analysis or am I wrong (I could be)? I will go to the one's happening next year. Hopefully, I can make it to all of them or the ones I want to attend before accepting my offer.

 

[Benjamin]

So, the university you should be choosing is the one closest to where I would like to live, study and work?

Yes. Remember that you will be spending 4 years at this place and that university does not take up your entire life - it is important to be somewhere you want to be and doing things that you want to do.

So, the university you should be choosing is the one closest to where I would like to live, study and work?
Typically, would their placements in hospitals be closer from the university than other universities (I would assume so but have never formally checked this)?

Typically yes, the university will have hospitals/care facilities that are in close proximity to their main campus. Alternatively, the university will be directly affiliated with specific hospitals - it is important to note though that it is VERY DIFFICULT to assess how good a place is to work/have placement from the outside and as such the absolute best option you have is talking to people that either work there or have had placements there.... i.e. GO TO THE OPEN DAY.

Are you sure there are many graduates or past students in Open Days?

No, but you have a far better chance of getting in contact with them at an Open Day than you do walking around on the street! If you make a serious effort to get in contact with someone that is currently doing the degree then you shouldn't have a problem - typically most universities will have at least one student/the nursing student society advocates at the open day. You just have to make it known that you want to talk to someone in the degree currently and not come across as a crazy person

 

[Voltman.N]

you make a serious effort to get in contact with someone that is currently doing the degree then you shouldn't have a problem - typically most universities will have at least one student/the nursing student society advocates at the open day. You just have to make it known that you want to talk to someone in the degree currently and not come across as a crazy person

Do you think it's easier for someone who has just completed a bachelors in another field to do well in a second degree straight away or for a mature aged student who hasn't studied for many years?

For the former, they are disadvantaged in that they have studied for many years already and are probably more likely to burn out as a result in comparison to the mature aged student (who hasn't been studying) whereas the handicap for the latter is that they may have to figure out how to study properly and this could take a while and take it's toll through poor 1st year marks.

 

[Benjamin]

Do you think it's easier for someone who has just completed a bachelors in another field to do well in a second degree straight away or for a mature aged student who hasn't studied for many years?

I think even if I had experience as a mature age student and knew what it was like then it would be difficult for me to give such a broad generalisation. My experience is that burn-out is much less related to study content and experience with studying and much more related with external pressures such as work, bills, family etc. In this sense it varies greatly - a school leaver is unlikely to have an entire family to support but they also don't have much experience budgeting and are still trying to figure themselves out; a mature age student can go from being single with no money at all to having a well paid job and 3 kids to support.

It's impossible to speculate broadly is what I'm trying to get at. Anyway, you tend to find that people find their feet fairly quickly when they start studying again - it's not something that you simply forget forever.