Going back to education- nursing or English degree?!

[christmasstress]

As above! I'm currently doing a pre access course with a view to access in September. Originally I wanted to do nursing, but I'm working in a care home for relevant experience and I'm finding it harder than I thought - apparently I'm doing very well and I'm not fussed about bodily fluids etc but it seems to take a lot mentally IYSWIM?

I had harboured a desire to do an English degree - I adore the written word. However the reason I was interested in nursing was because of potential career progression and I haven't the foggiest what I can do with an English degree!

Any thoughts? I can do either but need to decide by July.

I have an English degree and teach English Lit undergrads. What is it you love about writing? Are you looking to do language or lit, or creative writing?

There are good jobs you can get from an English degree, and there are lots of jobs that just want 'a degree,' for which English would be fine. One thing to consider is where you're going to do the degree - if you have specific universities in mind, check out what they say their graduates tend to do, and see if you can get a sense of how easily they get into employment. It does really vary.

If it's helpful, I could try to say what (my very personal experience) is of students who found an English degree did or didn't work for them? That might be helpful in terms of giving a bit of a sense of what it'd be like. But let me know.

I don’t necessarily think you get a great insight into nursing from working in a care home (I’m a nurse). Can you get on the local hospital nurse bank and do some shifts there too? I love nursing, I’m still glad I trained 12 years after qualifying but it’s no picnic! Horrible hours, limited pay increases, dealing with challenging people, add in you’ll have a lot of debt compared to when the likes me of trained with a bursary! English could lead to lots of things: teaching, tutoring, proof reading off the top of my head. I was torn between nursing and something else initially, going to uni open days helped me make up my mind.

Thank you both, that is helpful! @FaithInfinity I'll look into the nursing bank, that might give a better insight!

Sorry, yes @SarahAndQuack that would be brilliant thank you!

I've got a degree in English Literature and I've built a very good career in HE management. It's a degree that shows you can think, analyse and write so it's useful for all kinds of careers.

Ok, I'll do my best.

A lot of people do English degrees because the love books, and they look forward to spending three years talking about which books they loved best, and which books they hate. They might want to talk about which characters are realistic and which aren't, and to get into discussions about why a certain character did something, and whether or not it makes her a bad character. Or they might want to talk about how beautiful a book because of how it made them feel.

On the whole these people find English Lit really disappointing.

If you're doing an English Lit degree, you'll spend a lot of time reading books you don't particularly like. You may well find parts of it feel more like GCSE language than anything else. And, if you do like a book, you'll inevitably be asked to spend ages picking it apart, discussing not just whether or not you like the heroine, but also things like what metaphors the author is using and how the plot is structured. You won't spend much time talking about how much you love a character or aspire to be like her; you be asked to say whether you think the hero was right or wrong to do what he did. Those questions are broadly to do with subjects outside English, so in English you're more likely to be talking about how a text is written. You might be asked to talk about the metre of the poem or the use of metaphor, or you might be expected to discuss how a feminist reading of Shakespeare works.

I really love English, and I enjoyed my degree. So if you read through all that and still think 'ooh, yes, I want to do that,' then go for it!

I have a degree in literature. As much as I enjoyed the experience I found it difficult to get into work where my degree mattered.
Perhaps it depends whereabouts you live in the country. I wanted to work in publishing (editing), but after an unpaid internship in London I physically couldn't afford to carry on trying to get into the sector. I'm now in a job that doesn't need a degree and I'm a bit stuck really.

I'm sorry for the ramble. My opinion is that if you do a nursing degree there would be more of a variety of options available for you. At least you don't have to decide until July. That gives you time to look at all avenues.

YY to getting Bank HCA shifts, it will help you decide on whether hospital nursing is for you or not.
Nursing is a tough gig IMHO.

I would agree nursing home nursing is very different to hospital nursing. Also different to district nursing, gp practice nurse, palliative care nursing etc etc there’s a huge amount you can do with a nursing degree

I did an English degree as a mature student and found it really hard going. I love English, love reading and make (some) money out of writing, but I really disliked most of the books I read for my degree and often wished I’d chosen something different. I often joke that it’s a miracle I ever picked up a book again after that! I just don’t think it was what I was expecting and I really struggled with motivation.

A nursing job will be hard in these political times. On the other hand, a nursing qualification is portable so you can move house or community and do it just about anywhere, unlike English.

I think I'm really tending towards English lit. Thinking analytically and deconstructing writing really appeals to me. My mum did an English degree about ten years ago and it was fascinating.

Lots of food for thought! Thank you to everyone who has replied.