WIBU to put nursing and midwifery on the same UCAS app?

[LaviniaTheLemur]

I think I would be... BUT...

I am applying late and my lovely referee is doing me an enormous favour by agreeing to do it for me, so I do not want to have to ask her again later.

My heart says midwifery, but I also would love to do nursing.

I have work shadowed nursing and absolutely loved it and I am trying to arrange to shadow midwifery, but no joy yet and time is of the essence now.

My personal statement at the moment is for midwifery, but would it be so terrible to hedge my bets and put down nursing too? I can only realistically commute to two universities - three at a real push, so I have two more choices to put down...

Or should I change it all and just put nursing and then specialise in midwifery if I want to later?

Thoughts? Would really appreciate some advice!

You've had some good advice on this thread OP. Good luck with your nursing application.

Just bear in mind that conversion courses from nursing to midwifery are almost exclusively phased out now (due to funding) so if you were considering midwifery in the future, it would be another 3 year degree.

We have adult nurses working on delivery suite and postnatal ward where I work. On DS they work alongside a midwife looking after postnatal or unwell women. On the ward they help with elective CS and recovery, do drug rounds.

Our uni now do the midwifery 18month conversion course at masters level only.

You should not apply for adult nursing and midwifery. You will definitely not get a place to do midwifery in that scenario. Midwifery remains incredibly hard to get offers for with course places limited to around 12-60 places depending on university. The pp who applied for law and bio-Med clearly has no idea about applying for midwifery and doesn’t understand how limited places are vs law and bio med

Good luck whatever you do. I’m a midwife, started my training almost 14years ago

Also if you’re puttingnin a late application, you may struggle with midwifery. Majority of the places will have been allocated now for September start

I would say too late for midwifery for September 2019, my uni Interviews November-December, allocates places by end of Feb latest.

Don't apply for both. You won't get in either and especially not midwifery. Your personal statement HAS to to be tailored to the speciality you want. A generic nursing one will not get you into midwifery.

I'm a nurse not a midwife

Good luck!

Thanks all .

I have just started my PS all over again to apply for nursing.

That’s interesting that a pp was told to specify why adult nursing specifically. I haven’t done that yet, so thank you!

I think I may be looking at next year at this rate, but that’s actually fine too. I’m just glad I’ve made a definite decision now. Was having a major wobble.

Midwifery! Do not do Nursing! Glorified HCA for 3 years stuck on the shitest (literally) wards that will take you. Wish I'd don't Midwifery instead.

There's a 50k shortage of nurses so you're not stuck anywhere that will take you. You can be choosy and find an area you like.

Assuming that Worriedwart is referring to the training period--there's a grain of truth to it. Because a lot of patients on the general side require a lot of fundamental care (assistance with eating, washing, toileting, mobilising), student nurses are often sent to provide this care, even though we're unpaid students, not employees.

This is very important experience for people who are new to healthcare (I was, and I needed time to master fundamental care), and much less important for people who have come in with a lot of experience as an HCA. But ultimately it happens whenever there are staffing shortages, whether or not it will be a valuable educational experience.

But these are things I've also done:
-Scrubbed in for cardiac procedures
-Assisted during intubations
-Independently (though with supervision) managed acutely unwell patients in A&E resus
-Explained symptoms, diseases, medications, and clinical procedures to patients their families, in a way that an HCA could not because they don't have the same theoretical knowledge
-Attended patients and their families during the last moments of life
-Attended patients and their families in the very first moments of life! (Maternity theatres)
-Was the very first person to notice signs of a very serious illness--because I was washing my patient.

The NHS is a disaster at the moment, and I haven't loved every moment of my training, but nursing is a really, truly amazing job.

I'm sure midwifery is great too, mind.

If you get rejected for midwifery would there be any scope to get on a nursing degree through clearing?

I'm a nurse and involved in admissions for nursing degree. We get applications from people who have also applied for medicine, physio etc and are waiting on results. We would not reject on the basis of a "mixed" application if you met our criteria. It's ok not to be completely sure. Also- we would unlikely make our target numbers if we were too fussy. Applications for nursing are down UK wide and there is a real concern about recruiting adequate numbers.

That said, midwifery places are so much fewer than nursing that they can be very selective. So unless you have more than the required entry criteria then expect to be rejected. A great personal statement will not top trump someone with 3 or 4 grade A A levels. . They will chose the most academically gifted. (Unless you are a potential widening participation target number).

I would add the caveat that midwifery is a more attractive profession in my opinion (as a nurse) as there are more opportunities for autonomous working, role extension, higher pay and greater job satisfaction from not being the whipping boys of the health care profession that nurses sadly are.

Midwifery almost destroyed my mental health. It’s certainly not free of politics, bullying and wrangling with doctors.

Good luck OP.

I did this and was offered a place on both courses! It can work out

Thanks all.

I’m now applying for adult nursing. Just waiting for my reference to come back and finishing my statement and then hopefully can apply.

I really don’t imagine it’s an easy job and yes, I imagined there would be poo duties, (but you get that in midwifery too)! Not to mention blood, vomit, bed bathing etc. Being a ‘glorified HCA’ while I learn the ropes is absolutely fine with me if it helps me learn.

jellybaby

I’m really sorry about your experience with bullying etc .

Do paediatrics! Much less stressful than adult land! And slightly less hard graft! (I'm a paediatric nurse)

OMFG, do not give me another option 😂 😂 😂.

I did consider paediatric nursing, but worried about not being able to find a placement and also thought it could maybe be quite specific? I think I’d rather have something where plenty of options... Obviously, never having done any of these, I don’t know, but I would be interested in find out more about being a GP practice nurse, women’s health nurse or maybe even fertility / IVF nursing.

Despite wanting to do midwifery, I think I would probably work better with adults than children.

Thank you for the suggestion though .

Thank you @Lavinia - certainly not trying to put you off, just felt in response to the poster above that I would be honest and say midwifery isn't all rainbows and sunshine!

I wish you so much luck OP. Have a look locally to you for any HCA jobs, any and all experience in the hospital (even as a volunteer giving out drinks!) will help you.

It’s good that you have picked one to focus on.

A different situation but I work in undergraduate admissions in a business faculty and you wouldn’t believe how many people apply for accounting and (for example) civil engineering and primary teaching on one application. Or they really want to do dentistry but business is their back-up, so their personal statement is focused elsewhere. We can only make offers to 10% of applicants due to limited places so someone could have straight A’s across the board but if they don’t show a burning passion for our course, they won’t get an offer.

I work in a uni. Your very unlikely to get on this years intake. Possibly Jan 2020 if your lucky. Most likely you'd be looking at Sept 2020 or jan 2021. My uni plans to have all of our offers for this year out my end of play today. Personally I'd wait to apply in the next cycle that will open in September

Thanks. As of earlier this week, my two universities were still taking applications, but that may have now changed. If that’s the case, I will wait as you say. I’m just glad to have a plan now! Definitely nursing.

Didn't UCAS applications for September 2019 close in mid January, OP? Unless it's different for nursing/midwifery somehow, or you're not applying via UCAS.

As the title of my op would suggest, I am applying through ucas and they are still accepting applications at a few universities for both midwifery and adult nursing. I spoke to admissions at both this week and they are both still accepting them for now, but one did say to get app in quickly!

Midwifery is generally far more competitive than Adult Nursing due to placement availability limiting the number of spaces, so focus your PS 100% on Midwifery. Contact your university choices to ask if they would accept a separately emailed Adult Nursing personal statement to support your Adult Nursing application and to check they allow applications to Midwifery and Nursing.

In this current climate with the demographic dip, I think you'll find universities clambering to fill their Adult Nursing courses, unless they are in a tricky placement availability situation for some reason (e.g. other institutions with Adult Nursing courses in their placement area).

Also, don't be too disheartened if you're unsuccessful for Midwifery and try again next year as most institutions are closed or nearly closed at this time of year.

DarklyDreamingDexter - If you applied before 15 January, your application was guaranteed to be considered on an equal basis with all others (except some courses/institutions with special deadlines). If you apply after that, it depends whether the university has filled the spaces for a course with pre-15 January applicants or not.