To do a nursing degree with a child

[bunnyhops1]

I’ve been offered a place on a mental health nursing masters degree, it’s a career which I really want to pursue, but I am now wondering how feasible it is to study with DC (will be age 6 when I start.)

I am a single parent but DC father is involved and does his share.

I know placements will be demanding, but I feel like I have put my career on hold since DC was born years ago and I really want to get back into working in a trained profession now.

Does anyone know how demanding placements are, and if it’s possible to juggle the workload with parenting? I’m presuming I will need lots of family support - DC school do wraparound care which covers 7.30am - 6pm, and luckily my parents and siblings live nearby and will be more than happy to chip in! The uni have mentioned how many hours of placements I need to do over the length of my course, and mentioned it will be a variety of shift patterns - is it likely I will for example, need to work 12 hour shifts Monday-Friday or anything like that?

thanks in advance

You’ll do 3 long days per week if they are 12.5 hour days. If they are shorter say 11.5 hour days then you would do say 3 weeks of 3 long days and then 1 week of 4 long days to make up the hours.

We had 2 12 week placements each year so 6 in total, the final placement was longer maybe 16 weeks.

The rest of the time (other than holidays) we were at uni which I found a lot easier, we were there 2-3 days per week but obviously varies depending on which uni.

I personally found the placements a lot harder than the academic side but it does get easier once you qualify (you can request shifts then and will be working in your area of choice).

If your doing 2 years as well that will be much better, I’m sure you will manage it as sounds like you have good support from family. Good luck!