Thinking about midwifery...

[juneybean]

I really feel like I'm bouncing from idea to idea at the minute but this is something I wanted to be when I was 15 and it never went away (I'm 25 now) but I'm scared of university...not sure why, low self-esteem, think placements will be horrible to me...

Can anyone give any advice or put my mind at rest?

The nearest university that offers it for me is northumbria but not sure my qualifications will be enough to get onto the course.

anyone :)

I was right, they want a level 3 in a science subject, how on earth to do I that fgs? I have a level 4 qual in early years, pisses me off.

I've emailed teesside as well but I'm assuming it'll be the same :(

Look in to doing some sort of access course at college. Or ring up the uni and see what other sort of qualifications they'll accept, reckon they'll be more than helpful. Early years could very well be relevant.
On a lot of health and social care courses experience and passion is just as important as grades. Good luck

Thanks for replying, I had emailed northumbria telling them my qualifications but the answer was "no you need a level 3 in science" makes no sense :/

There is a lot of bioscience on the course so that's why.

If you really want to do midwifery either -

1. Do a course this year which will get you a level 3 or equivalent in science

or

1. Go for adult nursing which is a 3 year course but their intakes are much larger, making them easier courses to get on. If, after that, you still want to do midwifery you can do an 18 month top up course.

Beware though, there is talk of the 18 month top up course being phased out...

Midwifery is extremely competitive and they can afford to be very, very picky. I would strongly suggest you try and get some relevant work experience eg HCA work at maternity hospital, homestart volunteer etc.

People keep saying there's a shortage of midwives, is this not right?

I don't want to do adult nursing, so I'm going to find a biology qualification, I always do things late, missed everything for this year

I think there's a shortage in the sense that as a country we need more midwives per head of the population and also that lots of midwives are due to retire in the next few years.

However, many NHS Trusts can't afford to employ any more midwives (in some parts of the country there are newly qualifies midwives struggling to get work) and also Strategic Health Authorities will only fund a limited number of places.

When I applied to do midwifery I think there were something like 20 applicants per place.

Hi, I've just sent off my UCAS to apply for midwifery, it is very competitive, one of the unis told me they have approx 1300 applicants for 45 places . I don't have a level 3 science qualification so i've just started doing the OU course in human biology which the unis i applied to were happy with, but it is worth checking with the individual unis.
They like you to have relevant experience as well, volunteering/work experience, job in a health or social care field etc, it's great to start thinking about it now, you've got all year to make yourself the best applicant you can for the next application cycle, good luck

I did look at the human biology course and I really like the look of it, so I'm thinking I might do that next year and apply for 2012 instead lol