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tinalitza
(offline)
- Joined: Oct 2007
- Location: Adelaide
- Posts: 11
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Sun Oct 07, 2007 5:10 pm
Hi there, my name is Tina and I'm new here. I am currently working casual (averaging 30 hours a week) for Gribbles as a Phlebotomist at a private hospital in Adelaide. Next year I want to start studying at uni to get my BN. The only problem is.. I cant decide between internal and external! I need to continue working the same hours, especially in the first year, and try and study full time. At flinders the average contact hours are 12 to 17 a week. With these sort of hours I should be able to fit work around it. However external would offer more flexibility. I'm so confused! I do tend to be a tady lazy at times so perhaps on campus is for me. I only live about 5 minutes from flinders so that's handy. Has/Is anyone studying at Flinders Uni? Has it been a good experience? Thanks in advance, Tina
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pikey4
(offline)
- Joined: Oct 2007
- Location: Adelaide
- Posts: 1
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Oct 31, 2007, 05:23 pm
Hey Tina, I studied Nursing at Flinders on campus last year. (I dropped the nursing side to my degree this year as it wasn't quite for me unfortunately). However, I did have a really good experience there and I do recommend going to Flinders - the atmosphere in nursing is great, the teachers are very helpful and the students get along really well. The facilities definitely met our needs, and the clinical placements are organised to suit everyone. If you have any other specific questions, just ask! Hope that helped a little, Amanda
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Liz
(offline)
- Joined: Sep 2007
- Location: Brisbane
- Posts: 79
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Nov 05, 2007, 12:35 pm
Definately go internal. I did an external subject this semester and was rather lazy and so not much work gets done lol. Plus internal, you get all that support and hands on experience that is vital for nurses. And coz you only live 5mins from Flinders..why go external!!! Are you entering via the grad year, since you are already working in the health industry?
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midaz
(offline)
- Joined: Nov 2007
- Location:
- Posts: 23
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Nov 13, 2007, 12:31 am
I guess it all depends on how motivated you feel. When I started my degree on campus I wasn't very dedicated and missed lectures all the time despite living a 7 minute drive away. Now it's a few years later, I'm much more motivated and I'm getting my study done even though I'm now studying external AND juggling fulltime work. Take the option that's best suited to you because it will be hard enough as it is! If you're not sure what best suits your learning style maybe start on campus at Flinders (that way you get more tutor time to learn basic clinical skills too) and then transfer to UniSA external for second year if you feel that would be easier. I've heard good reports about UniSA external, but I am with UniSA via OUA, and it's beyond apalling. So I am tempted to encourage people to stay away from UniSA in general!! However, if you go external UniSA you can probably transfer to internal UniSA with minimal hassle and full credit for all your subjects.
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tinalitza
(offline)
- Joined: Oct 2007
- Location: Adelaide
- Posts: 11
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Nov 23, 2007, 10:22 pm
My main reasons for wanting to go external is because i still need to work 30 + hours a week and i dont think i could fit that around lectures etc. I'm not worried about the motivation side of things. And besides, I already work in the industry - I'm a phlebotomist at Ashford Private so I already have exposure to the hospital environment, interacting with patients etc. Thanks for the replies... 17 days until I get my STAT rank! Eek! 2 months to offers :(
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midaz
(offline)
- Joined: Nov 2007
- Location:
- Posts: 23
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Nov 24, 2007, 11:36 pm
In that case it all seems to depend how flexible your working hours could be. My work isn't flexible, it's Mon-Fri 8am-4pm so external was my only option. But if you could say, work some weekend or after hours shifts then 15hrs contact time might be do-able. Also, Flinders might offer some units (especially electives) via external mode too.
UniSA has been an utter nightmare for me but I'm now 4 days away from the end of second year and (assuming they haven't hired a drunk 5 year old to write the exam... again...) have only a year left to get through with minimal impact to my career and income. It's not a great option, but it gets you there :)
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SilverLining
(offline)
- Joined: Oct 2007
- Location: Melbourne
- Posts: 34
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Nov 28, 2007, 12:59 pm
Hi All, tinalitza, I can recommend studying externally, but I didn't study through UniSA. I studied through OUA (Open Universities Australia/ Open Learning), but mostly for RMIT and Swinburne Uni here in Melbourne, and it was towards a business/IT degree, not nursing. In other words, my feedback might not be very useful for a nursing course! I loved studying externally, and it works as long as you study consistently and don't mind a bit of madness around exam time. On the other hand, I only ever heard negative things about the UniSA course through OUA, all sorts of stuff ups, but people did mention that the *direct* UniSA External course was good, much like what midaz has already said. Good luck with whatever you decide to do!
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tinalitza
(offline)
- Joined: Oct 2007
- Location: Adelaide
- Posts: 11
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Nov 30, 2007, 09:03 pm
Well, i got my STAT result back... i got a rank of 85%... so in the top 15 %... I can only hope that's enough to get me in :)
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SilverLining
(offline)
- Joined: Oct 2007
- Location: Melbourne
- Posts: 34
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Dec 02, 2007, 01:34 pm
Well done! I would certainly hope you would get in based on that! Is there other criteria for selection? Good luck!
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tinalitza
(offline)
- Joined: Oct 2007
- Location: Adelaide
- Posts: 11
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Dec 03, 2007, 07:59 pm
They also take into consideration (for mature age students) work history and your personal competencies statement. Considering I've been working in a private hospital as a path collector (bloods and ecgs) I think my experience certainly shows I already have some of the skills a nurse requires... or atleast I hope so!
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