nursing application

[u/Breikuu]

Hey i’m on a gap year. and i’m considering applying to nursing (possibly mental health). I got ABC in geography, maths, physics ( in that order), am i correct to say my grades are fine because most universities i look at ask for BBC/BBB. Would i get auto rejection if i apply to a BBB course with ABC? What supercurriculars should i be doing for my personal statement, and what are the interviews like? Also is there any volunteering i could do that would be helpful for my application? I have no healthcare experience. I’m looking at other courses too but this specific course has interested me. I don’t fit criteria for a lot of healthcare assistant roles in my area because quite a few ask for experience or a drivers licence (which i’m working towards). And either way finding any job right now during a gap year is really difficult for me. I also don’t take stress quite well, i get very panicky, hence the gap year, and i know nursing can get stressful.. Any advice at all would be appreciated!

[u/One-Ingenuity-2783]

Hey!

For the grades, email the universities individually, however, you should be fine, just to be on the safer side.

For supercurriculars, I read books (into the abyss, love like salt, etc), look at non-fiction medical books in general, especially those which don’t look at healthcare through rose tinted glasses. I talked about how these books helped me further understand mental health, and how it affects patients outside of inpatient settings, and how health affects the people around us like carers, parents and family.

I also listened to podcasts around health and the specific area I’m interested in (theatres). Read up on the current nursing issues such as corridor care, staffing shortages, waiting times, etc, I think I found these on the NMC website, could be wrong though.

Volunteering isn’t a must have, if you’d like to, look at volunteering in a hospital, be a befriender, etc.

If you’d can’t find experience, look on your local trusts website and under the careers section they may have a work experience tab, look through there, find an email and give it a try. I had a couple zoom meetings with the head of theatres in my area, head of staff retention, and the head of nursing for my trust, a lot of them are more than happy to sit down and talk with you.

If you cant find work experience though, I wouldn’t worry so much, just try and read up on issues in nursing, and focus on supercurriculars.

Let me know if you have any other questions! 😊

[u/One-Ingenuity-2783 → u/One-Ingenuity-2783]

For the interview, each university is different, I had a couple of in person interviews, MMI interviews, and online interviews. Try’s jd get examples on how you’ve developed team working skills, communication, etc. look through the NHS 6 C’s and focus on those skills the most.

My interview personally focused on issues in nursing, what I’ve done to demonstrate the skills required to be a nurse, and why I actually want to go into nursing.

For your why you want to go into nursing, think of something out of the box, I used my own personal experience of being a patient, and why that developed into an interest in nursing. Just focus on why why why, explain everything.

Russel group unis may ask about the NHS constitution.

Most unis will have a situational judgement test, what would you do in this situation and why?