[dotty86]

Hi would love to hear from anyone else who will be starting Graduate Entry Nursing at Nottingham University in Jan 2013. I am still shocked and so excited to have received an offer for children's nursing.

When do we apply for bursaries etc? Do you know if we can get a maintenance loan if you already have had a student loan before?

Thank you!

[bananna2508]

I'm starting in Jan too (Adult). I was wondering what the term dates where -I saw we have 45 weeks a year at uni.

[holeye]

I got in too for Child branch

I'm pretty sure we start on the 7th January but thats the only term dates i know. We'll get 4 weeks off in the summer, 2 for christmas and 1 for easter each year.

You can already apply for NHS bursaries. Apparently we can apply for a maintenance loan from the student loan company even if youve had one before. Its still all going through atm though, so you have to tell student finance your doing an undergraduate course. Hopefully they'll send us more info about it all.

Have you guys done your portfolios yet?

[George Kingsley]

I recently got accepted on the Mental Health branch. Really looking forward to starting!

Yeah looks like the course starts on the 7th.

Still a bit confused about the bursaries, it says on the site that you still need to wait for your invite to apply?

Still working on my portfolio!

What are people thinking for accommodation? Halls work out quite a bit more expensive but I suppose they take out a lot of hassle, especially with starting a new course.

[dotty86]

Lovely to hear from you all. Will probably meet you in Jan! By portfolio do you mean the advance standing doc? Just a little worried iv forgotten something that's all. That's good news about loans, fingers crossed. When and if you hear I'd be very grateful if you could let me know if you are entitled to one. Would make the finances a little healthier! In terms of accommodation, I may be commuting. Not yet decided but need to decide soon I guess. looking forward to meeting you all. Oh and does anyone know how many of us there are on the course in total and for each branch out of interest? Will we be a small cohort that's likely to get to know eachother?

[holeye]

Yeah the advance standing thing is what I mean. Do you know the deadlines for it?

I think i'll be commuting from Nottingham although if I did move to derby i'd probably go private housing than bck into halls. I'd feel too old to be back with freshers!

Theres 11 of us on the child branch and about 41 for mental health and 41 for adult so 93 in total but who knows if they've stuck to the numbers they're allowed! So a fairly small cohort especially for us paeds.

[dotty86]

Goodness only 11 for children's? Will definitely be meeting you I imagine then! Im so excited about starting the course, can't wait for January. You seem to know lots of facts and figures, do you know how many applied? Also, any ideas what the timetable will be like at university? Thanks

[holeye]

Aha well I've only just finished my first degree at the University of Nottingham, so there were quite a few facts and figures lying around and I was based in the medical school with all the other nurses.

As for timetable, its gonna be chock-a-block. Pretty much 9-5 everyday during theory time then 37.5 hours a week when were on placement. And we'll still have work to do whilst were on placement.

http://uiwwwsci01.ad.nottingham.ac.uk:8004/program.htm

This is the link to the universities timetable website. Its pretty self-explanatory, but if you select Nursing then MSci (doesn't matter what year) and select a random week then it'll give you an idea of lectures. Although this is for the undergrads as they've not put ours up yet.


I'm not too sure about how many applied, somewhere in the region of 10 people per place i think.

I'm soo excited!

[dotty86]

Thanks for that, really helpful of you. I'll be feeling a lot more relaxed when I know more about the bursary. I don't know the dates for advanced standing document I'm afraid, sorry to be of little help there. Roll on January!

[dotty86]

George Kingsley, I am now contemplating living in halls now.. I'm just really worried as I'll be 8 years older than your average 18 year old student... what are your thoughts? It would be so much easier but I'd have to live there all year round as that would be my sole residence.

Anyone else got any thoughts on being a mature student in student accommodation?

[holeye]

I'll be staying clear of student halls. They're all there to get drunk every night and play loud music all night long and sleep all day whilst were barely gonna get the chance to party, so not really a suitable match. And it was only 2 years ago since I was in halls (they're loads of fun, but not for us )

I'll most likely be commuting from Nottingham everyday, if not, i'll be looking for a private student house with other student nurses.

[George Kingsley]

(Original post by dotty86)
George Kingsley, I am now contemplating living in halls now.. I'm just really worried as I'll be 8 years older than your average 18 year old student... what are your thoughts? It would be so much easier but I'd have to live there all year round as that would be my sole residence.

Anyone else got any thoughts on being a mature student in student accommodation?

I've been thinking about this quite a lot, but I think I'm gonna go with private shared accommodation instead. It works out quite a lot cheaper. I think Lonsdale Halls are £90 odd a week, and you can get some shared houses at around £250/month with bills included. Also, I'll be 28 when the course starts - no doubt I'll be getting a bit merry here and there but I think I might feel a touch old for the halls experience!

I registered with http://uk.easyroommate.com/ recently. Looks like a pretty good place to find rooms.

[dobby23]

Hello. I got a place on the 2 year adult masters too, I am so excited to start!

I haven't applied for my bursary yet, the e-mail I received told me to wait until twelve weeks before the course begins.

I luckily got an unconditional offer which I think means I don't have to do any more work for the portfolio. For those who do, I think the deadline is November if I remember rightly.

Looking forward to meeting you all!

[LauraBeard]

Hello!

I'll also be doing the child branch course, i'm really looking forward to start in January. What is this portfolio you're talking about? I haven't recieved anything like that, was it to do with your offer - conditional or unconditional?

I was wondering about halls too (I live in Wales), and have actually put a deposit down on the halls in Derby. I contacted them because I was a bit worried that I might be put with undergrads straight from school; but it turns out that they are specifically for graduates- medicine, nursing and midwifery, so all 21+ at least and hopefully not like freshers! I'm 25, whilst I love a night out, I also like my sleep! I just thought that with lots of lectures, placements etc i Just wanted an easy life in terms of renting - so it's handy having all bills included with halls.

In terms of the bursary, I've been told to wait until we hear from the NHS, which will be a few months before we start.

Looking forward to meeting you all!xx

[dotty86]

Hi Laura I have also applied for halls. Exciting! I'll be 26 so we will be a similar age in Jan. Im so excited!

[BettyBobs]

Hello all - I got a place on the mental health branch and really really looking forward to it!

My place was unconditional so I am not sure about the advanced standing work - although I think I remember them saying that there would be workshops over the summer that we could go to for help with it.

Looking forward to meeting everyone. It seems a while away just now, but I'm sure it will fly by!

[dotty86]

Congratulations bettybobs such a great feeling isn't it? Are you planning to live in halls?

[BettyBobs]

I'll be 32 when we start and have a house, partner and a dog so no halls for me. I'm going to commute, which will be fun when placements start I'm sure!

[moonkatt]

(Original post by holeye)
I'll be staying clear of student halls. They're all there to get drunk every night and play loud music all night long and sleep all day whilst were barely gonna get the chance to party, so not really a suitable match. And it was only 2 years ago since I was in halls (they're loads of fun, but not for us )

Universities usually accommodate healthcare students together because of this.

[holeye]

When I was in halls for my first year at nottingham uni there was loads of nurses just chucked about randomly in the halls, so weren't all together. But people on here have pointed out the mature students accommodation and we're able to apply for halls with derby uni so maybe there's are different... hopefully.

Maybe i will consider student halls after all!!

I just hope our funding is gonna be settled soon :/