Mature aspiring Uni student, Bsc Paramedic Science.

Hello,
This has most likely been asked a multitude of times but here goes. I am a 27 year old paratrooper leaving the military with the aspiration to become a paramedic. I am currently enrolling on a HE paramedic science online diploma to achieve the requirements for the Bsc. I'd be looking at applying to my local University Sept 25 if all goes well.

My first question is that of finances. 3 years is a long time to be out of full time work! Naturally this is a conversation I will be having with my partner but it feels so selfish to be thinking about pursuing this opportunity whilst knowing I will not be able to contribute in the same capacity. Has or is anyone else going through a similar situation?

My second question is has anyone attempting an online HE diploma? I know a lot of time will need to be put in for completion and i'm no stranger to putting in that time and effort, however, a lot of courses say on average it takes 9 months to complete. As you can earn up to 144 UCAS points with it being equivalent of 3-A levels it makes me a little skeptical.
Lastly has anyone specifically attempted the paramedic science HE diploma? If you have any advice and or recommendations including tips and tricks to smash with distinction will be greatly appreciated! I'm looking at enrolling with the Distance Learning Center.

Many thanks,
Seb

Reply 1

TMedi

Hi, I didn't do an online access to he but I did complete an access to he course last year and got into multiple unis for paramedic science with it. The funding isn't too bad, if you can get maximum student loan + the nhs bursary its about 14,000 ish per year which isnt great but you can make it work. Recommendations for the course is to look at the learning outcomes and treat them each as questions and answer appropriately, to get distinctions ensure you reference correctly and for the biology stuff theres tons of youtube videos that can help you out for certain topics! Good luck!

Reply 2

SR4034

Thanks for the reply, did you find it quite competitive? I’ve not got direct healthcare experience but naturally I’d imagine military experience counts for something. How soon did you apply for the bsc? My course doesn’t get moderated until March 25, how’s soon would an application need to be started to secure a place for September 25?

Reply 3

TMedi

Original post by SR4034

It is a very competitive course for context the two unis I got into had over 1,000 applicants and one had 100 spaces and one had only 25. I applied in nov 22 for sept 23 start and my course only got moderated in june 23 so dont worry about that. Good thing is healthcare courses take alot of mature students and with military experience youll be fine!

Reply 4

sjp33

Hi mate,

I'm very similar in that i'm 29 doing my first year doing paramedic science. I also went down the access course route with Distance Learning Centre. Happy to answer any questions you've got but i'll try answer some of your points below.

So in terms of finances, I believe after a certain age, maybe around 25, they (student finance) no longer take into account your house hold income. So you'll likely be on the same as me if not more. I'm on the max loan amount which is around 11k a year for maintenance, and the tuition is paid for separately by them too. On top of this you'll be eligible for the NHS Learning Support Fund which is essentially a 5k a year bursary which you don't need to pay back. I'm fortunate in the fact that i'm single so no ones dependant on me currently, however this is going to be a very subjective area for you and your partner. Might just be best looking at pay bands at the end of the course and seeing if it's feasible/beneficial for you in the long run.

With the access course, this is also very subjective and depends how much time you have available to complete it. If you're working full time it's going to take longer. Personally, as i had the time available due to the time of year I began it, I made use of almost the full 12 months. I also know a guy who's far more intelligent than me on my course and he took longer. I would also advise joining their facebook group as people ask and answer queries on these endlessly. I did find that you're very much on your own on that course, but if you take the time to understand the subjects, then you should be fine. I got all distinctions (one or two were rather close to a merit tho haha).

I think they'll lap that you're a para up tbh. I'm sure theres plenty of high pressure incidents where you've had to make important decisions, be it training or on tour. I was in the police briefly for about a year or so and this definitely gave me a huge boost on applications. Whilst some cohorts have a fair few people in their mid twenties, mine is primarily very young with a few of us older peeps on the course. But don't let that put you off, it's caused me no issues what so ever and doesn't seem as weird as it sounds on paper.

Any questions, i'd be happy to answer :smile: