Transitioning from TAFE to university is exciting and a journey in itself – one of UTS’ nursing students Lindsay tells us his!
I started at TAFE after high school in 2004 studying a Diploma of Horticulture followed by a Certificate III in Landscape Horticulture. At the same time I built up a small local landscaping business, which I ran for a couple of years before deciding totry working for a larger company. Iworked for a few different companies throughout Sydney and saved some moneywhilst daydreaming of travelling overseas. I ended up going away on a big trip
in 2009 and at the time I was considering whether I wanted to continue working
as a landscaper and whether I should be looking at doing some further
education…. that’s when I thought of a career in health…
Discovering a passion for helping others
In 2011, after 18 months of backpacking overseas, I was assaulted on a
train station and I wound up in the back of ambulance on the way to RPAH.
Somewhere along the way I looked (with tremendous gratitude) at the paramedic
who was treating me and had the thought that this was the sort of work I wanted
to do.
I applied for the role of trainee
paramedic two weeks later and in the meantime decided to enrol in a Certificate
III in Aged Care in order to gain some healthcare experience. As I was coming
towards the end of that course in late 2011 my paramedic’s application was
still in limbo so I decided to put in a UAC application to UTS to
study a Bachelor of Nursing in 2012. I was eventually placed on the waiting list for the paramedics late 2012 however I had such an amazing year at UTS and was really enjoying studying nursing so I decided I wanted to get registered as a nurse first and then consider my options for the future.
I never considered nursing before, but as soon as I started I wished I
had. I’ve always been accident-prone and subsequently spent a lot of time in
and out of hospital emergency departments – Hornsby Casualty Department felt
like my second home for a while there. I was continually up there getting
stitches for some injury or another.
The change from TAFE to uni
The transition from TAFE to university was initially pretty tough. I
remember having a bit of a freak-out about 5 weeks into my first semester when
I thought of all the work I had due in and how much time I had to do it. But I
got through it. Once I started getting my first marks back I felt a lot better
about it and knew what to expect.
I’ve turned into a total nerd at uni, though I’m trying to keep this a
bit of a secret. I was always a last minute person but that totally
changed at uni, I guess this is partly because coming to uni was 100% my
decision so any success (or failure) is entirely on me. I want to do the
work. I’m absolutely loving my degree, and going out into hospitals is amazing.
I love being a student on the wards as we actually get to spend loads of time
with the patients and put what we learn in the classroom into practice.
Written by Lindsay Morrison – a UTS Nursing student.
Inside | Out 