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March 19, 2024, 08:22:17 pm

Author Topic: does VET allied health help with getting into a medicine/nursing course  (Read 2034 times)  Share 

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sjayna

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I know that VET allied health is non-scored so it won't contribute to my ATAR.
1. Is it worth it to do?
2. If I do it will it even help me get into university?
« Last Edit: July 12, 2020, 03:02:01 pm by sjayna »

Justin_L

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I know someone in my year who did a Certificate III in Allied Health Assistance (Not sure if this is the one you're referring to) and I'm currently doing a Certificate III in Live Production, so I thought I'd throw in some of my insights.

1. Is it worth it to do?
Short Answer: Yes, I personally think so. But it depends.

Further Education and Work
A Certificate III course will give you an introduction to the topic and may give you an edge in further study, although not too much since you'll be covering similar content at a higher level in Uni. The main thing is that it'll help you find work in your field while you're studying, since you may not become fully qualified as a Nurse or Doctor until you finish your degree. It'll also give you valuable insights into whether you actually want to pursue further work in this field.

Current Education and Costs
Doing a VET course as part of your HSC (Assuming you're in NSW) is vastly cheaper than doing it outside of school since it'll be government subsidized. You'll also likely get opportunities throughout the course to do do relevant qualifications such as a First Aid Certificate or a White Card, which could help you in the future.

On the downside, you'll be balancing schoolwork and TAFE work, and you'll have to work harder since you'll likely need to factor in additional time for travel and work placement. That's a personal decision based on how many units you're willing to take and how to balance your time

(I believe a Certificate III counts as 2 units over 2 years or 4 units over 1 year if I recall correctly).

Work Placement
From my personal experience (keep in mind I studied Live Production and not Health), work placement is the most valuable component of the course since it lets you better understand the industry, do some basic networking, and is really good to put on your resume since it shows a wide range of experience.

Issue is, what you put in is really what you get out and your school/TAFE might not be that great at finding good opportunities for you (Mine wasn't). I'd highly recommend seeking out your own opportunities in line with your interests and future career aspirations.

All in all, don't expect too much in terms of learning as VET courses are designed to prepare you for the workplace as opposed to preparing you for higher education. However, they're still really valuable if you take advantage of the opportunities you're given and can open a number of doors if you know what you're doing.


2. If I do it will it even help me get into university?
Short Answer: Not really. It depends. What course are you planning on doing?

If you're going into full on medicine (ie. becoming a doctor), it could be a good taking point in interviews to discuss your previous involvement and work placement experiences as a way to demonstrate your interests and initiative. Could also apply if you're applying to any scholarships.

Otherwise, most nursing and allied health courses are purely ATAR based and won't take your previous experience into consideration. Depending on the course, you could apply for RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning) to receive credit for units you've already taken or industry experience you've gained. It's difficult to say without knowing more.

Hopefully this was a good overview of the pros and cons involved. Feel free to PM me or ask below if you have any more questions about this. Hope this helps!
« Last Edit: July 12, 2020, 07:40:50 pm by Justin_L »
Да здравствует революция государственного модератора

K888

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Adding to Justin_L's great info, doing the VET course in allied health (I assume it's allied health assistance?) will qualify you to work as an AHA while you're at university which will give you job experience in healthcare and tends to be more enjoyable than your typical hospitality/retail part time jobs :) plus working as an AHA can help you make connections in the workforce for when you graduate (particularly if you end up studying an allied health degree at uni). :)