I’m Emily. I’m 19 and I’ve just finished my first year as a student nurse (Adult). My Uni and Trust are larges ones in the South of England. In a few weeks I start my second year, and honestly, I can’t believe how quickly the first year has gone.
Looking back, there are so many things I wish someone had told me before I started. I was the first person in my family to go into nursing, so I didn’t really have anyone to ask. I wanted to get everything right before I even walked through the university doors. I watched loads of TikToks, read endless Facebook posts and spent hours trying to work out what I needed before September.
If I could do it all again, I’d worry a lot less about buying the “perfect” things and spend a lot more time preparing myself for what university is actually like. One of my mistakes was that I spent over £100 on a pair of shoes because everyone online seemed to recommend them. I thought if I had the right shoes, the fleece and all the textbooks, I’d feel ready.
Spoiler… I wasn’t.
The shoes ate my feet during my first placement, half the books stayed on my shelf, and I realised I’d been stressing about all the wrong things.
The things that really surprised me weren’t the things I’d spent all summer worrying about. I wasn’t prepared for how tired I’d feel after placement. I loved caring for patients and their families, and finally feeling like I was doing something useful, but those long shifts really took it out of me. By the time I got home, all I wanted to do was sleep. It definitely affected my mood more than I expected, and I realised pretty quickly that looking after my own mental health wasn’t just a nice idea, it was something I actually had to prioritise. I live at home and really started to need them loads. My mum is a complete star. Dinners, washing, chats. I’m super lucky to be able to live at home and have that support. Lots of my friends don’t so i feel blessed.
Then there were the essays.
I honestly thought, “I’ve written essays before, how different can they be?”
Turns out… very different.
Academic writing, referencing, critical thinking and research all felt like a completely different language. It seemed like everyone else knew exactly what they were doing while I was trying to work it all out. Looking back, I realise almost everyone felt the same, we just didn’t talk about it.
If I could do my first year again, I’d ask for help much sooner. I thought asking for help meant I wasn’t coping. It doesn’t. The people around you genuinely want you to do well. I’m lucky to have my family but the lecturers, personal tutors, librarians, academic skills teams and placement staff are all there to help you, their job is to support you. I just wish I’d realised that from the beginning instead of trying to figure everything out on my own.
If I could do my first year all over again, I wouldn’t spend so much time worrying about whether I’d bought the right shoes or whether I was clever enough to be there. I’d remind myself that everyone feels nervous at the beginning, everyone has moments where they doubt themselves, and nobody expects you to know everything before you even walk through the university doors.
Looking back now, I can honestly say i’m not the same person as a year ago – in a good way I’m better, not just as a student nurse, but as a person. I’ve learnt that it’s alright to ask questions, it’s ok to find things difficult, and it’s fine to need support. That’s all part of the experince!
I’m getting ready to start my second year and I honestly feel so much more confident than I did twelve months ago. Not because I know everything, I definitely don’t, but because I know where to find help, who to ask, and that I don’t have to figure everything out on my own.
If I could give one piece of advice to anyone starting nursing or midwifery, it would simply be this:
Ask the people who know.
Speak to current students. Talk to your lecturers. Ask questions on placement. No question is too small, and there will always be someone willing to help.
You don’t need to have all the answers before you start. You just need to be open to learning.
Good luck. You’ve got this. 💙
*If you, or a family member, would like to know more about support see the support we provide at The Scholars’ Network, check out the workshops in the Resource Hub (bottom of the page).
