Sarah Snow is a midwifery lecturer and admissions tutor at the University of Worcester. Her career as a nurse and midwife spans 27 years, the last decade of which has been within higher education, teaching across a range of pre and post registration midwifery and sexual health courses.

"This is the definitive guide for those considering nursing and midwifery as a career and a must-have book for the careers section in every sixth form and college library." - Nursing Standard"I am very impressed. The overall feeling I got when reading the book was that I was having a very informative chat with healthcare professionals. There is a great deal of information from nurses and midwives and you get a great deal of insight into the profession, the NMC and the NHS. [...] I was very impressed with how Sarah Snow managed to juggle the sometimes difficult reality of training whilst being encouraging and optimistic. [...] There are probably many books on how to apply for nursing courses and the UCAS selection process but if you want inside information on what the nursing/midwifery training is about, this is a must read." - AC Silva, Nursing Student

• CONTENTSPreface ixList of contributors xiKey facts xiiAcknowledgements xiiiChapter 1 An Introduction to the professions 1Why be a nurse or midwife? 2What is it like being a nurse or midwife? 5What skills and attributes do I need to be a nurseor midwife? 18Midwifery specifics 20Nursing specifics (Jo Rouse) 24Summary 29Further reading 30Chapter 2 Starting the journey 31Entry routes 32Examples of university courses 36But Im still not sure 46Summary 48Open day checklist 50Chapter 3 Application and selection 52Completing the application form 53Selection days a birds-eye view 64How to be successful at interview (Sarah Holling) 71Im worried that I wont get a place because I have dyslexia/a criminal conviction a / health problem 90Summary 97Interview checklist 98Selection day resources 100Interview survival kit 101Example interview questions 102Chapter 4 Pre-course preparation 103Start-up skills 104Save money 105Organise a back-up plan 105Refresh study skills 106Health and well-being 108Emotional intelligence 109Summary 111Friendly pre-course reading 111Annotated bibliography tool 113Chapter 5 Planning for adversity: building resilience 114Older and wiser (Martin Spurin) 115From a students point of view 120The successful student (Kim Russell) 124Summary 129References 131Index 133