Contemplating a pretty big leap...! Help!

[Picardie]

Hi everybody,

I'm new to the forum (but have been lurking rather a lot), so sorry if my post is in the wrong place or has already been addressed. I'll bold the things that are most important, in case it's tl;dr!

I'm due to finish a conjoint degree in two non-nursing related fields in the next year or so, and I have a number of options open to me - honours? Postgraduate studies? Straight into the workforce? Obviously I've amassed my fair share of student debt now, so I'm eager to start making some moolah to pay that off.

However, life never quite works out so simply! My two fields, although I love them dearly and am passionate about them, are notoriously difficult to make a career out of, particularly in my home country. Unless I'm the absolute top of the top, within the top 1%, I won't be expecting to even live comfortably unless I take on something like teaching. Teaching as supplementary (or even primary) income is considered so inevitable that I've already set aside at least another year to get a diploma in teaching on top of everything else, as do most others in my position. I don't regret choosing to study these subjects, but sometimes the reality of my miserable job prospects can be quite scary to contemplate.

I have always had a kind of sideline dream of working in the health field - all things medical and health-related fascinate me, but I just assumed (being quite arts-focused) in high-school that I would never be smart enough to study medicine, and didn't take many science subjects - I'm not bad at science subjects, but I put them to the side to study my arts stuff. However, you only live once, and I don't want to regret not giving something my best shot. I think that I could make a great nurse, and I think that I have the ability and the work ethic to at least survive nursing school!

I'm contemplating studying nursing after I have graduated my conjoint, but I haven't talked to anybody openly about it yet. At the moment, I'm just looking at my options, and trying to get a feel for what it would realistically be like.

I was wondering if anybody else on this forum has entered into nursing from another (non-related) qualification, and if so, how much preliminary work did you do on your own to be ready for nursing studies?

What things can I do to get a better picture of nursing/studying nursing? Who can I talk to, what can I read? (And I want the honest sources! Haha)

Also, what do I need to think about that I may have missed so far? As nursing students, what have you experienced that was unexpected about studying nursing?

Any and all advice is welcome, thanks in advance. :)

~Picardie