By Tess O’Brien
My name is Tess and I was recently accepted into a Bachelor of Health Science (Food and Nutrition) at CSU. I haven’t actually started yet as I’m one of those students beginning mid-year.
Not many people know that you can start your degree mid-year, because the majority of students don’t do it.
But since I’m doing my degree through CSU online, I wanted to give myself some more time to work a little longer and save some money before I buckle down and start my studies!
After finishing school five years ago, I landed myself a job as a receptionist in a physiotherapy practice in Wagga Wagga. I was pretty happy working away full-time and saving some money. I also got to complete a Certificate III in Business Administration through a traineeship.
Since leaving school, I haven’t been able to make up my mind on what I want to do as a career. That is until late last year when I decided I wanted a career as a dietitian because I’ve developed an interest in food and nutrition. Which is why I decided to enrol in a Bachelor of Health Science at CSU.
Having not studied for four years, I was scared to jump back into study, as it’s a big commitment and a big lifestyle change for me. But I knew what I wanted, so I made the plunge and applied to commence the course mid-year in 2017 when I realised that it was possible to do so!
Currently I’m still doing casual shift work as a motel receptionist which means my hours are always changing depending on the time of year and how busy the motel is! I think that studying online will definitely benefit me because I’ll be able to work when I’m needed and study in my spare time.
Having the option to start a degree mid-year is awesome and worked out perfectly for me as the first half of the year is an extremely busy time at work. So this way I can keep my work commitments and start study a little later. And I’m still not losing a whole year! I’m still able to get ahead by studying over the summer break, which I probably will do. This way I’ll have enough time to put into my studies, not to mention I’ve had so much more time to save money, so when I start uni I can focus more on studying and less on stressing about work.
Starting mid-year has also given me time to prepare for University study by completing some STUDY LINK subjects to help make the transition from work into tertiary study easier, especially because I haven’t studied for quite some time!
I’m expecting uni to be quite challenging and demanding – which is something I’m not used to. I’m really nervous too. In saying that I’m also really excited to finally make a start on my degree so that I can make a career for myself in an industry that I’m passionate about.
