Degree: Foundation Program + Bachelor of Nursing
Current position: Nurse and Master of International Relations student
My name is Miao Xu. I’m from China. I studied Foundation Program at Deakin College and Bachelor of Nursing at Deakin University. I finished my Bachelor in 2021. I currently work as a part-time nurse in St Vincent’s Aged Care and I’m studying full-time a Master of International Relations at the University of Melbourne.
A family friend recommended Deakin University, because Deakin’s nursing program is one of the best in Australia. The Foundation Program prepared me well for my bachelor study, especially with writing and group assignments. It also helped me gain some basic knowledge of health science. Yianni, one of the Student Learning Advisors, had a big influence on me. He offered me the opportunity to become a student mentor. It helped develop my personal skills and leadership, which I always find useful in my further study and current career.
The student mentor program offered me the opportunity to work with the marketing department at Deakin College. I met many gorgeous people in the program. I developed many practical skills too.
Deakin College often holds multicultural events. They provide a great opportunity for students to get to know each other’s cultures. It’s a very respectful environment. It was great to be able to socialise and make friends with students who have different cultural backgrounds.
Deakin College always provided me with a lot of support in transitioning from college to university. All the staff were very reachable and helpful.
With the Bachelor of Nursing degree, we did many placements in different healthcare settings. The placements helped us explore which area we were interested in. Textbooks are very different from real clinical settings; the course structure helped us explore our career preferences and further developed our clinical skills.
The most memorable moment at Deakin College was definitely participating in the mentor program. Because of this opportunity, I developed very good relationship with Yianni, the Student Learning Advisor. He has been my mentor for so many years. I often catch up with him. He always encourages me and gives me very useful advice. Changing my focus to International Relations is a big change for me, and Yianni gave me a lot of support with that decisions.
I gained a lot of confidence from studying with Deakin. I would say that is valuable in every career.
I know most of us when we first start our study in Australia, we feel very lost and don’t know what we can do in the future. Some of us get anxious about this. I would say there is nothing to worry about, it is part of life. Just go with the flow. You never know what you are really interested in until you do it and explore it. Even if you don’t enjoy what you currently do, just try to find what this job or course teaches you and try to explore the things that make you feel happy while doing it.
Also, you don’t need to stress about making a bad choice. There is no good choice or bad choice, it is all about what you can learn from it. Life does not only have one choice for you. You have to take the initiative and make the most of opportunities for yourself. You need to be brave to make the choice and face the challenge. It is all about not regretting when you look back. If you can’t find what you really like now, just develop a skill. It will help you make your living and give you a backup for you to pursue your dream later.
Don’t feel stressed about other people seeming to do better and walking faster than you. Take your own path, step by step, then you will find yourself quite successful in the area you have chosen.