Graduate School Entrance Exam Experience: Midwifery Course
This article is recommended for those who fall into the following categories:
You are unsure whether to obtain your midwifery qualification at a graduate school, or at a one-year vocational school, university special course, or major course.
You don't know where to start for graduate school entrance exam preparation.
You are worried about preparing for entrance exams because you still have clinical practice and nursing research in your fourth year.
In this article, I have summarized the schedule I followed for graduate school entrance exam preparation, what I found helpful, and conversely, what I wish I had done differently, based on a chronological timeline.
After graduating from a four-year university nursing program, I did not seek employment; instead, I went on to graduate school with the goal of obtaining my midwifery qualification.
My Entrance Exam Plan
Applied to three graduate schools (August entrance exam to late September entrance exam)
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After results were released, applied to a university special course and two midwifery schools (entrance exams in October and November, respectively)
As per the schedule above, I did not engage in job hunting.
My classmates were job hunting in parallel (after informing them of their desire to advance to midwifery studies) from April to early July.
February of 3rd year of university: Decided to take the graduate school entrance exam
After completing clinical practice in my third year, I had decided to become a midwife, but because I wanted to obtain the midwifery qualification as soon as possible, I was not considering graduate school.
However, after hearing from seniors who had advanced to graduate school at a university career guidance session, and considering the benefits of taking time to study thoroughly as well as my own personality, I began to consider obtaining the qualification through graduate school.
March: Gathering information on target schools
I believe a characteristic of graduate schools is that entrance exam dates vary significantly depending on the region and the school.
Many graduate schools hold open campuses from February to around July, and there are opportunities to talk to seniors and professors about the school's atmosphere.
If you are even slightly hesitant, I recommend attending.
Many places allow online participation, making it easy to join.
Many people attended in suits, but casual clothes were also fine.
(For online participation at University B's open campus, the ratio of suits to casual clothes was about 6:4.)
・Entrance exam subjects
・Understanding application and entrance exam dates
・Whether a preliminary interview is necessary
・Whether submission of external English test scores is required
・School atmosphere and whether past exam questions can be obtained
At this time, I learned that submission of TOEIC results was mandatory for my target school. To get the best score possible, I took the test every month from March until the last possible test date before the score submission deadline. (4 times in total)
I will create a separate article regarding English preparation.
April of 4th year of university: Research and clinical practice preparation
I read many papers on Ichushi-Web to decide on the theme for my undergraduate nursing research.
When you get stuck, it is very helpful for preliminary interview preparation and writing your statement of purpose when applying to collect papers by professors at your target school and look for literature that can be reflected in the research you want to conduct in graduate school.
Since the fields that graduate schools specialize in differ—such as painless delivery, attachment formation, and sex education—being able to create a research theme that connects to the graduate school at this point makes it easier to organize your thoughts. However, depending on the university, you may not be assigned to your desired laboratory (e.g., due to enrollment limits in the maternal nursing field).
This is from a question at an open campus of a certain graduate school.
Q: I ended up doing research activities for my university nursing research that are far from midwifery. Will this be a disadvantage in the graduate school entrance exam?
A: If you can explain what kind of research you conducted and why, and what you found and what remained unclear, thenit can be explained that you have the ability to conduct nursing research.We will look at whether you are the type of person who can work on research carefully.
There was an explanation like this.
Depending on the graduate school, it seems they will respond in this way.
Please be sure to check.
May: Clinical practice, preparation for preliminary interviews
During clinical practice, I honestly couldn't make any progress with English study or preparation.
I focused on clinical records and managing my health to earn my credits.
I felt anxious, but I think I could have approached it more calmly if I had written down 'I will do this after practice ends' and organized my thoughts.
Preparation for Preliminary Interviews
・Emailto make an appointment
・Resumecreation (use a format used for job hunting, and add reasons for wanting to become a midwife, reasons for choosing this graduate school, and extracurricular activities you participated in at university; if the graduate school has a specific form, use that).
・What kind of research you are conducting at university (research proposal)
・Research you want to conduct in graduate school (provisional research proposal)
In my case, I proceeded with preparation from the perspective of how I wanted to develop the research I conducted at university.
June: It was the busiest time
Preliminary Interview
Please be sure to have a preliminary interview. Depending on the school, this can be a time related to the entrance exam, such as making contact with a recommended professor required for the application, or receiving advice on your graduate school research proposal so you can correct it before the actual exam.
Also, as an aside, you can get to know the school's atmosphere even more deeply in a preliminary interview than at an open campus. Personally, I used this opportunity to decide not to apply to one school. Whether you feel uncomfortable while talking, the surrounding environment, and the convenience of transportation if you were to actually attend are also important information.
Furthermore, depending on the school, there may be no preliminary interview. (Some schools waive it if you attend an open campus.) This is often listed in the application guidelines, so it is safest to check the previous year's guidelines or contact the graduate school directly if you are worried.
Decided to attend an online preparatory school for graduate school entrance exams
I continued taking the TOEIC from March, but I didn't reach the score I was aiming for...
For reference, my score was 645. When I searched online for 'graduate school TOEIC what score is needed,' it usually said 700 or higher, which made me anxious, so I decided to attend to raise my English score for the entrance exam as much as possible.
Graduate school entrance exams in English allow dictionaries, and I think there are many English-to-Japanese translations.
Don't let your guard down just because you can bring a dictionary; if you memorize as many English words as possible and train yourself to grasp grammar, you will be able to work with time to spare on the day of the exam.
I will create a separate article for recommended study materials.
This also applies to essays, but it is very important to have someone else look at your work and provide objective corrections. Please make good use of school facilities and ChatGPT.
Preparation for Integrated Clinical Practice
At the university I attend, for integrated clinical practice, I had to create my own practice requirements and record sheets (I think this differs by university).
Why I want to learn about this field for these reasons
→ Creating this record sheet, what perspective to evaluate from, and so on...
Coordinating with students and teachers in the same field and the clinical practice site involved a lot of learning (and many tasks), and it was heavy to do in parallel with the preliminary interview.
It goes without saying, but it is important to work on things as early as possible.
July: Preliminary interviews, integrated clinical practice, open campus
It was a busy month of doing integrated clinical practice while attending preliminary interviews and open campuses on weekends. Those who have read this far may have noticed, but not putting things off is truly important. I think the trick to getting through it was finishing what I could when I could.
By the way, my studies didn't progress at all...
However, I think I was lucky to be able to do my clinical practice in the maternal field, etc., because knowledge is easier to retain during practice. Even if it was a practice in a place other than that, if you can reliably solidify your knowledge of basic nursing and the perioperative period, I think it would have led not only to the entrance exam but also to the national exam. (This is from a friend's story)
Graduate school entrance exam measures (specialized subjects, interviews, English, essays)
I plan to create separate articles for clinical practice measures, national exam measures, how to proceed with undergraduate nursing research, and points to note during preliminary interviews.
If you are applying to multiple graduate schools or schools, it is also recommended to choose schools that include similar subjects.
I think specialized subjects (maternal nursing + pediatrics, etc.), interviews, English, and essays are the main subjects, but studying specialized subjects for just one school was a lot of effort. However, there are times when you can work hard for the school you want to go to.
It is good to align the subjects as much as possible.
There are various types: interviews only, specialized subjects only, or English and essays only.
English and essays may depend on your original strengths and weaknesses, but specialized subjects improve the more you study.
・Read the textbooks thoroughly (in the case of internal advancement or graduate schools with a nursing department, check which company's textbooks the school uses → look for them in the library) → try summarizing them so you can explain them yourself easily (think of it as organizing).
・Try solving past exam questions・Try solving national exam questions
・
Try solving problem sets for the maternal nursing field, and so on, as I proceeded with my studies.
Even if you solve past exam questions for schools you aren't applying to, you can grasp the trends and see which areas of knowledge are frequently tested.
I requested various materials after my clinical rotations ended, but I think I should have done it much earlier.
August: Entrance exams, submission and presentation of research proposals, and application (second school)
Entrance exam for the first school
Since this school had the highest number of subjects, I was just studying as described above. For interview practice, I first tried writing out my answers to anticipated questions, and then practiced by looking at a script where I had written down only the key points to see if I could say them. That was the kind of practice I did.
Research Proposal
Although it was a somewhat unique process where I deepened my research plan for graduation after creating a tentative research proposal for what I wanted to do in graduate school, I was able to complete it with a lot of help from my academic advisor. In any case, grasping how far research in that field has progressed on your own is the most important thing when setting a theme and plan. Are you at the stage of exploring causes, has intervention research been conducted, or are there even systematic reviews? Please try reading Japanese papers first using databases like Ichushi-Web.
Application to other schools
Basically, I think it is fine for your reasons for wanting to become a midwife, your research at university, and the research you want to do in graduate school to be the same.
If you write about why you want to study at that specific school (curriculum, research lab's field of study, overseas programs, comprehensive midwifery clinical rotations) while linking it to what you worked hard on during your university years, it is easy to be asked about in interviews and easier to talk about.
September: Open campus, national exam mock exams, announcement of successful applicants
Open Campus
During this period, there were many open campus events for one-year midwifery schools, specialized courses, and supplementary courses. I tried to go to the locations as much as possible to listen to the stories of seniors and teachers. There were many opportunities to hear about the atmosphere, what the interviews were like, and what kind of studying they did. It also serves as a change of pace.
First national exam mock exam
There were also national exam mock exams. For the time being, I decided to go through the mandatory questions in the Question Bank (QB) once before taking them. It is better to start from the areas with the most questions. Basic nursing, maternal, pediatric, and gynecological diseases can also be used for entrance exams.
Announcement of successful applicants, second school entrance exam, application for one-year supplementary courses and specialized courses
Since I was accepted to the first school, I will summarize what I planned from then on.
The first thing to do after being accepted is to contact the graduate schools you have already applied to and inform them that you will be absent from the entrance exam. The method varies by graduate school—whether it is by phone or email—so check immediately. In my case, I contacted the professor who conducted my preliminary interview via email.
Application documents and the necessity of letters of recommendation vary by school. It is best to inform your academic advisor of your intention to apply one month before the application deadline to ensure things go smoothly.
October: Announcement of successful applicants, mock exams, midwifery supplementary course entrance exams
My friends were taking exams all at once during this period because they wanted to 'get their midwifery license in one year.' The following includes stories from friends.
・Since more schools require handwritten resumes and statements of purpose, you should estimate more time for the application process (because you have to think through the text, then draft it, then write the final copy).
・Honestly, I couldn't study for the mock exams.
・Since the interview format changed every year and there were no past questions for the school, I just made sure to sleep well the night before to get my brain in good condition.
・Since the competition rate is generally high, I applied to three schools to feel secure.
Finally
The number of births is decreasing year by year, and even now, I sometimes feel anxious about whether it will be okay to become a midwife.
However, I have absolutely no regrets about deciding to take the exam and seeing it through so that I can work in a field I find fun and interesting.
I hope this article is even a little bit helpful to everyone.
I am rooting for you with all my heart.