Hello Gentlemen,

I'm new to the forum. My name is Jeff and I'm 42 years old. After being in the IT field for 20+ years, I'd like a career change and would like to be a nurse. However, I cannot quit my job to go to nursing school fulltime, since I need to support my family. When I first began researching nursing school options (and I really know so little about it), I thought I could take night courses here and there until I acquired enough credits for the degree. How wrong I was. It doesn't matter to me if I get a degree as an RN, ADN or LVN. What options do I have besides quitting my job and attending nursing school fulltime? Is there any hope for a guy in my situation?

Guys like me - how did you do it? All advice is welcome

Thank you so much in advance and regards,

Jeff from Dallas, TX.

i took as many courses as i could at night. all the while saving as much as i could. as fate would have it, i was 'downsized' out of a job. i took advantage of this 'opportunity' to find sesonal work and then went to school in the off season. as soon as i got my adn degree and became an RN i picked up a ful time 3-11 job and enrolled in a bsn program full time. i chaanged jobs as needed to keep in school full-time, as long as it enabled me to work full-time as well. after the bsn I stuck it out for two more years and got a msn. i did it all through state schools to keep the cost down, used loans, grants, scholarships.. what ever i could.

Rio,

Thanks for responding! You say you took as many night classes as you could. When you were downsized, is that when you did the fulltime nursing school....a-la, the 06:30AM-02:30 school shift? Is the idea of night shift nursing school non-existant?

Thanks in advance,

Jeff

Do you have a degree already? Rio pretty much nailed it. If you have a degree already, is there an accelerated BSN or ABSN program in you area?

Do you live in Tarrent county? Just out of curiosity, why do you want to be a nurse? Good luck and all the best, Tim:D

Hi Tim,

No, I only have 40 college hours. I live in Denton county. Why would I want to be a nurse? C'mon....

I worked at an entry-level (high-school diploma required) job in healthcare while attending school, as did several of my classmates. Not very good pay, but flexible scheduling, and after one year my facility helps with tuition reimbursement. It wasn't easy, but an ASN required only two years of full-time classes. Took full advantage of any financial aid I could get--mostly loans.

I also was a programmer for 12+ years before I decided on changing careers at the age of 35. I saw the writing on the wall as programming positions were being shipped overseas and increasing instability in the tech sector made the future very uncertain. That's when I decided to start my backup plan - nursing. I was working for a small company at the time and had the luxury of "working from home". In practice, this often meant carrying my laptop with me as I went to class during they day and logging in to work between classes to keep in contact with things while I finished my prerequisites for nursing school. I sold my nice sporty car for a bargain basement pickup, refinanced the house to pull out equity to live on while going to school full time after I was layed-off. I already had a previous computer science degree so I qualified for an accelerated program that I just completed this past December after 16 months of intense schooling. I just passed the NCLEX and am working on a cardiac telemetry floor and love it. It can be done.

I am 42 and I have been in a nursing related field for 20years. I spent the first 14 years as a nurse's aide/orderly and completed the RN program in 2003. I went into a f/t program which is not possible for everyone. It sounds like you have done your research now all that is needed is to figure out how logistically you are going to get through the program.

Mito

I attended nursing school kinda' off and on. Having already earned an Associate's and Bachelor's and work-in-progress on two Master's, I had a slew of college credit hours.

I made the decision to attend full-time. I paid for Nursing education and lived through the time with a combination of loans and proceeds of sales good performing stocks in my meager portfolio. I've heard of other students whom are married with family, work full-time and attend school full-time and regularly make the Dean's List and join Sigma Theta Tau, the Nursing Honor Society. So, it CAN be done.

My decision to attend full-time was met with life. In other words, because of some of the events in life, I had to, at one time or another, withdraw from coursework - only to retake it one year later.

Some students take less than a full-time course load. Of course, it takes longer, but the end result is the same... R.N.

Creatures in the wild, when caught in a leg trap, will often chew their trapped leg off just to be free. If you have a supportive partner/family, then consider borrowing to attend classes, sell/rent/re-mortgage your house, take a second job, save, sacrifice, invest, dip into that 401-K, DO WHATEVER IT TAKES!

You WILL NOT regret it!

I dont know that I can be much help, I wasnt in the same situation as you when I went to school.

I didnt meet my wife until the year I graduated so I didint have the same bills as you do.

I was 35 when I went to school. Because I couldnt afford to go in my home state I move half way across the country to an area that I could afford.

Fortunately for me I was a high pay labor contractor so I worked for myself through school three days a week. I attended school the other four days. There were no weekends or days off for over three years.

Before I entered the program I got all GE out of the way which took three semesters full time. That made working and the nursing courses bearable for me (there is a lot that isnt shown on the syllabus).

I also borrowed.

What I do know from nursing school and elsewhere, where theres a will theres a way. Theres also a price to pay no matter what you do, or dont.

Take care-

11

I saw a LVN program part time at night at a private college, It's 3 years two nights a wk. for a grand total of 24,000! (includes a laptop- whatever LOL)

Hi Jeff. Welcome to the brotherhood. I was a medical assistant and wanted to take advantage of the tuition reimbursement my employer offered. Called around (this was 1992- before I had internet access). The ADN school never called back, the LPN school did. Took 3 years, 2 nights/week and every other weekend (usually only takes 2 years, but this was easier on the brain and got me 3 years of reimbursement). Finished school when I was 31. Saved enough lives now- working on a master's in healthcare management. I'll be 43 when I finish. My advice: get an IT job in a hospital, let them pay for night school.

Man, you guys are all a bunch of young whippersnappers !

I'm coming up on 56 in June, and got the idea of becoming an RN a year or so ago. My wife is in a BSN program and the more I heard about nursing the more I liked the idea of doing it myself.

Here's the kicker: I'm a podiatrist who has been self employed in private practice for 28 1/2 years! I still LOVE patient care, but I hate what is happening to private medical practice these days. I spend more and more time doing bullsh*t paperwork tracking down referrals, dealing with insurance company bogus rejections, increased government regs etc than I do in actual hands-on patient care. Insurance pays less and less and there's more and more local competition to the point where it's tough to make ends meet. No way I'm ready to retire, but I look forward to working for someone else for a change, doing my job and taking my paycheck and going home, leaving the headaches behind.

I "challenged" into an associate's program in Jan and have been having a great time. 7 weeks of med/surg on a neuro floor, and just finishing up 3 weeks in a home for developmentally disabled kids. After next week, it's 4 of labor/delivery/post-partum. I'm loving the whole thing.