at what age did you start studying nursing?

[cksl]

from what i have seen, a lot of us here are parents or in their 30s. so i was quite curious.

for me, i'm 17 gong 18. i'm only 9 months into my nursing course. in singapore, almost majority of the nurses start studying at 17 or 18 years old.

[karen230]

I have often considered going in to Nursing and this is the farthest "considering" it has gone. I'm currently 37 and taking the only pre-req I need to be accepted in to the RN program. At my school you take A&P once you are accepted and to get accepted you need a "C" or better in bio and since it has been a long time since I took bio..........

Hoping to graduate at 41 or the latest 42 (not sure if I want to "spread" out some of the courses to give me more time to concentrate on the acutal nursing courses).

[mntgrl]

I am on my last semester of pre-reqs now and will be starting nursing clinicals in Aug 08. When I finish clinicals in Aug 10 I will be 51 years young!! I did go to school years ago but it was too hard to go to school, work full time, and take care of the boys. I have worked in the mortgage industry for 20 years, but it has grown old and not something I ever wanted to do, but just fell into. Now that the boys are in college I felt it was finally time for me to go back to school. I am so excited!!:w00t:

[future L&Dnurse]

I started pre-reqs at 25, will be 28 when I graduate.

[beth66335, BSN, RN]

I don't remember exactly how old I started prereq's, but I am a 1st year nursing student and I turned 40 last Summer, right before I started NS . If all goes well I will finish 1 month before my 42 B-day!:balloons::w00t:

[sharona97, BSN, RN]

Age 23 graduated at 25.

[AmericanRN]

I started pre-reqs when I was 29. Now I'm 33 and start clincials in April.

I would love to whine but I can't. I don't have children and that does make it a lot easier to deal with school/work, etc. I also have a very good support group of friends, some of which did not begin their "adult" careers until they were in their 30s and 40s.

They really beleive in "paying it forward" They have heard me rant, rave, cry and threten to quit (back in the algeba days) and stuck by me. When I found out I was accepted in January they appeared to be happier then I was, some were literally screaming and smiling.

Several have offered to pay for scrubs, shoes, stethoscope, you name it. It is amazing.

And all they ask is that I be successful, pass my boards and pay it forward to the next person who decides on a career change and needs some help when I am in a better finanical situation.

Starting later has been beneficial for me since I have gotten other life experiences from not going into it younger.

Now the real pressure starts I cannot let these folks and myself down.

[Wise Guy]

I started prereq's when i was 23 and nursing school at 25

[greenmiler]

I'm an old fart, Just graduated, passed nclex and start on the floor tommorow nite at my first nursing job...at 48

[porkey2]

Im 43 and I have about another year of prereqs, although I have to say, Im pretty tired. I feel like I have been going to school forever! I have an associates degree in CIS and have been working in the field but burnt out already.

My energy level is pretty low, but nursing is something I've always wanted to do. Hopefully, by the time I start nursing school, I will have found my second wind, lol.

[FutureRN19]

started my prereqs at 18, Now 20 and in my first semester of Nursing, hopefully will be finished with my ADN at 22.

[Natalia2008]

i live in maryland and i started college at 17 and wasnt sure what i wanted to study bc med school seemed too expensive and ive always admired the children hospital nurses and decided i wanted to be one so ill be done my pre req's in december and ill be 20 at that time so ill probably finish nursing school probably between 22-23 yrs old !!! i plan to get my masters to become a emergency room nurse practitioner so i wont be done with school for a while :specs:but i cant wait !! ive finally found something ill be happy waking up to everyday:bugeyes:

[RaElrA]

LOL! I'l be 57 when I graduate next year. It's never too late! I find that my life experiences are a plus. Yes, sometimes I feel like "Edith Bunker goes to nursing school," but I love it and would make the same decision again.