Am I off my rocker?

Nurses General Nursing

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Hi

I finally registered after lurking here for the longest time. I'm a 43 year old male and have had the desire to be a nurse for the past 15 years. I have a well paying corporate job that really offers no stability and little satisfaction. That said, I decided that I have put off my desire for too long. I want to go to nursing school and am gathering the information to move forward but have some questions I need answered.

1. Obviously at 43 I have financial reasons I'll need to keep my "day job". My desire is to get as much of my nursing education online on part time. Is it realistic to think I can get my education part time to work within my life?

2. The local college that I was looking at offers a nursing program and at the end they offer an AAS degree in nursing. After receiving an AAS in nursing, where would this classify me as far as my nursing level; BSN, RN, LPN?

3. Does a 43 year old male going to school non- full time have hope of becoming a nurse or am I reaching at a dream that's unrealistic?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and comments - Tommy

Specializes in Home health was tops, 2nd was L&D.

Tommy,

Go to the forum under Students at the top of the page and clink into Distance education. There are threads on Excelsior College that apparently offers ADN online... You can get details and info from the different posts.. I thought this might help you. Good luck.:D

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Specializes in CCU, cardiac tele, NICU.

Do you have a Bachelor's degree already? If so, you could do an accelerated BSN and be done in a year.

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Specializes in SNF, Med Surg.

I say absolutely get off of that rocker, make your plan and get to nursing!! With that said, I just want to share some things that I have learned.

I agree witht the above poster -- if you have a Bachelor's degree in anything else look into an accelerated BSN. I am a second career new nurse and I have a husband and 4 small children; I wanted the biggest bang for my buck and for me the BSN was the answer. I had a lot to consider because my kids are used to me being there for them for everything (I only taught a few night classes so they really had me full time) so I did a lot of research into the programs in my area as well as the job market and I learned some things that totally drove my decisions. What I learned was that the few hospitals in the area that I was interested in working were trending toward "BSN preferred." That helped drive part of my decision -- then I looked at the accelerated programs because I wanted to be away from my family as least as possible -- I wanted to rip off the bandaid. So I then went and met with the schools (information seminars and the coordinators of the accelerated nursing programs) and found out what I needed to do (prerequisites, volunteer hours, and papers to write as to why I want to be a nurse...) and what kind of time frame I was looking at until I would graduate. In those information seminars and meetings I learned some other important things: it is incredibly competitive -- meaning there are hundreds of applicants for 26-32 spots (depending on the school) so grades/gpa are incredibly important - starting with the prerequisites.

I applied for my program with a girl I met in a prereq and she didn't get in and in really frilly language her decline letter said her grades didn't reflect the commitment that this nursing program requires...it is too bad really because she would have made a better nurse than some of the people who got better grades than her.

Anyway, I guess what I am long-windedly trying to say is going to nursing school is more than just deciding to do so -- it truly takes focus and dedication especially because of the competitive nature of things now. Your prerequisites can be done part time and some online (make sure that the nursing school approves of the places you do your prereqs from -- you don't want to waste your time). Once you get into your program I don't know that working full time will work only because as some of the other posters have said you have to be flexible for these programs and clinicals etc -- they don't really bend for you. My accelerated program was one calendar year -- besides all the class time and clinicals, your free time is study time. I have to say though that my friends that weren't in accelerated programs spent as much class time/clinical time and study time than I did, and at the end we take the same test, but we have different credentials. We graduated in May and they are looking into their BSN bridge programs now (more time and money -- two things I don't have).

Do your research, make a plan and go for it! Find out what is going to work best for you in your life and make it happen -- it is soo worth it. Best of luck! p.s. don't forget there is financial aid

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the adn online from excelsior requires that you already have your lpn, it is a 'completion' program online unless you live in state.

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There is a local school that offers an "evening" program. Their idea of "evening" means that classes start at 4 pm. You have commute time between a day job and the school to figure into that equation. All of these details must be thoroughly researched before you start to make commitments.

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Wow!

I didn't expect such a great response, loaded with TONS of information. Thanks so much for the warm welcome. After reading through this post several times I've written a few notes on some things I must do. First and foremost, I found a college, I have made an appointment for next week to go discuss my options with them for school, pre-req's, etc.

Secondly, thanks much for supporting this dream......Thanks!

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Specializes in CCU, cardiac tele, NICU.

Yay! Good for you for making appointments to get the ball rolling! Best of luck, and keep us posted! :yeah:

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