At age 45, would you start an RN program? Honest advice please

[Possible Career Changer]

Hello everyone,

Can I please get honest advice from current RNs, please? My name is Daniel and I will be 45 years old soon. My background is in business. I have a BS in Business with no RN prerequisite courses. I am considering a career change to become a nurse. It is something that has always interested me. The current epidemic has given me an even higher appreciation for nurses and the work they do. I would not be pursuing this career for the "hero" status. It's not about how other people would perceive me. I genuinely have an interest in the nursing profession and the thought of helping people in need seems so satisfying to me.

I live in Los Angeles. The waitlists for nursing prerequisite courses at local community colleges are horrendous, I am told, not to mention the waitlists to be accepted into the actual RN program. At age 44, soon to be 45, I don't have time to waste. I have looked into a couple options and I would like to please get current RNs honest assessments.

Option #1: the second bachelor's BSN program at National University in Los Angeles. Time duration is about 39 months NOT including 9 prereq courses I would need to take before even applying to the program. Cost of the program NOT including the 9 prereq's is about $66,000. At least one prereq course I would have to take at National University, not at a community college, and the cost for that course alone is like $1,700 (I know Cal State LA and Cal State Northridge also have second bachelor's BSN programs, but since the acceptance rate is so low - around 10% at Cal State LA - I am not even seriously considering these two schools. My undergrad GPA was 3.14 cumulative. Not bad, but not outstanding either.)

Option #2: the ADN program at American Career College in Los Angeles. The advantage of this program would be the relatively short time to completion. I would be able to complete the program AND all the prerequisite courses in only 20 months. However, the cost is ... ugh ... $74,000. Short time to completion but expensive. Also, I have noticed the handful of RNs I know who work for Cedars Sinai and UCLA Ronald Reagan all have BSNs; so does this mean a new grad with an ADN from American Career College has little chance to be hired by those two big-name, prestige hospitals? Or any hospital in LA? Or is it just a coincidence that the four or five people I know who are RNs at those two hospitals just happen to all have BSNs? Going into debt for an ADN and landing a fulfilling job is one thing, going into debt for an ADN and then having to beg my current employer for my current job back would be a living nightmare. I already paid off my loans for my BS in Business degree, so I know what it's like to have student loan debt. 

Option #3 - slug it out in community college waitlist hell at age 44 and finish .... ever at all? 

Option #4 - the LVN route. LVN programs in Los Angeles are around $30,000 and time to completion is 13 months. Thirteen months and then I could start working as a nurse. However, is it really practical to say "I am going to work full time in a new career as an LVN AND go to school to become an RN AND have some semblance of a life?" Thoughts? Please be honest. Also, as RNs, do you look at LVNs and think, "Why didn't you just go for your RN in the first place, are you dumb or lazy or something?" Is that at least partially accurate or way off-base?

Is there another option I am not aware of? I love the idea of helping people in need, hence the desire to seriously consider becoming a nurse. However, could you honestly say if you were me, at 44 going on 45, with a non-nursing background, you would pursue a nursing career given the extreme amount of cost and time involved? Not to mention living expenses in Southern California! Please do not sugar-coat your responses. I am in need of honest, brutally honest advice from people who know. The "follow your heart" advice I have already heard. I am in need of an honest assessment based on practicality, time and money. Thank you in advance for your time and your candor. Thank you also for the important work all of you are doing. 

Daniel

[MsNickki]

On 10/6/2021 at 11:35 AM, Possible Career Changer said:

Also, what’s the deal with nurses bullying each other, or “eating their young?” Is this because it’s a female-dominated profession? I thought females were nowadays supposed to be all about female empowerment. I have never heard of construction workers, long-haul truck drivers, airline pilots, or underwater welders “eating their young.” I guess us men know how to get along - when we aren’t shooting each other LOL. 

I also became a nurse in my 40’s. My circumstances were very different as I only had to juggle 2 kids & nursing school. The finances were taken care of. However, I would tell anyone who has a for nursing to go for it. 
 

It’s funny you say “airline pilots don’t eat their young” because they really don’t. However the first time I heard that saying was in my initial career…aircraft mechanic! This is a white male dominated career. I have no idea why that was the case, but I always say it’s a choice. I was able to train people w/o killing their souls/self esteem. However, that was not my experience when I started at 18 years old & worked the flight line into my mid-30’s. I loved hands on but I loved training even more. I loved that people “got it” & enjoyed training with me and even volunteered to work nights to work with me. I hold on to that, I know my temperament & I believe I will be apart of a great team. I graduated in December, passed NCLEX, but since don’t actually need the income immediately I’m very selective in the job I choose. 

[Spring2015, LVN]

Hey, LVN in CA here (Bay Area). I paid $30k for an accelerated LVN program where A&P were included, and earn $70-80k/yr. I took this route because I wanted to move out of my parents house ASAP after high school, and I wanted to be a nurse but couldn't wait 4+ years to be out of my own. A lot of my class was just trying to be independent quickly, not doing LVN out of it being perceived as easy, because honestly it was quite challenging! That being said, once you are done with LVN it can be REALLY hard to get into an LVN to RN bridge program here, because you end up on a waitlist for someone to drop in their second semester of nursing school to essentially take their place. There is no guarantee you will ever get off that waitlist. Non-waitlist schools are so competitive in CA that you need excellent grades and TEAS. During this time that you are waiting to get in, your prerequisites are expiring. Private LVN to BSN can be quick to get in because they are less impacted, but can still cost a small fortune. So if you do LVN, you may end up either staying an LVN or eventually "restarting" and doing an ABSN or ELMSN. All that being said, you asked about the status of LVN. Some family members/friends (who aren't in healthcare) have given me a hard time for not getting an RN right away. Funny thing is that I have never received any negativity from about it from anyone who is actually in healthcare, and have met so many RNs that were LVNs or CNAs first. Being an LVN is absolutely a great career and I love it, but that's my honest answer. I would still 100% do it again, but now I'm 31 and doing ELMSN, which is what I'd recommend to you because while its still competitive I felt like I got in faster because ELMSN put more emphasis on life experiences in the application process. I hope this helps answer your question about LVN status/indirect paths to RN. You still have a long career ahead of you, 20+ years as another poster stated. You could even go to an ELMSN-NP Program. Good luck!