Back to College after 20 Years

hekat927 · Dec 6, 2008

Hekat and CJ, I work in the newspaper industry, in ad sales. Besides the direction the industry is taking, I am just bored. I have a friend who worked for the Tribune a few years ago, I want to say Sun City edition? Trust me, word spreads quickly throughout other newspapers when there are layoffs like you have experienced. There's a real sense of uneasiness amongst all of us, with good reason. Glad you are both finding your way into a new field. I am not going to take any classes online. I think I will do better in a traditional classroom setting, at least to start. I was going to dive in with Chemistry, but decided to do Lifespan Development first, and then take two classes the next go-around. Good luck to everyone!

Wow, azmomof2, ad sales. That is the other part of my job; I handle religious advertising. I have to say with the way the economy has tanked, I feel really bad for our reps because revenue is so hard to come by when you're the 2nd buy in this market. And you're not kidding about word spreading like wildfire; we keep being asked if we're still in business. The Sun City paper is part of our company out here. It's a nice community paper, but like everything else, they're going through some heavy changes right now,too.

Yeah, I agree with you about not taking Chem online; I tried taking it through Rio Salado. Did great on the labs, which took a lot of time to set up and run in my house, but didn't have time to study as much as I needed to for the "lecture" part. And it's not true that online is the best for people who work. That Chem was set up for people who had a lot of time outside of the class to study and write papers. We were going through a reformat of our papers AND I had just started learning pagination at the same time. I really overestimated my work schedule at that time :eek:

Mr_Tom · Dec 6, 2008

Wow! Here I was thinking I was the oddball with what I'm doing. Turns out there are lots of us!! That gives me great hope and gets me excited even more. :yeah:

Sounds like you are on the right track to me. Are you starting your classes in January? Which are you taking 1st? I am going to take my first one in January, I think I will start with the Chemistry one 1st. Good luck!

hekat927 · Dec 7, 2008

Wow! Here I was thinking I was the oddball with what I'm doing. Turns out there are lots of us!! That gives me great hope and gets me excited even more.
Sounds like you are on the right track to me. Are you starting your classes in January? Which are you taking 1st? I am going to take my first one in January, I think I will start with the Chemistry one 1st. Good luck!

Hi Mr. Tom,

Yes, there are lots of us changing our careers, welcome to the club! I'm taking a bio with lab, medical terminology, and nursing fundamentals this January. Then I'll go into Pima either this fall or next May. I've already knocked off my Psych, math and english. Pima doesn't require the Chem to enter for their ADN degree. I'll take that later if I decide to bridge to a BSN program (cause they will require it for that, I think). I wished I could have tested high enough in the math to just go into the Chem when I first started back, but I hadn't had algebra in 20 years, so I didn't score high enough. Good luck to you!

Mossback · Dec 7, 2008

Among all you newspaper guys, there's one TV news refugee. I worked for a Gannett station for many (perhaps way too many) years, before bailing out in 2006 to embark on a second career in nursing.

From what I hear from my former colleagues, commercial TV isn't a fun place to be either. Layoffs and sharp budget cutbacks are the order of the day. I'm glad I left when I did.

hekat927 · Dec 7, 2008

Among all you newspaper guys, there's one TV news refugee. I worked for a Gannett station for many (perhaps way too many) years, before bailing out in 2006 to embark on a second career in nursing.
From what I hear from my former colleagues, commercial TV isn't a fun place to be either. Layoffs and sharp budget cutbacks are the order of the day. I'm glad I left when I did.

Hi Mossback,

Yeah, this isn't a fun economy to be in right now, is it? :banghead: I think it's cool that I found a little pocket of fellow media people who have decided to make the big leap into something else. What was your job at the news station? Are you done with your nursing studies and in the field?

Mossback · Dec 7, 2008

Yeah, this isn't a fun economy to be in right now, is it? I think it's cool that I found a little pocket of fellow media people who have decided to make the big leap into something else. What was your job at the news station? Are you done with your nursing studies and in the field?

I did a bunch of things, all behind the scenes. I was a director for many years, then moved over into producing and writing. I did some management stuff too, including starting up and overseeing the station's news presence on the web.

I'm just finishing up the last of my pre-reqs (statistcs and organic chemistry, both requirements of the local university). I've already applied to several ADN programs, but they get hordes of qualified applicants (700 for 30 slots in one case), so the final selection is by lottery. No luck, so far.

I hope to get into a second bachelor's program at the university in the fall, although I'd be happy for a placement in any program. At this point, I'd just like to finish before I'm dead.

hekat927 · Dec 7, 2008

I did a bunch of things, all behind the scenes. I was a director for many years, then moved over into producing and writing. I did some management stuff too, including starting up and overseeing the station's news presence on the web.
I'm just finishing up the last of my pre-reqs (statistcs and organic chemistry, both requirements of the local university). I've already applied to several ADN programs, but they get hordes of qualified applicants (700 for 30 slots in one case), so the final selection is by lottery. No luck, so far.
I hope to get into a second bachelor's program at the university in the fall, although I'd be happy for a placement in any program. At this point, I'd just like to finish before I'm dead.

Wow, we're having the same problem with not enough open slots here in Arizona, too. They don't do it by lottery, but by how soon you finish your pre-reqs and get your application in. The interesting part of it is, if you already work for a hospital, or are accepted into a fellowship program run by a hospital, you get moved to the front of the line. Of course, everyone is applying to the hospitals so that they can get moved to the front (and maybe have their tuition paid by the hospital). I've read that the average wait time is now almost a year and a half for those of us who don't have connections. For those like us, who don't want to wait forever to get into the field so that we can still contribute, it's very frustrating. That is one of the major reasons that I am going to go into a private nursing school, even though the cost makes me gag and I may not be able to pursue a bachelors later without doing some more pre-reqs later on. I don't want to wait any longer than I have to.

I'll be pulling for you to get into a slot real soon. The great thing is you have quite a few skills in your previous field that will translate well into nursing. Are you planning to go further than being on the floor? Sounds like you have enough skills to possibly teach nursing later on, and goodness knows, we could use some more teachers.

azmomof2 · Dec 10, 2008

Wow, we're having the same problem with not enough open slots here in Arizona, too. They don't do it by lottery, but by how soon you finish your pre-reqs and get your application in. The interesting part of it is, if you already work for a hospital, or are accepted into a fellowship program run by a hospital, you get moved to the front of the line. Of course, everyone is applying to the hospitals so that they can get moved to the front (and maybe have their tuition paid by the hospital). I've read that the average wait time is now almost a year and a half for those of us who don't have connections. For those like us, who don't want to wait forever to get into the field so that we can still contribute, it's very frustrating. That is one of the major reasons that I am going to go into a private nursing school, even though the cost makes me gag and I may not be able to pursue a bachelors later without doing some more pre-reqs later on. I don't want to wait any longer than I have to.
I'll be pulling for you to get into a slot real soon. The great thing is you have quite a few skills in your previous field that will translate well into nursing. Are you planning to go further than being on the floor? Sounds like you have enough skills to possibly teach nursing later on, and goodness knows, we could use some more teachers.

Hekat, a question: What programs are available in Phoenix? And am I understanding correctly that the time in which you finish your pre-req's affects admission into certain programs? The partnership program at Univ of Ariz is very competitive. Even if I were to get in a couple of years, I would definitely not want to hold any type of job, so not sure how I will finance it. It would be nice to know Phoenix-area options. ASU has a program, I see.

xenonaut · Dec 10, 2008

Hey everyone! Add me to the list too -- I'm back to school at age 44. I'll be entering an Accelerated BSN program in Fall '09.

azmomof2 · Dec 18, 2008

Hey everyone! Add me to the list too -- I'm back to school at age 44. I'll be entering an accelerated BSN program in Fall '09.

Are you ready to apply now or have you been accepted?

jan1358 · Dec 18, 2008

HI, does anyone know anything good or bad about the El Centro Nursing School? I am taking some pre-reqs now and plan to apply next year. Are there any better or worse nursing schools in the Dallas area? Thanks for any info you have to share.

Sand_Dollar, BSN · Dec 18, 2008

I'm 40 and have been out of school 20+ years. I am going for a BSN program, I don't expect to be graduated until 2011, but that's OK, I'm doing it at the right pace for me and my family and I am loving it! Good luck, you can do it!!