Career change and nearly 40 - need advice :)

[Jonsiegirl77]

Hello all nurses!

After a lot of thought, consideration and research I have decided to make a career change to nursing and possibly on to nurse practitioner.

I am 38 years old and have spent my entire career in accounting, but do not have a college degree and so therefore would be starting from the beginning. I have several questions that I would really appreciate advice on so that I can make this transition the best way possible for my situation.

1.) I will need to work part time continuously through school, which I am confident will not be a problem, however I would like to begin working in the nursing field as early as possible. Is there any value to doing an LPN and then continuing to ADN/ASN? It seems that this would get you working sooner, but I have been told by a couple of people not to bother with this. Any thoughts or advice on this option?

2.) Prerequisites. From my research I understand that I should,have compled Psych 101. As far as A&P I & II do you need to have BOTH complete before entering an ADN program? It would seem that these would be part of the program. What about other courses like Biology, Microbiology, Chemistry? I have only a few college credits and there are too old to transfer so essentially I want to get these out of the way now in order to apply to a program next year. What classes should I have out of the way to be prepared?

3.) My plan is to compete an ADN and then continue to An RN to BSN program. Is this common and is there anything I should know about this route?

4.) Can I apply to a program while I have the prerequisites in progress or do they need to be completed?

5.) What level of mathematics should I be proficient in to be successful in a nursing program? Are there any math prerequisites?

thank you all in advance for any information and advice you can give. I am confident that I can do this being a hard worker, but knowing how to do it intelligently will make it all the better for me.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Welcome to AN!

1. Depends on your timeline. You can also work as a CNA or other unlicensed healthcare position. LPNs are not widely used in many acute care facilities (hospitals), so it also depends on where you want to work. If you want to work acute care, working in a hospital may provide avenues to make that transition easier, such as establishing an employment history and access to internal applicant job postings.

2, 4, 5. May vary depending on the program. Best bet is to contact an admissions advisor at the nursing schools you are considering.

3. Very common for many nurses whose initial career entry was a diploma program or ADN program to later complete an RN to BSN program. However, research the job market in your area or the area where you want to work. Some areas are seeing a glut of new grads, and as a method of screening applicants (or, in this cynical opinion, an excuse not to pay out as much tuition reimbursement), BSNs are required or preferred in job postings.

[maxvoca]

Hi there, good for you on the career change. I don't have answers to all your questions, but I did want to let you know about CLEP examinations. For some of the prerequisites you can take a CLEP exam and that counts as fulfilling that requirement. I did a CLEP for a psychology requirement, depending on tuition it can save you upwards of $1000 (and a semester).

Different schools have different prerequisites, so maybe zero in on the program(s) you most want to pursue and focus on fulfilling those prerequisites. I think a lot of them require Statistics, and then maybe just a basic math course. And I think most require at the very least A&P I & II, Chemistry and some sort of Biology. Good luck!