Career changers? What is your previous degree in? What was your previous career?

spore2008 · Sep 6, 2011

MichelleinSC, I think it is fantastic you are confronting this existential crisis rather than living with a career you find unsatisfying. You will be ready for application status soon. My Prerequisite stint took a semester and change (all told about 22 credits). The next step will be to decide what type of program most fits your needs (and your family) and apply! Four kids is a lot to juggle. Will you want to go to school part time? Why nursing and not, for example, genetic counseling, or counseling in general?

jlpsu · Sep 6, 2011

Third career change for me! I have two BS degrees...the first in communication disorders and I worked under a SLP for a number of years doing speech therapy for severely handicapped adults. Then, I had kids and stayed home for several years and went back in 2001 for a second degree. I got my second BS degree in IT with a minor in Psychology and I loved it. I loved working with computers - but things being what they are, my job role changed and I would have had to travel a lot etc...and that wasn't something I could do with 4 kids. Plus I have a child who had some medical issues, so I needed to stay home with him. So, I went back to being a SAHM. I've thought of nursing school for years, even before I went back to school, but didn't think I could do it with really young kids. Now, my oldest is in highschool and my youngest is first grade and I have the time M-F to devote to school.

I am currently taking classes at the local CC. I only need the sciences as all of my other classes will transfer. I'm applying to the ADN program and to a few diploma programs that have awesome reputations with a ton of clinical experiences. My heart is set on the diploma program, so I hope I get in!

I decided against the Accelerated BSN because of time and cost. The BSN program is 13 months, which is great, but after talking to the program director I found that the 10 hour days, 5 or 6 days a week for 13 months is just not feasible with my family life...I'd love to just get it done, but it will also cost 3-4 times what the ADN or Diploma will cost me. When I have a kid going to college in a few years, I need to be cognizant of the costs as well....

There's my story! I love hearing from other career changers because I often get a startled look when I say I'm going back to school....As if I should just lie down and die because my other careers didn't work out for one reason or another....I don't look at it as failures, because I thrived in both of my careers - I just look at is as life is not tied up in a neat little bow and sometimes you have to run with the changes....

spore2008 · Sep 6, 2011

jlpsu, where are you in your application process? Are your family and friends supportive of your desire to enter nursing? Many of the schools I contacted regarding ABSN and direct entry programs did not make me feel freakish for submitting an application and explained to me they have candidates of all types and flavors applying, enrolling and succeeding in school and the profession. I understand the $ situation. My degrees were paid for: the BA by my parents and the PhD by the US government. We will be paying for this degree. I hope the money and time will be well spent. Good luck!

jlpsu · Sep 6, 2011

I'm currently applying to schools. My family is completely supportive, and so are the friends I've told. I'm not really telling that many people until I get accepted somewhere. I didn't mean that the schools would make you feel freakish...they see career changers all of the time...I just meant that there were a few older co-workers and one or two extended family members who think that I should just be happy being a SAHM now and should give up on any dream of a career. I admit, I'm older...but I'm not 'too old', if there is even such a thing! At 39, I finally feel like I know what I am supposed to be doing. I wish I would have figured it out earlier, but I didn't. I fought nursing for a long time because my mother was a nurse and I wanted to 'brave my own trail', as it were. Now I realize I am SO much like my mother and that I should embrace that....I am so very proud of her 35+ years of nursing.

My parents helped with my first degree, though I had student loans...my second degree was paid by my husband and me, as will this third degree. I can't see spending a ton of money if I don't have to when, as I said, my daughter will be going to college in a few years. I don't want to take anything away from her to fund another educational experience for me. It's a luxury that I have been able to figure out my life in this way...if we couldn't do it and save for our kids schooling, I wouldn't do it. Even though I can, I don't want to take more out of the kids "pot" than is necessary. I totally get the appeal of the ABSN programs, and wish I could do it - but I can't handle that schedule with kids, so I move forward with what I CAN do and go from there. I will absolutely do a RN-BSN, or RN-MSN program in the future...

Good luck to you too!

spore2008 · Sep 7, 2011

JLPSU, I do not think you are too old at all to begin this career pursuit. I do not feel I am too old. Most of the programs I have spoken with explained there is a wide range of ages and past histories. The only thing I DO feel old about is my biological clock! I spent so many years in PhD school we have not been able to have children yet. All of this advanced career pursuit put a damper on that...not to mention I did not get married until I was 32. So here I am wanting nursing school and a family simultaneously! Maybe a bit hair-brained, but I have been through the ringer before and many, many women have families and educations.

jlpsu · Sep 7, 2011

Very true! I got married young at 23 and had my first child at 25...then my biological clock just ran out of 'tick' and I couldn't get PG again. We ended up adopting 3 beautiful perfect children (1 from Russia, 2 from China) that I couldn't imagine my life without...so it all worked out perfectly in the end. Now they are ages 7-14 and I have a little time to do this. But I have to be realistic as to what I can actually do. Don't worry about your biological clock (I know, easier said than done)...there are so many parenting options out there these days!

laski · Sep 7, 2011

spore2008, I am so glad you started this thread! JLPSU, I share a few similarities with you. I had three previous careers and two degrees and one certificate. And here I am, ripe "old" age of 39 and going back to school again. I'm a self-proclaimed school junkie, but I do like to work and put to practice what I learn. However, I do see myself in a teaching role at some point. Unlike you, my children are very young (2 and 4). I am proof that the clock can tick for quite a while. My first came at 35 and second at 37. My husband and I joke about a trifecta at 40, but my tick has run away with my tock

That said, spore2008, there are people having babies in their 40s and beyond. The bonus, while I feel years beyond my age on the inside (running after a toddler and preschooler will do that to you!), people can hardly believe I'm nearing 40! Maybe they are just being nice

I wish there was a group for second/third/fourth "mature" career changers. Med students have "Old Premeds" . . . Then again, this site has been absolutely amazing in terms of info and support

spore2008 · Sep 7, 2011

I KNOW there are many of us "changers" out there. I noticed some definitely-not-undergrad composure and attitude in some of my classmates in my prerequisite classes in community college. I have been told that there are ex-social workers, college professors, teachers, lawyers in these classes. I am just curious...did any of you think of other career trajectories? For example, did medical school interest you? I personally feel becoming an advanced practice nurse will afford me similar rewards that I could attain with an MD degree for much less money and time investment. I am leaning towards psychiatric nursing. I have been volunteering in a psychiatric hospital for over 6 months and enjoy the experience immensely-more than studying for A and P! Also, I still chuckle to myself because I SWORE I would never go back to school again the minute after I defended my thesis. Hah! PhD school was brutal. Nursing school will be brutal but in a different way.

michelleinsc · Sep 7, 2011

Jlpsu- I also have four kids ranging in age from first to ninth grade. I am a couple years older than you though...I'm 41. Now that they are all in school full time I feel like I can do this. I joke with my 9th grader that we could be going to classes together. He attends a charter high school on the cc campus and will be starting college courses next year. He is not amused. :lol2:

Spore, I am definitely looking at part time, at least in the beginning. I guess I just have to see how this fits into our family routine and structure. I considered many different options, including a phd or psyd, but ultimately decided I need something that will allow for flexibility and different job opportunities (unlike my school psych license which pretty much limits me to working in a school district). Nursing just feels like a good fit for me, if that makes sense.

spore2008 · Sep 7, 2011

michelleinsc, I think part-time makes a ton of sense. The older we get, the more complicated our lives become. Things, really anything, happen and we have to roll with the punches. The main thing is, that we can all complete this goal, heck we did it once...twice...sometimes thrice before. Plus, we have all of our wise experiential learning to build upon. There are many things I would change form my 20s, but I have to look reality in the face as it stands now. Nursing "feels" right to me as well. I confirmed by suspicion during volunteering hours. Cognitive capacity has never been an issue, it is more of the intangibles: Can I relate to this human being? Can I relate to this human being's family? Many stressful nursing schools exist in other high profile professions, multitasking (only now people's lives are sometimes at stake and not laboratory experiments).

poopprincess · Sep 7, 2011

I was a bartender.

:cheers:

spore2008 · Sep 7, 2011

Poopprincess, the first post-doc I worked under was a former bartender! I guess it is a job that gives you direct contact with folks!