Going Back at 40 years old...

auntEgogo · May 14, 2016

Amason I came from Finance too (mortgage)

I totally understand. I left and never looked back.

Welcome [emoji4]

Nanyanzi · May 14, 2016

moretonel, your post is amazing. I was wondering if I made the right choose to go back to school after 15 years in my present career. I was almost quitting my dream career to be a nurse because of the hardship of chemistry, but you have empowered me to keep trying although you were not answering to my post. I am still doing my Chemistry prerequisites, then math, then I can apply to university. I am taking one course at a time online due to family and a full time job. If I keep tagging along, in 2017 I should be ready to apply. Thanks again.

NursingNerd1 · May 14, 2016

I'm not quite 40... But I got my ADN at 37, my BSN at 38, and have been accepted to an MSN-FNP program that I will complete at age 40. You can do this!!!

RNinabox · May 16, 2016

You're a spring chicken. I'm turning 50 and just got accepted to the ADN program I really, really wanted and I start in September. Sure, I have a sore back, wear nothing but sweats and my hair is a messy grey. I could easily pass for someone who lives in a Walmart parking lot. But you know what?: I don't care. (I spent 20 years wearing suits and working in finance and big data, and it suuuuucked. I had no idea how much it sucked until I quit to do this.). And, once I got into hard core A and P, no one else cared. We all bonded in our mutual terror, and I now have close friends from 23 to 45. I'm nervous about the rigors of RN school. Very. But I'm quite proud of myself. You should be, too. You've got this. Use your strengths, tap into all the help offered, use your street smarts. Stay calm and carry Tiger Balm (helps with the knees).

Satori77, ADN · May 17, 2016

I'm a non-traditional student myself. I'm 38, married, with 2 kids. I felt weird going back to do my pre-reqs with most students being half my age. But it will be worth it since I will be starting nursing school in the fall. I'll be 40 when I finish. My only regret is that I didn't do it earlier.

kray67 · May 18, 2016

Congrats!!! That is awesome advice. Follow your dream! I am 48, have 2 associates degrees, and am trying to figure out a way to go to nursing school. I am a single mom so I don't have a husband to back me up with his income. I really want to go ahead and do the BSN program but that is two years and I don't think I can be without a full time job that long. So I am probably going to do a 12 month LVN program and then bridge over to the RN so I can work while I am doing that. Good luck to everyone!!!

Lev, MSN, RN, NP · May 18, 2016

You all are so inspiring and I am so excited that you will be part of the nursing profession!

BeachsideRN, ASN · May 18, 2016

I'm 37 and my bestie in my program is 45. There are plenty of older students in most programs. Don't fret

BeachsideRN, ASN · May 18, 2016

You're a spring chicken. I'm turning 50 and just got accepted to the ADN program I really, really wanted and I start in September. Sure, I have a sore back, wear nothing but sweats and my hair is a messy grey. I could easily pass for someone who lives in a Walmart parking lot. But you know what?: I don't care. (I spent 20 years wearing suits and working in finance and big data, and it suuuuucked. I had no idea how much it sucked until I quit to do this.). And, once I got into hard core A and P, no one else cared. We all bonded in our mutual terror, and I now have close friends from 23 to 45. I'm nervous about the rigors of RN school. Very. But I'm quite proud of myself. You should be, too. You've got this. Use your strengths, tap into all the help offered, use your street smarts. Stay calm and carry Tiger Balm (helps with the knees).

Love this! I often feel like I look like I live in the Walmart parking lot - usually during midterms [emoji23]

HotChicken · May 18, 2016

I love this thread! I'm 33 and I'm working on my gen-ed classes on my way to a BSN. I have 4 kids and have managed a 4.0 (even in my awful, awful stats class lol). I have never wanted anything so bad in my life. Seeing all of these posts is really encouraging!

DaniB77, LPN, EMT-B · May 19, 2016

I'm 38 and have 12 (almost 13) year old twins. The last time I took college courses was 2001...lol. I've worked retail and now working as an administrative assistant. I decided that this year it was time to put some of the stuff I needed to do for myself first. I took 2 classes in the Spring Semester- English Comp 2 and Lifespan Human Development and starting Monday night I am taking Math for Health Professionals. In the Fall I'm taking A&P I and General Chemistry. If I pass the three upcoming classes and my NLN-PAX I can apply for the program March 2017 and if admitted I'll start August 2017.

FlaRN1024 · May 19, 2016

I love this topic!

I just found this forum when I was searching the nursing application requirements for my school, and found a thread on my school.

I am 43, mom to twin 20-year-old sons, an 18-year-old son and a 15-year-old daughter. My husband has been encouraging me to to go to school for a while, specifically for nursing (he says he wants me to be a doctor, God bless him he thinks I am smart enough to be one, but I reallllllly don't want to be one, LOL! I don't have the patience for that much schooling, even if I WERE as smart as he thinks I am!!).

I enrolled in our community college (now state college) in 2010 and was completely discouraged by an advisor who told me that with my grades I would never get into nursing school. I had gone to a university at 18 and essentially flunked out. She said I'd need a 4.0 to even consider going to nursing school, and since I was entering with a 1.6 there was no chance. So, I left, because I didn't want a degree just to have a degree; it didn't make sense for us to do that financially if it wasn't going to increase my hire-ability. I had 4 kids to raise and was starting a business, so that just seemed like a waste of money and family resources.

Later, a friend of mine who went back to school at 35 and is now a doctor, told me her story was similar and that her previous school data was "expunged" which encouraged me to try again. I was told I couldn't expunge my school data, that the grades HAD to be transferred in, but that the only classes that the nursing program looked at for GPA were the prereqs. WHAT?! game-changing, that info!! I hadn't taken ANY of the pre-req courses 20+ years earlier, so for that I was starting from scratch.

At the same time I decided if they were going to make me take the "hit" for the classes I had (i.e., the poor GPA) I was going to use the credit hours to my advantage. I filled out my curriculum to hit AA goals, and will graduate at the end of the summer. I used the science/math AA requirements to get my nursing pre-reqs filled.

I just turned in my nursing school apps today - yay!!

I am encouraged reading others' comments about being an "older student". I do agree that being older/wiser/more invested has led to my success. I feel sometimes like I am just kind of OLD, so what's the point? But then I realize that with good health, I have a good 20+ years of a career to enjoy, with child-rearing behind me and a great deal of flexibility ahead of me. That's a decent career life-span, right?

Sometimes I feel VERY old, sometimes I feel sort of like I AM among the 20-somethings and then I realize I am not and feel like an impostor. It's a weird feeling. Does anyone know what I mean or do I just sound crazy? It's hard to articulate.

By the way, my cum GPA is a 2.73 right now (up from 1.6), my institution GPA is a 3.89 and my pre-req GPA is a 4.0. I want to tell that first advisor to go pound tar, but maybe it just wasn't my time then, anyway.