How old is too old?

[Maryea]

this is my first time on this forum. i have been reading for a while and enjoy all the questions and comments....it has been very helpful in my quest.

my question to you all is "how old is too old?". i am 52 years old and just working on my pre-requisites. yes, you read that right. this means that i will be about 54 when i apply for nursing school. am i crazy? has my ship sailed and i should just hang it up? i have always wanted to be a nurse. i listened to my mother, who completed 8th grade tell me that i would never be able to go to college. i listened to her and 2 days after graduation from h.s. i was married. eight years and 2 babies later i was divorced. then i was a single mom trying to make ends meet. i finally signed up for some college classes, even though my mom was giving me those mom looks and making me feel it was a stupid thing to do. i made a's in my classes and that only encouraged me more. mom was shocked. i met a man who lived 3 hours from me and was raising his two kids. we were married a few months later and my life has been devoted to raising children. finally, i am to a place in my life where i can do something i want to do.

the community college i attend takes a total of 60 nursing students in their program. forty during the day, twenty at night. most 4 year colleges are the same. the community college had 400 applicants last semester. my chances are very slim at best. this will be a total career change for me. i am so excited to finally do this. i am strong and very encouraged. i am so scared at the same time. i don't want to waste anyone's precious time or money. this is an agonizing decision. you all are nurses, some may be my age. do i stand a chance? do i push on?

thank you for your help.

mb

[raineW]

MB, I am 39 years old, grauated this year, just got my first nursing job at a hospital on a progressive care unit, and wondered if I was too old too. I was hired because I have a long job history (non-medical) and life experience. How well you do as a nurse is an individual experience. Good for you and good luck with all you do, your patients are going to love you because you are going to love what you do. :)

[Guttercat, ASN, RN]

I'm going to get hammered for my response, but the OP posed a question, and I'm going to answer.

I'm 54 yrs old and I'm just not as sharp as I used to be. I don't remember as much as I used to. I cannot "juggle" as many things as I used to. An irrefutable fact is that my 54 year old hips, knees and back are starting to act their age. Nursing is as much a physical job, as it is a cerebral job.

The thing is, I'm not a new nurse and I don't have thousands of pieces of info that I have to remember. I already know the basics. Some things are just plain automatic, which takes a strain off my memory. I honestly don't know if I could enter a nursing job with no experience at my age and succeed.

School would be the easy part. The OP could probably coast right through that. It's facing a workplace with a bias against age. Competing with "kids" young enough to be your grandchild.

It's a decision only you can make. Knowledge is never wasted. Dreams are made to be pursued.

Agreed. I was in my early 20's and the "youngster" of my class.

My little brain was a sponge then. Now, soon facing 50, it just isn't as much so. My memory for facts and data just isn't what it used to be.

However! (there's always a "however" :) ) Sometimes I wonder if it's my memory, or simply the fact that life in one's 40's is much more complicated, demanding, and burdened than in your 20's. There's only so far we can be pulled in so many directions and still remain sharp.

To the OP, I say go for it. I remember our oldest graduating RN was near 60.

My best advice is to make sure your "real life" is as simplified and streamlined as possible.

[LaughingRN]

I would say go for it if it is your dream,

however, (and I know this word is always a negative connotation)

these are my thoughts

A random post I saw on Facebook once, has forever stuck with me

My generation growing up was told over and over, "if you don't get a post-secondary education, you will be flipping burgers for the rest of your life".

So we all got post-secondary education.

Now all the same people are telling us, "you need to go out and get any job, even flipping burgers if it pays the bills, until you find a position in the professional role in which you trained, and stop whinning about the money and time it took you to go to school. Life is not fair"

(before someone quotes that, not my words, and I recognize the flaws in that, but I also recognize the truth)

I have a sister that has spent 10 years total on post secondary receiving 2 degrees, a masters and completed 2 years of teaching college and she is going on 4 years of unemployment. NEVER employed as a professional.

A close friend of my husband and I, cashed in his entire 401K to get a degree in criminal justice from a private college, and is still driving a truck that picks up papers and shreds them.

I have people in my graduating class of 09' BSN that haven't landed their first job still.

My own 18 year old niece was starting school and was really interested in anthropology and to a lesser degree nursing. She asked my opinion (please realize I graduated in the begininning of the rat race job market) that I was unable to either encourage or discourage her from nursing. I suggested she research her options, referred her to Allnurses to look around..... She decided to major in Anthropology...now my heart is heavy for her, because let's all be honest about the prospects in that field.

I did land my "dream position". Eventually. I equate it to mostly being in the right place at the right time.

This is probably sounding quite cynical, and to a degree it is.

Education is not synomynous with job.

however, (again that word)

IF your dream is nursing. Do it.

IF your dream is secure and comfortable-pay employment. Think about it

but remember :Life is not always fair

PS my advice would not differ if it was targeted at a 20 year old or 60 year old.

[CupcakeChristine]

It all depends on YOU, how do you FEEL? What physical shape are you in? What nursing field are you interested in? I am the youngest in my class, 20, the oldest in my class is 50 something, she's currently a CNA and in excellent shape compared to other people in her age group, heck she's probably in better shape than me! If your up for the physical demands go for it! I'd say most of my class is actually 30+ years old.

In my first semester clinical at a nursing home, the oldest CNA, never told me her age, but she had to be in her 50's or 60's worked was the best CNA I worked with.

I know I don't have any experience to be able to tell you what nursing is like when your in your 50's, but if you believe you can do it, and you sound like you do, than so do I.

[Guttercat, ASN, RN]

Thank you all. I will be checking into the LPN program again. I appreciate the encouragment, it helps me know I am going in the right direction.

Oh pish-posh. Time's a 'wasting. Go straight for your BSN/MSN.

If you're going to do college, just do it. The time for taking meek steps from one degree to the next will only eat time and money.

Trust me as a fellow > 40 year old, while your brain may be intact, your body isn't (or soon won't be).

You'll need options for less physically intensive work.

My .02.

[EMT-newbie]

50 isn't even half-way done yet, much less "stick a fork in it" time

I'm 49 and going back to get the degree I quit on 30 years ago, originally it was psychology but now I've decided on healthcare and quite possibly RN by the time I'm done. To paraphrase some quote I read recently, if we knew how little time people spent worrying about what we do we'd spend a lot less time worrying about what people thought about us

So go do what you want, you have my blessings.

[aeonic]

Maryea, without going into gruesome detail, let me just say that our stories are eerily similar.

However, today I am 55 years old, and next week I'll begin a BSN program at one of the highest-ranked schools of nursing in the country. Despite normal age-related cognitive deterioration superimposed on chemotherapy-related brain-cell suck, I managed to get As in all my pre-reqs, and score in the 99th percentile on the TEAS. I'm in better shape - physically and mentally stronger - than most people half my age, and I have an enviable work ethic and a realistic view of the world.

It's been tremendously hard work, but thanks to my cussedness, and to my fabulous cheerleader of a husband, I'm still standing. Many of my former classmates in their 20s & early 30s have flunked out or withdrawn from school, or didn't believe that a mediocre GPA would affect their chances of getting accepted into nursing school. I can guarantee that many of the counselors at my CC would have bet the farm on their success over mine. I didn't listen, just kept plugging along. I've cried, cursed, and screamed along the way, but I'm proud of what I've accomplished, and oh, so glad that I stuck with it. And now I get to l get to look forward to two years of studying, sleeplessness, backaches, headaches, anxiety, more crying, screaming, and cursing....and I can't freakin' wait.

So, Maryea, there may be any number of things standing in the way of your becoming a nurse. Don't kid yourself: the physical demands of patient care mentioned here are REAL, as is the extreme mental stress. But only YOU can decide that you're too old to handle it.

I agree with others who have told you to aim higher: go ahead and try for your ADN or your BSN. You will probably have to give up your job to dedicate all your time to studying, but you'll earn higher pay, and also be in a position to compete for a wide variety of nursing positions that don't require extreme physical labor.

[nhnurse]

Getting your CNA first would be a great way to get your foot in the door for possible employment in the future. However, BE CAREFUL of your body, especially your back. You can wreck your back in no time as a nurse, but especially as an LNA.

[aeonic]

.....A random post I saw on Facebook once, has forever stuck with me

My generation growing up was told over and over, "if you don't get a post-secondary education, you will be flipping burgers for the rest of your life".

So we all got post-secondary education.

Now all the same people are telling us, "you need to go out and get any job, even flipping burgers if it pays the bills, until you find a position in the professional role in which you trained, and stop whinning about the money and time it took you to go to school. Life is not fair"

.......I have a sister that has spent 10 years total on post secondary receiving 2 degrees, a masters and completed 2 years of teaching college and she is going on 4 years of unemployment. NEVER employed as a professional.

A close friend of my husband and I, cashed in his entire 401K to get a degree in criminal justice from a private college, and is still driving a truck that picks up papers and shreds them.

....I did land my "dream position". Eventually. I equate it to mostly being in the right place at the right time.

.......Education is not synomynous with job.....

LaughingRN, I’ve heard that quote a lot lately, and I blame their parents for filling their kids’ heads with that nonsense, and I blame the kids for thinking it was going to be just that easy. We now have this incredible backlash against education in this country, all because a generation of parents and their indulged and protected children perpetuated a ridiculous fantasy.

You’re right when you say education is not synonymous with employment. But, to be honest, when has it ever been true (with a very few exceptions)? Certainly not in my lifetime. But the truth is that NO education will DEFINITELY stand in your way. Ask any bright nondegreed individual who, despite years of valuable job experience, is prohibited from even applying for jobs that have a routine (but unnecessary) BA requirement.

You mention being “in the right place at the right time” when you got your job, but forgot the part “with the right educational credentials”. As for the people you mention who haven’t benefitted from their years of education, was there any genuine depth of thought put into their decisions to enroll in school and risk their financial security? What, exactly, did your friend think he was going to do with a criminal justice degree? Did he check the jobs that would be available to him at that level of education, and if, over the prior ten years, there were any like that available in his area? Did he even figure out how much salary he would have to make to pay for the investment in his schooling, or to repay loans? As for your sister, I truly don’t intend this as an insult, but I have to question either the marketability of her degrees, her academic record, her initiative, or, possibly, all three.

Except for a very few underpopulated career fields that typically require in-demand technical skills, what does the typical college graduate have to offer an employer right out of college? In truth, he/she needs to identify opportunities, and sell themselves to that employer by showing how their education and experience can handle the demands of that position.

The truth is that educational institutions, from the nonethical for-profits up to the most-esteemed Ivy Leagues, are out there shilling for students and all of that lovely taxpayer-funded financial aid. Just like gullible homeowners expected their bankers to tell them they couldn’t afford a mortgage during the housing boom, college students and their parents are expecting college financial officials to tell them that they should pull the plug on their educational journeys. Yeah, many of the actions by the colleges are reprehensible, but expected given that they’re businesses that need to fill seats. But nothing excuses a student and his/her parents from performing basic due diligence on the financial risks of a college education, and from accepting the harsh realities of the job market. After all, formal education is but one small part of preparation for life.

[brandy1017, ASN, RN]

To the last person's judgmental and self-righteous comments, don't be so quick to judge. Pay attention, ask around and if you bothered to notice you'll find many people with college degrees working as bartender, waitresses, secretaries, taxi drivers, truck drivers, nursing assistants etc. I wouldn't advise someone to go to college just to have a credential to compete in a virtual lottery employment process. You come across as quite smug, maybe you haven't had any setbacks so far, so you lack compassion for others, but don't worry because no one gets thru this life unscathed!

The truth is there are not enough jobs in America and especially not enough "living" wage jobs out there. There are a lot of low wage, poverty level jobs available in the service and healthcare sector and many of the new jobs will come from these low wage areas. Have you not realized that millions of jobs have been outsourced to many other countries. Companies are literally blackmailing cities, states and their workers to grant them wage cuts, tax breaks etc not to leave for another state or country. It is deplorable!

In the beginning the jobs were industrial, now many professional jobs are being outsourced to India etc, from customer service to computer programmers. So almost no job is safe anymore!

[brandy1017, ASN, RN]

Again I stand by my comments to be cautious and to ask yourself do you really want to be paying back student loans in your retirement with your social security? Colleges won't bring this up because they are anxious to get you in their programs and get a hold of the tuition money. America has pushed college as the path to opportunity to sidestep the real problems of race and class and job/wage inequality and that is why college grads job opportunities are imploding, because everyone jumped on the bandwagon that the answer to a decent job was a college degree. In reality that was a great marketing gimmick for the business, college, and financial sectors to profit off this false and misleading ad campaign.

I'm not against college or going back to school. I enjoyed my time in school, but I am fortunate that I have been able to pay off my student loans, others have not been so fortunate. It was not because I was smarter, only luckier!

[Deredain]

I am 46 and starting nursing school in a week. The older crowd has a lot of things going for them that the younger crowd does not have. Maturity and life experience are invaluable in the classroom setting and in dealing with people when you get a job. You are never too old to do anything you want to do! Go for it.

Best of luck in your studies!