Met my classmates - feel like an old fart

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Okay, so I'm still a young and spry 27.... but I all of a sudden feel very old.

The BSN program that I'm going to be attending beginning this summer had a welcome tea Friday afternoon. 40-50 out of the 60 students were there, mostly 20-21 year olds with their parents tagging along (maybe 2 other students my age or older). How embarrassing is this - I found myself more often than not talking to their parents instead of my future classmates! Great!

I was told by the instructors that this is a particularly young class, and that they have more non-trad students in the ADN program.

Anyone else in a class situation like this? :o

Specializes in Emergency & Trauma/Adult ICU.
Would you please have your sweet 13 year old talk to my stinker 11 year old? :chuckle He overheard me talking about this thread with my husband and he said "so, you're worried about becoming all shriveled up, mom?" Can I ground him for that? :chuckle

Yep, that's grounds for grounding fer sure! :rolleyes: :chuckle

Specializes in Med-Surg.

I'm 34 and am entering the ADN program in September. But I've been in school with other students my age, younger AND older for the last few years. Believe it or not, I feel like I fit in with almost all the younger students. The only ones I see as kids are the ones who talk about partying etc.. all the time. I tend to gravitate to the more mature ones, but still the age difference is never really an issue. My husband's grandmother received her LPN in her late 50's!! and an internist who worked at my hospital received her MD in her 50's as well. Both went back to school after their last child left home. It's never, ever too late, and don't worry about age differences, trust me, they'll be forgotten about very soon. There will be other things to worry about! :balloons:

My class has people in their 20s-50s, with one person in her SEVENTIES.

I think having the varied ages helps us--different perspectives on things really challenges my thinking.

Specializes in Geriatrics/Oncology/Psych/College Health.

I LOVE this thread :).

I felt a little out of place when I was first in nursing school, but found that there were a couple of gals in the program who were also making the hour daily commute. We bonded and are still great friends 4 years after school let out :). (They are 5 and 8 years younger than me.)

I am giggling remembering in the little town where I'm from there was a "golden cane" award given to the oldest known resident of the town. There were some ladies in my nursing home who lived solely for their chance to have the golden cane (hey - when you're 103 your entertainment options are a little less open than when you were younger!) The problem was that the cane changed hands at the monthly council meetings. If someone passed away, it didn't get passed to the next person until the next meeting. (And when you're 103, you don't always have 3 weeks to twiddle your thumbs...) Oh, it was cutthroat lol.

Manna...mine is the exact opposite. I am probably in the middle of the spectrum, at 30. My school only takes 10 high school grads (directly out of school). The rest of us are "oldies". I easily saw many older than me and many younger. I think it is going to be a fun, diverse group of people.

Would you please have your sweet 13 year old talk to my stinker 11 year old? :chuckle He overheard me talking about this thread with my husband and he said "so, you're worried about becoming all shriveled up, mom?" Can I ground him for that? :chuckle

Sure! Why not!! Kinda like my four year old when I was eight months pregnant. He was in the back seat of the car singing "I've got a big fat mommy"! LOL! He knew exactly what he was doing and dh could hardly contain his laughter to tell Trey it was wrong to call anyone fat. OIY!

Specializes in LTC/Behavioral/ Hospice.
Sure! Why not!! Kinda like my four year old when I was eight months pregnant. He was in the back seat of the car singing "I've got a big fat mommy"! LOL! He knew exactly what he was doing and dh could hardly contain his laughter to tell Trey it was wrong to call anyone fat. OIY!

:chuckle Kids! Gotta love 'em! :chuckle

The average age for first semester BSN nursing students at the university I went to a couple years ago was 22. Average age in the ADN program I am in now is 31, I always feel like the baby of the bunch.

Specializes in Critical Care.

Well, I'll be 30 when I start school in the fall. I'm married to a 38 year old, and I have two stepkids-- one will be 17 and a junior in high school this fall; the "baby" will be 12. :uhoh21: Even though I'm still relatively "young", I certainly have the family of a 40 year old! Ack!

--Heather

I actually had a talk with my girlfriend about this. If I start nursing school in fall '05, I'll be 31, and I'm a strapping heterosexual male. She just wanted to express a bit of discomfort with me spending hours and hours and hours with all of these young female nursing students. It's not a big deal, she said, because she trusts me. But she was just feeling a little insecure just then and wanted to get it off her chest.

My class has people in their 20s-50s, with one person in her SEVENTIES.

I think having the varied ages helps us--different perspectives on things really challenges my thinking.

70s?!! That is truly awesome, what an inspiration she must be to the younger crowd. Why don't you try to get her to join this board? We could probably all learn a lot from her. That's fantastic.

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I can't believe you young things think you're old! It really makes me giggle. I'm 42 and hoping to start clinicals this fall. Don't worry about your age. Worry about your attitude and your willingness to learn. I think too many of my classmates so far, just don't take school seriously, but as an older student, you realize that the cost and effort should reap something. I think "older" students try harder. :rotfl:

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