Need advice...

Yes, CNA or LVN time would be a waste of time. Not that those careers are no good, but you should spend the same time completing prereqs for nursing school. You don't need experience to get into nursing school. It might be helpful to you personally but if want to be a nurse, just start knocking out the requirements. A friend of mine was laid off and at my urging started from where you are at now. She started in January, got into an accelerated program the next May, and graduated the May after. Now she has a year's experience. Good luck.

I would say you would want to be flexible. Start pounding out the prereqs. Then apply to EVERY ABSN you can find. You may have to move away for a year. If you have to go to South Dakota for a year so be it. It can seem overwhelming at first, but you have to just break it down and one step at a time. I started the entire ABSN process in '03 and graduated in '07. SO the term "accelerated" is a little misleading. There is a lot to the entire process even having a previous bachelors. My bachelors was business admin so I had almost none of the prereqs except statistics completed when I started the journey. So I mean, it doesn't happen overnight. I moved from Nebraska to Northern VA for school. Then I took a job in Wyoming.

yeah ABSN is the best. Apply to as many as you can. If there are any Associates Degree Programs in your area it is always worth looking into, even though you wont get a BSN, you will be an RN, something to be said for that.

I was were you are 19 months ago. I applied to my alma mater and got into an accelerated program. I would suggest knocking out your pre-reqs and jumping in with both feet. The time passes quickly and you will be a nurse before you know it!

Do the pre-reqs first. Nursing school is very time consuming, especially an accelerated program. Once the nursing courses start, you want to be aboe to devote all your time to them, which you cannot do if you're also completing pre-reqs.

You'll have a much better shot at getting into an accelerated program with strong pre-req progress on your application. My plan B was public health classes while waiting for a nursing school slot. With A's in pre-req classes, I didn't have to wait and never got into plan B but am still considering public health if I don't get into a DNP program next fall. FWIW, I'm well over age 50 and this is career # 5 or 6.