46 too old to start nusring school?

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Hello! I have been thinking about nursing as a profession. I have been raising my 2 boys all these years and working part time at a middle school as a classroom assistant. It's time to get a real career that is not a dead end job. I have the time and dedication it takes now. I am partly afraid and partly excited about going back to school. I don't love math and science, but I see it as a chance at a really rewarding career where I can actually easily get a job that pays well. I am concerned about my age starting this. I do feel I can become a nurse by age 50 and have another good 15 years working in the field. I would like some input on people who started school this late and those who work with brand new nurses who are 50! Thanks so much!

Specializes in Operating Room.
yes. I do think 46 is too old to just be starting nursing. by that age one should be looking towards retirement in the future.

I really hope this is sarcasm at it's finest..(sometimes, sarcasm is hard to pick up on here-then again, it could be my fast approaching senility;))

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yes. I do think 46 is too old to just be starting nursing. by that age one should be looking towards retirement in the future.

Sweetie - you are only 21 and 46 does seem old. But it isn't. And it isn't time to look towards retirement. But then you started your own thread about this. "MUCH" :icon_roll older people going into nursing. . . . .

https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-student/much-older-people-446520.html

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Specializes in ICU.
yes. I do think 46 is too old to just be starting nursing. by that age one should be looking towards retirement in the future.

I think there is no age limit to starting anything. One just needs to make sure that this is exactly what they want to do.

I noticed that most of the replies were focused on Pollyanna-like thoughts instead of reality based thoughts. MissMaryMack12, on the other hand have swung the pendulum all the way to the other side. A balance is always a good approach to life ;)

I think what Cute2 needs is some guidance about how to do some research in her local area and jobs opportunities for new grad. Contact nursing recruiters in your local hospitals and ask them if they are hiring new grads and if so what they are looking for in a new grad. This will guide you to make better decisions on what to do next. Go for what you really want just do it while making constant reality checks along the way.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.

"yes. I do think 46 is too old to just be starting nursing. by that age one should be looking towards retirement in the future."

Oh my! By that logic, I should be all but digging my grave! And this poster should be starting potty-training:yeah:

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I would skip the CNA route. There may be some places that value that experience, but you will learn the "CNA type" skills during clinicals; beds, baths, transfers, toileting, vital signs." Concentrate on school work, paying job and kids and you will do fine. There are lots of us here to cheer you on.

A good idea may be to start working out if you don't already do so. If you need to lose weight to protect knees, ankles, back, do it now. A yoga class weekly will help keep your back in shape. I am almost 53, should lose 15 lbs off my 5'9'' frame, try to do yoga stretching and eat a little better, take vitamins and keep the cig smoking down to 5 per day. Slowly getting to a healthier me, but wished I started during school, not while working.

Good luck you can do it.

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Specializes in telemetry, ortho, med-surg.

I noticed that most of the replies were focused on Pollyanna-like thoughts instead of reality based thoughts. MissMaryMack12, on the other hand have swung the pendulum all the way to the other side. A balance is always a good approach to life ;)

Quite a few poster's comments are reality based on personal experiences or of knowing someone who has done it. The point is that nursing school is challenging regardless of age but it is doable if you are willing to put in the hard work.

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I would skip the CNA route. There may be some places that value that experience, but you will learn the "CNA type" skills during clinicals; beds, baths, transfers, toileting, vital signs." Concentrate on school work, paying job and kids and you will do fine. There are lots of us here to cheer you on.

A good idea may be to start working out if you don't already do so. If you need to lose weight to protect knees, ankles, back, do it now. A yoga class weekly will help keep your back in shape. I am almost 53, should lose 15 lbs off my 5'9'' frame, try to do yoga stretching and eat a little better, take vitamins and keep the cig smoking down to 5 per day. Slowly getting to a healthier me, but wished I started during school, not while working.

Good luck you can do it.

Absolutely! Skip the CNA route. I did and am so glad. There are many threads on here about this issue and my take is if a person wants to be a CNA first then that is fine but it isn't necessary to be a CNA in order to be a good nurse. Team work happens by virtue of the kind of person you are.

steph

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One thing about the medical profession, nursing in specific,, you are NEVER too old to join the crowd, as long as you can hold up to the workload. I graduated 15 years ago, and one "student" turned 60 the day he graduated. With that said, "Would I recommend Nursing as a profession?" Probably not. WIth all the changes in staffing, new healthcare reform, etc., nursing, to me, is not "fun" anymore. Luckily, I am close to retirement age with only a few years left. I look forward to the day when I no longer have to make a living as a nurse. It has been rewarding, I've learned a lot about myself and others along the way, but the politics and all make me glad that I can see light at the end of the tunnel.

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Go for it..I was one of the "more mature" students- 41- this was my second degree but I was more focused this time around. I also had no trouble getting a job although I did work part-time as a tech at my hospital, I think that may have opened a few doors. Started out in ICU-still loving ti.

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Specializes in Ortho/Peds/MedSURG/LTC.

Hellooo, I turned 50 in LPN school and 51 in RN schoolohhh what I wished I had done and I'll tell you now:twocents::twocents:I am very fortunate to have found an RN job, of course its on a floor that everyone hates to work on,(five nurses have quit in 5 months) , and I work all night, but, for this oppurtunity I am grateful. I wished I had worked ...as a CNA or as an LPN.while going through school...but I had just enough money set aside to live off of and attend school. If I had flunked out or had gotten kicked out...that would have been "all she wrote". Just being a weekend LPN or CSA would have helped me out during my first six months of being a new new RN. Clinicals of school just isn't enough...not enough foleys, not enough IV sticks, not enough with the pharmacology, not enough of putting it all together...when your hired you learn how to work the computer, how to set up equipment, how or organize your time...get where I am coming from?? It made the mean:madface: employees, like LPNs with 4 years of experience or so..not getting my salary as an RN, thinking that I made mega bucks (those idiots),like my ex:coollook: thinks (you make 50.00 per hour!!) as he is trying to reduce child support, try to make me fail as an employee. :crying2:I put my head down, and pressed on, biting my lip everyday. As a new employee, I was spending more time learning, taking notes, reviewing them:bugeyes:...than watching my back...cause they were running the the manager "picking me to death!! I saw many errors they have made and never told my manager, (that made me realize we can't be perfect!! and Lord knows I try to do everything/learn everything..cheerfully....and I heard negative comments daily, I cried:crying2: driving home just about every day:cry:, worried about my bills, my job, by this time I was broker than broke.....another girl hired the same day as I...got fired for being too slow? not catching on?? and a floor charge nurse that would not help her in a timely manner...ex: When orders need to be filled in a "timely" manner and a doctor comes in and yells at a nurse for not moving quickly enough and causing inexcusable suffering and pain on a patient...not knowing how to begin a pca pump..is not an excuse!! :bowingpurand the gossipping gushes...(its awful). I spent mega hours studying, it would have helped to have been working a day a week around what I was studying. But ohh yeah, you can do it.....having raised children, who have tossed up their toes...was a advantage in dealing with patients emesis...oh that's another thing..get a Medical Dictionary now ..it's gonna be your best friend for at least a year...I love that book! lol..7 months hasn't killed me, I'm getting stronger, wiser...and liking my job ...less than 20.00 per hour for taking care of 5-6 patients..less than $5.00 per person..per hour...is not a lot of money...I payout in so.so/Medicare/taxes 33% of Gross, sooo.....? If you work on weekends during school you'll begin with more experience than I which would mean more money with one years experience. Ageism..yes, it exists!! The young smart ones ...don't like us being old "as their MOTHERS" (they don't respect their mothers and can't stand the elderly)...and some of our older nurses are just as crabby/burnt out that say "I have to work to pay my bills"...no retirement except so soc..don't help wide eyed me.:uhoh3: Those LPNs still bite at me, some have decided to attend the school I graduated from, they mistake my kindness as weakness..or stupidity...(stupid as a fox my grandpa said of me..words spoken so true). I wish you the best!! Its a new adventure...a world I did not knew existed..(healthy family..accident prone, hospitals meant death in our family..or we live to be 98). Go for it.

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Camoflower, being 50 myself I so agree with that respect issue. And having teenagers myself...

Your post cracked me up.

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Specializes in allergy and asthma, urgent care.

I got into nursing as my second career and became an RN at 46 and an FNP at 48. My life experiences definitely helped!! We'll all be working until we're well into our 70s, so go for it!!!

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