too old?

[Momof8CNA]

so i have been thinking about it, and mulling it over..and my husband says its a good idea..but i am wonder if 40 is too old try and get into our local registered nursing program? i love my job, but i do think i could take it a step further. on the other hand, most of the nurses at our hospital are younger than me and already have 4 year degrees. any advice??

[leighRN2]

You are not too old to go to school for nursing. More important than age is your willingness to learn and possibly change some old attitudes or beliefs while in school. From my experience the only "older" students that struggled came in with the wrong attitude because they had worked in some other form of healthcare for a long time previously and were not very open to learning what they thought they knew about nursing from their previous job. Age is only a number, put your mind to it, study hard and you can do it.

[pmabraham, BSN, RN]

Good day:

I started on my prerequisites at age 50. Next week starts my 3rd semester of RN school. Jesus has helped me all the way. If all goes well, I will graduate this fall at the age of 53. 40 is very young.

Thank you.

[Pangea Reunited, ASN, RN]

I don't think you're too old for school, but the amount of debt you'd end up in afterward deserves serious consideration. While the younger nurses I work with go ahead with their higher education, I have to consider whether the debt is worth it and how much longer I can reasonable expect to do my job.