cookes

I'm 41 and finishing my first semester of prereqs. I figure on finishing up prereqs next summer and am hoping to enter a program in 2013. My husband is active duty military and what exactly I do will depend on where we're stationed...but I would like to get BSN and then ultimately MS and become an NP. I have a totally unrelated degree and was a teacher before staying home with my kids and moving all over the planet... my youngest just finished kindergarten this year and I knew I did not want to go back into teaching. I decided to indulge my geekery in medical science and just go for it. I do get nervous about this choice..I have a lot of experience and knowledge in education and I am basically walking away from that. I wonder if it is crazy but I am just drained of any desire to work in that field anymore. I've always had this geeky interest in medicine and I'm motivated by what I'm learning, though, which reinforces for me that this is the right decision. re: doing this at 40+....I'm definitely a better student now than I was at 20! College is wasted on the young in many ways. On the other hand, it is hard to manage it all at this point in life. I've got it under control at this exact moment, but what happens when my husband is deployed, kids get sick, etc..? There are definitely advantages to being older, but challenges as well. I love this thread and am very motivated by reading everyone else's posts!

I'm 40 and have three children, am just now doing my prerequisites. My husband is military and deploying in the fall. My biggest worry is what I will do if one of the kids gets sick, since I don't have that much backup... (and who will take your sick children? not like you can send them to a sitter when sick). I keep plugging away though.

Thank you for this. I also have a less than stellar 2.8 from my undergrad..from a very good school, a very long time ago. I was just not focused at 18. I am now -ahem -quite a bit older and have lots more direction. I am encouraged by this post. I am confident I can get 4.0 out of my prereqs but am quite worried about whether my youthful lack of focus might ultimately bite me ... anyway thank you for posting! :)

I am also starting prereqs in a couple of weeks after being out of school for 19 yrs. I have a degree in a completely unrelated field but want a total change. All of my coursework is also now "too old" to count for prereqs...I'd still have to do some since my degree is unrelated but it is a bummer not to be able to use any of it! I'm going to do 2 summer classes and see how that goes and how many I think I can take on in the fall. Glad to see I am not the only older person doing this!