I'm looking for any help to get me going in my nursing career. My aim is to have a RN-BSN like my mother who nursed for 40 years. I have no college degree whatsoever right now and I initially wanted to go to school for 18 months get my LPN work as an LPN and do my transition classes for RN then BSN online as much as I can while I work. But my question is this, should I start even lower as a CNA so I can have working references in the medical field once I have my LPN? I'm scared that going back to school at 30 is going to lower my chances of being hired on faster than those younger than me fresh out of school.