Switching Careers to Nursing

Nursing Students General Students

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Hi Everyone,

I am currently 43 and am a secretary. My job is pretty dead-end and does not allow for flexibility, it's full time or nothing. I have started taking some of the academic classes to switch careers to nursing, but I have not started taking any actual nursing classes yet. Sometimes I have mixed feelings of whether or not I am doing the right thing, re my age. Does anyone have any feedback.

I appreciate all you comments.

Thanks

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Specializes in Med-Surg/ ICU.

My two cents are....don't let age dictate you, if you want to become a nurse, do it. Otherwise you might look at yourself 5-10 years down the road, kicking yourself because you didn't do what you truly wanted.

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I know exactly what you mean. When I turned 40 I decieded to change my life. I worked part time as a vet. asst. I still work there once a week now. I also have 2 young children. I got a job as a CNA at a local nursing home where I work on the weekends, they are paying for my schooling so I will have to work there after I graduate. I started taking college classes, that was the first time in my life that I walked into a college. I am still taking pre-reqs and I have a 4.0 GPA. I have not started nursing school yet and somedays it feels that I will never make it and it is never ending. I start nursing school in Aug for 2 years. The key I think is you have to want it bad enough.

Good Luck

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Don't let age get you down! If you really want to do it, just do it. I'm 39, a legal secretary, the primary wage-earner in our family (DH works full-time but doesn't make nearly what I make commuting into the city), spend 3+ hours a day commuting, have a 10yo daughter at home with us, and I'm doing it. Slowly to be sure. Like you, I have to work full-time. So last semester I took my first pre-requisite - Eng Comp. Did it online via my local community college, scored an A. That A was a LOT of work but it did WONDERS for my self-confidence. This semester is Intermediate Algebra and Intro to Allied Health (an across the board science class to prep for A&P I & II - FAR tougher than I imagined). The math is online, the science is Saturday mornings.

Yes its a lot of work and I'll be ancient before I'm through (I have post-bac ambitions), but I figure I'll be I'll be that age whether I go to school or not - why not be doing something I want to do instead of the career I fell into and stayed in to pay the bills?

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