What do people think about 'older' students?

[lampard]

I was just wondering what 18-year olds would think of the older students who are in their mid 20s above.

Do they think that they were lazy when they were at high school etc? Or do they respect them for their age etc?

I know that the older students are generally on top of their game, and focus well on studies.. but 18 year olds do that too so I was wondering how they would perceive older students?

I already have a degree at another university and worked for 2 years before coming into nursing, so I do have a bit more life experience and made some regretful decisions, but I wouldn't consider myself 'mature' either....

[hilaryleasiolagi]

I'm 21...I just started nursing school and most of students in my class are older than 20..we have a few that are in their 40's. My friend in second year RN program is 52! I perceive that age really doesn't matter and they are no different from a younger person besides their age of course.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Maybe the question was a bit off, most of my classmates are around the 19-21 year old mark... and was surprised to see how mature thy were, I mean the girl who was sitting next to me was born in 1995!!

I attended a VN program at a nonprofit trade school where the typical student was not in the traditional college age range of 18 to 24 years old.

I was 23 years old back then. The youngest student was 17 and the oldest was 42. Half of the class was over the age of 25.

Although I was 23, I was a nontraditional student with nontraditional experiences. I was living on my own with a mortgage and adult responsibilities. Although I had been accepted into three regional state universities at age 18, I instead worked a string of dead-end jobs for the five years that elapsed after high school graduation. At the time I enrolled in the VN program, I had just quit a factory job where I'd been employed for three years.

Assumptions get us nowhere. I wouldn't worry about what the "younger" classmates are thinking about you. Believe in yourself. It's better to do something "late" than to never do it at all.

[ShelbyaStar]

When I was a baby 18 year old traditional student, I noticed the older (think 40+, I don't think I would've noticed 20-something's) tended to be the most dedicated, to the point of annoyance sometimes. They always seemed to be studying and weren't afraid to ask questions, and asked lots of them, while my friends and I would frequently skip, do poorly, and then complain about it, ha. One older woman in particular got high As in a very difficult class where the averages were in the 50s and 60s.

Now I'm 27 and going back for nursing and I'm one of those obnoxious students. I think nursing in particular tends to have a variety of walks of life, especially these days when a lot of other fields have fallen extremely short in the job market.

[random13]

I just graduated with an ASN in May. I am 34 and at least half of my class was 30 and above. I never heard any negative things regarding age. And to take it a step further our highest class gpa was a man that was 48 and I myself graduated second in my class. I would also like to add that most of the older ones in my class were starting a second career and had our stuff together, we just wanted a change. I wouldn't let it worry me at all!

[elkpark]

I attended a BSN completion program in my mid-30s, in a program in which we (BSN completion students) were in classes with the school's "regular" BSN program students. Many of the young, perky pre-licensure BSN students did not hesitate to let us know they considered us old, tired, burned out, useless hags, and were always complaining to the faculty about having to be in classes with us. Know what? I couldn't have cared less what they thought of me and the rest of the BSN completion cohort. I was there for my own purposes.

A large group of the BSN completion cohort were nurse managers on the various units of the (one) large hospital in the city, who had all been told by their employer that the hospital was going to an all-BSN (minimum) management model, and they could either get a BSN PDQ or step down from their nurse manager positions. What really amused me about the younger, pre-licensure students is that they couldn't even be bothered to find out who we were before being blatantly rude and condescending to us -- the people they were going out of their way to be rude and unpleasant to now were the same people they were going to be sitting across from when they started interviewing for jobs later on. I often thought, boy howdy, I'd love to be a fly on the wall, and get to see the looks on their faces, when that day came ... :)

I was an older student (late 20s) when I went to nursing school in the first place (a hospital-based diploma school), and most my classmates were fresh out of high school. I was more friendly with the other older students, simply because we had more in common, but I got along fine with the younger students, and they didn't seem to have any negative views about us. If anything, they envied us our comparative maturity and independence. We all got along great.

[sjalv]

I just turned 20 and I don't think anything about it. Some people know what they want to do when they're in high school, others don't. Some people have obstacles that prevent them from pursing nursing at first, others don't. Different life circumstances lead to different generations in the classroom.

[cracklingkraken, ASN, RN]

I'm 23 and a lot of students in my nursing class are older, non-traditional students. I felt weird during introductions when everyone was talking about their 3 sons or how they've worked in a certain field for the past 15 years and wanted a change, and I'm like ":down:". I'm definitely want of the younger students in my class. Everyone has their own story as to why they joined nursing, and I think it's great that they decide to pursue it passionately, no matter what their age is. No judgment here.

And if mid-20 is old, I'm definitely over the hill and my older, fellow classmates... I don't even know what they would be.

[wooh, BSN, RN]

One of the good things about being an older student is you should be old enough to not care what younger students think of you.

[NotMyProblem MSN, ASN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN]

Agreed. Plus, mid 20s does not an "older" student make.

Took the words right out of my mouth! I thought the OP might have gotten wind of my age with my just finishing a nursing degree.

[NotMyProblem MSN, ASN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN]

Although my primary nursing program was online (LPN-RN) in 2009, I sat in a community college to get the general education requirements done. I can tell you that I was literally absolutely terrified. I had been out of school for more than 20 years, but I had kept up with the nightly news and I viewed each and ever one of those students as potential crazed killers! All I could think about was Columbine. The question the OP asked should be reversed in wondering what we older people think of the youngsters of today. Some of us, not me;), tend to shoot first and ask questions later. You know how some old folks tend to lose control of some bodily functions the older they get? Don't forget to add that trigger finger to that list.

[Philly_LPN_Girl, LPN]

Without trying to sound rude, who cares?

Lol I was thinking the same thing when I read this post

[hotpeppa]

When I was in college in my 20s I couldn't care less what anyone thought of me. Now that I'm 20 years older and considering going back in my early 40's, for a BSN, there really aren't any enough Fs in the universe for me to give. Are you paying my bills? No.... long hair don't care.