I started my pre-req's for nursing in 2004 - 2005. I took chem, A&P1, Bio, and Psych. (I had previously earned an Associates) I stopped to have another baby #3 (my last baby) and we also moved into a new home. I would love to go back to school now if I could, but realistically it won't happen for another year. I will be 35 this November and I feel like this clock is ticking. Becoming a nurse has been something I have wanted for a long time and I'm not ready to give that dream up!
Are there any future nurses who have been in similiar shoes? How did you feel going back to school and not being the 19 year old in your class? I need advice and encouragement! Thanks!
You're certainly not too old - HOWEVER - this is another question that's related to the ageism that exists but isn't typically provable...
I graduated at 47 as a CST (certified surgical tech) - only 4 people in the class were "placed" in jobs - they were all under 30 - most under 25....the rest of us "old people" were left to fend for ourselves to the point of being denied the same clinical hours as others....again - our word against the prof's - i.e. a fight not worth fighting...
After a 3 year wait, I have FINALLY been "invited" to start RN school which was my original goal - I like surgery, so rather than sitting around doing nothing/getting a job I knew I would quit (I was laid off after 26 yrs at the same company) I decided to get a CST with an AAS - thinking that could only help me......the question is this....
REALISTICALLY - can I expect to be standing there in all my "bling" at graduation (I finished 3rd in class/4th in state, Phi Theta Kappa, High Honors, 4.0, Dean's List, yada yada yada) AGAIN with no one going to hire me??? I foolishly thought that if I was in the top 5-10% academically I could choose from many opportunities...yeeah right - none of it mattered - all they saw was the year of my birth....My intent was to work as a scrub while finishing RN school - that never happened - am working in a completely different industry out of necessity....the few scrubs jobs that come up once or twice a year want to pay just above minimum wage and want you to work all weekend nights....WAY too much liability in that job to work for peanuts....you'd have to have a second job to survive!!! Unfortunately, the just out of high school ones are doing it, so why should they pay??
So that's my fear - am I going to kill myself AGAIN for another 2-3 yrs working full time - doing clinicals full time - getting the grades, etc(that's a you-know-what buster) just to not be hired because I'm "old?" Or only being offered the lowest of the low RN jobs?? (Lowest of the low is a matter of perspective - no offense meant)
By the time I'm done I will be 52, 53....fortunately I am in good health, good physical shape, and have worked the "terrible" (3rd/night) shifts most of my life - none of that bothers me - I would like better hours, but I understand VERY WELL what paying my dues means - - just don't want to pay my dues AGAIN and end up with still another license in my pocket that no one will pay me to use....
I was very glad to run across this post. I am 46 and was wondering the same thing. I do not feel too old and know I can handle the work. My worry is more about "will hospitals prefer to hire the younger applicants"?
I'm in pretty much the same position as Loadbetty, age and grade-wise (but without the surgical tech qualification), and that's my biggest worry too. Will my age be a barrier to getting hired? I guess I'm an optimist, having never had a problem getting decent work before, but then again.... I wasn't in my 50s before either. It's a little scary.
This is for the above 3 posters. PLEASE don't give up. I just graduated this past December with my RN from a 2 year ADN program and I turned 59 this past December. Had no nursing experience, but decided to go back to school. My grades were good and in my RN year I got a scholarship from one of the local hospitals. They pay a certain amount in return for each year of service you commit to. So, now that I am out, I have a job waiting for me that I start next week. Look around at the larger hospital groups in your area, most have these scholarships. My age was never a factor; they placed me in the ICU!! ...to work, not as a patient...lol So go for your dream.
This is for the above 3 posters. PLEASE don't give up. I just graduated this past December with my RN from a 2 year ADN program and I turned 59 this past December. Had no nursing experience, but decided to go back to school. My grades were good and in my RN year I got a scholarship from one of the local hospitals. They pay a certain amount in return for each year of service you commit to. So, now that I am out, I have a job waiting for me that I start next week. Look around at the larger hospital groups in your area, most have these scholarships. My age was never a factor; they placed me in the ICU!! ...to work, not as a patient...lol So go for your dream.
That's fantastic, jcjcan. Many congratulations on your recent graduation AND on landing such a terrific position straight off the bat. My hat's off to you. Thanks so much for the encouragement--it makes me feel a lot better.
Seriously? You're 35....that's not too old. There's a degree of maturity that comes along with age. In addition to years of work experience, you have years of life experience. I think it would be a shame for you to look at yourself as too old. I hate to reminde you of this but you've got another 25-30 working years ahead of you. Shouldn't you be doing something you'd enjoy for the next 25-30 years?
"PLEASE don't give up. I just graduated this past December with my RN from a 2 year ADN program and I turned 59 this past December. Had no nursing experience..."
CONGRATS!!!! I know many people including yourself are VERY proud of you - as you should be!! I hope to "be you" in the next couple of years.....
The trouble with signing a contract (agreeing to work X nbr of yrs in exchange for school money) around here is the only "big" (too big) hospital that does that makes absolutely no bones about their 60%+ turnover rate - their philosophy is they are a teaching hospital with an unlimited amount of "free" help - i.e. students and a constant employee pool. They want you to know they don't worry too much about how your treated....don't get me wrong - I'm a pretty tough "old" broad, and not overly sensitive or easily scare-able - HOWEVER, this place goes overboard - I worked there part-time during my first few quarters of surg tech school - let me just say WOW...they re-defined treating you like poop-ola....needless to say, life is (and was) WAY too short to not only be treatly poorly daily by the "corporation" as a whole, but to also be actively pursued by 20 and 30-something first time "boss" infantile egomanias that had a hard time with simple speech because they were too busy looking like idiots tripping over their new found cyneregtic buzz word of the day...
What I was doing was not rocket science - nice little 16 hr a week part time what I thought was thinking ahead - getting in on the ground level part-time while going to school, ensuring I'd not only have a place to apply my new skills, (scrubbing) but also to take advantage of tuition assistace and progress to RN, BSN, etc etc etc.....ahhhhhh - NOT! I can and do take A LOT of B.S. - but I can't (and shouldn't have to) take someone making it a point to ENSURE the "little people" KNOW that they are the boss and the daily ritual of trying to make you feel like nothing, you can't and never will do anything right, and if not for THEM - you wouldn't have a job cleaning gum from sidewalks - all of us "sheep" are SAVED again if only by their skill and grace....
OH PA-LEEEEASE!!!! These little gnats as I call them (because they are just as irritating) only do this because they don't know how to do their own jobs and their bosses are tired of their little pointy noses up their rear ends and told them to go do their job - which of course, they don't know how to do - and finally because they've made enemies out of the only people that could help them (us, the little people) - they can only run around in circles and threaten people about which they know nothing.......I've been "a boss" for over 20 yrs - that tactic never works, shouldn't exist, and the people that encourage these generation X-Y-Z-ers to act like the uneducated entitled little chits they are should be shot too......
WOW - not sure where all that came from - just having flashbacks of a really bad experience I guess.....unfortunately, big hospitals tend to put the young inexperienced kids in positions of "authority" and it ends up hurting everyone, most of all the kid that was given the job......they, like some surgeons I worked with always seem to have to learn the hard way.....they keep ticking people off because they are GOD afterall and you MUST acknowledge this at all times until they back themselves into a corner so far that they (most of them) FINALLY get it....hey - if I act like a human, keep my mouth shut and listen to all the "lesser" people that surround me, I might actually learn something and make a nicer environment to work in!! WOW!!
Anyway - before I get off on another rant, I am VERY leary about taking 'scholarship'/grant monies from the bigger hospitals....at least around here they offer that carrot for a reason - to make you legally obligated to take all their abuse or face the threat of having to give the money back NOW - it was bad enough when I wasn't legally obligated to them - I can't imagine how much worse it could get if they knew you "had" to be there.....I have (as last time) saved some money, and am eligible for quite a bit of "free" money in the form of scholarships and private grants from my college - I got quite a bit the last go round - you just have to sit down and write a letter of why you're "worthy." It's amazing to me that the kids don't do more of that - there's a TON of money out there! I actually asked the fin aid person one time after receiving like my 6th or 7th scholarship how was I getting so much so often! She told me that the kids just won't sit down for 20 mins and write that simple little statement letter - so the people that do (typically us "old" people) get the money the most......wow.....heck I'll take it!
How did you get into ICU?? I'm asking because I think that's where I'd like to be.....I love surgery, but I can see where that would get old quick (in the role of RN) - what's it like? Did you take any extra classes/CEU's,etc to get there???
I hope to be joining you with the RN license in my pocket in a couple of years.....I'm going to be a REAL cranky old broad if the bottom falls out of the RN market after I graduate!!
Congratulations again - I know it wasn't easy - you deserve the best.
This question is one I asked myself 2 months ago, "am I too old"...which was answered by my advisor at college, "I was a RN at 19 and didn't get my BSN until I was 45, so NO, you're not too old"...and so I filled out my financial aid forms, crossed my fingers and was back in school this past Monday.
I had attended college in an unrelated field 20 years ago, never finished as I was simply too young and more interested in the experience and social contacts of college rather than the degree. Now, at 42, I've been married, divorced with 2 teenage children, been running a business for 15 years and felt that I needed to apply the disciplines I've learned to a brand new field of study that not only gives something of myself to my fellow man but I'll be honest, seems to have security and career advancement in a field where you're only bound by the limits you set for yourself.
A Chinese proverb stated "If we don't change the direction we are headed, we will end up where we are going"...for me, that direction offered no challenge, no tangible contribution to society and had no real security looking ahead to when I would retire (not to mention the upcoming monetary contributions to my own childrens' continued educational needs). So, here I am less than a week into my pre-nursing prerequisites and I'm thrilled ! Unlike years ago, I could care less about the social aspect of school, I actually sit in the front of the class, I'm prepared and focused on the lectures, I'm clearing the cobwebs and for the first time in a long time feel like I'm DOING something positive.
Doubt I fell arises from a fear of the unkown, self doubt without investigation into that unknown creates a reality, once dismissed, this doubt can be focused on the task at hand which is to overcome the challenges we've set for ourselves to reach our goals. With that said, hello to everyone, this is my first post. My goal is to get into nursing school, become a RN and then BSN (heavy on the sciences) and then decide.....CRNA or med school? Still haven't figured that one out yet...but I'm ONLY 42!
Wow - are we sisters of a different mother?? I know - you're the YOUNGER one, but wow - sans the kids, we've had the same experience....I sat on my fat you know what for 25+ yrs waiting to retire from a yes, exciting to some career with an "old established" company - then was laid off.....EYE OPENER!! Did A LOT of for not taking advantage of my free educational benefits for that long....what a dope I am!! But as you said, with age comes wisdom....the only wisdom I had at 18 was I don't want to go to school and no body is going to make me! So I didn't waste my family's money on something I didn't want to do, didn't like, and would never finish.....so there I was....44 yrs old and starting from square one going for the surg tech, then RN with 2 Associate's degrees.....as you said - I found that I LOVE it!! Where in the heck did that come from??? I was a REAL child of the 60's/70's if you know what I mean.... why didn't I discover just how cool school was then?????
I think you'll find that not only do you like school (because you're serious now, that's why) you'll be killing yourself to not let any "young punk" professor try and ruin your 4.0!! :chuckle It's going to happen - it really is....
It's cool being old....the kids in my college say "I'm the chit" for "being so cool and hangin in school"
The other thing that's so weird about your post is I'm done with the Surg Tech/AAS- no jobs scrubbing, so working again in unrelated field, but currently doing the RN, already accepted to the RN-BSN school and when I started this "long strange trip" I'm on, my goal was CRNA.....it's fun to dream about - but that last one is probably the most far fetched at the moment....I CAN do it of course - but do I want to? Realistically by the time I have enough letters after my name to qualify - I'll be - let's say 60 - it's a MINIMUM of 2 yrs (at U of Cincy) and you can't work (meaning having to live on my retirement money) - it's THAT intense.....so that's a minimum of 62.....as I said, when I was laid off at 43, I only had 7 more yrs to retire.. like I should be retiring next year!........I was REALLY looking foward to that!!!
So the question becomes not whether you CAN......it becomes do you WANT to?? I think I would be scared to start - only because when I get into something, I'm WAY INTO it.....I know what would happen - I'd get the CRNA, start working, and when I looked up again I'd be 85, ready to kick the bucket and never got to enjoy the "fruits of my labor...."
I dunno............I think Nietzsche is right....."Reality is not real, it's perceived by your perception..."
I know - maybe I got WAY too far into the 70's!!!:chuckle
I was hired in to a fellowship at the ripe old age of 52 at graduation last spring. While I won't say this is my "ideal" job, I also didn't apply to any other specialty areas or hospitals. I think I saw several older students in the critical care fellows group though.
I had applied for the NICU and didn't get it, but I didn't particularly feel like it was my age. A lot of factors go in to the decision making such as BS vs. AS, experience, whether or not you are a tech on staff already, etc. If it was my age, I would be very disappointed to hear that. I know I was in the running up to the final cut. Oh, well.
My med/surg experience will hopefully direct me in to a position I really want eventually.
Oh, I also received a contract-free scholarship while I was in my 3rd semester AND got a 6-week internship the summer between 3rd and 4th semester in an ED.
I honestly can't say I've had too much of anyone give me so much as a sideways glance except maybe a pt or two when I mentioned I was a "student nurse" during clinicals. In other cases, it was often assumed I was a very experienced nurse I'm sure because of a few of the laugh lines on my face, lol.
Forget numbers in this business....I haven't found it to be a factor. The job market may be tightening up a bit, but there was just ANOTHER article a day or so ago on MSNBC about the fact that number of nurses graduating just will not be able to keep up with the demand for years to come -- something like a shortfall of 60,000/year.
The question is -- will you be willing to settle for med/surg to gain the experience you will need to move in to the specialty areas if need be?!?!
Good luck all you old timers....we're going to be around for many years to come!!
I was hired in to a fellowship at the ripe old age of 52 at graduation last spring. While I won't say this is my "ideal" job, I also didn't apply to any other specialty areas or hospitals. I think I saw several older students in the critical care fellows group though.
I had applied for the NICU and didn't get it, but I didn't particularly feel like it was my age. A lot of factors go in to the decision making such as BS vs. AS, experience, whether or not you are a tech on staff already, etc. If it was my age, I would be very disappointed to hear that. I know I was in the running up to the final cut. Oh, well.
My med/surg experience will hopefully direct me in to a position I really want eventually.
Oh, I also received a contract-free scholarship while I was in my 3rd semester AND got a 6-week internship the summer between 3rd and 4th semester in an ED where I stayed on as a tech for another semester of school and realized I would need the med/surg experience for this location that wasn't set up for new grads.
I honestly can't say I've had too much of anyone give me so much as a sideways glance except maybe a pt or two when I mentioned I was a "student nurse" during clinicals. In other cases, it was often assumed I was a very experienced nurse I'm sure because of a few of the laugh lines on my face, lol.
Forget numbers in this business....I haven't found it to be a factor. The job market may be tightening up a bit, but there was just ANOTHER article a day or so ago on MSNBC about the fact that number of nurses graduating just will not be able to keep up with the demand for years to come -- something like a shortfall of 60,000/year.
The question is -- will you be willing to settle for med/surg to gain the experience you will need to move in to the specialty areas if need be?!?!
Good luck all you old timers....we're going to be around for many years to come!
Well sure - I think you have to keep your mind open and your eye on "your" ball - you have to be willing to do anything that will get you where you eventually want to be.....it's easy to be distracted or think you can circumnavigate the "system" but that never works - age and the wisdom that comes with it is the advantage there! A med/surg and/or "floor" nurse I don't think is my cup of tea - I scrubbed for 2 yrs in clinicals and really like surgery - I always knew I would - but is that the job I want in the role of RN? I don't know for SURE - I think I would like ICU - but again, without having the experience in any of those (except surgery as a scrub) I cannot nor will not make an opinion about any path that RN's can take - I do know that I have always wanted to work neuro, specifically rehab for spinal cord and brain injuries....I don't know enough about it to know what the best path to get there is YET...
My point (and answer) is this - yes, I think you have to be ready, willing and able to do whatever it takes to get to where you want to be - that isn't very popular in todays culture, seems there's a huge entitlement attitude nowadays - "you owe me, and I shouldn't have to work to get there" type attitude.....that certainly isn't me - but I'll admit I do get frustrated when people, corporations/hospitals reward that behavior by giving people like that what they want - then can't figure out why they weren't successful......there really is a purpose to "paying your dues" so to speak......it gives you the experience and knowledge to move on (if you want to) and most of all be better at your job....that helps everyone....
Great to hear your story - it's inspiring.....I remember things like that when I've been up for 18 hrs and have a 19 yr old preceptor being a nasty little creep, not teaching me anything and trying to give me lessons about "life..."
I guess I'm an optimist, having never had a problem getting decent work before, but then again.... I wasn't in my 50s before either. It's a little scary. 
AND on landing such a terrific position straight off the bat. My hat's off to you. Thanks so much for the encouragement--it makes me feel a lot better. 
I can and do take A LOT of B.S. - but I can't (and shouldn't have to) take someone making it a point to ENSURE the "little people" KNOW that they are the boss and the daily ritual of trying to make you feel like nothing, you can't and never will do anything right, and if not for THEM - you wouldn't have a job cleaning gum from sidewalks - all of us "sheep" are SAVED again if only by their skill and grace....
why didn't I discover just how cool school was then?????
Loadbetty
30 Posts
You're certainly not too old - HOWEVER - this is another question that's related to the ageism that exists but isn't typically provable...
I graduated at 47 as a CST (certified surgical tech) - only 4 people in the class were "placed" in jobs - they were all under 30 - most under 25....the rest of us "old people" were left to fend for ourselves to the point of being denied the same clinical hours as others....again - our word against the prof's - i.e. a fight not worth fighting...
After a 3 year wait, I have FINALLY been "invited" to start RN school which was my original goal - I like surgery, so rather than sitting around doing nothing/getting a job I knew I would quit (I was laid off after 26 yrs at the same company) I decided to get a CST with an AAS - thinking that could only help me......the question is this....
REALISTICALLY - can I expect to be standing there in all my "bling" at graduation (I finished 3rd in class/4th in state, Phi Theta Kappa, High Honors, 4.0, Dean's List, yada yada yada) AGAIN with no one going to hire me??? I foolishly thought that if I was in the top 5-10% academically I could choose from many opportunities...yeeah right - none of it mattered - all they saw was the year of my birth....My intent was to work as a scrub while finishing RN school - that never happened - am working in a completely different industry out of necessity....the few scrubs jobs that come up once or twice a year want to pay just above minimum wage and want you to work all weekend nights....WAY too much liability in that job to work for peanuts....you'd have to have a second job to survive!!! Unfortunately, the just out of high school ones are doing it, so why should they pay??
So that's my fear - am I going to kill myself AGAIN for another 2-3 yrs working full time - doing clinicals full time - getting the grades, etc(that's a you-know-what buster) just to not be hired because I'm "old?" Or only being offered the lowest of the low RN jobs?? (Lowest of the low is a matter of perspective - no offense meant)
By the time I'm done I will be 52, 53....fortunately I am in good health, good physical shape, and have worked the "terrible" (3rd/night) shifts most of my life - none of that bothers me - I would like better hours, but I understand VERY WELL what paying my dues means - - just don't want to pay my dues AGAIN and end up with still another license in my pocket that no one will pay me to use....
Any thoughts?????