41yrs old going back to school.

[Amay24]

I have worked in the medical field for 20 yrs. I am not a nurse but have always wanted to be a nurse because I actually care about people/pts- that has never changed. I have enrolled in school and I start my pre-Recs this fall. The school I am attending requires an ACT score of 18 or higher to be accepted into the nursing program. I haven't been in a classroom in 21 yrs. Does anyone have any advice in regards to school and classes and Act information etc? I am 41 yrs old with a family and tend to wonder if I'm too old to start my future?

[soraji]

You're not too old at all! Cheers to figuring out what you really want in life and what will make you happy. :) There are tons of prep courses to take to get you back into the "swing" of studying and test taking. Best of luck!

[foxystar, ASN, RN]

Hello! Its never too late to go back! I'm a career changer who returned to school in 2014 when I was 37; 14 years after earning a bachelors degree in History (my original degree has NOTHING to do with nursing whatsoever so I felt a bit nervous about the subject matter.) I applied at a community college in my area and initially planned to go for my LPN just to see if Id like nursing. Since I have my degree already I only needed to take the science prereqs (Biology, A&P I, A&P II, and Microbiology; my school doesn't require chemistry at this time for LPN OR RN -THANK GOODNESS!) Once I realized that both the LPN & RN programs need all the same pre-reqs I decided to go for the gusto since I have to take the same classes anyway and the RN will only take one more year. Well I just turned 40 last Sunday. I've been taking baby steps in my nursing journey due to working a full time job, so I could only take a class at a time since those were tough courses, plus I took a little break last Fall but I've finally finished all of my science pre-reqs this past spring semester and hope to take the TEAS test sometime this summer and this Fall I plan to apply for the RN program that will begin next spring. Its going to be tough but trust me, YOU CAN DO IT. My advice to you is if you need more courses than the just your sciences starting out, take an easy class with a tough class so you wont be overwhelmed with a bunch of hard sciences all at once; take advantage of your school's study labs; check youtube when studying for your A&P lab practical exams-they have some AWESOME anatomy videos that are easy to memorize; and exchange phone numbers with your classmates and study together. GOOD LUCK!

[cobbigirl]

No, you're not too old! I am 42 years old and have wanted to go into nursing for some time. I am currently taking my prereqs and will apply to nursing schools next year. I have two children (19 & 23) and now have more time to devote to my studies. If I can do it, so can you!

[floridaRN38]

U can do it. My friend who was a PCA for many years in my ER just became an RN AND works in the ER. She is 45. U can do it!! And when I was in nursing school a 53 year went through the program and passed. Good luck