Help, I always wanted to be a nurse.  Now that the kids are grown, and husband retired from police force.  I have the time and energy, but Is it really a bad choice to even consider going back to school at  fifty to be a nurse.      Anyone out there that has the same calling at fifty???

All them SMART Nurses I work with is your age. I am 25 and sometimes I feel intimidated by them. Yes you can do it! join the smart crowd!!

50 is still young....go for it!

I don't think 50 is too old.  I will be 34 when I start the program and 36 when I finish.  I say go for it!

Remember...."a dream is a wish your heart makes"

I'll be starting the program at this year and I'm 42.- We still have a decade or two left to contibute, so I feel it's worth it.

Good luck,

I'm 49 and had the same fear but have decided that it's something I want and if I don't go for it I'll regret it all my life. I've never gone to college and I'm starting off slow and once I get into the swing of it this spring semester I'll  be fine  and you'll be fine too. Go for it

What have you got to lose? My highschool principle left his career to go into interior design... and he was in his sixties!

   Mahalo to you for your advice!!!!  I truly appreciate any and all comments.

I just heard on t.v last noc that 40 y/o is the NEW 20 y/o so that would make you 30 something?

Oh, we are all young on here now! I feel like running a marathon!  If you think about it most of us are baby boomers or just barely missed it!

Statistics show that more older persons are in college than younger ones are. Lots of highschool grads want to sow thier oats (so to speak) and don't jump into college!  4-5 years down the road thats when they learn what the word HINDSIGHT means. Oh that hurts when you think of what if I had done that back when! I  kick myself a million times!

But you are the 30 something chick! Go for it girly! Lots of our new grads  need that wisdom that only comes with age! CALL THAT COLLEGE COUNSELOR AND DIG IN!

WE SUPPORT NURSES!!!!!!!

14 years ago when I graduated there were 3 people in our class at the age of 50 or over. For Cynthia this was her second career she was a hairdresser, she made it thru with honors!

The second one kept to himself I think he thought he didnt belong. His first career was a DJ!

The third one Sheldon, I took under my wing. I was the Valivictorian of our graduating class. I am not boasting but I got every award except for one and Sheldon got that one! It was for most likely to suceed! Sheldon had a hard way to go. He was an African American married to a Caucasion wicked witch RN that pushed and pushed him! She made him work third shift, tend to thier newborn and then he came to class a mess! I had to pinch him to keep him awake and I actually took him in the hall and told him if he sit by me he was gonna stay awake and pay attention because I didnt want the instructors thinking it was me! I did everything I could do to help that man. We had a small group of us that would have potlucks everyday and we invited him and quizzed him and kept him awake! I am proud to say that he stood beside me when we were asked to move our tassles (can't remember what side when graduated) and I have a pic of him holding his baby and me standing beside him. Sheldon was over 50 and deserved everything and got it on his own he just needed that nudge from someone who at the time was blessed enough not to work so I had enough energy for us both to succeed with honors!

It won't be easy, but nothing worth fighting for is easy. You can do it! Find you a group or just one person to study with it helps! Believe me when I say I graduated highschool by the skin of my teeth! ( I think they wanted to get rid of me!) If I can graduate with every honor including the deans list, the presidents list, perfect attendence, hannah jenkins award, sigma beta ki induction and more I cant remember then you can do it too! Many nights I went to bed with headphones on listening to my own voice reading chapters I needed for the next day, the I would play it inn the car as well. You do what works for you but you CAN DO IT!!!!! I am praying for you!

I looked at at a sight on the internet; about a college nursing program runs @ 4,800. including fees and books ect?  I'm sure there will be more on top of that, but 50k.   How could it be that much? 

To Don-- I hear ya! I have been an LPN for 14 years. I have had to defer my loan twice due to some life threatning health issues. Even with that I was promised and still have the paper work to prove my loan was for 10 years and 14 years ago my payments were $100.00/month. My program was only $8800.00 and I payed the first $3000.00 in cash which I have been fighting that they have lost! But you CAN NOT fight a government loan! It stays with you until you die. I have argued and argued. I only borrowed $5800.00 14 years ago and now I owe $9000.00 and had a counselor tell me the other day after calling again that my loan would be paid off in 20 years! HOW????? My husband even knows someone that used to be in charge of some direct student loan contracts and he has looked in to this and can't find where my $3000.00 was ever applied. I still have the recipt for it! So, I just pay as I go and when the day comes that I am the patient in the nursin home I have told them I will default and they politely told me "no you won't we wont let you we will take your home" I said go ahead but you'll be standing in line cause a lot of people besides you want it! You just can't argue with them!

But as far as the pay LPN vs RN The state I live in now is not my home state (only been here 6 months) Husbands job brought us here.

I wont Nurse here. In my home state in a Nursing home I can make $20/hr day shift and no weekends.--a hospital I can make $18.00/hr dayshift with weekends.   Office depends I have made $15.00 to 17.00/hr. ICF/MR facility I make $20.00/hr and my last job which I loved was at a Medium security prison and i made $23.00/hr. None of these jobs were agency and included benefits and i was treated as a Nurse not an LPN!

Hi, My name is Deborah and I am 50 going on 51. I have been a CNA for years and it has been my dream to be a RN. I have enrolled in Nursing for the RN program. I keep questioning myself, am I doing the right thing, wondering the same thing, if I am too old,  but this is my dream that I have had since I was a little girl and I am going to do it! We can do it!!

Nope, you're not too old! Anyone over the age of 40 going back to school for their RN inspires me more to return for my RN! I will go back soon, just not yet...and I'm currently 44 :-)