Too Old for School?

[Certifiable WDW Nut]

I started going to law school part time 2 1/2 years ago at age 43. I'll graduate at 47. It is the hardest thing I've ever done (and I did my MBA part time when my oldest child was 18mos - 5yrs) but I love almost every minute. Legal Writing deadlines I could do without.

It will be significantly easier if your family is supportive and I'm lucky that mine is. They understand when I have to miss an occasional event because I have an exam and they are shocked anytime I am home before 9pm, but they are doing just fine and honestly, I think I'm setting a great example for them. My oldest daughter (a high school senior) clearly understands that the end of high school or college is not the end of learning.

I am very happy that I decided to do this.

 

[bellarella]

Just because your colleagues are using age as an excuse for giving up on things they want to do doesn't mean you should.

I'm not much younger than you and went back to school. The opportunity is what you make of it.

The only thing I wonder is if rather than really meaning that you are too old, your colleagues think that you are living in the future at the expense of the present. If you've been thinking about this for 20 years and haven't taken action, maybe they just saying that it might be time to move on. However, if this is the case, take it as a kick in the pants to stop talking and start doing!!! If this is what you want, go for it. On the other hand if this is a dream that, at some level, just doesn't fit what you want out of life, it's equally ok to say that you've moved on and found fulfilling working a different way.

 

[It'sWDW4me]

When are you too old to go back to school? When you're dead. Until then? Go. Enjoy. Learn.

Well said!! ITA

Get your advanced degree (then get promoted to be their boss, and fire the lot of 'em! teach them all a lesson)

 

[The Mystery Machine]

If you want to do it then go for it. This is when you have to do your own thing and not listen to the advice of others. While polling is nice, you are the person that lived your life and no one else.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I don't think there is any such thing as too old to learn. Why on earth would anyone say such a thing? In fact, I started up with all the Sciences for being a RN a few years ago and am now a much more disciplined student than I was the first time around, (PTK) probably because I was convinced mommyhood made my brains mushy... it didn't Anyway, I am trying to decide whether I should finish this or go back and get a MBA and try to join the SEC or some other advocacy organization because I hope to have another 20 years of living to do

Don't ever let anyone discourage you , I can't stand it when people do this sort of thing. I just don't get what motivates them

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Considering that it is possible that your life isn't even half over yet (if you live to your 80s or older)---

And that you couldn't do college until the last half of the life you have already lived, you have decades to use that degree.

This isn't college football with only 4 years of eligibility to "play".

Go to school--I'm currently considering what I will "go to school for" once my kids are grown.

 

[LovableGluttons]

Thank you all so much for your input!

Early on in my career, I pictured myself as a nurse practitioner with long gray hair in a braid, spectacles on my nose (I don't wear glasses...yet LOL) taking care of families both in an office setting and traveling to third world countries with various organizations providing free health care.

When I started my nurse practitioner prgram 14 years ago, I was supposed to finish in just one more year, but life got in the way.

It continued to get in the way until just recently. Now I am really nervous about juggling work full time, my family, and school. I'm enrolled in a virtual program but have local nurse practitioners already lined up for clinicals.

I have enjoyed my life as an RN all these years. I know I pack a heck of a lot of very rich work experience.

But I went to nursing school with the intent to be a nurse practitioner. Not an RN.

So it is a fulfillment of a life's dream.

I went on a day trip into Mexico in the late 1990's with an international non profit health group and performed physical exams and triage for the physicians I went with. While it was only for a day, I definitely caught the bug! The culture, the warmth of the people, and the thrill of doing something so selfless enthralled me.

Who gets an opportunity like that?

It feels like one of the big reasons why I am on this earth.

It is hard to put into words how much it means to me.

I don't know if other professions are so hard on each other like nursing is.

All this pressure to keep adding letters behind your name. Many get those letters and do nothing with them.

Since I have no plans to retire unless some health crisis forces me to, I figure I could have 40 or more years I could work as a family nurse practitioner.

I figure I have been working as an RN all these years, which wasn't what my intention was, 40 years enjoying my dream would be pretty spectaculer, huh?

Thanks again! It means so much!

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I've been thinking of getting a Masters in Information Systems, but I am afraid I'm not actually going to learn anything new, since the coursework I was looking at is basically what I have been doing every day at my job for the past 10 years.

 

[Disneylover79]

Do Not ever think you are to old for school...my mom and I am both nurses and my mom didn't even go back to school until I started college and got her RN in her late 40's. I am a Cardiology Nurse Practitioner and LOVE my job...please finish your schooling so you too can fulfill your dream....fell free to PM me if you have any questions!!

 

[Patricia]

When will we as a society start to value our older citizens as productive memebers of our community. So you go back to school at 40 something and you want to work for many more years. How wonderful that you will be fulfilled and the people you help will benefit too! Where is the negative. Why does age play into this AT ALL? Those people at work are a full generation behind. Go for it!

 

[kydisneyfans]

My wife is a college instructor in the medical office field teaching everything from terminology to billing and coding. The age range last semester was 18-62. Most of her students are around 40 either furthering education or making a career change.

 

[mefordis]

If you are in your early 40's, I don't think you are too old to go back to school. Even if you need to incur some debt for it, you have 20 years to pay it off. That is a lot of time. I say do it NOW though. You don't want to be 50 and asking the same question. Just jump in now and do it.

If you are in a profession with a practical application of your degree, is there a point when you are too old to earn advanced degree that you will actually use everyday?

I'm trying to finish up my Family Nurse Practitioner program after starting it in 1997 (husband was military, we moved to places where there was no program twice, and then life got in the way).

I've had three colleagues tell me that at some point, I'm going to have to realize that I am getting too old to go back to college.

I am not planning on retiring. One of the reasons I want to finish this is to use it, to see families from the beginning to the end of the lifespan.

As long as my mind is sharp and my body cooperates, I would like to continue to do what I love to do.

I'm in my early 40's and have been a continuously employed RN for 20 years.

Am I really too old?

I don't feel it! I hoisted a 170 pound patient up in the air from his wheelchair to his bed by myself with no problems just today and do it regularly.

How am I too old?