<p>It’s an idea I toss around many a day. Mostly those days when I feel frustrated, or just plain tired of the same ol’ same ol’. Problem is now, I’m almost 50. Have any of you returned to school or changed careers at what you would consider a not so typical age?</p>
<p>My aunt finished her college degree at the age of 50 and while enjoying a satisfying career as a teacher. She was already a vocational teacher but decided to go to college after raising 12 children. What an inspiration!</p>
<p>I’m not sure about returning to work but I’ve always wanted to go to art and photography classes.</p>
<p>Well, I’m 52 and almost finished with the classes I will need to become certified to teach high school chemistry. I worked in a research lab for a pharmaceutical company for 20+ years (loved, loved loved that job and always thought I’d do it forever, but the company closed down the research site.) I loathe my current job - and that loathing was the impetus I needed to go back to school and switch careers.</p>
<p>So I went back to school part-time (nights and weekends). At first I was leery of going back, especially since I had not been in a classroom for 20-some years, but it was not nearly as difficult as I feared. Plus, since I go to school at night, many of my fellow classmates are also second-career students, so I don’t feel so out-of-place among the kids. </p>
<p>Pretty soon I will need to quit my full-time job so I can student teach, and then I’ll be looking for a job - so I’m still not sure how this plan will work out. However, I realized that I did not want to be one of those people who just sit around and b*** about their job situation, without actively trying to do something else. I’m all about giving myself options.</p>
<p>My mother was about 49 when she was considered and then not selected as head of the school where she had taught for 17 years. She then had a lot of conflict with the different-values person they DID hire, and she quit at age 50. She had begun a part-time master’s program in English Literature a few years before, and she converted it into a full-time PhD program in Philosophy of Education. It ultimately took her until age 61 to get her doctorate, but by that time she was already ensconced on her university’s faculty running a huge undergraduate course she had designed. She remained active as a university faculty member well into her seventies.</p>
<p>My mom went back to school for her master’s when she was in her 60s, then she got a job teaching at a local university, which she kept doing until she was in her late 70s. It kept her sharp. I say go for it.</p>
<p>Scout59- good luck in your future career! </p>
<p>I couldn’t picture myself returning to my career (teaching) but this thread has prompted me to start thinking about the possibility. Now, I actually looking forward to it!</p>
<p>Well, at age 51, I’m starting nursing school next week. When I left my engineering job in 1985 to spend a year with my firstborn, I never thought that I’d stay at home for 26 years! After four children, and with the two youngest in college, I decided to do something that I’ve wanted to do for quite a long time. I’m excited!</p>
<p>I remember an old Ann Landers column. A reader wrote in saying that she wanted to go to medical school but would be 50 in four years when she graduated.</p>
<p>Ann asked, “And how old will you be in 4 years if you don’t go to medical school?”</p>
<p>This isn’t me but a friend who has a master’s degree in environmental engineering went back to school at 50 to be a lab technician. She was a SAHM (did a little bit of consulting work on the side) for 20+ years and decided she wanted the type of job she could leave at the of the day and not have anything hanging over her head that needed to be done. She likes it.</p>
<p>Such inspiration here! I’m feeling better, because when I wrote this post last night, I was feeling mighty low, and stuck, and mostly because I was thinking about the almost 50 thing. I love the idea of nursing, and MomLive, I understand the desire to not want to take your work home with you. Maybe 50 plus isn’t too old after all to pursue a dream.</p>
<p>I returned to work at 48 after almost 20 years at home. I had to start all over again … actually, I earned more in 1982 than I do today. It took 2 years to get the job … ran up against some age-ism, and didn’t have direct experience with the “flavor of the day” programs/software. I became extremely competent in my job & was very well respected by everyone but the management at work (very disfunctional department, to put it mildly). In order to keep my sanity, I switched fields & got a new job at 51. I have tons to learn, but I am glad to be giving my brain cells a good workout. I figure it staves off Alzheimers! </p>
<p>The bottom line is, it’s not easy to get a job at my age, but it’s possible.</p>
<p>Similar to Kelsmom, I spent 17 years at home, returned to the workforce at lower pay than when I left, and I had a hard time finding anything so I took a job in a completely different field. I do get to leave my work at home at the end of the day, and have flexibility if family stuff arises, things I didn’t have way back when I was on a career path. I’ve been wondering lately what I want to do next. This seems like a nice transition job, but I think I’ll want more of a challenge once all the kids are gone. Or maybe not!</p>
<p>I had to get licensed for my current job and was a little freaked at the prospect of taking tests again after so many years - but I found out that my brain still works, pretty much like it used to, with the exception that I seem a little ADD now and I didn’t have problems concentrating on one thing years ago. (Maybe that comes from raising 3 kids and running a household - constantly going in 10 different directions at the same time!)</p>
<p>If you are serious about making a change, you can do it!</p>
<p>I mostly left the workforce to raise my kids after S was born. Returned part-time a few times but at age 50, decided to make a major career shift from law (which I had loved) to starting & running a public health non-profit. It has been challenging, exciting, and much more interesting than I dared imagine. I am pleased that I actually have and am developing many of the skills that work well for the new profession while actually doing it. Since I’m the only one in my state and one of the few in the country doing what I’m doing, I get to forge new ground practically all the time & find that fascinating. Things I need to learn, I can usually pick up by talking with folks with more skills than I have & some patience. I also have great friends & advisors & hire good people–a bookkeeper with LOTS of experience in non-profits and good insurance agent. I’m also pleased that as part of my job, I travel and also am PAID!</p>
<p>My mom went back to school to get her masters in special ed after staying home for 17+ years, until the youngest started kindergarten. She then went back to teaching, this time special ed instead of elementary ed. She was an inspiration because she got straight As & was younger than many of her instructors! She was one of the few to stayed in the field–many of her classmates switched fields, some worked in retail & some just wanted to explore.</p>
<p>One of our neighbors got her MD after her youngest was done with school. She became a palliative care doc at Kaiser–loves her job & the patients & staff love her!</p>
<p>I went back to school at 55. Initially I wanted to go back to work once my kids had left home. I was an accountant in England though never finished my qualifications after my husband was transferred to Egypt then we started a family (in England back then you didn’t need a degree to be an accountant - you joined one of several accounting association then did your training and exams while working). The first job I looked at - a call center answering inquiries for a certain large cell phone company - required me to get a GED to apply as I could not produce a piece of paper saying I went to school (we don’t get diplomas for finishing high school in England). Took a practice GED at the local vo-tech - did great on everything except algebra so took a couple of classes there to remind me how to do algebra. Took and passed the GED and decided I quite enjoyed the class and really was not excited at all about working in a call center. So went to a CC, got an associate degree, and am now working on my bachelors in accounting with a double in Spanish (thinking that a second language might maybe offset the age thing) at the State U 50 miles away. I am really enjoying it, though I do feel a little out of place with all the young students (the CC had more older students than the state U). I really hope I will be able to work for a few years once I graduate (which will be next year if I drop the Spanish to a minor - the major involves a lot of Spanish lit and I am more interested in becoming fluent in speaking it - which is much more difficult than I anticipated - I keep wondering what I am doing learning a new language when I have reached the age when I cant think of the work I am looking for in English half the time). Of course my age may be held against me which is kind of frustrating as I have a 4.0 and I know I am a hard worker. But keeping my fingers crossed that someone will see past the age. </p>
<p>I think it has done me an enormous amount of good and I am a lot happier than I was a while back. I wish I had done it a few years earlier actually. So I say go for it.</p>