I have read several posts here, and see that there are a lot of you that are in the same boat as me.
I am 31 1/2 years old; I have 2 boys, 7 and 10. I have been married for almost 11 years now. I am currently working as an LVN for Kaiser. I have worked there for 10 years. For the past 1 1/2 years as an LVN, previously as a Medical Assistant.
I have always wanted to go to med school. I broke the news first to the docs that I work with, and their first response was great! You should do that you would be awesome! So all warm and fuzzy, I meet with an Academic advisor at my local community college. She was useless! I actually left there bawling my eyes out! So very unsupportive. She didn’t even pull up my transcript to see what classes I had taken, and what the best route for me to go was. She told me she didn’t know what I wanted from her. I told her since she was a guidance counselor, I was looking for guidance, but since I obviously was not going to get it from her, I left. I then set up a meeting with the pre-med advisor at CSUN. She was wonderful!
I took my transcript with me and she told me what I needed to do. She helped me create an outline and told me that I could take the lower division science classes at the CC, and then transfer over for the last 1 1/2 years for the upper division science classes. She was great. I have the outline that she created for me at work taped on the wall above my desk.
I decided I needed to break the news to my husband. Well…that didn’t go so well. The plan had been for me to get my RN and that would be that. My husband is 26 years older than me, and he is tired. The first thing out of his mouth was I couldn’t get in. So after not talking to him for a couple of hours, I tried to explain. That still didn’t go very well. So about a week or so later we went and sat down and had dinner together with no kids. I explained to him what I wanted, what it could do for our family in the future, and how I was going to get there. I promised him that if it wasn’t going to work out, I could go and do my year of nursing and get my RN. Since this is something I really want to do, I will be good at it, and then I need to do it. He finally understood. I don’t think reality has really hit him yet.
I start classes on Monday. I am taking Algebra and Geometry. Since for the Spring I am registered for Chemistry 60, not 101 because I took chem. 51 not knowing I needed that other. I am also registered for Trig and College Algebra for the spring. I have to take the geometry during the winter session because I couldn’t get into Pre-Calculus.
Fall I am taking Chem. 101 and Calculus unless I can get calculus during the summer. Then Spring Chem. 102, then I has to transfer to CSUN to take the 2nd year of chem. In-between I will do Bio 1 and 2, the second semester of Calculus, and Statistics. The advisor highly recommended that I take biochem, genetics, and statistics too. So I will fit that in for the summer, winter sessions while I wait for MCATS/
This whole time I will have to work. Thankfully my coworkers are flexible, and I will be able to study inbetween patients, and such. The docs love to teach, so I can ask them just about anything. I know I will make it, it will just be a haul.
Corinne
Hey. I had no idea that this wonderful place existed. Great. I just graduated with a degree in Biochem. Took me 7 yrs because i work full time but i did it. Now Im taking the MCAT in June. Really scary. Biochem aint no punk girl!! Make sure you know your structures and good luck.
Hi, it is my first time in this forum and I am amazed that there are other people out there trying to get back to MED school. Some support would help for sure! I feel more than non-traditional, I feel lost! I am an Occupational Therapist but I graduated in 1996 in Brazil - so I am not only old pre-med, I am a foreigner and am not acquainted with the American college system. Nobody seems really helpful and the more I ask, the more I get confused. I would love to hear from you guys and we can share some of our experiences. I am SO happy I found this place 
This is a wonderful place. Though I am not the most experienced or the most qualified to give solid counseling, we all help when were able to, and there is always someone nearby who can answer your questions when other can’t. WELCOME!! Please share your thoughts and ideas along this winding, curvy, steep road we have all embarked upon…Cheers!
Thank you a lot for your answer. I joined less than a week ago and already love this place! I found encouragement and inspiration to pursue my dream thanks to so many examples. I knew I wasn’t a hopeless case even when I got everybody else trying to dissuade me