Becoming a VN at the age of 35?

Re: Becoming a VN at the age of 35?

maylane — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 17:46:34 GMT

Have you considered studying the diploma part time? That may be easier with family?

I have 2 children, Im qualifying (hopefully!) in July and I will be 40 next year.

Ive followed the diploma route, studying & working full time for 2 years, earning minimum wage for working a 40 hour week in my first year, got a pay rise to £13,500 for a 40 hour week in my second year. All college fees have been paid by my employer. When I qualify my salary goes up again until at 1 year post qualification I should be on around 18K.

It is a lot of work but its a great example for your kids to see you study, and I LOVE my job, wish I had done this when I was younger, but to be honest Ive found studying as a mature student much easier, I am much more motivated and sensible than I was at school.

You may well find practices are keen to employ mature students (I did) - generally people who have life experience and maturity make great employees and students.

Good luck - go for it!

Re: Becoming a VN at the age of 35?

Katie Mansfield — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 15:21:27 GMT

It's def worth it - not only for you but also for your kids. Mine have seen us studying (hubby is also doing a BSc part-time, computers, not veterinary) so it's made the kids think more about their homework. Our studying has had a profound effect on son number one who has now changed his mind about staying on and doing 6th form college and is going to go to uni himself after A levels - before we started our courses he wasn't going to bother. It's also been a good talking point at home cos both of us freely admit we messed about as kids and didn't do much studying so we're having to do it now, and it's a lot harder when you've got so many other commitments!! (Daughter number takes after her mother as a teenager and would rather be out with her mates than with her head stuck in a book lol).

Good luck, and keep us informed!!!

K x

Re: Becoming a VN at the age of 35?

FINNIGAN — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 13:11:01 GMT

ur never too old, i started my training at 42, single mum with daughter of 14 it was bloody hard , but perseverance paid off am now 3yrs qualified and loving it, go for it,

Re: Becoming a VN at the age of 35?

wysiwyg78 — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 15:10:10 GMT

Thanks for all the replies! My husband and I have talked it over and we will be in a better position financially in a few years, once we have paid a loan of. So in the meantime I am going to get some experience in a veterinary surgery and see what the reality is.

I only earn £12k at the moment so the low wage expectations doesn't shock me and would be bearable. It's the long hours that concern me, but I will cross that bridge when i come to it!

I have a lot of admiration for those older mums completing the full time degree course, but don't feel it's a road I want to go down. I have a degree and 3 years at university was quite enough! The thought of repeating the exercise makes me shudder.

In the meatime I will keep coming on here as I'm learning lots of interesting stuff about vet nursing.

Angela

Re: Becoming a VN at the age of 35?

Gillian Mostyn — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 17:43:39 GMT

My advice would be, if you haven't already, then you really have to get into a practice to do some 'work experience' for as long as you can manage it - ideally a couple of weeks but certainly a few weekdays (weekends are different as very few ops going on.) Try to work the shifts the staff work - not just 9 to 5. You can then see first hand what the job entails (can be different to preconceptions) and talk to the staff about hours, wages and working conditions.

Working in veterinary practice is very rewarding but certainly doesn't suit everybody. The antisocial hours especially can wreak havoc on family life!

Re: Becoming a VN at the age of 35?

Redhen — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 19:04:17 GMT

I am now 37 and a 1st year student with 2 children. Go for it!

Re: Becoming a VN at the age of 35?

Selena Carnell — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 17:27:27 GMT

Love my job been doing it since I left school. And is great if you have no ties. I would expect most positions will require you to work shift patterns which will vary from 8 am to 7pm or later. You may be required to work night duties and weekends, a lot of practices the weekend literally means you will be onsite all weekend. The wages.... If we did it for the money then none of us would be in the job lol.. I am a qualified nurse with 13 yrs experience and I am on approx 18k.

Re: Becoming a VN at the age of 35?

Roseann21 — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 19:53:22 GMT

I started training at 32 but then I was free, single and childless - it was fine, qualified at 35 with no problems. HOWEVER.... much as I don't want to put you off, I am now a single parent of 2 children aged 14 and 11, have a mortgage and a single (low) income and am finding it pretty tough. I have never had a problem with hours, although I could do with having more time with my children ideally - but if practices want to employ you, they will be flexible in terms of shifts.

Much as I agree with the other posters about it being a rewarding career and encouraging you to go for it if it's what you really want, you do need to be realistic if you have children - I sometimes feel I've let them down a little and it's not the best feeling in the world. The age part I don't think is relevant at all - the salary part (in my opinion) very much is. I am now working 2 jobs to make ends meet - and I'm on a pretty "good" salary for a VN.

HOWEVER... if you have a supportive husband/partner, then great - it will make all the difference.

Re: Becoming a VN at the age of 35?

JaneRVN — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 18:05:49 GMT

Age really is just a number! I have taught students of 64 and 65 on the old ANA course!

If you can manage 5 kids then being a VN will be easy!

Re: Becoming a VN at the age of 35?

Alison Clare Hickman — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 17:35:45 GMT

Hey there!

Don't let 'age' put you off, it's just a number after all. I entered vet nursing as a student at the age of 45 years and 11 months of age, qualified at age 48 and have never looked back. The main things to consider are the time we must spend doing the job (unsocial hours etc) and income (usually lack of it!). Even post-qualification the wages can be far short of the 'national minimum average salary' (UK 'any' job average - I am not talking about the national minimum wage which is a different thing...) - which I understand to be about £26,000 p/a. Vetnurse pay can vary widely from as low as +/- £12,000 p/a up to about +/- £28,000 (Head Nurse / Expert level...). In my county I think the average 'regular' nurse pay would be somewhere from around £16-19000 p/a fully qualified, based on experience and location. I live in North Yorkshire.

However irrespective of the above 'limitations' I say, if you can afford it and if you want a job that pays you in hearts-worth rewards, day in and day out, then I say GO for It - I did, I do not regret it one bit.

Good luck in whatever you decide to do. And. Happy Mums Day for Sunday!

Ali h

Re: Becoming a VN at the age of 35?

Katie Mansfield — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 16:56:50 GMT

Go for it Angela!!! I'm 42, mother of 5 (15, 13, 10, 7x2) and second year into the BSc course at RVC. It's hard work but I'm really enjoying it. I didn't have any "A" levels but I really didn't want to be in a situation where I couldn't get an SVN position - that is really difficult - so I went to college for a year and did a Level 3 Nat Diploma in Animal Management which gave me the necessary UCAS points to get into uni (it's equivalent to 2 "A" levels cos I only did a year course). That was hard cos for the whole year I wasn't able to get student finance and could only claim Adult Learning Grant which was £30 p/wk term time only so I subsidised myself by delivering Betterware catalogues for a few months.

Doing the degree means I get student finance and also I get my placements found for me so pretty much stress-free. I don't live on campus cos I couldn't be away from home for 12 week stretches so I commute, which takes about 2 hrs a day. College hours are typically 9 - 4 and we get Weds as a study day. My placement is 4 miles up the road and when I'm there I work 9 - 5.30 with no weekends / bank hols. (My course works 12 weeks college, 12 weeks placement, other unis do it differently, and not all placements are the same, some put you on a rota, but talking to other students most are happy to be flexible). At the mo I'm on study leave til the exams in April so I get to revise while the kids are at school. I'm very lucky in that my mum is only round the corner and she takes the kids into school and picks them up when I can't. School hols are a bit difficult cos we have college / placement during half terms (and also part of the summer hols last year), but then most working mums struggle with that too. (Cos I've got mum I don't need to claim a child-care grant but this is possible with student finance).

You have to be really determined you want to do this, put the small stuff on hold and study loads. You'll be knackered and quite stressed at exam / coursework submission times, probably feel a bit guilty about "dumping" the kids on someone else, feel pulled in different directions when it comes down to things going on at the school / having friends over to play / hols time, etc but it is so worth it It's taught me a lot about time management and housework delegation too lol!!!!

Also don't worry about other students being younger than you. My cohort are all half my age (I am even older than one of my friends' mums lol) but none of them treat me any differently and I have had no trouble making friends. There's a couple of other mature students in the cohort above mine and they have said exactly the same. I think uni is keeping us young - the only difference is I couldn't hope to keep up with the others if they go clubbing!

All the best

K x

Re: Becoming a VN at the age of 35?

Yvette Patton RVN MBVNA — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 14:22:19 GMT

I retrained when I was 36, had to do one year in practice, one year doing the pre-vet nursing (ANA), then 2 years NVQ, qualified just before I turned 40. Yes it was definately worth it, I'm doing my dream job

Minus points:- I had to work for minimum wage until I qualified, the hours were long (still are) and as you say, not child friendly, trying to combime family life with working long full time hours and juggle college work is not easy.

I had an extremely understanding husband and family who helped out tremendously, the practice I trained at were really good too. I would say if you really want it, go for it, as in my opinion it has to be all or nothing.

Good luck in whatever you decide.