Mount St. Mary’s College in Los Angeles was the first in the Western United States to offer a fast track B.S.N. for second degree students, graduating its first class in 1995. Professor Emeritus Mary Sloper, R.N., M.N., who led the program’s development, says the Mount has far more qualified applicants than expected, even though the program is “rigorous beyond rigor.” She says, “A student must make a major commitment to be successful. Their families must be supportive. If you have made the Thanksgiving turkey for the past twelve years, this is the year to get someone else to take it on.”
“I’ve had to devote myself completely to succeeding,” says Jane Pressman, fifty, who attends the one year B.S.N. program at Mount St. Mary’s. “College is harder the second time around, but it’s keeping my brain young.”
A former graphic designer, Pressman worked in advertising for the entertainment industry and then became a hypnotherapist while searching for a way to manage her job stress. Hypnotherapy led her to psychiatric nursing. She plans to continue on for a Master’s degree and become a nurse practitioner with an independent practice. “Nursing is not an ageist profession and I can see myself doing it for a long time to come,” she says. “We’re living in a different time, when it’s common to have two or three careers in a lifetime.”
If you want one of those careers to be nursing, be prepared to work very hard, advises Windy Clement. “I have no regrets that I took on this challenge,” she says. “Hopefully, I’ll be able to put R.N. after my name this summer.”
