Get Ready to Dive into School Again!

Many times the jobs listed here on MedicalJobs.org require a little more schooling than you have.

You might not be a spring chicken, and your jaw may crack when you chew(it's a "Golden Girls" reference), but you still want to be ready for school when that schooling comes around. I can speak from the experience of a friend who became a Medical Assistant at a Nursing Home that you can be older (58) and get that extra schooling you need and not be overwhelmed. You can sit on the sidelines and complain that you graduated from High School in 1968 and school has passed you by or you can buck up and put your nose to the grindstone.

Now, a lot of us have friends who have stuff, do stuff, and use stuff that we don't even know about. The first thing you want to do is survey your friends and here's why:

If you're getting into a training program to become a "Medical Assistant" or a "Dental Hygienist" and you know you will need some science background, but you haven't taken science since before Neil Armstrong walked on the moon then you may want to ask around and see if you friends have an old science textbooks lying around. My friend was able to procure a biology textbook from a friend whose child had used it and he was able to bone up on Biology and Anatomy just by reading through the book. You know, when you're all grown up it's a lot easier to read through a Science textbook and pick out what's important.

After working over all your friends you're going to need to work over the internet. Chances are there are a lot of people who went to school before the advent of the internet and have not even scratched the surface of all the information that it has to offer. If you're looking into a nursing program perhaps you should read through study guides and presentations online that pertain to nursing and science. You could probably read online tutorials for Biology, Anatomy and Chemistry. Heck, if you really wanted to you could probably read people's dissertations in nursing online. Anything to give you a head start so you don't feel overwhelmed day one.

People are also on the internet and what better way to get information than to ask for it. Find a local college of university with a nursing program and e-mail someone who teaches in that department for information about how to be successful in a nursing program. If it's Dental Hygiene you're looking into then find a Dental School and e-mail someone there for tips on how to be successful at Hygienist School. The internet is ripe with information if you are willing to ask for it.

Finally, please be sure you make friends with a kid who is still in school and can keep you up on the latest work habits. Kids today are more organized than ever and you'd be surprised what you can learn from you child, your grandchild, niece or nephew about how to study for classes and how to get good grades. (Of course, you would adjust their all-nighters to fit your schedule since you actually value sleep) but you get the idea.

So, take these resources and combine them into something that will inform you on how to be successful BEFORE you start a training program. Doing this after the fact will only leave you harried and frustrated. Being prepared beforehand makes all the different. Trust me.