Dionna Littleton is no stranger to a grueling schedule and a career that demands perfection. Her years as a professional dancer include two seasons with the Radio City Rockettes, dancing at all-star professional sports events and appearing on the television show, America’s Got Talent.

“It was fun, but it’s the hardest job I’ve ever had,” she said.

Littleton has made the leap from a career in dance to one as a doctor — a dream she deferred after graduating from Yale University in 2006. Now a mother of three, she just earned her medical degree in May 2025 from the University of Kansas School of Medicine with a goal of becoming an OB-GYN. Littleton is serving her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina,

Littleton is among a growing number of nontraditional students who have pursued degrees at KU Medical Center. Nontraditional students often face challenges that most straight-from-undergrad students don’t, and their backgrounds give them unique resilience and resolve that fuels their success at KU Medical Center and in their future careers.

“Nontraditional students typically provide more lived experiences, more maturity and a broader world view than students matriculating straight from college,” said Mark Meyer, M.D., senior associate dean for student affairs at KU Medical Center. “That can be a plus for our institution.”

Abiodun Akinwuntan, Ph.D., MPH, MBA, dean of the KU School of Health Professions, concurred.

“Accepting nontraditional students into the School of Health Professions allows our traditional students to benefit from their unique experiences,” Akinwuntan said. “That can’t be taught in the classroom.”

What is a nontraditional student?

Nontraditional students are not uncommon at KU Medical Center. In fact, this year nearly 8% of medical students and nursing students in the bachelor’s program are over 30. In the Critical Care Nurse Practitioner (CCNP) program 28% of the students are over 26.

Nontraditional students are generally defined as anyone who is at least 26 years old, has pursued another career before health care, majored in something other than science, has a spouse and/or children or has taken at least a two-year gap after earning an undergraduate degree.

For example, Kristy Ramirez completed prerequisites and applied to nursing schools at age 45. The first to accept her was KU School of Nursing, where she graduated this spring with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.

Ramirez grew up in Mound City, Kansas, and graduated from Pittsburg State University with a degree in communications and minors in fashion merchandising and early childhood development. Following graduation, she worked in childcare, portrait photography, retail, insurance and eventually in a publishing house in Lawrence.

“I was promoted to a job handling reprints of medical journals when my predecessor left the job to go to nursing school,” Ramirez said. “It hadn’t occurred to me that I could start my career over.”

Finding soulfully satisfying work

Jill Weishaubt, undergraduate programs consultant and advisor for the KU School of Nursing, said nontraditional students typically have a lot more responsibilities and obstacles, such as dependent children or the need to maintain the income of a full-time job while in school.

“But regardless of those obstacles, these students have grit and determination that comes with finally pursuing one’s passion,” she said.

Weishaubt added that the most striking thing about working with nontraditional students is the peace they have in pursuing their dream career instead of the career expected of them by others when they were younger.

“I see many second, third, or fourth career students who are pursuing nursing later in life because they are looking for something more soulfully satisfying after years of simply bringing home a paycheck.”

Ramirez’s winding path to nursing school is one example.

“I grew up poor and always took a lot of jobs I needed,” she said, “but now I can have a job I enjoy, and am good at it.”

Ramirez said she previously struggled with her mental health because she felt bored and unchallenged.

“One day, I happened to watch a documentary called ‘Stay,’ about people in South America living near a trash dump,” she said. “A child in the film developed very bad asthma, because there was no clean air to breathe. In that moment I realized that I wanted to be helpful to someone like that — and that thought set me on a new path.”

Now Ramirez commutes regularly from Topeka to KU Medical Center’s Kansas City campus, occasionally bunking with relatives in Independence, Missouri.

“I couldn’t have picked a better place to go,” she said with pride.

Ramirez has a job lined up at The University of Kansas Health System-St. Francis campus in Topeka. Looking to the future, her ultimate goal is to work as a traveling nurse, driving an RV, seeing the country and enjoying her life.

“I feel so joyful now, because I have it so good,” she said.

Changing health care careers

Juan Quesada was already in nursing before he was inspired to upgrade his certification for a new kind of work.

When the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020, the hospital where Quesada was an ICU nurse was experiencing a nursing shortage. It was especially stressful, he said, but he got to see other kinds of nursing.

“Before that time, I never had exposure to a certified registered nurse anesthetist,” he said. “I got to see one-on-one what their practice was like, see them running code blues and bringing people back to life.”

That was more like the career he had always envisioned.

Quesada talked to a friend from nursing school, who happened to be in the certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA) program in the School of Health Professions at KU Medical Center. It was the only program he applied to.

“The number of clinical hours you get in this program are the best nationally,” he said.

Quesada had joined the U.S. Army Reserves in 2021. A father of two with another baby on the way, he reported to his unit in Topeka and received his commission as second lieutenant in September 2024. After graduation in 2026, he’ll reach the rank of captain and will serve at a military hospital, possibly overseas.

Was there an advantage to being 34 and starting a new program?

“One hundred percent,” Quesada said. “I was a failing student in high school, and people lost faith in me. I made my mistakes, then made adjustments. I know my priorities now, and I’ve learned what doesn’t work.”

Prior to enrolling in the KU School of Nursing, where she plans to earn her BSN this May, Megan Bulcock earned dual bachelor’s degrees in kinesiology and psychology, followed by a master’s degree in lifespan and human development at Kansas State University.

She also spent 10 years as a certified child life specialist. She helped hospitalized children adjust emotionally to their diagnoses, and to cope with grief and loss. Eventually she wanted to take it a step further.

“I always worked alongside nurses,” she said.

Bulcock is now in her late 30s and a mother of two. Her nursing school cohort is full of 20-somethings who tease her about how far she
works ahead.

“I know if I have time, I have to get something done, because I need to shift from becoming student first to being mom.”

Backgrounds that build grit

Rising third-year medical student Ryan Kingery grew up in rural West Virginia, where he saw a lot of homelessness and drugs. The family lived 45 minutes from a hospital, and although his mother was a nurse, there were limited job opportunities. He tried college for a year at Marshall University, but admits he wasn’t ready.

“Many people make a fresh start in the military, so I enlisted,” he said. “I learned discipline and accountability — things that I had been missing. I learned that failure is not an option. I won awards and became a good example to others.”

Kingery said his life experience is valuable in school now because he has made mistakes and learned to deal with criticism. While he is still choosing a specialty, he wants to work either in otolaryngology or trauma surgery where he would need to make tough calls
under pressure.

After graduating from Yale, Littleton continued dancing through her gap years, but that wasn’t the only thing keeping her busy.

While working a corporate finance job in New York City, she took physics classes at night, and dance classes at the world-famous Alvin Ailey School for fun. But they recognized her talent and encouraged her to enroll as a full-time student, so she did.

“I was studying for my MCATs, but it was an opportunity I didn’t want to miss. So, I left my job and made a deal with myself,” she said. “If I didn’t book a job in a year, I would go right to medical school.”

But she did book a job and found herself in Ohio dancing in a Christmas show imitating the style of Rockettes. Soon, another door opened. It took seven auditions over two years, but she finally earned a spot as an official Rockette. Through the Rockettes’ tuition reimbursement program, Littleton studied to become a labor and delivery doula during the off-season.

“I loved it, and that’s when I realized I still wanted to go to medical school.”

After a few more jobs in New York, she gave birth to a son in 2015. Then she knew it was time to prove to herself she had the ability to handle medical school and a full-course load. So, another year and a half in Fordham University’s post-baccalaureate program, passing the MCAT, and she was ready. She came back to Kansas for school and to be near her family support system.

On being a non-traditional medical student, Littleton highly recommends it.

“Going straight through from college has advantages — you are younger when you finish,” she said. “But nontraditional students have more experience talking to people in non-academic settings. I have a busy life, children and other financial obligations, so I will have that in common with many patients. I believe that’s beneficial to bring with you to a clinical setting.”

Kingery’s time in the military included spending time in Hungary, Romania and Germany. Kingery discovered he could attend community college while on active duty, so once back at Fort Riley in Kansas, he enrolled in Barton County College in Great Bend.

After his four-year tour, Kingery worked as a dialysis technician before deciding to apply to medical school. He chose KU because he had fallen in love with the state that had given him a new home.

“I had the best interview,” he said. “I knew they understood me as
a person.”

Which isn’t to say the transition to medical school wasn’t challenging. At first Kingery found it hard to make friends with younger students.

“There was also some culture shock. In the military there are no choices to make, and now there are a lot of them.”

But, as a veteran, his mission is to show leadership, which he has done in student-led groups and mentoring.

Balancing family and leaping boundaries

Bulcock started forming a plan to go back for her BSN when she found out she and her husband were having a baby. She opened a small business with her husband and took time off to raise her son. After a year, she applied and was accepted, but decided to defer for another year when she found out she was having another baby. It was August 2023 before she started nursing school to fulfill her dream.

Bulcock also has Meniere’s disease and is completely deaf. She’s had a cochlear implant since sixth grade, and has been afforded accommodations, including a sign language interpreter.

Juggling her children and a business with school takes all her patience and determination.

“I was a little bit hesitant about going back,” she said. “But I have an amazing work ethic, which I think is what you really need. I need to be hyper-aware of my surroundings and give my full attention without getting distracted.”

Quesada, the Army reservist in the CRNA program, persisted through years of roadblocks to get to his current program at KU Medical Center.

Quesada was born and raised in Peru but wanted to go to college in the United States. At 17, he could read English, but not speak it well yet. He went to stay with family members living in Tucson, Arizona, who supported his goals. He finished community college with a pre-nursing curriculum. He wanted to go to nursing school, but it was expensive for someone on a student visa.

He also wanted a bachelor’s degree, but due to the popularity of nursing in 2010, he was put on wait lists. And for two years, he waited while taking more science classes.

Eventually he found an affordable program, and moved to Minot, North Dakota, where he didn’t know a single person. He graduated in 2012 and applied for a work visa.

“I got my first nursing job in Bismark, North Dakota,” he said. “Two months later, I met my wife, Kellie, also a nurse. A year later we moved to where she grew up in Minnesota — and had our first child.”

Then the family moved to Blacksburg, Virginia where Quesada earned his master’s degree in biomedical science with a pathway to medical school.

“I had access to everything in the medical school, and it was kind of like a job interview where I had an insider’s look into the program,” he said. “I wanted to be a surgeon, but I learned it’s competitive, there are limited opportunities for surgeons, and there was no guarantee I would end up becoming one.”

Because he was raising a family, he felt that the uncertainty wouldn’t be worth the risk. Quesada ultimately decided to expand his nursing career instead.

Meyer emphasized that nontraditional students don’t typically go back to school on a whim. He said it is a serious investment and a calculated risk.

“Nontraditional students need to review their financial situation, how they will care for children or pay the mortgage — it really requires a whole investment from the family unit.”

Enrollment on the rise

Meyer said the KU School of Medicine will continue to recruit and accept nontraditional students into the program.

“These students really feel the need to fulfill their personal and professional goals through medicine rather than where they were previously,” Meyer said. “They’ve demonstrated they can be better suited to face the struggles that can happen in medical school because of their life experiences.”

Akinwuntan said, if anything, the KU School of Health Professions is looking to welcome more nontraditional students.

“We are accepting more nontraditional students than ever — and we are increasing efforts to recruit even more students who haven’t taken the usual path to their health care careers.”