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hello everyone!

i just wanted to vent about the admissions process. a couple of friends and i decided to actively pursue nursing within the last couple of years. i will be submitting an application at the end of the summer for spring. my problem? it seems like the road to making my dream a reality is gonna be a tough one. i have experienced lots of anxiety over the whole thing. i have a friend who applied to a very prestigious bsn program and was accepted. the same friend applied to my number one pick and has gotten the run around since january. she was told that people who had a 3.8 or better were automatically accepted. people who had a 3.0 or lower were eliminated and she is somewhere in between. she has a bachelor's degree (grades average) and a masters (did extremely well)and she is still waiting to get in. another friend was in a program, but unfortunately was dismissed for academic reasons. she wrote a letter requesting to be reinstated for the fall and they said that they were already full. my background is a mess. my gpa has gone up and down. i'm taking my pre-requisites, but i sometimes worry that i'm wasting my time because of my history. it's frustrating. do i meet the requirements? so far, yes. do i really want to be a nurse? yes. however, due to the increase in applications, i am competiting with a bunch of people. many of those seem to have perfect gpa's and academic histories. this will be my first degree. i've always had an interest in nursing, but i had my family and i was not ready to committ until now. if anyone out there wants to posts there frustrations with the process feel free. maybe we can be a support system for each other.

I faced the same issues with the 4 year schools.. so I decided to head into a Community College. I found out that the Schools program was actually better for an RN who is ready to head into work, Im learning all of the critical elements of nursing and Ill go back and complete my BSN after I begin working. There is also another upshot, there are many RN to BSN programs you can complete online. I guess my advice is dont limit yourself to one or two College choices.. there are many out there!

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i forgot to add...

make copies of everything you send to your admissions office! and send it via mail, return receipt requested!

i can't tell you how many things have 'never arrived' or 'must have gotten misplaced'. a friend almost couldn't register because of a missing transcript. cover your buns!

have fun!

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If I can give any advice it is too take your time with prereq.'s. I never took more that 10-13 hours a semester and never took more than 1 science class at a time. I got in to a competitive BSN program my first try because I focused on doing well in my classes instead of applying as quickly as possible. I have friends that were just cramming classes in but got B's and C's. and now are having to retake because their GPA isn't good enough. Patience is a virtue.

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Patience is a virtue - and hard work has its own rewards. Best of luck to those having difficulty applying. I was fortunate enough to get into my BSN program of choice during my first app cycle.... relieved that at least that much is over with! :)

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Specializes in ICU.

I remember how worried you were about being accepted.

I was fortunate enough to get into my program on the first try also. They were putting people on the "waiting list" like crazy. (It's the best ADN program in the city with a 99% first-time NCLEX pass rate). I need to remain focused and definitely not take this spot for granted because they are some people still praying to get accepted. I wish you all the best of luck and studentrn621 don't give up and don't go by "friends being accepted or not". If it were up to my friends then I wouldn't even applied because alot of them applied before me and were put on the waiting list. Look what happened when i applied. I give God all the glory :)

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Specializes in Emergency Dept, M/S.

I sympathsize with you soooooo much! It took me a LONG time to get enough of my pre-req's done to even be CONSIDERED for nursing school, and then was turned down last year to the only one I applied to, even though I had more than 3/4 of my pre-req's done and had a high GPA. THey didn't tell me until after I had been rejected that my NLN scores were "too old" for them to consider me (Like I got stupid or something since 5 years ago???? They were GREAT scores BTW, and even the admissions office at the same school said they were great and because of it I didn't have to do any placement tests. THey didn't care that they were 5 years old, but the nursing program did.)

So this year I retook the NLN, and applied everywhere within an hour's drive. Most of them were community colleges, which are all part of the college system here in NH. Even though they are all "related" and share info, all their admission requirements were different for the nursing program. Some wanted REALLY high NLN scores and didn't give a hoot about how many pre-req's you had done, other's wanted high GPA with lots of pre-req's done, some wanted high scores from high school, no matter how long ago. Anyway, I got interviews at 2 places and got accepted to both. One was part of the community college system and the other a private Catholic college. I ultimately decided on the Catholic college because it was a day program and they gave me a huge scholarship.

My advice: apply everywhere. Get the college catalogs from everywhere you are willing to commute to (if commuting) or anywhere you are willing to go. Apply - keep great records of when you sent all your info, had your transcripts sent - just keep a really good system of what/when/why of everything. Do up a chart if you have to, of which colleges go by GPA, etc. If you have to retake a course to bring up your GPA, do it at a community college or something where it may be less expensive, and you can take one or two courses without becoming a matriculated student, even if they don't offer a nursing program.

And also have a backup plan. I also applied to LPN school (was getting ready to take their admission test when I found out I was accepted to nursing school, so I didn't take it), and a Surgical Tech program, and also to a CNA program. I figured these would all give me a leg up and I would re-apply next year if I wasn't accepted to an RN program.

I wish you the best of luck. It can be incredibly frustrating. If I became a nurse right when I first got serious about becoming one, I'd have been one for 14 years now. :o

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Specializes in critical care; community health; psych.
oh say it isn't so :crying2: .

don't look back. keep heading for the prize. depending on how your school chooses applicants for the program, you just might get in on your first application. i did. :) keep a positive thought and don't doubt that you will be there.

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wannaBEanRN,

I think I like your idea. I did a little research. I'm applying to two community colleges and two BSN programs. Thanks for your responses. This is so cool :coollook: !

It's easier to hang in there are people who understand. Thank you!

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I'll be sending my application for Fall 2005 this December. In the meantime I am working very hard on my pre-reqs, and so far I am being more successful than I had hoped for!

Keep at it and best of luck to you!

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Specializes in ER, CCU, LTAC.
wannaBEanRN,

It's easier to hang in there when there are people who understand. Thank you!

I was thinking the same thing!!!!!:)

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I understand how difficult nursing school is to get into and not that being a nurse takes back seat to medicine, but I just don't understand how somebody who has a 3.8 GPA in college science courses cannot get into nursing programs? I mean, people with those sorts of grades are strong candidates for medical school...and believe me, I'm NOT implying that nursing is the second - choice, it just shocks me how incredibly difficult the process has gotten.

Hope the world knows how hard we all are working to get into the profession!

Starting a direct entry MSN program in Septemer...wish me luck!!

Hey, quick question...what is HIPA? I need to get this before I start!?!?

Also, anyone aware of CPR and HIPA training in the Chicago-land area?

Thanks and best of luck to you all!!

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Specializes in Step-down ICU.

I simply loved your advice. The reason being is that I only need to take prereq's before going to nursing school. My serious hang-up is that I feel like I will be "old" by the time I finish nursing school.I am 23 now. My plan was to take A&P this summer, as well as chemistry. I wanted to be in nursing school by Jan 2005, so I was going to try to do everything this summer and fall. Maybe I can but will it be too much? After reading your post it seems reasonable just to take things slow and focus on the grades, and not how fast you can get in the program. I feel so overwhelmed with all the decisions. I want to get my BSN for sure, but I am taking pre-req's at a community college. It won't make a difference if I apply to an ADN or BSN, I will finish in the same amount of time. For me it will be more beneficial to apply to the BSN program, since I want to go to graduate school. ADN is my "plan B." Thank you for that, I think that is just what I needed! I must admit that is the best advice so far. Thanks.

If I can give any advice it is too take your time with prereq.'s. I never took more that 10-13 hours a semester and never took more than 1 science class at a time. I got in to a competitive BSN program my first try because I focused on doing well in my classes instead of applying as quickly as possible. I have friends that were just cramming classes in but got B's and C's. and now are having to retake because their GPA isn't good enough. Patience is a virtue.
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