Failed nursing first time, no CUNY would take me back. What to do next?

U.S.A. New York

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Hello Everybody,

I attended College of Staten Island CUNY and got accepted into nursing program. I was in there for one semester and failed with 61 when 75 was passing. The course included clinical and now that i try to apply to other CUNYS no one wants to accept me at all. They didn't even look at my grades, they say no without any acceptions. I reapplied to College of Staten Island but they only take 10 people out of everyone who failed. Since i got 61 i doubt they will take me in at all. What should I do? I know why i failed, i didnt think it would be that hard. Its completely different from other courses. Its very hard to think critical. And i really want to be a nurse. I live in brooklyn, willing to travel to SI or manhattan. What are my options now? Thank you.

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I would look at other available nursing programs and consider going to an LPN program. Once you become an LPN you may be able to do an LPN to RN bridge program. Or, with an LPN license, you will be eligible to enter the Excelsior College nursing program.

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Would you recommend any good private schools?

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Sorry I'm not from that area. Maybe someone else could help.

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Hello Everybody,

I attended College of Staten Island CUNY and got accepted into nursing program. I was in there for one semester and failed with 61 when 75 was passing. The course included clinical and now that i try to apply to other CUNYS no one wants to accept me at all. They didn't even look at my grades, they say no without any acceptions. I reapplied to College of Staten Island but they only take 10 people out of everyone who failed. Since i got 61 i doubt they will take me in at all. What should I do? I know why i failed, i didnt think it would be that hard. Its completely different from other courses. Its very hard to think critical. And i really want to be a nurse. I live in brooklyn, willing to travel to SI or manhattan. What are my options now? Thank you.

You should try applying without using your transcript from CUNY, but if it's another school within CUNY they would likely find out that you were in another nursing program. If any school sees that you failed out of Nursing they won't accept you. At this point I can only recommened starting from scratch since it was only your first semester. If you already have all of your pre-reqs done than you're in luck that is if all your pre-reqs were NOT done at the College of Staten Island.

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Hello Everybody,

I attended College of Staten Island CUNY and got accepted into nursing program. I was in there for one semester and failed with 61 when 75 was passing. The course included clinical and now that i try to apply to other CUNYS no one wants to accept me at all. They didn't even look at my grades, they say no without any acceptions. I reapplied to College of Staten Island but they only take 10 people out of everyone who failed. Since i got 61 i doubt they will take me in at all. What should I do? I know why i failed, i didnt think it would be that hard. Its completely different from other courses. Its very hard to think critical. And i really want to be a nurse. I live in brooklyn, willing to travel to SI or manhattan. What are my options now? Thank you.

Hello! Native Staten Islander here (though live in Manhattan now), and also attended CSI's nursing program, though it was back in the 1980's.

First, you cannot apply to another CUNY college and not tell them because the admissions system is linked. Soon as your SSN is entered it will come up that you attended CSI, and by extension all your grades/classes and that you were in nursing. Also as you have found out once you have failed out of one CUNY program, it is not possible to attend another.

Back in my day the pre-nursing sequence required passing with a 2.5 GPA and no classes under a "C" were considered passing. Your grade of a 6.1 is very low indeed, especially for a nursing class.

Not just CUNY, but many other nursing programs will not accept students who have been removed, dismissed,failed out of, or otherwise taken out of a nursing program for any reason other than voluntary withdrawal.

Being as all this may you have very limited options at this point.

First and probably the most easy is to request a meeting with Prof. O'D and ask if there is any chance at all you can be readmitted. You could spend a semester or two taking the balance of core, related and non-nursing courses, however just getting "D's" and "C's" isn't going to make a huge impact. You need to get your GPA up to 3.0 or better to show you are capable of doing the work.

The other option is to seek admission to a priviate nursing program (Phillips Beth Israel, Saint Paul's of Staten Island or Queens, Long Island College Hospital, or perhaps a SUNY school. Here you have two options; try to apply as a rank freshman and not forward your grades from CUNY (rather dishonest as most schools ask for transcripts from *all* schools attended), or apply and let your record speak for itself but try and explain not only why you failed out of your previous program, but what you would do differently this time.

Personally I still think you would need to get your GPA up to apply any place else. While many nursing programs state one only needs a 2.5 for entry, you are going against students with GPA's >3.0 in most all instances. Thus your chances of making the cut may not be so good. Some schools like Beth Israel do have a personal interview process where one can "shine" and hopefully mitigate poor grades, but you are at a disadvantage in that you already went to a nursing program and failed. To most schools this translates into you have had your chance but couldn't do the assigned work.

There are two other options: go for a LPN, then enter a "LPN to RN" program once you have that license. Or, attend a four year college, graduate with a BofS in something, then attend a second degree to RN course.

All and all it still will come down to proving you can handle the educational requirements of a nursing program. I remember CSI's program from back in the day (1980's), and it wasn't easy then, so can imagine what things are like today. All nursing schools are *VERY* competitive and demanding , just moving from one nursing program to another isn't going to solve anything if you cannot cope with the educational demands.

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Thank you for all your help! If i will do LPN and bridge it to RN , they wont look at the fact that i failed before?. I am not sure how the whole bridge process works?

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I went to a private school (Dorothea Hopfer School of Nursing) in Mt. Vernon and they don't take you if you were dismissed or failed any other nursing program. Some students that didn't make it went to do an online RN associates via www.excelsior.edu . It is fully accreditted. I think you may have clinicals to do towards the end for like a day or two up in the capital (Albany).

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Thank you for all your help! If i will do LPN and bridge it to RN , they wont look at the fact that i failed before?. I am not sure how the whole bridge process works?

Every nursing program, both LPN and RN are different, while there may be some that will make exceptions, a good portion simply as a matter of policy do not admit students who were removed from any nursing program. You could go to another part of this website and start looking and contacting nursing programs to see what their policy is on the matter.

Your situation is quite common, and there are many posts here on the matter. IIRC, someone mentioned in one of them that there is a college in upstate NY that admits "removed" nursing students. Cannot remember the name though.

Personally, and this is only MHO, think you should *really* concentrate on bringing your grades up before rushing off to apply elsewhere. If your GPA is below 3.0, it is probably going to take some heavy lifting to make your case to another nursing program, even if their requirements are at at GPA of 2.5. for admission otherwise. Right now it seems everyone and their mother is trying to get into a nursing school, many with grade averages nearly 4.0, so NPs can be quite picky whom they take on. IIRC, you stated CSI does allow for a small number of "removed" students to reapply. In this case you may wish to finish your associate degree there (or at least continue taking classes), and get that GPA up. Cannot stress this often enough, you need to give any NP something to work with in your situation. Since CSI knows you and so forth, it may work out better than running all over creation trying to get into another program.

Again, just getting into another program is going to be hard enough for you, but if you found CSI's program difficult, what is going to change by going elsewhere? Nursing programs are difficult for a reason, to prepare you not only to practice nursing safely, but to pass the NCLEX exam as well.

There is enough evidence out there that makes a direct relationship between a student's grade point average, NLN and perhaps TEAS scores and board passing rates. You may make the best nurse in the world on paper, but if you cannot pass the boards that isn't going to matter. If one flounders about in nursing school, chances are good that you will be the same post graduation. Sadly these days new RNs get very little support in most cases, and hospitals expect you to hit the ground running.

Case in point, medical dosage calculations. So many complain that the school classes are difficult, exams difficult and that hospitals they apply to as RNs want >95% to pass, if not only 100%. Well look at it from this angle; if you only average say 75% on all your nursing math tests, that translates into a potential error rate of 25% as a nurse. This means there is a good chance 1 in 4 of your patients will be subject to a med error. That is simply unacceptable to clincial settings and patients for that matter.

Sometimes when one falls or is kicked off a horse, instinct says to get right back in the saddle, however sometimes we need to step back and exmaine the mount.

Actually spoke with CSI's nursing department office a few weeks ago, and they seem rather nice. I suggest you contact someone in the department, perhaps a former instructor and ask for a meeting if possible. You want an honest evaluation of not only your situation, but their opinion of your chances of succeding in a NP and becoming a good nurse.

Most nursing programs are wrapping up Fall 2010 admissions, so nothing can happen until Spring 2011 at the earliest. This gives you some time, but not allot to figure things out.

Oh and by the way, if you had financial aid at CSI, chances are good if you apply for it again at another school your have been a student there will show up. Not sure what financial aid departments tell admissions and so forth, but if you are going to try going the "rank freshmen" route, beware.

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Would you recommend any good private schools?

No do not go into private your going to spend lots of money in tuition for instance Adelphi is $25,000 my friend went there and she was in honors and the deans list and even with taps, and pell she was taking out in student loans about $15,000 a year the rest was getting covered from scholarship.

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Specializes in med surg home care PEDS.

I had a friend a few years back who flunked out of a cuny program and went on to become a nurse, he was honest about it, went to Mercy college and brought his gpa up, by taking chemistry, lifespan pysch. etc and then applied to Cochran school of nursing some where in Westchester and graduated so it can be done, however, you are going to have to prove yourself with some heavy science classes or go the LPN route, I don't think the rank freshman route is a good idea, if you get caught you could be expelled.

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Attn.: Lerochka

Apply to Kingsborough Community College. It is a good school and you can even save some money since full time students are eligible for free summer and winter sessions. KCC has a good nursing program and it is the only one within CUNY that accepts so-called reverse transfers that allow even those WHO WERE DISMISSED from senior colleges to start over. The campus is stunning. Good Luck.

Academic Advisement Center for Health Careers

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