Undergrad Grades - Poor transcript from previous (Before RN) degree

Nursing Students SRNA

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Hoping you guys can offer some advice.

I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Management in 2010 with a GPA of 3.1. I was a fairly terrible student, didn't care too much for my grades, and dropped about 7 classes over the 4.5 years. It's not a pretty transcript by any means.

When I decided to go back to school for nursing, I changed. My grades are all now A / A- / and 1 B+ so far. I doubt my cumulative average (including the business management degree) will ever go beyond a 3.5, even if I get nearly straight As through my BSN.

My question is this: Will CRNA schools look at my entire cumulative GPA as a whole or will they only care about my GPA since going back to school for nursing? To put it bluntly - how screwed am I? Is there anything I should be doing right now in order to make reparations?

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i can’t imagine your 1st bachelors figuring into the admissions decision for crna too much. will they look at it… yeah, but assuming your bsn transcript is strong ( that shows improvement and maturity) that will count for more that your gpa from an unrelated degree. of course crna schools seem to be pretty competitive so you never know what might disqualify you. best of luck, let us know how it turns out.

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Don't bite into all the hype. As long as you've met all your requirements and have a GPA of at least 3.5 there won't be any reason for them to not interview you. Now, the interview is a totally different animal. This will determine if you get in or not.

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Specializes in CT-ICU.

During one of my CRNA interviews, they asked me about a C I had gotten in biology during my first year of undergrad. But I had all A's and a few B's all through nursing school. I was honest with them, told them I started out as a music major and that at the time music, not science was my priority. I also made sure to make it a point that when I did decide to go into nursing, that my grades were stellar. Turns out one of the anesthesiologists on the panel was also a former music major and we had a good conversation on that. I doubt your former degree will have a negative impact on your application, but if they ask you about it on your interview, just be honest about it like you posted. Good luck! :)

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Thanks for the help all, I really appreciate it.

I haven't received less than a B+ yet in any nursing classes / pre-reqs / sciences.

However, during that Business degree I did get a WU (withdrew unofficially - which averages in as an F). I also got 2 Cs. None of them in classes that are related to nursing. Hopefully it won't be a big deal.

When I do submit my transcript to CRNA schools years from now, it will show the cumulative GPA for each degree as well as an overall GPA from both, which won't be higher than a 3.5 (probably lower) - because even if I get straight As in this degree, the other one will still pull it down.

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