Calling second degree students..... Competition

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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I have a bachelors and a masters of arts degree in music. I will be finishing up my prereqs this fall and hope to apply to USF or UCF. These schools/state universities seem to be very competitive.... My gpa is not that great. Most likely hovering right above a 3.0. Even an advisor told me that when I met with him. I have gotten all As and Bs in my prereqs thus far. I went to school in 2003-2007 for my bachelors in missouri and 2009-2010 for my masters (ironically also at UCF). My question is.... Do these admission committees not show any mercy? After being in school for so long your GPA drags down. And that was years ago. How can I be judged when my heart and mind were in a different place? I would like to know any second degree applier opinions. I am scared I will apply and not get in anywhere. All because of some stupid grades from 8 years ago.

GO KNIGHTS!! I'm an alumnus class of '87 in Communications. So, I am also a second degree nurse as well. I completed my ADN in 2011 at a tech school in SC only to find they prefer the BSN so I am now looking at my RN-BSN.

When I went to UCF back in the day, I had to have an interview due to my average SAT and GPA. I was able to talk my way in and proved myself worthwhile by succeeding. They admitted me on probation for the first semester after I took an English course at Valencia and earned an A.

Maybe you could do some prereqs now and get A's to prove you are up to the task. You could also go to Valencia or other tech schools in area to get in the 2years there/ 2 years at UCF program. Starting over that way will rebuild a GPA. Basically, when I started with the tech school here, they simple gave transfer credit and GPA didn't matter. GPA started with their courses.

Don't let it get you down, there is always more than one way to skin a cat! (sorry cat lovers!)

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Beware of direct entry MSN programs. They can cause all kinds of problems with mobility d/t not meeting basic licensure requirements in all states. Also, employers in my area aren't hiring these grads anymore because of problems they experienced. In order of preference 1) BSN, 2) ADN, 3)ABSN with no diff's in the starting salary.

Interesting - can you expand a little on this order of preference - why do you think the accelerated programs would rank below an associates program? Is it due to the time/exposure factor as these are generally shorter in duration?

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apply to GWU, they're pretty easy to get into since they're new

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I think it will depend on the school. My school considers the last 60 credits and your pre reqs to their competitive programs.

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I am also a second degree nursing student and my school only looks at the prerequisites that apply to their program. I think it's up to the nursing program exactly what they look at. My school also offers a LPN program that they interview everyone that has applied as part of admission; however, the AD program does not. I think that it is a little backwards because you can tell a lot about people in person rather than on paper.

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