Can stupid people pass nursing school?

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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I'm an B, C student :( I know I wont get it in right away, but will I EVER get in? and I feel like I'm way to dumb to pass. I know people who I thought would be AMAZING nurses. They are so talented, hard working, super smart, and have experience and they say they are really struggling.

so... can stupid people pass?

DO NOT CALL YOUR SELF DUMB! Everyone's strengths and weaknesses are different. You have to own what your strength is and make it work for you through your nursing classes!

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there is no such thing as a stupid person!

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there is no such thing as a stupid person!

You have never met my ex-husband.

Don't be so quick to make blanket statements.

Cheers.

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Specializes in Surgery NP.
No. In my school, we needed a C+ to pass the class, and an 85% to pass the dosage calculations test. There is no curving of grades in nursing school. I graduated with a 3.3 average.

In addition to maintaining a C+ average....no curving as well....and we need to pass ALL dosage calculation exams with a 100%. I graduated with a 3.75.

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It depends on your definition of "stupid". From reading your post, I take "stupid" as a self-esteem issue. If your goal is to become an overachiever as far as grades are concerned than that is something one would work towards, which takes time and effort on the person's part. Being a 'B' and 'C' student, is not stupid. Most 'B' and 'C' students ARE reasonably bright and do make great nurses. A grade is a grade, and it doesn't necessarily mean it defines the person as a whole or their potential of being a nurse. In any profession one would want to use common sense. One does not need to be an overachiever or a genius to do nursing. Everyone struggles with nursing school at some point, not all of it is easy.

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To the OP,

"Stupid" is relative. A lot of what comes down to successfully practicing in the health care field is what some call "common sense." Common sense can be learned and refined.

Common sense in health care, is that which makes us think twice about performing procedures, making judgement calls in administering medications, or, to give a simplistic example: don't attempt to ambulate your patient with a sitting BP of 65/35 just because there's an order to ambulate the patient BID.

Look, I'll admit this here. I barely passed High School...my lowest GPA was 1.67. When I decided to go to college I was scared spitless, "knowing" I was stupid and that I would have to study round the clock to get a C-average.

I studied round the clock and lo and behold...I kept getting "highest marks in the class."

That said, I once worked with an ER RN that blew the socks off any other RN I've worked before and since. She could spout off any number of details and facts with the best of them, and could perform a complicated, obscure procedure once, and yet years later do it again like she'd done it a thousand times before. She was brilliant.

She also confided in me some time later that she sucked at "book learning", barely made it through nursing school, and had to take the NCLEX twice.

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You have never met my ex-husband.

Don't be so quick to make blanket statements.

Cheers.

I had one of those too.

We were both stupid because we married them in the first place.

But my guess is, we are now both less stupid for the experience. :)

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In my program, GPA was 50% of entrance requirements. Therefore, I think your entry to a program is not likely.

That being said, the application of common sense goes much farther towards being a good nurse than book smarts.

Good luck.

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Do your research on schools. If your GPA is not as competitive as you would like it to be then look for a school who counts a personal statement more then a GPA, or a school who looks at your resume or work history. In the year and a half it has take to me complete my pre-reqs and applications there is one very important thing I have learned-all nursing schools are different and all of them take different things into consideration. Make a list of your pros and find schools that count them more heavily.

You are not stupid, you function in everyday life and you've made it this far in school. Getting A's does not make you any better. I have taken plenty of classes with people who receive A's and I can't understand how they even get dressed in the morning. Point is your grades aren't the only factor.

If it is something you are passionate about then make it work. It might take you a little longer or require you to study a little more than someone else, but if you believe it you can do it.

With that said, make yourself a plan B as well. Maybe another field you are interested in or what not. Don't ever give up on plan A, but make sure you have something else on the back burner.

and don't let anyone on this site intimidate you either. Keep in mind those on here are a small percentage. Some of the blogs I have participated on have students with 4.0 GPAS extremely high test scores and so forth. I'm about average and thought I would never make it.

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Specializes in OB (with a history of cardiac).
LOL! I've met some nurses who astound me because they were actually able to figure out how to get out of bed in the morning. Grades and test scores are only a small measure of one's intelligence, but unfortunately play a very large roll in the nursing school admission process. Best of luck to you and study hard!

Maybe I just haven't met them yet! But oh boy I just can't WAIT till I do! Goodygoodygoody!

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If you really put in the work and know your own limits, I don't think you're stupid.

As for whether dumb people can become nurses... Why yes of course. Meet some of my coworkers.

:confused:

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there is no such thing as a stupid person!

Hahaha, I think you need to get out more. There are plenty of stupid people in the world :(

Anyway, on topic: It's too bad that GPA is such a huge factor at some places; the nursing class my university admitted last semester was rumored to have an average GPA of 3.6

I think common sense is really important in nursing, but the GPA is important, too. Practical experience is not always going to make up for educational shortcomings. When I was in school to be a CNA, one of my classmates said that she worked for a home care agency.

I said, "Oh nice. You can correct me if I'm not doing this blood pressure right." And you know what? Despite having worked in home care for 3 years, this woman had NO IDEA HOW TO TAKE A BLOOD PRESSURE.

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