Does 1 Semester of F's Ruin Me?

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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Hello, I took 2 semesters of liberal arts and business classes at Indiana University (at Bloomington) 20 years ago in 1994/95. I got all A's and B's first semester and then straight F's the second semester. My father passed away with an unexpected heart attack half way through that second semester at the age of 56 and I was pretty devastated and basically just stopped going to school and came back home to NJ. I was out of commission for a while and eventually about a year later took a couple semesters at a community college in NJ and then transferred to Rutgers University and graduated (with high honors) 3.85 GPA Bachelor's in Psychology (1998).

Now I want to be a a nurse and try to get into an accelerated BSN program in Florida. Since my undergrad GPA is good, I thought I would have good chances of getting into future master's programs....and then when I decided on nursing, a second bachelor's program. HOWEVER, now that I'm about to start taking the 5 pre-req's I need to get into the BSN program, I'm learning that they take the cumulative GPA of ALL classes EVER taken!!! That one semester is going to completely annihilate my chances now because it will destroy my 3.85 GPA and it seems that all the nursing programs around me are very competitive as the GPA of the students who end up being admitted are around a 3.8 GPA. So now it doesn't even matter if I got straight A's on my pre-req science courses because of that 1 semester 20 years ago.

Does anyone know of any nursing programs in Florida that would possibly only look at your Bachelor's Degree GPA? If not, am I just wasting my time trying to take nursing pre-reqs at a community college? Thank you very much for any info or help!

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After a little research I found that the University of Florida only looks at the cumulative GPA of the last 60 credits you've taken, which would be really great for me! However, I then read that the 6 pre-reqs they require have to have been taken in the last 7 years to be accepted. Damn! I received A's in both Statistics and Developmental Psych and I'd have to retake them...I really don't want to do that, especially with Statistics. I may just have to go the ASN route, I'm thinking.

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After a little research I found that the University of Florida only looks at the cumulative GPA of the last 60 credits you've taken, which would be really great for me! However, I then read that the 6 pre-reqs they require have to have been taken in the last 7 years to be accepted. Damn! I received A's in both Statistics and Developmental Psych and I'd have to retake them...I really don't want to do that, especially with Statistics. I may just have to go the ASN route, I'm thinking.

Find out if you can just audit those classes.

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Find out if you can just audit those classes.

I doubt v. much that any school would accept audited courses for credit as prerequisites, given that the whole point of auditing a course is that you don't have to do the work and it doesn't matter how well or badly you do in the course ...

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Specializes in Prior military RN/current ICU RN..

DO you have transcripts from Rutgers showing you graduated with a 3.85GPA as your final GPA? That is the key because ABSN you have to meet minimum GPAs on first degree. You may have to submit all transcripts, but on your Rutgers transcript it should show your GPA that you GRADUATED with. Submit all transcripts, but you have a bachelors with a 3.85GPA so that is what you apply with.

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Specializes in L&D, infusion, urology.

It's really going to depend on the school. Some schools care, some don't, and you'll just have to do your research. I had a bad semester where I took anatomy, physiology and microbiology while working two jobs. I got two Fs and a D. I now have my BSN.

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DO you have transcripts from Rutgers showing you graduated with a 3.85GPA as your final GPA? That is the key because ABSN you have to meet minimum GPAs on first degree. You may have to submit all transcripts, but on your Rutgers transcript it should show your GPA that you GRADUATED with. Submit all transcripts, but you have a bachelors with a 3.85GPA so that is what you apply with.

Hi, I wish that was the key but I'm finding out it doesn't. Yes, my Rutgers transcript says final cumulative GPA of 3.85 with a bachelor's but both Seminole State College and UCF combines ALL undergraduate credits taken at ALL schools and then averages them out to get an overall undergraduate GPA. It would be easier for me to get in to a master's program in any major than it would be for me to get into a bachelor's in nursing because of this. Once I was accepted to Rutgers, I never thought that one horrendous semester at IU would ever be able to affect me again.

I found out that the University of Florida, which is a tremendous school, only looks back at your most recent 60 credits...however, the also only accept nursing pre-reqs from 7 years back or sooner...and several of my pre-reqs were taken 15 years ago.

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It's really going to depend on the school. Some schools care, some don't, and you'll just have to do your research. I had a bad semester where I took anatomy, physiology and microbiology while working two jobs. I got two Fs and a D. I now have my BSN.

Wow...that's very encouraging to hear! Congrats! How and where did you get your BSN from?

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Specializes in L&D, infusion, urology.
Wow...that's very encouraging to hear! Congrats! How and where did you get your BSN from?

I attended Sonoma State University in CA. They are willing to overlook repeated courses. Not all schools will. There were some schools I couldn't apply to because of my repeats. You'll need to have the overall GPA and the prereqs GPA to make it in. SSU only looks at the higher grades in the prereqs, but the old grades are factored into the overall GPA.

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I attended Sonoma State University in CA. They are willing to overlook repeated courses. Not all schools will. There were some schools I couldn't apply to because of my repeats. You'll need to have the overall GPA and the prereqs GPA to make it in. SSU only looks at the higher grades in the prereqs, but the old grades are factored into the overall GPA.

That is great! I'd have to check if these schools would accept repeated classes. The only thing is, the classes I received F's in weren't anywhere in the same realm of the nursing pre-reqs...they were liberal arts and business classes. I'd hate to have to repeat these insignificant classes but if it will help me, I will.

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Specializes in L&D, infusion, urology.
That is great! I'd have to check if these schools would accept repeated classes. The only thing is, the classes I received F's in weren't anywhere in the same realm of the nursing pre-reqs...they were liberal arts and business classes. I'd hate to have to repeat these insignificant classes but if it will help me, I will.

If that's the case, and you've met those requirements with other stuff, don't even worry about it. Again, at that point, it's all about the overall grade. Some schools (like SSU), if you have a bachelor's, will only look at the last 60 units. I don't know if those Fs are part of that, but it's something to think about. I wouldn't stress about having to repeat anything, since you have clearly already met what's required to obtain a bachelor's.

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If that's the case, and you've met those requirements with other stuff, don't even worry about it. Again, at that point, it's all about the overall grade. Some schools (like SSU), if you have a bachelor's, will only look at the last 60 units. I don't know if those Fs are part of that, but it's something to think about. I wouldn't stress about having to repeat anything, since you have clearly already met what's required to obtain a bachelor's.

The Fs were taken well before 60 units but SSU actually doesn't only look at the last 60 units if you have a bachelor's, they look at the GPA of all units ever taken combined.

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