Help choosing an education pathway

[hopefulstudent1999]

Hi, I am in a situation and I need some advice. I am a freshman at University of Washington and in my classes, I am doing alright but not fantastic. I'll finish out the year with around a 3.5 or 3.6, but nothing out of this world. I want to enter the nursing program eventually, but know my odds are slim to none considering the extreme competitiveness of the program at my school and my mediocre GPA. To give some perspective, the program admits roughly 100 applicants out of 700 who apply. I know I can apply to other schools as well, however they are also so competitive. Today I had the idea to attend community college next year and complete the nursing prerequisites there and transfer my UW credit. If I complete them there, my GPA will be much higher and I believe I would have a better chance of making it into nursing programs such as UW, and this would also be a cheaper option. Additionally, the community college I am looking at also has its own two year nursing program, so for some reason if I was not admitted to a traditional nursing school after completing prerequisites this would always be something to fall back on as the classes I would be taking would be applicable to traditional nursing colleges and the community college. Does anyone have thoughts on this idea? Does it sound like a smart move for me next year? I am so afraid of not making it into a nursing program, and having no fall back option. Nursing is what I want to do, I do not want to major in anything else.

[mejsp]

I went to ADN route and later taught at a community college. It amazes me that 3.5 and 3.6 aren't seen as outstanding. Does everyone have to have a 4.0? I worked with a woman who had a situation similar to yours. She was a lab tech and provided excellent care. I thought if they'd interview her they'd admit her to the BSN program.

Your odds of being admitted to the ADN program may be improved, but don't count on straight A's. ADN programs are like summer school, more condensed. Some of my ADN students had Bachelor's degrees in other subjects and were very troubled by their less than perfect transcripts. It is those pesky tests with all the distractors. Plus the instructors are under pressure to make it more difficult. The ADN program is judged by the percentage of students who pass NCLEX. Having a low percentage can land them on probation. They attempt to weed out the students who aren't like to pass the exam.

You are correct. With your ADN and passing NCLEX score you will be an RN and can jump right in to a hybrid BSN program or better yet, your MSN. I wish you success.

[hopefulstudent1999]

Thank you so much for your response! I really appreciate it so much. In your opinion, would it be a mistake transferring to a community college to complete the nursing prerequisites if I am already at UW? My reasoning is that I would have higher grades there than I do now, and this would help me to be more easily be accepted by four year universities so that I can get the BSN.

[araew2129, ADN]

I'm sorry I don't have advice on whether to switch to the community college next year, but I wanted to give you a heads up not to expect the ADN program to be a failsafe fallback. In my area it is just as competitive, if not more So, to get into the ADN program. They have one if the best NCLEX pass rates in the state and the lower cost is very attractive. Good luck in whatever you choose!

[roxaphi]

Save money and transfer!