Here are the chances of getting into a nursing program.

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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Alright so I've read a lot of posts on this website and I've spend quite a while doing research on the chances of getting into the nursing program. :yawn: I applied to 3 schools and I thought I had a chance but statistically speaking, I don't. My gpa is a 3.2/3.3. (1 D ruined it all) I wrote an essay that doesn't stand out; mediocre. My SAT scores suck. I'm a transfer student. BUT. I did take all the pre-reqs and I have about 12 classes in total. (Not including the 5 I'm taking now.)

Note: The following information are assumptions.

Colleges get about 400 applications a year. THIS IS NOT FOR EVERY COLLEGE. I'm just averaging it out. There are some universities where they only get about 200 apps a year and other universities can get almost 600 (maybe even above.) I'm gonna go with 400 since it's a pretty good number. Out of 400 they will only accept about 50-60 students. I'll just say 60. That gives me a 15% of getting in. But I will eliminate the bad apps. Out of the 400, 100 will have a GPA lower than a 3.0. And let's assume they base this mostly on academic GPA. So now I have a 20% chance of getting accepted. Out of those 300. I will assume that 100 has at least a 3.5 GPA. But only 50 will have their prereqs done. So that eliminates another 50. Now it's down to 250. I have a 24% chance of getting in. OUT OF THOSE 250, 40 wrote extremely bad essays bringing the number down to 210. Now I have a 28% chance of getting accepted. I am now competing with 210 applicants. Out of those 210, 5 will take courses unrelated to the nursing program. That brings me up 1%. :eek: With 205 left, I'm assuming that at least 25 applicants have a better gpa than me. That brings my chances down to 17%. Now there are only 35 spots left. Another 5 is gonna be filled with outstanding students, which brings me down to 14%. 30 will go to the people ranging from 3.0-3.5. 5 spots will be given to students with great recommendations and mediocre GPA, which eliminates me since I don't have recommendations. I now have a 12% chance of getting in. 10 will go to mediocre applicants with good essays and a good SAT score. That brings me down to 7%. Well I don't feel like doing the rest of the math but I came to the conclusion that I have a really slim chance of getting in! Getting into the nursing program is tough work and I'm just not cut out for it. I felt like writing this because now I'm going to STOP HOPING FOR NO REASON and move on and think about other careers. Nursing isn't my only option. :p

Computer 101, so what are you going to get your degree in if it cant be nursing?

Im also wondering what to do with all these credits if I dont make it to nursing.

A friend of mine just applied with a 3.5 and says she has no chance of getting in but put in the application anyway. She is going to retake some classes to bring her GPA up and apply again next year.

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wow...I am 41 and finishing my prereqs this semester--its great to see there are other "oldies" going thru what I am right now--its funny because like you maria202, I was initially going to go into a rad program but "traded up" to nursing--and like you paco, I am worried about what is going to happen 2-3 yrs down the line when I try to get a job...its a terrifying prospect that I may go through all this schooling only to not be able to find a job

Yes, but if you read the thread you will see a lot of positive feedback. It's very encouraging to see more people our age going back to school. I think we will be ok in two year's from now. Thank you for your feedback as well. I appreciate it very much. :heartbeat

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Computer 101, so what are you going to get your degree in if it cant be nursing?

Im also wondering what to do with all these credits if I dont make it to nursing.

A friend of mine just applied with a 3.5 and says she has no chance of getting in but put in the application anyway. She is going to retake some classes to bring her GPA up and apply again next year.

I have to check with my advisers on that one. I'm not saying trying to get into the nursing program is impossible. It's just TOUGH WORK. I just can't do that. Even though I didn't get my acceptance letter yet, I'm just going to assume I already got rejected. You have a super slim chance of getting in with a GPA lower than 3.5! (Unless you score high on your entrance exams or SATs or maybe if you write an outstanding essay or if you have superb recommendations.) They want outstanding students, not mediocre. I'm too mediocre for them so I'm going to find other careers. Anyways, I don't know what I'm going to major in yet, but I'll look into it after I finish up this semester.

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You know what they say about assumptions right? I'll give you a hint- they DON'T say that assumptions are reliable, scientific ways of determining your odds to get in to nursing school. You have no way of knowing exactly what your competition looks like in a given year (you could be applying in a year when everyone else has a 3.8 GPA, or maybe only a 3.01), or whether the admissions committee is trying to get a good mix of people and will give you extra consideration for something unique in your background.

:lol2: Assumptions can be correct and they can be wrong. In this case, it's most likely right. C'mon now.. You're looking at over 400 applications. Don't you think at LEAST 60 would have a GPA higher than 3.5? My competition isn't with those who has a lower GPA than I. It's the ones that applied with high GPAs.

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:lol2: Assumptions can be correct and they can be wrong. In this case, it's most likely right. C'mon now.. You're looking at over 400 applications. Don't you think at LEAST 60 would have a GPA higher than 3.5? My competition isn't with those who has a lower GPA than I. It's the ones that applied with high GPAs.

Don't "c'mon now" me. It sounds more like you're getting yourself used to failing rather than being realistic, especially given the way you're playing around with numbers there. 40 wrote bad essays? 5 took the wrong class? 35 have a higher GPA than you but 5 spots are also going to outstanding students...which sounds like you're counting 5 seats twice?

Why are you giving up before you have your admission decision?

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mrluciano, please dont be saying 41 is an "oldie".

Im almost 39 and you are making me feel over the hill already, lol.

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Don't "c'mon now" me. It sounds more like you're getting yourself used to failing rather than being realistic, especially given the way you're playing around with numbers there. 40 wrote bad essays? 5 took the wrong class? 35 have a higher GPA than you but 5 spots are also going to outstanding students...which sounds like you're counting 5 seats twice?

Why are you giving up before you have your admission decision?

Yes I counted 5 seats twice. They were for different reasons. Out of those 400 applicants, at least 100 have a lower GPA than me and at least 100 have either the same or a higher gpa than me. And I am being realistic about everything. I'm being unrealistic if I say that I have an equal chance of getting in as a person whose GPA is a lot higher than mine. I guess that's how life is. How would you feel if you hoped so much for one thing but you just couldn't get a hold of it. I don't feel this way towards getting into the nursing program because I'm NOT hoping anymore. (after looking at it realistically) I've hoped for better things in the past but hoped failed me. It brought my world down and tore me into a million pieces. :down:

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Yes I counted 5 seats twice. They were for different reasons. Out of those 400 applicants, at least 100 have a lower GPA than me and at least 100 have either the same or a higher gpa than me. And I am being realistic about everything. I'm being unrealistic if I say that I have an equal chance of getting in as a person whose GPA is a lot higher than mine. I guess that's how life is. How would you feel if you hoped so much for one thing but you just couldn't get a hold of it. I don't feel this way towards getting into the nursing program because I'm NOT hoping anymore. (after looking at it realistically) I've hoped for better things in the past but hoped failed me. It brought my world down and tore me into a million pieces. :down:

Realistic is saying "my grades aren't awesome, my test scores are low, and I wrote a subpar essay, so I don't think I will get in." You're making up statistics, pulling numbers out of your head. My statistics professor said that if we took nothing else from the class, we should take the knowledge that statistics can be manipulated to say just about anything, and you're not even working with real statistics! Seeing pretend numbers as predictive is the opposite of realism.

The answer to past failures is not to give up trying and start expecting to fail, but to work harder.

I've read your past posts, and your application deadline was only 10 days ago. Please try to put this aside for now and focus on something else while you wait for an answer. I got in to nursing school with a 3.18 GPA at a school that accepts approximately 150 applicants out of 900+ total. You're not doing yourself any favors right now.

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Would your chances be better if you tried the LPN to RN bridge program? The school where I live said last year they didn't turn down a single LPN to RN student that applied, but they turned down a bunch of quality students applying to the RN program who weren't LPNs. Just curious.

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OP:

I applied right from high school...and I got in! But mind you, my GPA was awful (2.97), my ACT was low (23 composite), I had no AP classes on my transcript, no college classes etc...and I got into a class of 45 when there were over 300 applicants. If I could do it, you can too.

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Realistic is saying "my grades aren't awesome, my test scores are low, and I wrote a subpar essay, so I don't think I will get in." You're making up statistics, pulling numbers out of your head. My statistics professor said that if we took nothing else from the class, we should take the knowledge that statistics can be manipulated to say just about anything, and you're not even working with real statistics! Seeing pretend numbers as predictive is the opposite of realism.

The answer to past failures is not to give up trying and start expecting to fail, but to work harder.

I've read your past posts, and your application deadline was only 10 days ago. Please try to put this aside for now and focus on something else while you wait for an answer. I got in to nursing school with a 3.18 GPA at a school that accepts approximately 150 applicants out of 900+ total. You're not doing yourself any favors right now.

150/900+? That's almost equivalent to 60/400 ... I do have other things to focus on. I DID mention that my statistics were assumptions. I'll make a whole new and more realistic statistic when I have time. And I finally got an e-mail back from the admission's office! (After waiting a week.) I will have to wait about 6-8 weeks for decisions.

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OP:

I applied right from high school...and I got in! But mind you, my GPA was awful (2.97), my ACT was low (23 composite), I had no AP classes on my transcript, no college classes etc...and I got into a class of 45 when there were over 300 applicants. If I could do it, you can too.

Applying straight from high school vs applying as a transfer are 2 separate things. Your chances were higher. I never took my ACT unfortunately. Congrats though. :)

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