male nursing student seeking some advice!

[thelifepursuit]

hello, my name is jorge, and basically im just wondering what moves should i make moving forward in terms of raising my gpa and making myself a more likely candidate for nursing school. right now im at a community college finishing up my pre-reqs and unfortunately saved all of the hard science classes for the end. my total cumulative gpa is a 3.2, and the only hard science class i completed was a human anatomy class w/ a B. this summer I'm finishing up my last general ed class, poli sci and a biochem class, a class that I'm retaking. my academic history is full of only Bs, and a few As, but many Ws, and one D and a F that i have already retaken. i still need to take general college Chem 1 A, Micro Bio, Physio, and i may take chem 1 B so that i can then take Organic Chem. So i feel if i can get As in those challenging classes my GPA should look a lot better. my schools of intrest are SFSU, SDSU, CSLB, CSfullerton, Mt. Saint Mary's and some community colleges like MT. Sac, Saddleback, and Santa Ana college. i do work part time (20-35 hours) at nordstroms making coffee, but my manager is extremely flexible when it comes to arranging my availability so that i can spend time focusing on school. i'm also a gay, Hispanic, Male if that even helps my chances about getting accepted to any schools. ive considered some UCs, like UCLA, or UCI, but given my low GPA i don't think id stand a chance. do you guys think i have a chance in this extremely competitive field? what options should i make?, im extremely determined to finish up with my schooling, its just that i hope all my hard work won't be in vain, would you guys suggest i quit my job and focus only on school? are their other programs i should look into? are my choices unrealistic?

thanks for your time :)

[RunBabyRN]

Your gender, race and sexual orientation are not factors when applying to nursing programs. Your GPA is absolutely VITAL, and you'll definitely want it higher for the CSUs. Keep working on those As!

My tidbit of advice is to apply absolutely everywhere you're considering, and see where you end up. Hopefully you'll be turning down a couple of programs and having some choice in the matter. :)

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

DO: Raise your grades as high as you can manage. That will always help.

DON'T: Ever admit to thinking that being gay, Hispanic or male would increase your chance of getting into school. This isn't an episode of Scrubs, it's real life. LOTS of males apply. LOTS of Hispanics, and I'm gonna take a stab at lots of gays, just because A LOT of PEOPLE are applying! Being a human being gives you an edge over a St. Bernard, though

[windsurfer8, BSN, RN]

Being male makes no difference. Being gay makes no difference. No one cares about that stuff. You need to study hard...harder than you ever have in your entire life. That is how you get into nursing school. Hard work...nothing else matters.