You've been accepted...sike!

From my understanding "pre-nursing" is very much different than being actually accepted into the actual nursing program. You must obtain those grades to be admitted to the Nursing program, which I would bet is impacted like all others. The number of people that are pre-nursing is much more than the number that actually enter and finish the Nursing program. Your acceptance to the program is based on grades, and to apply you must meet certain minimal standards for qualification. Beyond those standards you are competing based on GPA (and sometimes other factors) to gain admittance.

I'm fairly sure your "pre nursing" program admittance would not guarantee you a spot in the actual nursing program (they would have given you a conditional admittance if so). It sounds like to me they are calling "pre nursing" a program when it is really more of a major. With such impaction of nursing programs your grades do need to be competitive, and it might be best for you to start researching programs that do take re-do's of classes to count toward your GPA. Not all do, and there are some programs that do not base admittance on a competion of GPAs. It sounds like your school does, and in your situation is eliminating you based on not meeting those minimum requirements of a B. For that reason your application is not considered.

I hope this helps you understand. Dont give up, and start researching your options. It is a great field but the economy has made this a hard time to enter nursing.

When you are accepted as a "pre-nursing" major at UNLV, you are not accepted by the college of nursing, but rather by the UNLV office of admissions. The nursing program has nothing to do with it.

Pre-nursing is just your major until you have completed your prerequisites as outlined here: Admission Criteria and Prerequisite checklist

You then have to separately apply to the nursing program and be admitted based on a point system.

A quick check of the nursing website would have given you this information. Also, calling them and setting up an advising appointment before applying could have avoided this.

As for petitioning them, I would not get my hopes up. The UNLV nursing program has more than enough applicants who complete their prerequisites in the way outlined in the above links, and is highly competitive. I would attempt to get my application fee back if anything.

There are other programs in the Las Vegas area however. I would suggest looking into the ADN program at the College of Southern Nevada, and the BSN program at Nevada State College. Also, if you are willing to pay there are two private programs, Touro University and University of Southern Nevada which both have BSN programs. All of these are somewhat competitive and have slightly different prerequisite requirements. I would also advise having an advising appointment at these schools, and asking them about their average acceptance grades and entrance exam scores before applying to them, as some of their fees can be quite costly.

To get some idea about the programs I suggest looking at their respective websites as well as at the Nevada Board of Nursing's Annual Report

I can see how you would be frustrated...but I would move on to a school that you know you can get your BSN at, do you have a plan B or C? If you did decide to stay at this school, you would have to switch majors and possibly spend four years going away from your goal of being a nurse rather than towards it.

Do not compound your problems by wasting time and energy fighting this. A similar problem happened to me. I was out money, time, and aggravation and the school prevailed in the end. I was the one with heartburn about it, not the snide people who told me off. Concentrate your energy on finding a program that you can enter without any problems. Good luck.

At my school the title is "pre-professional" but it's the same idea. This is used as the name of the major of anyone wanting to get into nursing or dental hygiene or respiratory therapy or a few other health care fields. It does not imply acceptance into any of those programs, just the school at large.

I'm sorry you got your hopes up, but I don't think you have any grounds to petition UNLV on this one.

That really sucks. Generally, the people with good grades in science classes do best in nursing school. You don't say if you're really committed to that one school or a BSN program. No matter what school you attend or for how many years, it's the same exam for the same nursing license. An ADN with experience and certifications may have an advantage over a green BSN. I wish you good luck with whatever path you choose. If it's nursing, wishing you compliant patients and legible orders.

It may not be fair, and it may not be your fault, but it is your problem (i.e., you're the one who cares and has to find a solution - not the school). I agree with Caliotter that's it's probably a waste of time and energy for you to fight this. In nursing school, the student is always wrong, even when they're right. This is an attitude I encountered in nursing school, and I've seen many threads here demonstrating that it's a pervasive part of nursing school culture.

Can you do your prenursing classes there, then apply elsewhere for nursing school?

Chalk this up to lessons learned. Read the fine print. Your license is your responsibility.

Apply these skills to your patient care in the future. You will become a nurse if you want to. UNLV is not the only road.