So I got rejected from NP school...

[ChristineAdrianaRN]

It's pretty disappointing (I'm not a girl that gets rejected often!), but I figure it will give me time to really prepare to apply again next year. Applying for this fall was a last minute decision, that left me feeling rushed and only able to apply to one school before their deadline (though, really, I only wanted to apply to one school, as it was the only one I could afford).

I didn't anticipate getting rejected so I didn't worry about only applying to one school, but next year I will make sure to apply EVERYWHERE.

I'm also not entirely sure why I was rejected. Of course they give you no explanation. I'm hearing from a lot of people that NP school is incredibly competitive, so the only thing I can surmise is that they were going to pick a nurse that had more experience over me. I've got everything I needed - the grades, the recommendations, (some) floor experience as well as office experience, volunteer work, (what I thought was) a bangin' good essay re: why I wanted this...but going into the school year I will have only had one year's experience as an RN (seven months at the time I applied). I figured in a large pool of applicants where they are trying to pare down best they can, cutting me would be easy from that perspective.

How else can I prepare for next year?

I'm wondering about the essay - I guess knowing how competitive it is, I need to REALLY make sure my essay stands out (I whipped that bad boy out in about three minutes). What kind of things do I need to write about, besides why I want to be an NP? What do you think they're looking for?

Any other advice?

Thanks all!

[SBrn1]

Can you tell me were you went to NP school? I have around that gpa maybe a little lower and am really worried I will not get int NP school!

[educatemeplease]

linearthinker said:

My experience was different. The year I was admitted to the MSN-FNP program, we were given the following statistics about our class (from the welcome packet they gave us, which I still have here in my hot little hand):

the school accepted 9% of the applicants into the FNP program and 11% into ANP that year. Class avg GPA was 4.0 and GRE avg (still required there) was 1300, and the avg for practice experience was 7 years, 8 months.

65% of the class had achieved specialty certification in their area of practice, 48% were active members of their Nsg Association, and 38% had published something in a scholarly journal or participated in grant funded research projects.

So, different schools have different criteria, and if you want to go to that school, I'd ask them for the demographic data on the student body they did admit so you know what they are looking for.

Good luck.

Congratulations on getting accepted! Clearly you have a great class and I am sure you're all able to learn a lot from each other as well. Would you mind sharing what school you attend?