Advice for a low GPA student.

pmabraham, BSN, RN · Aug 6, 2014

Good day, Miewn:

Talk with your program advisor to see what they have to say about your current GPA, and if there are classes you can take in addition to prerequisites that might help. Since there is no nursing shortage and most programs are extremely competitive, be prepared for the worse.

Thank you.

Livetoride · Aug 6, 2014

I will admit I am kind of torn on this about advising what you can do but either you can stick it out for Sociology and earn your degree, then start pre-reqs for an ABSN program. That's having a degree to fall on in case nursing doesn't work out. You can also stop now, and start pre-reqs for nursing for an ABSN program.

My advice though is if your GPA is that low, perhaps you can go the CC route for the ADN. Just as competitive or more competitive than BSN admissions, but you will have a chance to pull up your GPA.

Good luck!

Miewn · Aug 6, 2014

Thank you Pmabraham and Livetoride.

I'll ask one of the program advisers to see if there's any possibilities.

I had no idea ADN is just as competitive. I was just trying to finish my sociology degree to have a bachelors to fall back on just in-case. I heard that ADN programs also have a hard time getting a job after you're done too.

What else should I do?

TLizS · Aug 6, 2014

I had a very low GPA to over come...I decided to go the CC college route....my top choice program has a points system that gives you many classes to take for points.....this allowed me to submit a very competitive application for this upcoming spring class....soooo My advice...look at the selection criteria for the programs you are interested in.....consider the community college route if you need to...it is very possible to overcome a low gpa and still submit a competitive application depending upon what exactly that particular school's selection criteria is.

I'd like to add......I plan on doing a RN-BSN bridge after completing the ADN program. It will take me one semester longer than just doing a straight BSN program

pmabraham, BSN, RN · Aug 6, 2014

Good day, Miewn:

There is no nursing shortage. BSN grads have trouble finding a job; it is not limited to AD grads.

Thank you.

mbtsab · Aug 6, 2014

I am in the same boat with low gpa(2.1).. I dropped out of 4 classes one semester and received f's. What I am doing is retaking thouse along with my pre reqs.

chessknightRN · Aug 6, 2014

I would definitely suggest finishing your current degree before you decide on nursing school, especially since you are a senior. With Nursing being such a competitive field now, chances are it would take at least that long after applying before you actually start a program anyway. I'd look nationally and focus on community colleges that have no GPA requirements and rely on waiting lists for admission. You can always do an RN-BSN program after you finish at a community college and you should have all the pre-reqs out of the way by then since you will already have a prior bachelors degree. You are looking at probably a 1-2 year waiting list depending on the school (mine was almost 2 years and I got on the waiting list back in 2010), 2 years getting an ADN at a community college, and then 1-2 years getting an RN-BSN if you go that route. Hope this helps!

TC3200 · Aug 7, 2014

Finish the sociology degree because you are almost done with it.

Look at the 2nd degree accelerated programs, but they are expensive. It's going to take at least 24 months to do that.

It will also take probably 24 months to complete a AD RN or diploma RN. Western PA has several diploma RN schools, in Pittsburgh and also some small towns. Those diploma programs are equivalent to AD RN in my eyes, because diploma schools require the same college non-nursing core as the AD RN. They may offer more/better clinical experiences because they use their own hospital facilities for much of it and can put their own students into outpatient surgery and OR easily. They may be more "chaotic" because they are built around availability of hospital facilities. Example of one massive difficulty I had: Clinicals were structured as rotations of groups of students through the clinical experiences that term. This resulted in a lot of extra work and self-teaching for students, because some of those clinicals had to happen before you'd covered that material in class. I had to do labor/delivery and postpartum care before we were taught it in lecture. As a non-maternal, single childfree woman who'd never been interested in motherhood, I found I had to work my posterior off to totally learn that material from scratch.

If you look at the diploma and AD RN schools, their admission requirements vary. Washington PA hospital used to be 75% or up on the NLN PAX and pay the admission fee and the cohort was filled first-come-first-served. It was 28 months and presumed that students started in Fall doing college work then in Spring semester they started Nursing I concurrent w/ their college. They've been changing it and modernizing their program.

WVU Parkersburg campus and Beaver county PA community college ADRN programs looked at applicant's ATI HESI pre-entrance exam and just the GPA of only a few prereq courses like soc 101 and A&P and maybe a couple others.

My point with school is: You can shop the entrance requirements of the schools and possible find something that's not going to care about your overall GPA as much as what you achieved in what it considers the most important prereq courses. If you look at AD RN and diploma RN schools, they are structured for students who have not completed a baccalaureate degree.

Math: You'll need good algebra skills. Nothing more than GED level math is used, and enough knowledge of the SI (metric) system to be able to convert between English, apothecary, and SI units for the dosage calculations.

Look at what pulled your GPA down. All the RN preentrance exams are essentially the same English & grammar & vocabulary, math skills, but the science content can vary. If you have weaknesses in English & math, then get a GED review book and practice to bring those up. Low scores in psych, soc, human development, nutrition: Maybe you should repeat those.

If you found a soc degree hard, you are going to be floored by RN school. It's relentless. There is no cram-and-forget-it when the test is over. You must learn from start and NOT get behind because it's cumulative and each nursing course builds on the last one and revisits things you should have learned there. Some schools teach units in "block curriculum" format. But some chop it up and give you "integrated" bits of this and that. I think block would be better for me, because I learn best by staying on one subject intensely and immersing in it, then moving on. I found the stop/go/change topics/now go back and look at this again style of the integrated curriculum infuriating and completely inefficient for me, personally.

Jobs: The hospital based dipolma RN programs often have employment for RN students as CNA, unit secretary, pt. care tech, patient sitter, etc. Rural PA still has jobs for diploma RN and AD RN but the market for new-grads is tough. Often your first job will come from either at one of the facilities where you did clinicals, or at the hospital that ran the school. Many of my cohort are still working for the healthcare system that owns the hospital that runs the RN school. I think that hospital will no longer hire new-grad RNs who are not BS RN, though. Most of my cohort had no problem getting jobs because the diploma program gave a lot of OTJ experience that makes it so much easier for those grads to go right to work. Most but not all enrolled in a RN to BSN degree program immediately and those programs take another 16-24 months to complete. But those nurses are also employed full time as RNs so they are at least earning paychecks. One has $60,000 in school loans to repay, though, as of when she finishes her BSN very soon. You have to consider the cost of all this, too. One woman in the class ahead of me worked her way through as CNA one weekends + went to school full time to keep her debtload low.

TC3200 · Aug 7, 2014

Note: I didn't finish RN school, and I'm not an R.N. But I'm good at school, in general. I was accepted to 4 of 5 programs that I applied to and had stellar test scores, but I'm a sci/tech/manufacturing git-er-done type and found patient care too touchy-feely and I just never felt comfortable with that much emotional drama every day, all day. Too much an introverted analytical type, I suppose. Too used to a predominately male workplace, too, and working alone or in small teams. I feel more comfortable keeping people at an acceptable distance. But I was digging the surgery clinicals, though. LOL

cathering, ADN, BSN, MSN, APRN, NP · Aug 7, 2014

Hi,

Finish your degree with everything you've got and get good grades from now.

After, take nursing prereqs and get As.

Then, apply to as many ABSN & ADN programs.

Good luck, if youre really ready for this you can do it.

Catht

dt70 · Aug 7, 2014

Do a search here for 'You can survive'. A RN here with somewhat same situation you have, recently got hired.

So, Yes, you can survive.