After Bachelor's degree in Health Policy and Administration, wanting to do nursing

Sour Lemon · Mar 12, 2018

Hello Everyone!
Thank you in advance for answering and commenting.
Here's my issue;
I graduated not too long ago from a very good school but with a low gap (2.3).
While in College I was going through a lot family wise and medically.
Anyway, I've now realized that I am extremely interested and ready to become a nurse.
I am thinking of starting with an associate nursing degree and eventually complete a BSN.
My goal is to practice nursing of course, and eventually get a Master's in Science in Nursing.
I would really appreciate if anyone could share their experiences and perhaps give me some advice.
Thank you!

Check out a few programs in your area and see what their requirements are. You should also be aware that the requirements are minimums and you've got to do a lot better than that to have an actual shot at acceptance. I only got into my ASN program as an alternate with a 3.7GPA, but they only considered GPA of the hard sciences. I'm not sure what your current degree required in terms of coursework, but if you still have a lot of nursing prerequisites to take, that would probably be a good thing for getting that GPA up.

How "good" your prior school was is not going to impress anyone.

roxaphi · Mar 12, 2018

My situation is similar to yours. I have my bachelors in healthcare administration, but I'm applying to get my RN. My gpa is embarrassing. I have a 2.77 overall. The school I've applied to has an accelerated RN program. They look at the gpa from core classes (state required) and prerequisite courses. For my core classes I have a 3.0, but for the prerequisite I have a 2.78. If I were you, I would first make sure it's what you really want to do. Ask a friend if you can shadow them or contact nearby schools to see if they can help. Next, meet with someone at the schools you're looking at to discuss your grades, and likelihood of acceptance. They can tell you if you should retake some classes and if so, which ones to retake. Good luck! And don't get discouraged by the gpa's people post online! I've seen a lot of people get denied the first time they applied and accepted the next time even though they didn't retake classes and because they remained focused on nursing. I know a ton more people who got waitlisted and got into the program. I even know one girl who was told she wasn't accepted and then 3 days after classes started she got asked if she still wanted in the program! Most people apply to multiple schools, but they can only say yes to one.