I've been having some doubts as of late. I've always wanted to become something in the medical field. It was always either the medical field or teaching. Then I realized I could teach in the medical field and that settled it. Anyway, my point is I've always believed in myself. I was a straight A student in High School and I would always exceed expectations in any of our state exams. I even started college 2 years early with our PSEO program. Unfortunately, this was when things started going downhill. I attended my first semester of college and I ended up with all B's. My gpa was a 3.0 after years of a 3.8-4.0. I chalked it up to being a first generation 16 y/o student in college. Second semester, all B's and guess what. My first C. Fast forward to 2 years later. I'm technically in my 3rd year of college, seeking entry into Nursing school (in a very competitive program) and these are my grades:
Gen Bio- C
A&PI- C
Lifetime Psych-B
Gen Psych- A
A&P- ongoing (looking very good (I love it tbh))
Microbio- ongoing (not looking good)
I haven't taken the TEAS even once yet. I'm scheduled to take it Oct 14. I will be taking a CNA course this January to get some HCE & I will not be taking any additional classes. I have plans to take the TEAS (score well, hopefully) and apply to my school as well as a university in my area this January 2017. I cannot continue taking courses until I get accepted into a Nursing Program so this is a bit stressful. I also have my parents who are super proud but haven't seen my actual grades ever. She just assumes I'm doing well since I haven't *technically* failed a class yet (I have a sister who is also on the nursing track- failed & was put on probation a couple times). It would kill my dad to see me either give up on this or fail it.
Am I just not cut out for this? Do I need to think about going down a different path? Has anyone had a situation like this?
A withdraw "W" does NOT look worse than a "C". They really only look at the overall GPA, and GPA of groups of classes. A "W" does not change GPA at all, ergo, it is harmless!!!
This depends on your school. Check into your school's policy. In addition to looking at GPA, my school looks at the number of times you had to re-take a course. A "W" is considered a re-take, and is essentially weighed the same as a "fail." So it is not always harmless to drop a course. Be aware of your school's entrance requirements.
Really? What school is this? Every application score I have seen is based on GPA of a group or overall course record.
Even the most competitive crna school in california does not. They do take your first grade as opposed to retake grades. W means you successfully dropped before a grade had to be issued. They might question if you have slew of Ws but one or two wont even raise an eyebrow, as people have to drop classes for a multitude of reasons... Im interested to know what school this is....
Yes yes and yes. Thank you. I'm actually applying for a CC RN program right now but its gotten pretty competitive over the last 3 years. There are only 50-60 spots but around 150-200 people apply on average every semester. I'm now planning on applying for more than 1 place (we have a lot of CC Rn programs here) and I will definitely be taking A&PI this spring/summer. Thanks for the insight on the W grade. I will most definitely withdraw if I find that Microbio might be going in the wrong direction!
Update: I found my states allnurses page & it looks like I'll have a chance if I get a really good score on the TEAS and have some experience. So I'll probably work on that as well as retaking my classes. I'm only 19 and I'm sure putting aside a year to get some exp and better grades wont hurt
A withdraw "W" does NOT look worse than a "C". They really only look at the overall GPA, and GPA of groups of classes. A "W" does not change GPA at all, ergo, it is harmless!!!
That being said, I was a 4.0 student through all of my prereq's for RN school, and I scored a 93.somehting on the TEAS. I applied to RN school before I finished micro; so the rule at CSULB stipulated that it would be counted as a default "C" in my GPA to punish me because I hadn't finished yet...lol. With straight A's and one pseudo 'C', my GPA was too low to get into the program I wanted. I had to reapply the next semester when I had my 'A' and finished the class. RN school is extremely competitive.
But WAIT, there is a silver lining!!! Community Colleges (at least in California) tend to have applicant pool lotteries as opposed to the UCs and CSU's that only take the top ranking candidates. As long as you meet the minimum requirements, your chances are the same as anyone else applying.
I finished the university BSN program with a 3.9 (and it took a long time to swallow losing my perfect record).
Anyway, the honest truth is that your GPA is likely too low to get into a university program, however you may still be very eligible to get into a lottery draw of a junior college program. Check out if any schools around you have these. Ones in CA include Pierce, Valley College, and I believe Glendale and College of the Canyons. These are all near Los Angeles County as that is my area. But I'm sure there are plenty more.
Really? What school is this? Every application score I have seen is based on GPA of a group or overall course record.
Even the most competitive crna school in california does not. They do take your first grade as opposed to retake grades. W means you successfully dropped before a grade had to be issued. They might question if you have slew of Ws but one or two wont even raise an eyebrow, as people have to drop classes for a multitude of reasons... Im interested to know what school this is....
Bakersfield College.
From the website:
Scholastic eligibility is determined through a statewide approved formula, which calculates the
student's probability of successfully completing the ADN Program. The formula uses the
following criteria:
1.Core Biology – GPA of ALL college level Anatomy, Physiology, and Microbiology courses.
2.Core Biology repetitions – the number of times a student has repeated a Core Biology
course, including withdrawals.
3.English GPA – ALL credit English course grades regardless of the level of the course.
4.Overall GPA– the college GPA as it appears on college transcripts.
So, yes, check your school's policy before assuming a W won't hurt you. Schools don't want to accept students who are going to drop as soon as they start to struggle. That hurts their attrition rate.
Are you sure a 'W' counts as a repeated course??? There is nothing there about withdraws... And many schools take your first grade if you retake, and every school is different, sure... I know that... but this doesn't stipulate withdraws.
I asked the directors of several larger and more known schools, and they all said the same thing.... W doesn't factor into GPA. A repeated course definitely factors into GPA raising, so I can see how they look at repeated courses...but
Repeated course, typically means you already completed one and received a grade...
Side note: I wouldn't be caught dead in Bakersfield anyway...lol. So there are several better options in my mind that do not care about W's....just my opinion.
And I guess this girl needs to stay away from Bakersfield anyway if she wants to repeat....
So if I understood right - you're 18 now and have almost already completed the pre-req's that take most of us into our 20's (and later for late bloomers like myself) to complete?
The fact that at 16 you were able to enter a college level environment and succeed is clearly a sign that you are advanced beyond your age. Stop beating yourself up over a C - it is *average* after all.
You may want to take some yoga or something enjoyable as an elective?
Keep trying. From what you have written, and from what I can tell, you have a winning personality.
I say this because while reading your narrative, and discovering you are only sixteen, I thought back to what I was doing at sixteen and it surely wasn't thinking about AP1 or Microbiology.
Your grades can improve and will improve. Remember you don't have to know everything just try to anticipate what are the important highlights and study efficiently so as not to get bogged down with minutiae.
I'm getting the feeling you might be too much of a perfectionist; and take it from me that's a terrible burden to bear.
Just don't play hooky as much as I did when I was your age and try to be realistic about this.
Remember, you're not in the position of being able to kill someone---YET!!!
Thanks for the advice guys! I have to say that you (Buyer Beware) hit the nail on the head with the perfectionist comment but I think its more than just that. I'll try on working super hard from now on instead of falling into a state of doubt. Hopefully in a year or two I'll be in Nursing school writing up a post on how difficult it is!! You guys don't know how much more motivated I am now, thank so much!! (Hopefully it doesn't die out the second I hit a bump in the road, hehe)
So if I understood right - you're 18 now and have almost already completed the pre-req's that take most of us into our 20's (and later for late bloomers like myself) to complete?
The fact that at 16 you were able to enter a college level environment and succeed is clearly a sign that you are advanced beyond your age. Stop beating yourself up over a C - it is *average* after all.
You may want to take some yoga or something enjoyable as an elective?
OP: Keep trying. From what you have written, and from what I can tell, you have a winning personality. I say this because while reading your narrative, and discovering you are only sixteen, I thought back to what I was doing at sixteen and it surely wasn't thinking about AP1 or Microbiology. Your grades can improve and will improve. Remember you don't have to know everything just try to anticipate what are the important highlights and study efficiently so as not to get bogged down with minutiae. I'm getting the feeling you might be too much of a perfectionist; and take it from me that's a terrible burden to bear. Just don't play hooky as much as I did when I was your age and try to be realistic about this. Remember, you're not in the position of being able to kill someone---YET!!!
Almost everyone in my BSN program had AT LEAST a 3.75 or above, even though the stated minimum GPA for prereqs was a 3.0. Also, they regarded Cs, Ds, Fs, and Ws all as failing grades. Getting a C in General Bio looks REALLY bad...it's much easier than A&P and if you don't ace it, it will look like you can't keep up with nursing school courses.
The good news is if you only had ONE grade that was a C (but no lower) and retook it and got an A the second time around, my school regarded it as a B. So definitely retake the courses you got a C in. There are schools with less stringent policies out there to apply to.
I've been accepted into the program!!! I wasn't even waitlisted which is super common! I retook the TEAS after studying my behind off, scored an 85.7 & bumped my grades up so that my GPA is now a 3.7 (for the program). I just wanted to update you guys and thank those of you who cheered me on!! I can't even believe it . . .
You guys don't know how much more motivated I am now, thank so much!! (Hopefully it doesn't die out the second I hit a bump in the road, hehe)
NICUismylife, ADN, BSN, RN
563 Posts
This depends on your school. Check into your school's policy. In addition to looking at GPA, my school looks at the number of times you had to re-take a course. A "W" is considered a re-take, and is essentially weighed the same as a "fail." So it is not always harmless to drop a course. Be aware of your school's entrance requirements.