Am I screwed?

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First off this website/app is great. There is a tremendous amount of activity and I hope I can contribute as well.

Second off Im in my last year of RN school at the tail end of my OB rotation. I've been bitten by the APN bug ever since I did my surgery/OR rotation in med surg 1. I think/research it day in day out. Unfortunately my grades aren't stellar. I will graduate with about a 2.96 gpa in this ADN program.

From there I figured id have to bridge to a BSN in order to get my gpa up. I'm currently an LPN and when I grad this program ill have roughly 192 hours of college work.

Can anybody give me advice or some pointers on what I should I do from here. I've heard so many different stories about how a university calculates its applicants gpa's. Something about using the last 60 hours. Some say cumulative. I do not have a bachelors degree yet, only my LPN vocational certificate.

Any way I can not stop thinking about becoming a crna and even though I know I'm years from being able to apply, I'm 24, married, and need to get my life together as my wife is going to want to start a family in 4-5 years.

To answer everybody's first question, NO. The money is not the motivator. I'd be lying to say it isn't rewarding, but it's the level of autonomy and personal achievement that is the initial motivator.

Thanks in advance for all your input,

Richard C.

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Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.

Your gpa is probably ok for admission to a state school and I would recommend you go that route. Experience counts towards being a CRNA as does the education level. So you can work on both at the same time

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My current plans are to graduate and work in the highest acuity ICU around(I know that's an entirely other accomplishment) while getting my bachelors online and ensuring a 4.0 throughout. Unfortunately Im confused as how the "block credit" works when you bridge. I know there's usually something like 32-36 hours worth of "new classes" you take in that bridge program and that you get a "credit " for the general classes/electives to give you the required amount of hours. What I'm not clear on is how the credit works....do I get automatic a's for those credits? Do they use the grade I made? How will the credit affect my gpa? It's almost like I would be using the same classes twice...which would be fine because there mostly a's and b's but still, unsure about it

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The definitive answers you seek for these questions are probably to be found at the registrar's office at your target school(s). I am sure they'd be happy to answer them for you.

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Thanks for your help guys. I just found out one of my target schools doesn't count my LPN classes as part of the gpa requirement because it wasn't a degree. Very excited now because I had little focus In that program but almost a 3.5 in adn program.

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Specializes in Forensic Psych.
My current plans are to graduate and work in the highest acuity ICU around(I know that's an entirely other accomplishment) while getting my bachelors online and ensuring a 4.0 throughout. Unfortunately Im confused as how the "block credit" works when you bridge. I know there's usually something like 32-36 hours worth of "new classes" you take in that bridge program and that you get a "credit " for the general classes/electives to give you the required amount of hours. What I'm not clear on is how the credit works....do I get automatic a's for those credits? Do they use the grade I made? How will the credit affect my gpa? It's almost like I would be using the same classes twice...which would be fine because there mostly a's and b's but still unsure about it[/quote']

I've never been transferred to a school where they used my past grades at all. They just give you credit for them and start you over with a brand new GPA. The RN-BSN program I'm going to isn't saying I've taken those lower level 36 credits at their institution, so they can't give me a grade.

Of course if you apply to grad school you'll have to send them all your transcripts and they'll use your cumulative GPA...all the grades on all the courses you've ever taken.

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Ya I know most of them do use your cumulative but a few of the ones I've spoken to said they use cumulative mainly to make sure the minimum was met and that the last 60 hours, last degree program, or science gpa held higher weight. I'm sure this varies from school to school

If any current grad student would out their input on their admissions experience I would greatly appreciate it.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

GPA (cumulative) & GRE scores were the determinants for admission to my graduate program - of course, there was a requirements for at least 2 years of work experience also. It was all about the numbers. This is highly variable, so you need to investigate the schools you are interested in. FYI, most tertiary hospitals are not hiring ADN grads - so good luck on getting that high-acuity ICU job.

From a family perspective, you need to know that it's pretty much impossible to work while in a CRNA program due to the need to adjust your schedule to fit yourself into required clinical opportunities. You'll need stellar grades & at least 2 years of high level ICU. I doubt whether many spouses would be too keen on this if they already have some resentment about having to cope their partner's protracted 'student-hood'. And this is going to happen about the time that she wants to start a family, right? At the very least, you may need to execute an ironclad post-nup to provide her a guarantee that she would get a decent return on her investment.

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