Applying to Kennesaw nursing for spring 2011

bitbe · May 6, 2010

I'm in the same boat; I'm attending Georgia Tech and have chemical engineering classes that pull my GPA down (and my math courses are Calc I-II and diffEQ instead of college algebra). So I hope they take the school/ class difficulty into consideration. However, I read on another thread that KSU considers 5 different things each weighted 20%:

TEAS score

Overall GPA

Prereq GPA: avg best 7 of 12

Math/ Science GPA: avg of best 5 of 7

Interview

Hope it helps!!

bdanders · May 7, 2010

I was accepted to the Fall 2010 accelerated program, and although I will be attending elsewhere, I hope I can provide some helpful information.

I believe that KSU takes a holistic approach to admissions, at least to a point. It appears that they understand that there's more to being a great nurse than the ability to earn a 4.0. Based on what information people have provided over the past 2 years in the KSU threads, it appears that a cumulative GPA of 3.2 is about the lowest they have accepted and this with a stellar TEAS score (90ish) and I'm assuming, a stellar interview. (note this is only based on self-reported information and not everyone who participates in these threads provides this information). I don't know if they take what school you attended into consideration based on perceived difficulty level; however, they do give preference to current KSU students for interviewing.

My first degree was in Chemical Engineering and I do believe that having an education (and former career) that is heavy in science and math was taken into consideration. My overall GPA was only a 3.33 and I did not have all A's in my pre-reqs (6 A's, 5 B's, and 1 C (organic chemistry)) and my TEAS was an 86.5. So, to give yourself the best shot at getting an interview, I would concentrate on getting your cumulative GPA above a 3.2 and rocking your TEAS. Having research experience definitely doesn't hurt, and I would also try to get some volunteer experience. Lastly, put together a well organized resume and prepare yourself for behavioral interviews.

I would definitely recommend reading this thread. There's a lot of great information and there are links to past threads, with information on the interviewing process, too.

Lastly, I'm sure you're all over this, but you mentioned that you had not completed A&P I and II yet. To be considered for spring admission you must have 5 of the 7 math and science courses complete prior to May 31st. This little fact bit me when I was thinking of applying to the Spring 2010 program last year as I was set to take A&P I & II, Micro, and Stats in the Summer and Fall 2009 semesters and they don't offer a summer accelerated program.

Best of luck to you!

smhong126 · May 7, 2010

Aren't AP1&2 optional among other science classes??

I thought it said online that you have to complete at least 7 of the 12 classes to be considered.

I have all of the other classes taken except for AP1&2...

bdanders · May 7, 2010

A&P I&II are definitely not optional. Your entire nursing curriculum will build on the concepts learned in these courses. The website does say that you need 7 of 12 pre-reqs completed, and 5 of these need to be from the math and science courses (see the red text here). If you have all of the others completed you will be just fine as you will have satisfied the requirements. Typically people take micro after the A&P series, so I just wanted to give you a heads up :)

smhong126 · May 7, 2010

oh...

yeah i went and read the requirements again..

it says "all 12 must be completed prior to entering the NURS 3209 Holistic Nursing course" at the end..

IF i do get accepted into the program, does this mean I have to take AP 1 and 2 in fall and start nursing program in spring 2011?

yeah..I will be graduating this summer at UGA so I'm sure I have more than enough classes taken..especially in science.

do you have any info on acceptance rate at mercer?? Is kennesaw state the most difficult to get into in Georgia??

bdanders · May 7, 2010

I guarantee you that any school you apply to will require you to have A&P I&II completed prior to entering the program. You will most likely need to take A&P I this summer and A&P II in the fall. Unless you can find a school that does 'mini-mesters' where you take A&P I the first part of the semester and A&P II in the second part, then you could do both in the Fall 2010 semester. However, I would highly recommend doing the full semesters for both. I took A&P I over a summer semester and that was super fast paced, many dropped out or did not pass. There is a ridiculous amount of information covered in each course, I can't imagine completing both in one semester and retaining enough information to be useful in nursing school.

I didn't apply to Mercer so I don't have any info on the program but I bet Klea would be able to answer any questions you have as she was accepted to both Mercer and KSU's accelerated program.

klea · May 8, 2010

hello--

mercer seems to take a more holistic approach to admissions. obviously, teas and gpa are important, but they also consider other things--a brief essay, resume/work experience etc... see below for what they say on they are looking for (from their website). i can tell you that my friend who was not accepted into kennesaw (program gpa of 3.4 and teas 88+) was accepted into mercer. i too was accepted and offered a generous scholarship.

honestly, if i could afford to attend, that's where i'd be going. i was really impressed with everything about them!

they'll return your email really quickly--contact them with questions...

good luck!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

they say this on their website:

the completion of the prerequisites for the program.
an overall gpa (this includes all coursework that has been attempted except for health, pe, orientation, and learning support courses).
a transfer gpa (this includes courses that will transfer into the nursing program).
a science gpa (this includes transferable science courses, such as anatomy and physiology i and ii; and microbiology).
quality of the admissions essay.
community service and work experience

lou08 · May 18, 2010

I am also applying for the Spring 2011 term at Kennesaw. I am taking the TEAS on saturday and have been studying like crazy for two and a half weeks for it. I am still nervous about it, though, from seeing all of these posts about it. My GPA right now is around 3.5 or 3.6, but I'm no sure what it is without two classes that won't transfer.

Anyone with advice or opinion on what my hopes are?? I kind of put all of my eggs in one basket by already planning to go to KSU in the Fall to complete my last three pre-reqs. :S

sjgimpel · May 20, 2010

I am currently in KSU's nursing program. I had an overall GPA of 3.3 (maybe even a 3.2*), however my science GPA was a lot higher. I did not get accepted my first time, so I went to see Fran Herzig and asked her what I could do to better my chances and she said the retake my SOCI and PYSC (because I took those classes my freshmen year when I wasn't a very good student and made c's). Once I did that and made A's then re applied, I got accepted. I would say you should definitely have A&P I and II completed prior to applying (or have it completed before application deadline). Also, I did not do well at all on my TEAS, but my science GPA made up for it. Let me know if you have any more questions! DO NOT give up! I NEVER thought I would get accepted to kennesaw. To be honest, I had a hard to believing I would ever get accepted any nursing school, but by the grace of God I did! Keep trying and show them that you WANT to go Kennesaw and you will work as hard as it takes to get in! Oh and one last thing, keep in mind that with the new nursing building opening, I think they will be accepting more students.

smhong126 · May 20, 2010

Thank you so much for giving me hope!!!

I don't know the GPAs that people are talking about here is of the prerequisite courses' GPA or all of the classes taken including the classes that wouldn't count toward nursing program requirements...

My prerequisite course GPA is fairly high..but like everything including higher level and difficult courses and like study of insect class I got Cs..

Can I ask you one more question?? how did you do at the interview?? what kind of questions did they ask? is it really intimidating like everyone said?? Any tips on getting through the interview??

Even if I don't get accepted to kennesaw nursing for spring term, I will still be attending Kennesaw because I am taking anatomy classes this coming fall. so I will be trying again for the summer term...

thank you for giving me hope and I will not give up!:)

nrice28 · May 31, 2010

Hi, I actually have been going to KSU for all of my prereqs and I have a 3.3-now. That is my GPA for the nursing dept. They do it based on ur prereqs and its separate from your regular GPA. But I actually had a 3.1 and got an interview for the spring 10 semester and didn't get in. I applied for the summer and didn't get an interview. then didn't get in for fall either. So I spoke to Fran and she said that I needed to retake my anatomy's (I had made 2 C's) so I retook them and now I have B's. I don't know if that will get me another interview but I really hope so. Fran explained to me that the science portion of the nursing calculations were 20% just by themselves so they are pretty important. They are going to want to see how you do in those areas, but the bad thing about KSU is that they wont accept the grades from the previous semester. they actually look 2 semesters back. I don't know why, that will probably hurt my chances since I just retook both of those classes. Good luck and hopefully this helped.