Applying to Nursing School: Is this enough?

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Hello everyone,

I've been reading this site since I decided that I would be applying to nursing school. Deciding to apply has been a really exciting decision for me, and for the first time, I'm really excited about my career after school. I'm just finishing up a BA (one year to go!), and doing my pre-requisites. I'll be applying to nursing school this coming winter.

I know that the school I really want to go to is very competitive, and I'm wondering how much you actually have to do to get in. There's a list of things the school wants (volunteer work, community service, extracurriculars, leadership, working with others, membership in organizations, etc), and you can only use an experience once, even if it demonstrates more than one thing that they are looking for.

I'm wondering if I'm doing enough to get in. I have about an 80% average (I'm in Canada, sorry, I don't know what that is on a point scale). I'm volunteering a nearby hospital. I have several years of experience working with speical needs clients in a physical therapy setting. I'm hoping to work this summer as a tutor, or volunteer to tutor an underprivileged elementary school student.

Can anyone reccommend anything else that I should be / could be doing that would increase my chances of getting in? I know that I'll have to go through an interview if I get short-listed for the school, so I'm talking to nurses (I have 4 in my family) and nursing students about what to expect from an interview, and I'm keeping a notebook of possible questions and what my responses would be.

I'm also doing a class in First Aid, and CPR C.

Sorry this is so long! Thank you for reading it, and I very much appreciate any advice / comments. I really want to be a nurse so badly!:nurse:

~Carina~

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I would direct your questions to your school advisor or the nursing admissions office, as each school can focus on different things, and you really need to fine tune to the school that you wish to get admitted to. For example, the program that I teach in bases admissions solely on grades and an admissions test (NET Exam). The other activiteis do not even figure into teh admissions decision, but are nice and will probably complement your work.

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Thank you! I know that my chosen school bases the decision on whether to interview on GPA and "extras" (volunteer work, etc) and then bases things off of the interview and GPA after that. So thank you, I will make an appointment to talk to an advisor. I suppose I didn't phrase my question well, as I was looking for suggestions about other volunteer work to consider, or organizations to join. Thank you for your reply!

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Specializes in NICU.

Here, there would be considerably more focus on your grades as an issue. An 80% (if I understood you correctly) would be a C in our nursing school, and that wouldn't be enough to get you in. The minimum expected would be an 84%, or low "B" average...and then the well-rounded student aspect would come into play and potentially push you into contention for a slot. I would certainly seek the advice of the nursing school's academic advisors.

I hope it all works out!

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Oh, wow! The grading systems must be really different. No, an 80% is an A average here. I guess maybe a 3.6 or a 3.8 on that scale?

Thank you for your reply.

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I would check out an accelerated BSN program.

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