Are your pre-req grades a predictor of your grades in nursing school?

smf0903 · Apr 2, 2017

Is accounting where your heart is at? If it is then go back to it and quit wasting time on what everyone thinks you should be doing.

Life's too short, do what you love.

Sour Lemon · Apr 2, 2017

So here's the deal, I kind of degree-hopped about 5 times (Nursing, Social Work, Speech Pathology, Accounting, now back to Nursing). I have 66 credits so far and 3.80 GPA. As far as nursing pre-reqs go...
C+ in A&P 1 (this was my first science class in 10 years since high school)
B in A&P 2
C in Statistics (originally an A until I got to the final exam which threw me off and got a C)
A in Gen Psych
A in Lifespan Psych
A in Sociology
A in English 1
A in English 2
A in... pretty much all my liberal arts classes.
Right now I have Microbiology and Gen Chem left. I'm halfway through Micro at the moment. I've been doing well on homework assignments and quizzes, but we have 3 big lecture exams for the course. So far, on exam 1, I got a 67 I may have crammed it with that one, because at the same time I was studying to renew my PCT license (which I passed).
Now I'm studying for Exam 2 which is in 3 weeks. I just feel overwhelmed, this class combined with work and family/kids. This is the only class I'm taking right now but it's like 2 classes in one (lab and lecture). I feel like I'm kinda struggling and I'm kinda anxious about this next exam.
I'm wondering if everything so far is a sign that nursing school is not for me? Part of me is kicking myself in the butt for not sticking with the accounting route but my wife and everyone was telling me I already have a lot of experience as an EMT and PCT and that I should just go for the RN. Whereas accounting I have zero experience and would basically be transitioning to another career.
The problem is the union I'm part of is paying for my education and they kinda got annoyed that I switched majors so many times. So a part of me is thinking I should stay put because I don't want to upset them and then they decide not to help me any more(?).

Some people find prerequisites more challenging and some people find nursing classes more challenging. Would I would caution is that you pay close attention to how the program(s) you're interested calculate GPA for admission purposes. Mine only counted the hard sciences ...so the grades you have so far would have given you one B and one C to work with. The As would have been worthless. You would not have been a competitive candidate.

jss1985, ASN, RN · Apr 2, 2017

Is accounting where your heart is at? If it is then go back to it and quit wasting time on what everyone thinks you should be doing.
Life's too short, do what you love.

Well, I'll say it doesn't seem as intimidating as nursing school, that's for sure. But in terms of pre req grades though, do you think they might be a predictor/sign in my case? I mean surely there must be some of you here who got grades similar to me and are now working as a nurse...?

jss1985, ASN, RN · Apr 2, 2017

On a side note. I did ask my neighbor, who has been a private accountant for 30 years now, what he thought. He voted nursing because, to him, 1) accounting is boring work compared to nursing and 2) a lot of jobs might decrease due to automation/outsourcing in the future.

allnurses Guide · Apr 2, 2017

But what do YOU want to do? Nursing is great, but not for those who don't really like taking care of people. It is messy, frustrating, rewarding, stressful, uplifting, tough, versatile and has been a large part of my life for 36 years.

Grades: I blew up biology something fierce and still pulled a good GPA in prereqs. Struggled some in fundamentals and wrecked the GPA, but pulled back up once I got the hang of nursing exams which were very different than my prereq college years.

I can see the frustration on your union's part, hard to want to invest in someone who doesn't know what they want Since you do have some experience with healthcare, the question is do you want to do it or want to get away from it? I'd say don't decide to do it or not based on your neighbor's opinion, or second guessing the "omens" of your GPA.

You have shown you can study and get good grades, so yes you can pass nursing.

I honestly can't think of anything else I would have wanted to do.... other than being independently wealthy and pampered of course

jss1985, ASN, RN · Apr 2, 2017

But what do YOU want to do? Nursing is great, but not for those who don't really like taking care of people. It is messy, frustrating, rewarding, stressful, uplifting, tough, versatile and has been a large part of my life for 36 years.
Grades: I blew up biology something fierce and still pulled a good GPA in prereqs. Struggled some in fundamentals and wrecked the GPA, but pulled back up once I got the hang of nursing exams which were very different than my prereq college years.
I can see the frustration on your union's part, hard to want to invest in someone who doesn't know what they want Since you do have some experience with healthcare, the question is do you want to do it or want to get away from it? I'd say don't decide to do it or not based on your neighbor's opinion, or second guessing the "omens" of your GPA.
You have shown you can study and get good grades, so yes you can pass nursing.
I honestly can't think of anything else I would have wanted to do.... other than being independently wealthy and pampered of course

Jbudd,

Glad to hear I'm not the only one who messed up a bit in prereq sciences :) Everytime I hear of nursing students who pulled As and B+s in them, I sort of mentally beat myself up about it, like asking myself what is wrong with me?

What do I want to do? Well... I've been taking care of people for almost 10 years now, first as an EMT and now as a psych PCT. I think one of the reasons I stayed in this field for so long is because I'm not stuck doing the same thing over and over (like sitting in a call center answering phones all day, UGH). As an EMT I traveled a lot and did a variety of things. Even as a PCT, I do the tech stuff like vitals, flowchart, help run activity groups for the patients, property searches, some filing/paperwork, etc. It doesn't get boring and before you know it, the years go by like nothing as you work there.

When I first thought of nursing, it seemed like the next logical step in my current field. It's not boring, there's a great work/life balance (3 days a week) which is important to me. It's also very broad. My long-term plan (after doing a few years as a floor nurse) is to use it and go into nurse auditing/clinical documentation.

Accounting on the other hand... what attracted me to it is that its also broad and in demand (based on what I see on Indeed). I love doing my own personal budgeting/accounting. There's also some kind of safety factor to it, yeah it seems boring, but nobody's life is in your hands. However, I hear that the work/life balance is horrible, that it's not 9-5, some work 50-60 hrs a week.

Both are bachelor degrees compared to others that require a masters (i.e. speech, social work, occupational therapy, etc).

The last thing I want to do is press my union's buttons, I mean who knows, they might suspend my education connection with them or something along those lines. I mean I don't know if that's what they would do, but I would hate that.

allnurses Guide · Apr 2, 2017

Sounds to me like you've chosen nursing :)

jss1985, ASN, RN · Apr 2, 2017

Sounds to me like you've chosen nursing :)

Lol i guess im having confidence issues?

LovingLife123 · Apr 2, 2017

I would worry about getting into nursing school first with a couple of Cs in the sciences. Sciences are usually weighted the heaviest. Nursing school is competitive to get into. I would focus on that first.

ItsThatJenGirl, CNA · Apr 2, 2017

Do you plan to work full time when you're in nursing school? Being overwhelmed with one class right now is a little concerning. Do you know what is causing your low grade?

jss1985, ASN, RN · Apr 2, 2017

I would worry about getting into nursing school first with a couple of Cs in the sciences. Sciences are usually weighted the heaviest. Nursing school is competitive to get into. I would focus on that first.

I spoke to 2 BSN schools and 1 ADN school. All private. The ADN takes C+ and above but doesn't require statistics so im safe there. The BSNs... Both require statistics but one is C and above while the other is C+ and above.