C in anatomy :/

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Hi all. I'm an (almost) 19 year old pre-nursing student and I've been a lurker for about a year now but finally decided to make a post today. I just finished my summer class (Anatomy, my community college separates A&P) and received a 78%. I'm really upset with myself because I worked my ass off for this class and it was a summer class so it was only 8 weeks long.

Right now my cumulative GPA is at a 3.67 but it is going to drop once that grade gets put in. I still have some pre-reqs that I need to complete these next two semesters (Microbio, Gen Chem II, Physiology, Organic Chem, Nutrition, so quite a few). I've already told myself that I can't take any chances and need to do everything I can to get an A in those classes. I also volunteer twice a week at a hospital nearby and am going to be starting training for another volunteering internship soon. I'll have about give or take 300 hours by the time I apply for transfer.

I guess I just made this post because I'm feeling really down about that grade (I am not usually a C student) and to ask if there's anyway I can still get into a good program if I work my ass off for the next few semesters despite that C grade.

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Whether or not that C is going to hurt you depends on how competitive nursing programs are in your area. In general though, if you maintain a high overall GPA and ace Phys and Micro I don't think you have much to worry about.

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Specializes in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation.

Sorry to be blunt, but you will need to work your behind and front even harder and get an A in micro and physio. Honestly, there's no room for error because you're gonna need to get a high pre-req GPA to make your chances higher of getting into NP. Reason why I said this was because I had came into my physio final borderline D/C and my professor recommended I fail the final and retake the class and aim for an A to bump up my pre-req gpa. I did not listen, I took the C (I was young, I didn't want to have a D on my record and have to "retake" a class). Next thing I know, there was only 1 nursing program in my local area that I qualified for based on GPA (I had a B in anat, B in micro, and a C in physio). If I had gotten at least a B in physio, I would have been able to apply to many other NP. Fortunately that the one singe NP that I qualified for accepted me lol. Good luck!

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Just want to pop in and say that my program didn't give a crap about volunteer work at a hospital - they were all about grades. I volunteered for a few months on a once-a-week basis at a nursing home but then my school/work schedule got overwhelming and I just couldn't keep doing it while maintaining grades and my job, so I dropped the volunteering. I incorporated my observations and things I'd learned from my volunteering time into my admissions essay, but my school didn't ask about volunteer experience on the application, and I was accepted within days of my interview. So, if you're finding that volunteering is cutting into your ability to stay focused and study, and that it also isn't a critical requirement to admission at the programs you're looking at, I would drop it.

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I agree with the above posts. I would also like to add that sometimes these classes are made to be difficult on purpose. If this is the case, you may need to simply take one class per semester, help guarantee an A in the class.

Best of luck.

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My program didn't have a GPA requirement at all for admission and I took my "prereq" classes at the same time as my nursing classes. It is much easier that way.

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Just want to pop in and say that my program didn't give a crap about volunteer work at a hospital - they were all about grades.

I would say for the most part, nursing programs DO care a lot about volunteer/work experience. Every BSN program in my state takes experience very seriously along with grades. OP- I certainly wouldn't dump your volunteering unless you know for sure the programs you will be applying to don't weight it as part of your app.

My advice would be to look into the schools and programs you are thinking about applying to. Most programs have published information about their specific requirements as far as grades and volunteer/work (my program required C+ grades and 100hrs of experience to apply). If you get great grades in all of your other nursing pre-req classes and have a resume full of applicable work/volunteer experience, I don't see you having any issues in the future. :)

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Specializes in Critical Care, Trauma.

It all depends on your program and how competitive it is. I'm working my butt off to get nothing lower than a B (B's still hurt my soul, though), and have been maintaining a 3.5 GPA, but I've spoken to nursing students at my school who received C's in a couple classes and got in, because their accumulative GPA was 2.8 or greater. Just keep working hard like you are now. A lot of classes are made incredibly difficult to weed people out.

If you finish your other classes and that C is still bothering you, look into whether or not your school will let you take that class again and replace it with a better grade. You might have to pay for it out of pocket if financial aid paid for the first time. My school allows people to take courses over again. You get one course where you can replace the grade, but the grade points from both attempts will go towards your GPA, but the previous grade is replaced with a R on your transcript and the only grade for the class that shows up is your new one.

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To make up for that C you will need to get A's in physio and micro plus raise your overall GPA as high as you can. In addition you need to get a great TEAS score (or whatever entrance exam your program of choice uses)

If I were you I would spread out your classes over three semesters at least rather than doing all those in two. Thats a lot of science to be packing into that short amount of time, especially if you do the volunteering. A nursing program would rather see A's than 300 hours of volunteering.

During my pre-reqs, I took my physio along with O Chem, sociology, calculus, and a first aid class. I was also volunteering at my local ER and working as a CNA...I barley passed my physio by getting exactly 80% and I was KILLING myself! I also had to stop volunteering because those 4 hour shifts turned into much needed study time....and I still only got a B because the final was repeat questions from previous exams. In addition to getting that B I didn't retain a lot of my physiology class which is important for nursing school!

anyways, the point being you can do it as long as you put your grades first...volunteering and extras like that do help but your grades, overall GPA and TEAS score matter the most.

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I would say for the most part, nursing programs DO care a lot about volunteer/work experience. Every BSN program in my state takes experience very seriously along with grades. OP- I certainly wouldn't dump your volunteering unless you know for sure the programs you will be applying to don't weight it as part of your app.

My advice would be to look into the schools and programs you are thinking about applying to. Most programs have published information about their specific requirements as far as grades and volunteer/work (my program required C+ grades and 100hrs of experience to apply). If you get great grades in all of your other nursing pre-req classes and have a resume full of applicable work/volunteer experience, I don't see you having any issues in the future. :)

Thank you for your response! Yes, the reason I mentioned the volunteering was because the program at the top of my list also requires a minimum of 100 hours of experience. I also feel like with this experience I'll have a lot to write about in my essays. Also, I have already lightened my load of classes this semester so I can put all my attention into Microbio since it is now the only science course I'm taking! Thanks for the response, it was really helpful!

And thank you everyone else for the responses! I'm ready to work my ass off to still make myself as competitive as possible :)

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