Chances of getting into nursing school?

[lotus_37]

Hello!

I'm currently a junior in college and am working towards getting a bachelors in Biology. I recently discovered that you can specialize within nursing to be a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner. However, I know very little about this topic and am worried my gpa will hold me back. I currently have a 3.2 cGPA and a 2.75 sGPA. I've got a few EC's (over 100 hours of hospital volunteering, tutoring kids, a summer program, etc.) and am a minority. I was wondering what my chances are of getting into either an ADN or a direct route MSN program with my GPA.

[ItsThatJenGirl, CNA]

It's impossible for us to tell you that - you're much better off figuring out what schools in your area are looking for. Call around and talk to advisors.

[Joseizking]

Have you Taken the teas/Hesi exam? Those are needed before entering almost every nursing program. Make sure to study for that if you haven't. This exams is what give the majority of the points for nursing programs. It would also make up for the science GPA you have. It's not a bad GPA, but not a competitive GPA. So make sure to do good on the teas/Hesi exam to make up for it! Apply to many nursing programs and look at their requirements and their point system every school is different. Also search up your school or schools you are looking to attend in the search bar, you might find threads from before that can possibly help you with information from previous students. Hope this helps or gives you an idea, and good luck!

[shibaowner, MSN, RN, NP]

If I understand correctly, you have a 2.75 science GPA and you are a Biology major?! What is going on? And your cumulative GPA is 3.2? That is decent.

Nursing school is going to be heavy on science and a 2.75 science GPA is not competitive. Even to get into a community college, it is competitive, especially with regard to science prereqs.

A direct entry master's would not be a good option for you. There programs are academically intense and if you can't maintain even a 3.0 GPA in science now, you will not succeed in a fast-paced, intense nursing program. These programs are generally about 3 years and the 1st year is 2 years of RN education condensed into 1 year! After the first year, you must sit for and pass the NCLEX in order to continue. In grad school, anything less than 3.0 GPA is considered unsatisfactory in a reputable school.

My advice is for you to do the ADN route. This will give you a chance to get your GPA up by the time you apply to grad school. In the mean time, retake any science classes you did poorly in, try to get a 4.0 on nursing prereqs, and take additional health related courses like nutrition, epidemiology, medical terminology, immunology, etc. to get your science GPA up as much as possible. Good luck.