College: Do I Have a Chance with My Grades?

firstinfamily, RN · Dec 5, 2014

You should take some college level classes at a community college first. Take the basic 101 English, Math, Biology and see how you do before you apply to the nursing program. If you do a C or better in these college courses you might be able to apply for the nursing program. Most nursing programs are very competitive and want a 3.0 or higher. My concern would be whether you can take college level classes or not and before you limit yourself to nursing you should take some basic courses and see how your gpa is. Not all of us were academic in highschool, so to me highschool gpa may not mean as much as a college level gpa. You are going to have to study harder in college than you did in highschool. If you want to be successful, you have to work for it!!

akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P · Dec 5, 2014

One way that you can easily mitigate your HS GPA is to find your way into a Community College and take coursework to meet both your General Education requirements and some Nursing program prerequisites. It's this stuff that nursing programs usually look at anyway. You may find along the way that your "new" GPA is good enough to transfer to a University and if that occurs, you may find that you have options that you didn't have right out of High School.

My own HS GPA wasn't all that great, but mostly that was because I was bored with the work most of the time. My SAT scores pretty much qualified me for entry to any CSU or UC (California) school with very few exceptions regardless of what my GPA was.

Good luck on the SAT's coming up!

ashleegarris · Dec 5, 2014

Should I go in as a biology major? Then if I do good my first year, try to switch over into the nursing program (if that's possible)?

AnnieOaklyRN, BSN, RN, EMT-P · Dec 6, 2014

A lot of universities will accept you as a general student taking general classes for a year or two, after that, if you have improved your grades and proved you are a motivated learner, they will matriculate you into the nursing program where you will continue your education for another 2-3 years. It can be done, but you will probably not get accepted right out of high school into a nursing program with lower grades given the competition.

HPRN

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Dec 6, 2014

This is my senior year of high school and gpa is not as good as it should be neither is my class rank if that matters, my freshman and sophomore year i didn't take school as serious because i had a lot friends in my classroom and i'm the type of person that is very easily distracted especially around friends and for some reason i just thought school wasn't for me but my junior i was sick of being a slack and started to get my grades in order and since i didn't have friends in my classes my grades were at its highest its ever been so my freshman year i ended with a 1.9 sophomore 2.0 and and right now i'm at 2.28 but most community colleges you need at least a 2.5 or higher to get in does anyone think that i have a chance of getting accepted into a nursing program?
P.s. taking sats on Saturday hope i get a descent score

The others have good advice for you, so I'll leave that alone. I'm only going to comment that if this prize-winningly-long run-on sentence filled with very poor grammar, spelling and punctuation is indicative of your written English skills, some remediation is now in order. Your language skills should be improved upon before you can be successful in college coursework.

Good luck.

Not_A_Hat_Person, RN · Dec 6, 2014

If you're interested in nursing, and your GPA needs help, have you considered a community college CNA certificate? You can raise your GPA, get a taste of basic nursing, and get some health care job experience. Your employer might even help pay for a nursing degree.

caliotter3 · Dec 6, 2014

If you're interested in nursing, and your GPA needs help, have you considered a community college CNA certificate? You can raise your GPA, get a taste of basic nursing, and get some health care job experience. Your employer might even help pay for a nursing degree.

Also check into the availability of 'remedial' or 'refresher' type courses in your community college programs. Our schools require that new students take placement exams in math and English. Depending on how one does on these exams, they may be required to take the remedial level courses. A person who tests out of these courses can take them on their own for the benefit of getting extra attention in these subjects before tackling college level courses. Taking these courses can't hurt.

ashleegarris · Dec 6, 2014

First off This "prize-winningly-long run" sentence does not reflect what so ever on my writing skills I didn't know That this had to be perfect Not trying to win anything just want to ask a question! Thank you very much for not helping

ashleegarris · Dec 6, 2014

If that's what I needed help on I would have ask

PacoUSA, BSN, RN · Dec 7, 2014

First off This "prize-winningly-long run" sentence does not reflect what so ever on my writing skills I didn't know That this had to be perfect Not trying to win anything just want to ask a question! Thank you very much for not helping

I have to agree with RNsRWe. If one is a good writer, the good writing skills are still obvious even in a casual setting like allnurses, despite the use of internet acronyms such as "lol." If someone has already learned how to properly follow grammar, punctuation, and capitalization rules, why would someone gravely and intentionally regress, especially when posting about their academic promise to enter a college nursing program? I'm not saying people who have learned how to write properly don't occasionally have "grammar farts" online .. just saying that their posts in general would reflect proper structure overall.

Anyway, with respect to your question ... my understanding is that you can be a declared nursing major as a college freshman or sophomore, but you will not formally be accepted to take nursing coursework until your junior year. The first two years of college are the years you take general education and science prereqs to prove your worth to enter the program. During this time, you should also volunteer at a hospital to get exposure to the profession and demonstrate your commitment to health care (as opposed to just being a bookworm, you want to have a well-rounded profile). Working as a CNA part-time will also help your profile immensely, both in substance and in networking for future job opportunities.

College is a good time to get a fresh start with academics if you manage to get in despite a lackluster high school record. Getting into a nursing program in your junior year will reflect more on your initial college performance rather than your high school years. I'm also writing this assuming you have an eye towards pursuing your BSN. You can always get your associates degree in nursing, but if you have been on here long enough you have probably read a lot about how BSNs are preferred in hiring these days. You will probably do better starting off at a community college and transferring over to a 4-year BSN program. However, your hurdle now is to get into community college. Slam dunk your senior year and you should be able to pull off that 2.5 GPA. If you really want that, you can make it happen.

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Dec 7, 2014

First off This "prize-winningly-long run" sentence does not reflect what so ever on my writing skills I didn't know That this had to be perfect Not trying to win anything just want to ask a question! Thank you very much for not helping

You are on a professional forum asking for help. I provided NON-RUDE input to you providing help I believe you DO need; you did not like the answer so responded rudely. Not appropriate.