College Grad (BA in Comm) Trying to Apply to Nursing School...Help!

[chris42]

I graduated Rutgers with a BA in Communications in December '07. After much experience with internships and my current job, I have decided to go back to school for Nursing. I spoke with someone at the Rutgers Nursing office and my cumulative GPA (2.92) is not good enough for them to look at my application when I apply in February (I want to apply for the traditional program for Fall 2010 which requires at least a 3.0). My plan is to register for a few courses (Anatomy & Physiology which counts towards a Nursing pre-req, Principles of Microbiology which counts only as a science pre-req) at Middlesex this Fall 2009 to achieve 12 credits and earn a high GPA to support my application for Rutgers Nursing. This is option A. I am looking at other Nursing programs I can apply to if Rutgers does not accept me. Does anybody have a similar issue or advice on what else I can do besides my proposed Plan A? Any feedback would help.

Thanks,

Chris

[CrufflerJJ, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

First of all, WELCOME to Allnurses!

If you already have your BA degree, you might consider an accelerated BSN program. That way, you'd earn your BSN in ~12-18 months. Depending on the program, they may also want a GPA of over 3.0 (but some programs are willing to "work with you" on this).

You might contact the directors of some of your local accelerated programs, explain your GPA situation, and ask what you can do to PROVE your ability to survive & excel in the accelerated program. This might take the form of:

- doing extremely well on any entrance exams (like the GRE)

- getting straight A's in your nursing prereq courses

- getting additional (stellar) recommendations from your Anatomy & Physiology, Microbiology/Pharm/Patho professors

[chris42]

Thanks, CrufflerJJ for the feedback!

[CrufflerJJ, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

Thanks, CrufflerJJ for the feedback!

You're quite welcome. Good Luck!