community college fail

I went to business school and kept switching between programs; I did the same thing screwing up my grades. I now have a family and dreams to afford. I called the school I intent to go to ask them for advice getting in. I explained my situation fully so they could help me better.

There are a few routes but you can fix your grades by taking some of the first year classes that don't have prerequisites. It will lessen your load during your first year or help get you ahead for when you're in particularly hard courses. I figured I would at least get a year of working experience (some debt paid, references and some companies help with education), a license to fall back on if life gets in the way and I know in BC they will be making it in the next couple years bridge into year 3. The bridging program is usually based on the number of first year dropouts. So that might be an issue down the road. I'm actually considering becoming a doctor but spending time in the field I will learn about different jobs available and what people wished they did.

Do what's right for you.

Evening, Brayan099:

First - are you going back to a community college/ROP for your LVN? Or are you going to a tech school? If a tech school, probably not - depends a lot on which tech school. If a community college/ROP most likely yes (definitely for CC, probably for ROP), your previous academic record will have some impact, both good and bad.

Bad, because it'll skew your GPA somewhat. In your case, given that you failed to complete a bunch of classes, rather than flat-out failing 'em it's not likely to have all that much impact, simply because you earned no grade points for attending. You'll probably have to retake anything that you managed to pass 'cause it sounds like it's not going to help you get into the program. From that standpoint, it's very much like you're starting from scratch.

Good, because if you're determined enough to get straight A's or a mixture of A's & B's in your prereqs & general ed classes, it'll be obvious to anyone reviewing your grades for admission into an LVN program that you really have matured enough to benefit from it.

From what I recall, anything pertaining to academic or progress probation pertains only to classes taken at that district, and only if you're a continuing student - skip a semester, and it resets. Used to work on a Datatel installation for a community college district in California, and I believe that's how it works by default.

Far as submitting your transcripts; yeah, you should. Firstly, it's required (e.g. the "honest" thing to do) and secondly the benefits of that past academic performance (however small) will be lost if you don't.

Short version: treat it as though you're going to school for the first time, and consider your past performance as additional incentive to kick some a$$ this time around!

----- Dave

I took two years of business courses at my local community college. I probably got the same grades as you. Some D's and some F's. I didn't like business nor did I care about my grades then. That was 5 years ago and during that time I finally realized that I wanted to be a nurse. I just got into an LPN program at a vocational technical school and I love it! They didn't need my previous college transcripts. (thank god!)

My advice is to look into technical programs for LPN that you would be able to bridge to Get your RN once completed. Then you can go on from there :)

Good luck!

I was such an idiot during my first 2 yrs of college. My grades SUCKED. When I transferred to my current school, they only accepted my passing grades & looked at my GPA while at their institution(which at the time was a 3.5), not my previous schools(MUCH lower..like a 2.4 or something overall). And I got into the program! And I'm an LPN now :) My vote is for a vo-tech program as well! Look at your state board of nursing & see who offers them. Word to the wise though- I see a lot of "pricey" nursing programs popping up in my area now :-( I would personally not pay more than $20,000 for a LPN program...that's just my 2 cents though. Good luck!!!

Ah - gotcha. Not sure I can give you much more advice that I already have; looks like Everest, Kaplan & ITT have RN programs recognized by the California BON (among others, I'm sure - those names I recognized as tech schools), whether they'll bridge someone with an LVN or not is pretty much up to them.

Far as the tech school route - it has it's good & bad points. Good is that, as you noted, it's focused specifically on your area of interest (no general ed "fluff" courses); bad is that it's expensive. Still - it's what works best for you that counts, and you know your situation far better than I do.

Incidentally, a couple of my fellow CNA's are going the LVN route at local tech schools; they don't have waiting lists, but it's "first come-first served" getting in 'cause they still can only accept a certain number of students (they've only got so many chairs) so you're gonna have to jump on it when you do decide to move.

In any case - best of luck to you, and please let us know how it works out for you!

----- Dave

In my immediate area, at the Community Colleges, both the LVN and ADN programs only look at the prenursing classes, not your cumulative GPA for all classes ever. Find out what the requirements are at the schools you are looking at.

The State University also looks at only the nursing GPA.

There are some colleges within 1-2 hours from me that do look at overall GPA, but I'm not applying to those.

HTH!