D/F Repeat rule for pre-nursing classes?!

[MrsMcD614]

Hi everyone :) I have just decided 100% that I'm going to finish taking my pre-reqs and apply for nursing school! Of course, now I have 800 million questions and my advisor isn't responding to my e-mails.

Here is a little background info. I started college right out of high school when I was 18 as a business major. I started out making decent grades; I think I averaged a 3.0ish gpa. My 2nd year I switched majors from the university to their community college because I was considering Physical Therapist Assistant school. HOWEVER, I had four different close family members pass away and I was dealing with breaking up with an abusive boyfriend PLUS I was working 35+ hours per week. Not to mention the fact that I was clinically depressed and hated even leaving my apartment. The fall semester of my 2nd year I did decent; maybe 2.5 gpa but then the spring semester is when my life fell apart around me and I ended up withdrawing from two classes and taking Fs in the other two classes I had (I thought I had withdrawn from those two also, but apparently I didn't because I have two big fat Fs staring at me on my transcript).

I was out of school for 3.5, almost 4 years, settled down, met the man of my dreams, and got married. Now, I'm in a stable environment, very happy, and in a MUCH better place. I have done plenty of soul searching and praying and have decided I want... no, NEED... to be a nurse. My current cumulative GPA is only 2.27... I know, completely horrible. This coming fall 2011 semester I have enrolled to re-take Human Anatomy (I only got a C first time around) and Chemistry and I'm trying to take two more classes but for some reason the registration thing is acting goofy.

My school has a D/F repeat rule where if you get a D or an F during the first 60 hours of your college career, you can re-take that class and they will drop that bad grade from your GPA. I was trying to re-take those two classes I got Fs in, BUT they were through Marshall's community college and now the CC has broken away from Marshall and so they are two separate entities now and not affiliated at all... meaning those two classes are not offered at Marshall anymore so I cannot retake them. UGH! I wish I could contact someone but nobody is returning my e-mails regarding what other class I could take in its place to get those two Fs removed.

What does everyone else's schools do in this situation??? How great would it be if they just took those two Fs off my GPA since I can't re-take them... yeah fat chance right! lol

I just have VERY high hopes of getting my GPA raised in time to apply for nursing school in January because I would LOVE to get accepted and start NS in fall of 2012!!!!!

Any words of wisdom, advice, or comments??

p.s. sorry this was so long. I tend to be long-winded lol.

[iPink, BSN, RN]

I hope others will chime in to assist you. But, I'll try my best to give some advice. If those classes that you want to retake are no longer offered at your current college, can you find out IN PERSON if those classes not be counted in your 60 college credits?

When the administration office doesn't return phone calls/emails, it's time to make an in-person visit to see a counselor to get all your questions answered.

I'm glad things have turned around for you, but now it's your turn to finish this journey. Study hard, especially in those re-take classes.

[AgentBeast, MSN, RN]

Google search "Fresh Start Rule" most colleges/universities have this.

[UVA Grad Nursing]

I have worked at several universities, and the policies have differed at each one.

At my present university, any grade of F in an BSN nursing class means dismissal of the program. A grade in the D range means that the class must be repeated. Any two nursing grades in the D range means dismissal.

For graduate students, B- is the minimum passing grade. Any grade at C+ or below means that the class must be repeated. Two grades under B- means dismissal. Any grade of F means dismissal.

For both grads and undergrads, if a class needs to be repeated, the prior low grade does not disappear and always counts for the GPA.

[MrsMcD614]

Thanks for everyone's responses so far.

ScottE - my school actually does have an "academic forgiveness" policy which will forgive any D/F if they were earned 5 years in the past. Unfortunately, my bad grades were earned in the spring of 2008 which is only 3 years ago.

UVA Grad - The two Fs that I earned were in the CC - NOT nursing school. They are in Kinesiology (from when I was in PTA school at the CC) and Math 145 (CC level math). The university's BSN program requires Math 121 (which is university-level math, not CC level) so I am hoping to take Math 121 and then apply the D/F repeat rule to this course so they will not figure the F into my cumulative GPA. The F will always be on my transcript, but if I re-take it and get a higher grade, they will delete the F's points from my GPA and replace those points with my new higher grade. (I'm not very good at explaining these things lol)

[Java_Wench]

I'm not sure if this will help you feel better, but maybe it will. We seem to have had a very similar life. I did well at college my first year, and then being an idiot I decided drinking was more fun than class and failed everything. Several years later, I attempted to go back to school, but that was a failure as well (Ending of a 10 year relationship with an alcoholic/manic-depressive, myself on anti-depressants that weren't working), just bad, bad stuff. Several years went by and I went to CC, got mostly good grades, got my AA degree. That was 5 years ago. Now I want to go back for nursing (career change). When I met with the nursing advisor, I told her point black that I f***ed up big time in the past, but that I had gotten my degree, had a decent GPA, and was totally focused on getting into nursing. She told me that admissions into the nursing program goes on a point system. The least important was the school I did way back when. My current grades were more important. The grades of the classes (Pre-reqs) that I'm taking now and the admissions test were most important. A 2.27 is not horrible, trust me on this one (I'd tell you mine from university, but I can't even bear to type it out lol). Just keep going, get your GPA up and make sure you do really well in your classes (use any resources you need, mentors, meetings with the instructor, etc...), and you;ll be okay. Meeting with a nursing advisor could be a big help too, to discuss your concerns! Good luck!