Denied from nursing school...

[callmeachilles1]

I am a registered nurse. A family member of mine recently decided to go back to nursing school at the local county college program. She is in her late 20s, works over 40 hours a week, & worked her butt off to get a 3.95 GPA in all of her prerequisites. She found out yesterday she was not accepted into the program. When she called to question what was going on, one thing held her back. They stated that in 2010, she either failed or withdrew from 2 classes (I forget which). This was the semester after she graduated high school and was dealing with a ton in her personal life.

So, that being said, she had a few A's from 2010 that could not be used and she had to re-take those classes to keep them up to date, however now those classes 8 years ago, as a teenager, will forever hold her back?

I personally feel this is extremely unfair. We are dealing with an adult now trying to advance her career.

Has anyone else had this issue? does anyone have advice????

[SaltineQueen]

What did the school suggest she do? Can she retake those classes?

[AnnieOaklyRN, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

Life is unfair and colleges don't exist to cater to peoples "personal lives". If she received an F then she either failed the class or failed to withdraw, it doesn't matter what she had going on in life, she had a responsibility to withdraw so she would receive a W instead of an F!

I get it, life can give you lemons, but it's up to her to meet those challenges. As I said colleges don't take excuses, they cannot because it would be unfair, so rules are rules. They also clearly state that you need to withdraw from a class within a certain time frame to not receive an F, and it sounds like she didn't do that. It may also be that those are two required classes that she now has to retake and didn't.

Your family member needs to talk to the college and find out what she can do to improve her chances of getting in next time, and I would say also apply at other schools. Never put all your eggs in one basket! Nursing school is extremely competitive, so unfortunately past mistakes can haunt you when applying. I also probably wasn't that they were denying her admission, they probably had more then enough candidates who better met what they were looking for. Nursing schools want students that have done all of their general education classes AND that have a high probably of finishing the program, and maybe they were concerned that she wouldn't with a previous history of withdrawing or failing.

Annie

[callmeachilles1]

thank you for the insightful responses. she retook those classes and got A's. It just a shame one dumb decision, barely an adult, can affect her life like that.

She is still waiting for the admissions office to give her advice. The dean of nursing, who doesnt have much to do with admissions (she states) seemed flustered and had very little advice to offer. She mentioned appealing the grade to the school, but she didnt have any information on that.

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

try a different school

[AnnieOaklyRN, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

I would say she needs to try a different school or schools then. Are there others around that she could apply to? She may also want to see if there are schools that offer a spring start and not just fall.

Annie

[CalicoKitty, BSN, MSN, RN]

Many schools require some (science/biology) pre-requisites to be within 5 years old. I had to retake A&P and Microbiology to make them current.

[callmeachilles1]

everything is current and they are all A's except one B+ and 1 A-. I think she got a D in English in 2010 (which she re-took and earned an A) and an F in history the same semester (also earned an A in 2018).

[verene, MSN]

Every school has their own admission criteria - some allow retakes, some do not. Some factor withdrawals from a class as a "0" or failing score and some leave it as a "W" and don't factor it into their calculations for gpa at all.

If she is applying to programs that only look at grades then it may be harder to be accepted - some programs are more holistic looking at other student factors and she may have much better luck with those. My own experience is that I applied to a number of programs ranging from LPN to direct-entry MSN programs - each with their own criteria. I was denied from several (including LPN) and accepted a a couple (including my long-shot extremely competitive ABSN) because the schools' emphasized different aspects of my accomplishments and were looking for different things in forming their incoming cohorts.

[Ruas61, BSN, RN]

There may be other reasons she didn't make it. Everyone gets a 'denied' at something. It isn't always fair. Can she reapply for another year or look elsewhere?

[Mergirlc, MSN, APRN, NP]

Sometimes it's not all about grades. There are some schools which will look at the essay(s) and base a lot of their decision on that. Others just want GPA or HESI scores to be up there. Some want some experience (volunteer or paid) while others don't care.

I don't know if the nursing admissions office could tell her what to improve or not, but as others mentioned, she just needs spread out her net a little more and apply to a few other programs.

AllNurses really has some good topics regarding admissions to colleges. It seems somebody always posts about what they had (grades, scores, experience, etc..) to get in to a certain school. Not to say that this can't vary from year to year, but perhaps she can look up her school and see what other students are saying?

[/username, BSN, RN]

Different school should help!