DNP school

[BmoreBaker]

The next step in my career I believe is to apply for adult acute care NP school and in the state of maryland (where I live) the standard is to apply for a DNP program. I need to talk to anyone who has experience in getting into programs like this. It was a struggle to get to nursing school but I got my associates, my bachelors, and a PCCN certification. I have work experience in critical care and trauma. Ive been precepting new nurses for a few years and have been charge nurse. I was recently voted "employee of the month" for one of the units I work on. My concern is that when I first started college, I started at a community college and when I moved to a university I failed out my first semester. I went back to community college and eventually got into nursing school and got my assocoates with a cumulative GPA of 2.8. I was mostly a c and b student because I was working three jobs. Getting my bachelors I was able to obtain a gpa of 3.53. I'm currently signed up for a technical writing class this fall and I plan to sit for my ccrn exam at the end of August. Should I repeat any science classes? What should I do to strengthen my application. At this rate, I'm hoping to apply for the fall of 2021, or is this just a lost cause?

[MotoMonkey, BSN, RN]

Is 3.53 your current cumulative GPA? If so that is pretty good and above what most schools consider their minimum accepted undergraduate GPA.

As far as taking classes or retaking classes, I would look to the universities where you intend to apply and see if they have any requirements that dictate how old science and statistics classes can be. As an example, universities in my area require that you have taken a statistics class within the past five years.

[BmoreBaker]

Thats a good point. My science classes are 8-10 years old at this point so maybe ill just bite the bullet and retake them but I'm going to look into what the univerisites say. My cumulative gpa is 3.53 but I know they look at your science class GPA specifically. I'm going to apply for university of maryland and johns Hopkins so I know they are very competitive.

[MotoMonkey, BSN, RN]

For sure check into their exact requirements before retaking anything. I cant think of much worse than retaking classes that I don't need to!

[RN58140]

are you saying that you want to pursue a DNP because employers will be expecting it in your state? From the Maryland BON webiste and others I couldn't find anything that stated you are required to have a DNP to be an advanced practice nurse, only that you have to graduate from a program approved by the state board which I believe includes MSN degrees from places out of state.