East Tennessee State - ETSU 2nd Degree Program

KarenC9485 · Oct 1, 2009

"I was accepted in the traditional BSN program which began in the Spring of 2008. Around 80 students were accepted and the cut-off for the program was a 3.59. As long as you put your time to great use and be very diligent about being on top of your studies and clinicals, it can be a great experience. I'm in my 4th semester and now we only have 53 still left. Once you are in the program just don't lose sight of the goal or big picture. Only the first two semesters have classes designed to weed out the weak. The first one will be pathophysiology and the second semester will be foundations. After that, it will be just building on what you already know. My advice is if you have applied twice and still no acceptance, I would redirect my focus on a more attainable profession."

I found the last sentence of this statement very rude. I was not going to reply, but did not want someone else to come across this thread and be discouraged by your above post. I would never tell some one who's dream was to be a nurse to redirect their focus to a "more attainable" profession. I went back and looked through the threads and tried to figure out for sure if your post was directed at me and it seems to be. I did apply to the 2nd degree program here at ETSU and was turned down. At the SAME time that I applied to ETSU and was turned down, I was ACCEPTED immediately at Duke University for their accelerated 2nd degree, UNC-Chapel Hill 2nd Degree Accelerated, and UT-Memphis Direct Entry MSN. I am currently working on my BSN through the traditional program at ETSU only because my husband is currently a 1st year medical student at Quillen and we wanted to stay together in the same town. I took my first Pathophysiology exam and made a 102 which you are calling a weed out course. I am pretty proud of myself for working hard and pursuing my goal of becoming a nurse and not EVER settling for something that someone tells me might be MORE ATTAINABLE by simply looking at a GPA. I have had several discussions with faculty at ETSU about their acceptance process and the importance of looking at students as a whole package instead of looking solely at a GPA number. They have to look at the WHOLE package to choose people that will make competent and compassionate nurses for their program. Maybe during my time here at ETSU, I will meet you. I hope that you are careful in the wording and advice that you give someone. I would hate to ever discourage a person for pursuing a dream.

Dancer86 · Mar 2, 2010

This may be a little late, but I thought I'd throw my 2 cents in. The cut off GPA for this the Accelerated 2nd Degree BSN at ETSU class that begins this summer must be pretty high, considering I have a 3.8 with all As in pre-reqs and did not get accepted. I am not that surprised, however, since evidently their application number was very very high. I DID get into the Traditional Program at ETSU starting Fall 2010 (which I probably would have chosen anyway even if I did get accepted into the Accelerated). In the end, there's just so many people that applied the cut off GPA had to be that high.

backatit2 · Dec 25, 2010

This may be a little late, but I thought I'd throw my 2 cents in. The cut off GPA for this the Accelerated 2nd Degree BSN at ETSU class that begins this summer must be pretty high, considering I have a 3.8 with all As in pre-reqs and did not get accepted. I am not that surprised, however, since evidently their application number was very very high. I DID get into the Traditional Program at ETSU starting Fall 2010 (which I probably would have chosen anyway even if I did get accepted into the Accelerated). In the end, there's just so many people that applied the cut off GPA had to be that high.

I called and spoke to the nursing advisor/director during the summer of 2010 about applying for the BSN 2nd degree program. While speaking with her, she was talking about how competitive the program was/is and i told her i had good grades. At the time, she didn't have a clue who I was and didn't have my transcripts. She told me the lowest GPA for summer 2009 was "around a 3.7." Later, after reviewing my transcripts and seeing that I had a 3.76, she told me i would be "very competitive."

She also said the GPA changes every year because they never know what the "pool of applicants" will look like. So, for the record, the GPA requirements fluctuate - AND i was told (straight from the horse's mouth) the cutoff for 2009 was a 3.7 - so I'm not sure why you would say you had a 3.8 and didn't get in because it IS based on GPA.