I work in a high risk labor & delivery unit and have 8 months of experience under my new grad belt. I'm looking into applying for nurse practitioner programs next year and I was wondering about the competitiveness. Is it just as competitive as getting into nursing school? My dream is to become a nurse practitioner in women's health and I graduated with my bachelors with a cumulative 3.7. P.S I work in the Bay Area and hope to attend a program in California.
Any advice or past experience with the application process will be much appreciated.
If a student "fails" at a clinical site and the school wants to give him/her another chance, then I would think the student should re-try at the site they failed with the hopes of improving their ways/overcoming the problem. Sigh. It's almost like saying "oh i failed the class because x teacher was bad. But if i had taken the class with y teacher, I wouldn't have failed. " wrong!
At the very least a detailed remediation plan should be put into place. I actually know the physician and NP who were the preceptors and the concern was the students were absolutely unsafe and had no insight into what they were lacking. Again in my experience its such a hassle to fail someone it rarely happens and should speak volumes.
I was at the point where I was failing out due to some health issues I was in complete denial about. I was given the option to withdraw and return the next year to finish if I agreed to get treatment. I will always be grateful to have been given that second chance.
There were also a few people a couple of years ahead of me who were dismissed for academic dishonesty in their last semester.
Started with 18 down to 11. Several didn't make the grades (two of which were certified FNPs). Admissions was selective even for a PMHNP program (minimal applicants). There are still programs out there with a little rigor.
you've probably already been accepted to at least 15 schools, you just don't know it yet. My unborn child got a letter in the mail stating he/she got into a few nurse practitioner schools already. I guess they plan ahead when it comes to recruiting.
Oh, and for what it's worth, I do know two people who got turned away from two different schools that seem to accept most students. One of them, had a lower GPA, so I understand...the other has a decent GPA, although not super competitive, and almost 10 years of (related) nursing experience. No references or personal admissions essay were required for the school she got turned down from, so it wasn't an issue there.
She ended up getting accepted to USC with me though, and I know a fair number of people who've been turned away from them. I heard at orientation they accepted about 30% of applicants this year.
WK, I'm sorry you didn't feel like you should complete the application process. You might've been surprised, but like they say...everything works out for a reason. You are at a school now that you seem to like, from the posts I've seen. You have a great job opportunity lined up for you after graduation, and you're obviously doing an awesome job! I think the congratulations are in order for you! That's awesome that you were able to realize what you needed to work on and how studying works for you, so much so to bring your grades up that much! It's so true that you get out of these programs what you put into them.
I know of 2 people that failed out of my cohort due to substandard grades. Another 2 left before they could be booted. My program had about a 10% acceptance rate, so a lot of people who applied were not accepted. Find a reputable program that has been around for a while, and stay clear of the for-profit diploma mills.
Jules A, MSN
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