Extremely low GPA any hopes of getting into a nursing program

[mommy2anAFbrat]

I obtained a B.S. in psychology in 2005 but my GPA is extremely low. (2.09) I was young, dumb and goofed off a lot in school. I have started my pre-requistes for Nursing and I am doing extremely well. I have made an A in Developmental Psych and A&P 1. I will be taking nutrition as well as A&P 2 next semester. Even if i got an A in all my classes I would only bring my GPA up to a 2.3. Could I still apply to a program or will my stupidity from when i was younger haunt me for a long time? There are TWO nursing programs where we will be moving to in the panhandle of FL so my choices are VERY limited there.

thank you for you help with this

[Dre2416, BSN, RN]

Gulf Coast state college in panama city

[Jen_Jen88]

For those of you who do not mind moving I went through the same problem (low gpa) I eventually went into Sociology and did extremly good but nursing was what I really wanted to do so I applied to a nursing program and Puerto Rico and got accepted quickly =] I'm in my first semester and I love it!

[Getting To Great]

i know some schools only want good gpa's for the required classes/courses such as a&p1 and 2, micro, entrance exams and etc. those are the classes that you need to do well in in-order to have your application looked at. they should not hold what you got in your pervious degree; they may ask questions out of curiosity. you should be fine if you’re getting a's; and if you’re granted an interview you can explain that problem, only if they ask you. good luck.

[Camy's mom]

you can try pensacolastate.edu I believe they only look at pre-req's/co-req's gpa for program and I believe its 2.5, but go online & check it out

[ldvanepps]

Accreditation

The Northwest Florida State College Nursing Program is fully approved by the Florida Board of Nursing. For more information on program approval or licensure requirements, contact the Florida Board of Nursing at [phone] or via email: [email protected].

[TristanNicole]

the best thing for you to do is to call or go to the campus and talk to someone to get all your questions answered. the bsn program i applied to (i live in washington state) goes completely off of gpa, there is no essay, references, or volunteer work on the app, your program might be different, see if they consider these other things. for my program prereq gpa is considered slightly more important than your total gpa but it’s about the same. don’t let this freak you out because my program is very very competitive and i doubt yours is the same but the min gpa is a 2.8 and most people don’t get interviews if they have less than a 3.5.

about the accreditation thing, it says the school is accredited by the state board (florida board of nursing) which means it’s accredited by the state, but the real question is, is it accredited by nlnac? thats the national council and is more important than just state accreditation. i had this same issue with the rn program i started working on prereqs for, which is a reason why i switched to a bsn. now national accreditation isn’t extremely important, you can still get a job, but it does limit you, don’t quote me but i don’t think you can work for the va and if you move to a different state you have to apply for a certificate in that state (where as with nlnac you don’t have to apply for a certificate if you move), there are some other things but i don’t remember them all.

hope this helps… kinda.

good luck!

[michiboo]

There is a school out there for every one. Research is the key

[bug2621, MSN, APRN, NP]

1. Call the school you want to apply to and ask them to be brutally honest with your chances as they are now. If they are good, take the chance and apply but if not, see step 2.

2. Take some classes to bring up your GPA. Other posters have said just to take easy classes to pad the GPA and I agree, but you also want some challenge to make it look like you aren't just padding your GPA. Take some classes that are easy but may enhance your knowledge, for instance, medical terminology or a health class(community health maybe). Then add at least one semi-challenging class, such as microbiology or a second chemistry, but one that you find at least somewhat interesting and that you understand fairly well. I would also advise some psychology classes because in my experience they are almost always easy and they help with nursing, classes like addiction, motivation, cognitive, biopsychology, or social psychology.

I knew a guy that got accepted into our ABSN program with a 2.8, which is the bare minimum GPA allowable and it was something that hadn't been done at least a decade. The average gpa is about 3.3 with around 300 applicants each year. The reason they accepted him was because he made all As in the classes that he had taken after his first degree including microbiology, gen chemistry, A&P I&II, and dev. psy. He proved that he was a much better student and his grades certainly reflected it.