For those awaiting acceptance letters from Northern Illinois University

U.S.A. Illinois

Published

My question to all of you that applied for this year, what is your GPA?I am trying to find out how competitive the program is this year. The waiting game on the acceptance letter is killing me and I have heard we wont find out til end of March.

My GPA for the pre-req courses is a 3.0 . I know that is not the best, but I have a friend that goes there and her GPA was lower than mine, and she was admitted to the nursing program this past fall.

Thanks for your response.

So if the GPA at Northen varies every semester, how do they determine who goes to their school? I know it is based off of how many pre-req's you have completed, GPA and overall GPA, but out of 400 students applying, do they start with everyone that has a 4.0 in their pre-req's and work their way down til they max out all of the seats needed to fill for transfers? Or do they look at everyone individually and take into consideration how they did overall in their classses and if they would be a good candidate for the program?

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ok so i found an e-mail that i completely forgot i sent to niu awhile back: here is the reply i received:

alli can tell you is that for fall 2011 the gpa for the prerequisites was 3.4 to3.5. you can not count the classes you are in for spring 2012 as any ofthe 5 prerequisites required to be reviewed for fall 2012 and spring2013.

you should apply, you may be put on a wait listfor spring 2013 and several student were taken from the wait list.

now if this is the average gpa for the students that applied in the fall of 2011, the gpa's that students would have had would have been anywhere from a 2.8-4.0 to get an average of 3.4. to get the average of a 3.5 the students gpa's would have been a 3.0-4.0.

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So if the GPA at Northen varies every semester, how do they determine who goes to their school? I know it is based off of how many pre-req's you have completed, GPA and overall GPA, but out of 400 students applying, do they start with everyone that has a 4.0 in their pre-req's and work their way down til they max out all of the seats needed to fill for transfers? Or do they look at everyone individually and take into consideration how they did overall in their classses and if they would be a good candidate for the program?

I'm not too sure. Good question though. I know they look at pre-req GPA first, as mentioned in my previous post(s). But, I don't think they start at a 4.0 and go down the line. That, to me, doesn't seem fair. I have a 3.88 pre-req GPA, but when I applied (Novemer 2011), I only had five of the nursing pre-reqs done. I still needed chem w/lab, principles of biology, A&P II, and Stats. Not having more pre-reqs done is what is going to hurt me. I think if someone has a lower GPA than me but has all or almost all their classes done, they will get in before I do for sure.

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ok so i found an e-mail that i completely forgot i sent to niu awhile back: here is the reply i received:

alli can tell you is that for fall 2011 the gpa for the prerequisites was 3.4 to3.5. you can not count the classes you are in for spring 2012 as any ofthe 5 prerequisites required to be reviewed for fall 2012 and spring2013.

you should apply, you may be put on a wait listfor spring 2013 and several student were taken from the wait list.

now if this is the average gpa for the students that applied in the fall of 2011, the gpa's that students would have had would have been anywhere from a 2.8-4.0 to get an average of 3.4. to get the average of a 3.5 the students gpa's would have been a 3.0-4.0.

thanks for this. they stress so much that they look at pre-req gpa first, but obviously this isn't the case otherwise the average gpa admitted would be much higher.

the last day in april is 26 more days away!!!! and counting........

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It just got me thinking that a bachelor degree is 120 credits. The nursing pre reqs add up to 31-33 credits and the nursing program is another 61-63 (or somewhere close to that). So, would you need more credits??? I'm getting myself all confused now lol

Those remaining credits are for general education requirements courses, regardless of major. If you're a transfer though, you can come in with 66 transfer credits maximum. And if you have your associate from an Illinois public community college, your general education requirements are considered complete. So depending on your specific situation, all you very well might have to do is finish your pre-requisites and, of course, the nursing courses.

Here's a link to that specific info (it's on the sidebar):

Requirements

Is anyone else getting ridiculously nervous now that it's finally April too? I though I'd be excited, but now I'm just really, really nervous and can't wait for it to be over. :bugeyes:

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I agree, Willow. I'm super nervous as well. I am expecting the worst, but hoping for the best at this point. We are almost to the end of the beginning!!!

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I heard from one of the advisors that letters for current students will be sent out later this week or early next, this wait is killing me!

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So I am beyond nervous and decided to write to the Student Nurse Organization that is a group through NIU. They have a facebook page. I asked about GPA and how many students apply. The response I received is as follows:

"Many of the classes are mostly transfer students with some students who were accepted as freshmen. The GPA varies each year depending on the students applying. For example, in 2009 the average applicant GPa was 3.3, but in 2010 it was 3.8."

I posted something earlier in this post regarding the GPA for 2011 and it was 3.4-3.5. Lets hope the applicants that are applying this year have a lower GPA than 2010, that way we all have a chance of getting in.

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Good luck, Megs. Let us know when you get your letter!

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Wow, the GPA for 2010 was super high! Tough competition!

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So I went to my orientation today because I'm planning to attend NIU regardless of my admission to the nursing school, and then if I don't get in, I will be reapplying next year to NIU and all other possible universities in the Illinois area.

Anyway, some quick info:

Last year's cut-off GPA for prerequisites (not overall GPA) was 3.4 for current students and 3.6-3.8 for transfer students. Of course, that doesn't hold any bearing on this year, as it all depends upon the applicant pool on where the cut-off will be for this year. Obviously though, it's a lot more competitive for transfers than current students. Also, they highly stressed that prerequisite GPA and number of prerequisites completed were the primary deciding factors (nothing new to this thread, I think), and everything else as far as overall GPA, etc. was considered secondarily. They also mentioned that they had just started working on the transfer applications and that letters can probably be expected towards the end of April (again, nothing new).

Also in regards to this:

I am currently taking two science courses at a community college by my house. This will be my second degree as well, and I was never told I needed permission to continue taking classes at my community college ( I plan on taking summer courses as well). I would call NIU again and speak to a different person.

I asked about this at the nursing advising session and this only applies once you have actually started classes at NIU. I will be starting in the fall, so I can still take classes over this summer, but anytime after that I would need permission. My advisor said that getting permission usually isn't a huge deal either if it's something you're worried about.

I know a lot of this is repeat information, but I just figured I'd share in case it might be helpful in some way. Hope you guys are having a great week. :)

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Willow, sorry this sounds dumb... but what do you mean by the "cut-off"? Is that the lowest GPA that was accepted?

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