Diminishing GPA? Do you care?

Ruylupez · May 7, 2004

In the prereqs I was determined to get an A, and I did so in almost every class.

This semester in my psych nursing class I got my first C and was VERY happy with it.

I figured it up and if I can keep a B average for the rest of the program I will still have a GPA just barely high enough to be on the Deans list and that is my goal right now.

purseOnalityRN · May 7, 2004

we have the same sort of deal throughout our nursing class as well. some students want a's others are happy to pass.. for myself, i plan on getting into the master's program someday - and i'll need to maintain a competitive gpa above 3.0.. thus, if you perhaps plan to further your education someday, aim high!!

darby1 · May 8, 2004

"C=RN". It seems that lately I'm hearing this equation more and more. Before I got accepted into nursing school I was a straight "A" honors student with a perfect 4.00 GPA. But, since I started nursing courses I've been doing "Bs" and even a couple "Cs". Of course, this means I'm no longer an honors student, but--oh well... There are some really bright guys and gals in my nursing class but these exams are extremely tough, and sometimes no matter how hard we study its very rare that anyone makes an "A". Most students say they no longer care about high GPAs, as long as they're making it through the program. Some are extremely happy to get that "C" at the end of the semester because they don't have to do the course over. Being a "C" student used to be a not-so-good thing, but lately, even my own attitude towards that has changed.
How about the rest of you?

I have the same situation, and was glad many times just to be "left standing" at the end of each semester. Do your best, and keep moving forward. Only other nursing students understand your plight, and there is no shame in a B or C, especially when you are still in the game. You're doing fine. Take care, and good luck. I just finished ADN schooling and I have had a great weight lifted off of my shoulders, to say the least. Hang tough, the reward is in sight...Later...

LadyMarine · May 8, 2004

Well, this semester I have one A and the rest B's and that is fine with me. When I started I wanted to be a straight A student but I soon found out there is nothing wrong with B's. Nancy

wonderbee, BSN, RN · May 8, 2004

By mid-term in my first semester nursing class, there were six A's out of 100 students. I was one of them. By the end of the semester, there were two. I was NOT one of them. At first I cared but when I saw a friend so desperately trying to hold on to her A become very neurotic, not pleasant to be around at times, and how it negatively affected her home life, I decided not to follow in her footsteps. By the end of the semester, I think I would have been ok with a C for a final grade but as it was, I got a B.

I want the school experience to be a positive one. Stressing over getting that A in theory is going to ruin that. Next semester I will be happy with a C.

orrnlori, RN · May 8, 2004

I too was a straight A student until the second semester of nursing. A 9 hour B really hits you hard in the GPA. I continued to get A's in non-nursing classes as I completed my AAS and B's in nursing until the final semester when I pulled out another A somehow in my last 9 hour nursing class.

It's not you guys, it's the mantra of nursing school that they must take down all they can as hard as they can. I also watched perfectly normal people become positively psychotic over A's in the nursing classes, vomiting before tests, crying in the halls, it became ridiculous.

As I've worked on my bachelor's degree, again, all A's, I've come to realize a lot of things about nursing classes and one is that it doesn't matter how hard you study or how well you know the information, sometimes you aren't going to get that elusive A. As another poster stated, I was happy to be left standing at the end of each semester in the nursing program as I watched others fall away.

Catma63 · May 8, 2004

"C=RN". It seems that lately I'm hearing this equation more and more. Before I got accepted into nursing school I was a straight "A" honors student with a perfect 4.00 GPA. But, since I started nursing courses I've been doing "Bs" and even a couple "Cs". Of course, this means I'm no longer an honors student, but--oh well... There are some really bright guys and gals in my nursing class but these exams are extremely tough, and sometimes no matter how hard we study its very rare that anyone makes an "A". Most students say they no longer care about high GPAs, as long as they're making it through the program. Some are extremely happy to get that "C" at the end of the semester because they don't have to do the course over. Being a "C" student used to be a not-so-good thing, but lately, even my own attitude towards that has changed.
How about the rest of you?

I don't care about being the "brain of the class" but yeah, I do care about a diminishing GPA....but that's because it could hurt my student financial aid if it gets too low. Has to be at least a 2.0 before you qualify.....I get tense when mine gets lower, naturally, than what it originally was. I came in as a 4.0 too! haha

I still feel, inside, "C=RN". Of course the higher grades do too but the goal is to complete, to pass, to be a nurse.

Carolanne · May 8, 2004

Well, I was to be pinned on Wednesday but I failed cardiac nursing by one point and got a C- for the course. So I would have been pinned if I got that C, but it's okay. Things happen for a reason. I also was a B+ student until I hit the last semester of nursing. So I'm taking it over again in the fall (it's only a 7 week course) and for now I'm going to be an LPN at the hospital where I very much want to work. I look at it as more experience and seasoning in the meantime, and hopefully I'll be a better and more knowledgeable nurse in the end.

Catma63 · May 8, 2004

Well, I was to be pinned on Wednesday but I failed cardiac nursing by one point and got a C- for the course. So I would have been pinned if I got that C, but it's okay. Things happen for a reason. I also was a B+ student until I hit the last semester of nursing. So I'm taking it over again in the fall (it's only a 7 week course) and for now I'm going to be an LPN at the hospital where I very much want to work. I look at it as more experience and seasoning in the meantime, and hopefully I'll be a better and more knowledgeable nurse in the end.

Oh Carolanne! I'm so sorry! I so admire your preserverence; your way of looking at things. That's the way it should be...looking at it as just another obstacle and I suppose we all know by now that anything worth having is worth jumping over.

Two of the second year students failed their last semester. One says she'll be back in the spring of 2005 to retake. The other, heavily discouraged, says she doesn't know yet. I like what your mantra says, Carolanne....makes me think of these two students.

When will you be pinned now? After Fall? Spring of 2005?

RedSox33RN · May 8, 2004

I have to admit, I'm going to be one that will be upset at a diminishing GPA. I've worked my butt off for a 3.90 in my pre-req's, and anything less will feel like failure -- to ME. I know in the eyes of others it may not be that way, but I am doing this not only to become a nurse, but to prove to myself that I CAN achieve high grades, something I didn't do in HS, and paid dearly for with multiple rejections to colleges and nursing programs.

I have no doubt that my already frequent migraines are going to increase in number/duration/intensity, but it is almost like a mission to me now. I know I WILL have to change my way of thinking. Heck, I got a B+ on an English paper this term, and spent the weekend in tears and angry about it (BTW, I'm not a primadonna about stuff like that. My prof had given me a 98, then taken it away and given me an 88 because she found 2 errors in my Reference page AFTER she'd graded it and posted the grades. Not fair, IMO.)

So, yes, I'll be upset, maybe for a semester, maybe two, but I will have to get over it.

Benton · May 8, 2004

My first test in nursing school was a great lesson for me. The student seated next to me showed-up before class with 500 detailed index cards she had been studying with a fervor. I asked her what all she had on the cards since my notes didn't come close in volume to the amount of study materials she had. She asked me a few questions off of her index cards and I didn't know any of the answers. I looked around the lecture hall and observed other students with their faces buried in notes and at that moment I thought I was about to be buried in a matter of minutes. I got my copy of the test and wet on it. No, not that way, but from the sweat off of my hands. I finished the test and felt pretty good about it, yet I had a large dose of doubt swirling about in my stomach. The 500 index card carrying student received a 94%, an A on her test and a mild case of carpal tunnel syndrome from shuffling 500 index cards for a couple of weeks. I received a 92%, a B, but more importantly I learned a quick-lesson. I didn't want to spend nursing school living on Pepcid (PPI'S weren't out yet). Three months out of nursing school the student who had to have an A, 500-1000 index cards per test, killed a pt. She set a morphine pump that was supposed to be at one mg per hour basil at 9.9 mg per hour. The pt was an elderly post-op, not on tele and the nurse I mentioned was working a HS shift. It could happen to anyone and especially a new-grad. My former classmate's straight A's didn't mean a thing to the dead pt's family. I feel bad for this nurse even to this day, however, her mistake reminded me of what I decided after my first nursing-school test; study and do my best, but don't sweat not getting an A...an A won't make me a better nurse, person or lover. For what it's worth, Benton