How important is a 4.0 once you are in nursing school?

Katie71275 · May 17, 2012

It will be very difficult to keep a 4.0, sorry to say! It's not impossible of course. Nursing is a different beast altogether.....There is some memorization(such as what signs/symptoms go with what disease process, lab values, etc), but it's more related to properly assessing the patient, choosing correct interentions, priorities, etc.

I would not worry about a 4.0 and just worry about passing :)

CPhT2RNstudent · May 17, 2012

It depends if you want to go to grad school.

mandy1623 · May 17, 2012

Sure its nice to say you got a 4.0 but you don't need it, and you'll stress yourself out trying to get it. All that matters is you know what your doing and understand the material so you can pass the classes and the nclex.

alyiana · May 17, 2012

You have a B in nursing school!?!?!?!??!?!?! Congrats!!! That's not an easy task in it of itself.

llg, PhD, RN · May 17, 2012

While it is important to get good grades, 4.0's aren't necessary. It's more important to stay psychologically healthy so that you can sustain a high level of perfomance over time and not burn yourself out with stressing over every single thing.

DarkLotus · May 17, 2012

It depends if you want to go to grad school.

Yes, I do plan on going to grad school to become a CNM. Or if I specialize in something else I hope to go on to become a NP. Hopefully I can find a grad school that admits students based on experience, references, essays and interviews...

ImKosher · May 17, 2012

4.0? Go ahead and "try" to maintain a 4.0 GPA. You'll burn and disappoint yourself if you don't make it "perfect". I've been told my grade will drop from some 50 RNs at work.

ImKosher · May 17, 2012

It depends if you want to go to grad school.

You don't need a 4.0 to go to Grad School. You just need to get as close as you can to that number without going crazy.

SUstudent · May 17, 2012

A 4.0 does not result from 'memorizing' everything. You're trying this approach and getting Bs.

I graduated with a 4.0 for my BSN last weekend and can attest that the grades are reflective of how I did on tests, papers, case studies, presentations, ATIs, quizzes, care plans and clinical skills but *not* memorizing.

That said, a 4.0 is (IMO) unnecessary for any career and certainly nursing. Now, my grades helped me get merit based scholarships. And I got great responses to my job applications thus far, but beyond that, the gpa was unimportant.

I strove for doing the best I could do and trying to understand info as best I could so as to try to avoid hurting people-that was my motivation.

Good luck and just aim for the best understanding of the material you can muster, not a number. :)

SUstudent · May 17, 2012

And most grad schools want a 3.0.

Patti_RN · May 17, 2012

My advice is never to focus on grades. Know the information inside and out. If you do, you'll probably get A's or B's. If you don't know the information there is little chance that you'll even pass.

Yes, grades are important if you want to go to grad school. Grad schools are becoming increasingly competitive and it's harder and harder to gain admission. (More nurses are unemployed and see grad school as a way to get a job.) Yes, they do look at the 'big picture' and consider not only GPA but experience, references, volunteer work, essays, and sometimes GRE or other grad school admission tests. But, grads are a very important predictor of success. If a person can't maintain a 3.5 as an undergrad they will have a very difficult time surviving graduate programs, especially rigorous ones.

Students with long term aspirations need to ask themselves if they would be satisfied being an RN. If they have a longer term goal that requires an advanced degree, and they don't gain admission to an NP, CRNA, or Mid-wife program, would they be satisfied continuing as an RN? If the answer is 'no', some very serious thought should be given before starting down that road. And, if you're struggling to earn B's in patho you may be in for a rude awakening when the horrors of nursing school really begin.

You should also give careful consideration to judging (at this stage of the game) what is 'useful' and what is not. Your instructor has years of experience and knows exactly what students need to learn. It never hurts to gain collateral information, so of course, go beyond the lectures and assignments to gather more knowledge. But, don't be so smug to think you know better than the professor.