iF NOT NURSING, THEN WHAT??

[chuckcamp]

as my final 2 weeks of work are winding down, i am on my way to moving back home and getting back to being a full-time student, taking prerequisites for nursing school. as I think about the journey ahead of me, i begin to think about the admissions of nursing schools across the nation. unfortunately for me, i had a 2.4 gpa during my undergraduate days, but the gpa does not reflect the hard worker that i am (most of my grades my freshman and sophmore year pulled down my overall). nonetheless, my overall gpa is kinda crappy and i have been reading everywhere that there are overall gpa cut-off points of about 2.75 and higher. I will try my best with the prerequisite classes, and since i am not working and am taking lighter loads at a community college (at MOST, 2 lab science classes per semester, with nothing else), i feel as if i have a good chance at doing well. however, the overall gpa of my undergrad work would hold me back in regards to doing awesome in my nursing prerequisites. i have posted messages before, and i appreciate the feedback-- but it still doesnt stop me from considering "what if".... as in, "what if they still recognize my bad undergraduate gpa, despite doing really well in prereqs"... so i was wondering if anyone explored things outside of nursing if the nursing route fell through/got delayed. personally, i was thinking about Physical Therapy or Occupational Therapy.. i noticed that the prerequisites are very similar, with differences of about 1 or 2 extra classes. has anyone else thought about this or anything else? i really do feel like i've got a calling for something in healthcare, so i was wondering if anyone else had things on the backburner in case this didnt work out

[TLC RN]

thanks for the feedback.. i guess the PT/OT route isnt anything to fall back on. i guess i'll just have to wing it and try my best. TOOTY, do you know of any schools that like to look at your final 30 credit hrs? every school i look at that says they look at the final 30 credit hrs also look at overall as well (according to the websites). do you think they are just putting that they look at "overall gpa" as a formality? a part of me feels like they just to that to look "more stringent" in their admissions-- whereas, they probably put a lot more favor on your final 30 hrs than what their website indicates

Remember that you have to take around 20 credits of pre reqs if you had none before and that can boost your GPA big time :)

Look at Wayne State in Detroit if you are willing to move. I am not sure what will happen for fall 05 but it is a 16 month program. You have to have all of the 10 prereqs finished by June 1st of admission year. They ONLY base admission on the 10 prereq GPA. You need the following:

Dev Psy

Sociology

Humanities

Nutrition

Anthropology

Chem

Organic Bio Chem

Bio

Anatomy & Physio

Microbiology

If you had them and got a C, you can retake them to get the A and they use the A. If you 4.0 all these classes you would be competitive regardless of your past degree GPA.

He is the kicker....two years ago they had 150 applicants for 64 slots avg GPA of the 10 classes 2.8, last year 300 applicants and avg GPA of 3.2, this falls class which gets admitted has not be calculated but I heard you need a 3.5 in the 10 to get looked at. So next year...who knows...apply with a 4.0 and hope 64 other people don't have a 4.0.

If you want more info about Wayne...PM me.

I also looked into traditional programs. With my degree I could start taking the nursing classes once I meet their requirements. One school around here offers the nursing classes in 4 semesters (fall/winter for two years). It is longer than the accelerated route but if I don't get into Wayne this fall and don't want to move to Philly (Drexel) or Creighton (NE) then I can start the traditional program and be done in one more semester than if I had stated Wayne...The weird part about the traditional program I found was with how crazy the process is at so many other schools in the area (waiting lists, large applicant pools etc...) they were pretty cool with applying last week and being able to start in fall or winter and they are one of the tougher programs in the state...go figure.

Let me know if you need anything else...

[LauraLou]

I think BSN programs are more likely to look at your overall GPA than ADN programs. I am in nursing school at a community college and admission is based solely on your GPA for the nursing prerequisites: A&P I, A&P II, English, Algebra, Intro to Psych, Human Development, Microbiology, Speech, Humanities. If you have done badly in one of these classes before, you can retake it and they will use the most current grade.

I have a BA with a GPA of 3.1, but I worked really hard and got A's in all the prereq classes. When I applied to nursing school, they saw me as a 4.0 student because they only looked at the prereqs.

My suggestion is to closely look at all your options and find a program that has admission criteria that will highlight your strenghts.