I found this forum and thought I would give it a try. I know you have all heard this question before, but every case is different, so here goes:
I am a 30 year old male who is looking to get into nursing school. I live in Portland, OR. This is an area where nursing school is the major du jour. There are routinely 600 people applying for 50 spots which only allows the elite to get in (by the way, that's for community college). It's tough, because I've been spending countless hours applying to schools with little to show. It's application season and I'm really only qualified for about 4-5 schools(all community colleges). It seems that many schools have different prerequisites that disqualify me from applying. Also, the rural colleges tend to disqualify people who don't live in their area.
Here are my qualifications:
Bachelor's in Hotel Administration UNLV: 3.4 GPA
Associate from Portland Community College: 3.4 GPA
My A&P and Microbiology classes are done B,A,B,B are my grades in that order
I've been getting more A's in my other prerequisites lately
My overall GPA will never be above a 3.4. I got an A in my last class and it went up 1/100th of a point
I work in a hospital in the transport department (not CNA certified)
I don't care where I go to college as long as it is accredited and not a for profit institiution such as University of Phoenix, DeVry, etc. I don't want to spend a ton of money, but beggars can't be choosers. I would do a bachelor's to bachelor's if possible, but I've heard those usually require a higher GPA.
I want to apply, but it's hard to spend time and money on something that is completely uncertain. Are there any schools that would be good for a person like me. Thank you so much to anybody that can help me out.
Are you in a position that you can relocate for your education and then move back to Portland once you're an RN?
Yes,
One of my big advantages is the ability to change location. One of the two schools that I interviewed for is 4 hours south of Portland. I do have family here (mom and dad), but I know that I can always come back
No, I mean *really* change location--like move to another state if it can get you into and through nursing school faster. I was just thinking about the school I went to. We had a hospital-based ASN program with dorms and got a lot of out-of-state students, from as far away as Korea. Always a possibility.
Oh yeah, I really don't care where I go. I don't care about anything like that. All that is important to me is accreditation. I don't want any potential employer to think less of my education based on where I go to school. When I say that, I mean for profit and banana republic institutions.
I thought about going to school out of state, but I really didn't know of any place where I would surely get in. I always figured Oregon was my best shot. I also looked into Nevada which is where I received my bachelor's degree, but I wasn't done with the prerequisites. They wanted a year of chemistry. I only have Microbiology, all 3 A&P, and 3 general bio courses. It seems like schools want different psychology classes and exotic types of classes that I just don't have. I'm always looking to go anywhere. Usually, the prerequisites are the barrier.
i think you will have to jump through some hoops and do the pre-reqs. I am in the accelerated osh kosh program but i also applied to the community college in my town and got in as well. I did not have their development class but i wrote the dean and they accepted a similar class i had. for osh kosh i took 3 extra classes that i wouldn't have needed for the other program without knowing if i would get in. it defiantley was a leap of faith and a large expense.....but in my case it paid off. GOOD LUCK!!!
Have you thought about University of Illinois? They have one of the top ten nursing schools in the country. I just graduated from there and there were a few people with GPAs similar to yours. You have to make sure that your essay is really good. I think tuition is about $15K in state right now. I agree that you should look into LPN programs. I'm sure jobs for LPN aren't as easy to find as RN but I have found quite a few....they are out there. Good luck! I hope you figure something out!
I live in Portland, OR. This is an area where nursing school is the major du jour. There are routinely 600 people applying for 50 spots which only allows the elite to get in (by the way, that's for community college).
There are multiple colleges in the Portland metro/SW Washington area with Nursing programs. The biggest thing I can see is re-taking classes to hit a 4.0, that is what is 'elite' about the folks who are getting in. You might also look for a job that provides patient care.
rn2bnwi, BSN, RN
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