GPA- ack...! 1.82 or 3.1?

js408 · May 20, 2009

The best solution is to start over. I also had a similar experience as you. Went to college straight out of highschool and had something like a 2.0 GPA with at least one F on my transcript before I gave up. When I decided to go for nursing, I went to a new college and did not transfer anything from my prior school. Basically started over from scratch, clean slate. I had to repeat a lot of courses but I would have to repeat them anyway since I forgot almost everything I learned.

(skip to last paragraph to get to the point)
I dropped out of high school and went to college when I was 17. I didn't go willingly. Mom was disappointed about the whole "not finishing high school" thing, and my boyfriend told me he wanted to marry a college grad. At the time, I wanted to be JUNE CLEAVER, and that was IT. The only dreams I pursued was starting my little unrealistic family and home.
So, while in college, for two years, I skipped my classes, I didn't care about homework or grades, I daydreamed about changing diapers and cooking dinner and scrubbing the floors and folding clothes (um....YUCK! with the exception of the kids/changing diapers, now that I'm here, now that I've achieved those big lofty goals of mine, I have to ask myself- what was I thinking??!!?). I took nothing else seriously. In retrospect, I realize I was running away from some lifelong problems and terrors. I wanted normalcy or what I then perceived as normalcy.
But, let's fast-forward to the present- a husband, 3 kids, an overdue mortgage and lots and lots of unfolded laundry, dirty dishes, and unmopped floors later, I'm now 29 and decided within the last couple of years that I want to go back to school. For a while I was torn- nursing or teaching, nursing or teaching. After a couple of recent field trips with my youngest 2, I confidently resolved that nursing it is!
When I withdrew from college back in '99, I didn't formally do so, and consequently, instead of W's, I had several F's to contend with. But the university granted me academic amnesty in 2003. While those F's went poof, they do, unfortunately, remain on my transcripts. Most of them are over 10 years old.
My State University coursework from '03- '06 gives me a GPA of 3.1 (including developmental courses- 3.6 w/o them- I don't know if that is counted in the official GPA or not....some say yes, others say no). But I recently transferred to a community college (Delgado/Charity for the ADN), and my transcripts show both my 3.1, and 1.82 from alllll those F's!
***the point is here, if you wanna skip the life story ------> My question is, especially to any Charity students who may know, will I have to worry about my 1.82????? I mean, I can bring it up to a 2, but I don't think it will go that much higher without taking every single course at the college! None of the courses I took are relevant to CSN curriculum/pre-reqs. They're mostly art courses...and again, they're 10 years old...

dny09 · May 22, 2009

I think it also depends on the school. Some schools only look at the courses that they feel pertain to their program (mostly sciences). Others look at your whole GPA. Also it might work in your favor that you have gone back to school and shown a clear dedication to your studies now that you are older and wiser. I am in a similar situation, having dropped out of college when I was 20 after blowing off a lot of classes and tanking my GPA. Last week I had my interview for the school I applied to and the professor said he was very impressed with the fact that I have grown up and learned from the mistakes I made when I was young. If I were you I would try and call the schools you are interested in and see how they choose people for their program.

FLmomof5 · May 22, 2009

The best solution is to start over. I also had a similar experience as you. Went to college straight out of highschool and had something like a 2.0 GPA with at least one F on my transcript before I gave up. When I decided to go for nursing, I went to a new college and did not transfer anything from my prior school. Basically started over from scratch, clean slate. I had to repeat a lot of courses but I would have to repeat them anyway since I forgot almost everything I learned.

:nono: Unless you told your "start over" college that you attended another school, what you did is fraud. With all the background checks, that issue could raise it's ugly head and bite you in the backside!

To the OP:

I graduated from college in 1984 with a 2.000000000001! LOL! We had a saying... 2 O and GO!

Anyway, my courses, good and bad transferred to my new school. I have a 2.87 now, but a 3.7 on the pre-reqs. I attended a school that used a point system that only used the pre-reqs and the score of the NAT. I started my first semester of NS May 4th! :yeah: I am 47 yo. I was a single mom for years. I have (as my name says) 5 children that I gave birth to and inherited 4 more when I married my new hubby this past september.

I am working FT, going to NS FT and so far I am doing quite well on my quizzes and tests.

YOU can do this! Find the right school!

(Oh, and I plan on going for NP. UNF only counts your upper level NURSING courses and pre-reqs when considering acceptance to their RN-MSN program! Sweet!)

guiltysins · May 22, 2009

When I first started college I had a 2.2, I had failed statistics. I transferred to a new college and the classes did come with me, but not the grades. Any grades that were lower than a C didn't transfer, so in a way it's like I never took it but the school still knew I had failed because it was on my transcript. Anyway, when I transferred my gpa started back at 0 but I still had the credit for the classes that I took and passed with over a C. Now I have a 3.4 GPA. Everyone messes up and I think since the courses are so old, they may not consider them that much, ti really depends on the program.

AOX4RN, MSN, RN, NP · May 23, 2009

... will I have to worry about my 1.82?????

It's easy: Go to the school where you earned all those Ws and Fs and petition for Academic Renewal. Get those grades wiped! They will appear on your transcripts but will not be figured into your GPA.

I didn't grasp the concept of adult education when I tried college right out of high school and ended up with a couple of WFs (due to not dropping on the deadline) and Ds (due to Bon Jovi and Skid Row concerts). Then I gave up, got a job, got married, had four kids, then pursued an education as a direct-entry midwife. When I decided to head toward nursing I petitioned my old school for academic renewal. I wrote them a letter making my case: told them who I was, who I am now, and who/what I was going to be and why a fresh start was important to me personally, academically, and professionally. I provided them a copy of my transcripts from more recent programs showing I had matured and was serious about my direction, along with copies of my credentials and state license. It took about 6 weeks to be completed through the Dean of Academic Counseling (your contact might be different). That school and the ones I attend now for pre-reqs/co-reqs allow academic counseling ONCE so make sure you request a complete wipe of ALL offensive grades (Ds, Fs, WFs; don't think incompletes count). If I hadn't done that my GPA would be in a sad state, since some of those that I have now repeated for actual grades would have counted toward general ed.

Good luck!

Coriander, BSN, RN · May 23, 2009

I went back to community college in 2007 after dropping out of a university in 1994. My GPA was a 1.32. :uhoh3:

I'm now carrying a 3.91 GPA (just at the college alone), but have raised my cumulative up to a 2.92. Still, that 1.32 is still in my academic history and something I'm hugely embarrassed about. I'm busting my tail now to retake some of those courses I so grandiosely failed in... and hope that the nursing program I applied to is willing to overlook what happened when I was 17 and really really stupid.

AOX4RN, MSN, RN, NP · May 23, 2009

Coriander look at what I wrote immediately before you post. Maybe academic renewal will help your GPA and your ego :) Helped mine!

bluechick112, BSN, MSN, RN · May 24, 2009

I'm not sure if anyone above me answered your question already, but I know that a lot of schools here in California only consider coursework completed within the last 7 years (some only 5). You might want to look up schools which offer the same forgiving attitude.

HeartsOpenWide, RN · May 24, 2009

I just skimmed your post. Most schools care about your cumulative GPA, the 1.82 and 3.1 together which would be about 2.46? Plus many nursing school look at cumulative GPA and pre-nursing GPA...so if your cumulative GPA is 2.46 and your pre-nursing GPA is 3.0 something no one is going to care about that 1.82....i.e. my transfer GPA from the JC is 3.55 but my accumulative GPA when I got my BSN was 3.63...when I apply for my masters they will look at the 3.63; not the 3.55...does that help?

Others are talking about academic renewal. I do not know much about this personally but a classmate of mine did this; she screwed around in her early 20's and got bad grades, now in her late thirties she gets straight A's. She got the grades from her early 20's removed.

js408 · May 25, 2009

No it's not. My school records are confidential and I'm not obligated by any law, policy, or rule to share every school transcript with every other school I attend. You need to know what you're talking about before you spout words like "Fraud" around

Unless you told your "start over" college that you attended another school, what you did is fraud. With all the background checks, that issue could raise it's ugly head and bite you in the backside!
To the OP:
I graduated from college in 1984 with a 2.000000000001! LOL! We had a saying... 2 O and GO!

js408 · May 26, 2009

Lol. Which law did I break exactly?

That is not correct. You have committed fraud and are in denial. Congrats.