GPA for Direct-Entry MSN Program

[jvan87]

Hello,

I am planning on applying to a few Direct-Entry MSN programs in hopes to become a NP. I'm a little bit concerned with my GPA. I have my B.S. in Biomedical Science & took a lot of hard science courses during my undergrad (including 2 semesters Inorganic Chemistry, 2 semesters Organic Chemistry, Pathophysiology, 2 semesters A&P, Genetics, Biochemistry, Pharmacology, Cell Biology, Immunology & Histology). I did get A's in all of the prerequisite courses for the Direct-Entry programs I'm looking at (Inorganic Chem, A&P, Biochemistry, Psychology, Stats). My GPA was 3.1 & I'm worried that it's too low. Will the schools take into account the difficulty of my courses? I did struggle through Organic Chemistry & some other upper level courses, but I did pretty well in most of my science courses. The school I'm most interested in requires your GPA to be above a 3.0, but you don't have to send in your GRE scores if you have a 3.2 or higher. My GRE scores are not that great either - I got a 1010 overall. Do I have a shot?

Thanks!

[santacruzfuturenurse]

Hello, I am also interested in applying to direct entry programs. I have found that if you email the school they might, just might, respond to your email. This way you might ask the school directly what they are looking for. I would like to share what I have learned so far. First of all each school is different and even within a certain school some NP specialties are easier or harder to get into. I am most familiar with UCSF as I have now been to a few of their information meeting. GPA counts but it is not the main factor. Experience counts- either volunteer or work. Second language ability helps. GREs are important- they prefer over 580 for each section. Recommendations are very important.

The specialty that you apply for is critical- midwifery is highly competitive but occupational health is not. I suggest that you pick a specialty then attend an information meeting if possible. Some schools visit other states to hold information meetings, some have audiotapes of a session online. I have found that some schools will give you a lot of information via email or on the phone about what they are truly looking for but some will not. What specialty are you interested in and what school? Maybe others will be more familiar with your choices. Good luck:)