3.25 GPA required for new grad position???!!

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:devil: I am trying very hard to find my first job as a RN. I live in South Florida. The two hospitals nearby that are hiring new grads, have a special 'versant program'. I have found out that they require a 3.25 GPA just to qualify for the position. I haven't found ANYTHING else. If anyone also lives in south fla and is having trouble finding their first job... do you have any advice or know who is hiring new grads? I just can't believe, after all the hard work I have put in, my grades are being considered for my job. I just can't wrap my head around it.
Specializes in being a Credible Source.
I agree. GPA does not take into account the other things going on in one's life. I think someone who could graduate as an RN while raising children and working is showes as much initiative or more than RN that graduated with all As but didn't have children or work to put in the mix. There is a lot more to a person than the grade.
Sure, but the GPA is quantifiable and easily verifiable, as well as being somewhat standardized (at least by comparison to the things that you describe).
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Specializes in being a Credible Source.
I managed a 3.77 during my ADN program... I graduated with a 4.0 from my RN-to-BSN program. Doesn't mean I'm a better nurse.
No, it doesn't.

On the other hand, it's likely that if you tracked the progress of 5,000 graduates with 3.8's and compared it with the progress of 5,000 graduates with 2.8's that you would find statistically significant higher performance in the former group compared with the latter.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

I've always felt that a few tenths of a point didn't make much difference -- and schools vary so much in their level of difficulty that it is hard to compare a student from one school with a student from another school. However, having worked in Staff Development for years and worked with hundreds of new grads, I do believe that the better students generally outperform the poor ones.

There are exceptions of course, but in general, I have found that the knowledge and skills mastered by the better students gives them an advantage in the workplace. Even more important, whatever abilities they had in school to succeed (natural intelligence, work ethic, lack of distractions, whatever) often help them succeed in the next phase of their career.

But of course ... there are exceptions. In particular, sometimes the VERY intelligent new grads have trouble adapting to the work environment where their superior intellectual skills are less of an advantage to them. In the workplace, you are evaluated more on what you do than what you know ... and sometimes, those students don't do as much or as well as a "B" student or "A-" student with the drive to work hard.

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

I guess I would wonder as an employer if the family/other obligations situation was a hindrance in school, why would it suddenly NOT be a hindrance on the job? If one had trouble juggling all of that in school and it affected one's grades, it is likely to still be an issue that may affect work performance as well. As someone hiring, that is what I would hear.

There are a lot of us who manage a higher GPA while juggling family, work and other obligations. I agree with the above that high GPA doesn't mean having the luxury of nothing else to do. It doesn't necessarily mean being a better nurse, but it IS a quantifiable way to measure performance in the face of lack of other means to do so.

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Specializes in pre hospital, ED, Cath Lab, Case Manager.

The hospital system where I work adheres to practice of looking at GPAs of their new grads. Their thought on this is that they are hiring the cream of the crop.

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Specializes in Utilization Management; Case Management.

Some schools are easy as heck...some are not. Sometimes ur a genius and other times ur just lucky. I know ppl that would miss a test and make it up with the help of a friend with the answers...so is your GPA higher, well yea! On the other hand, I know some with 2 pregnancies and a photograhic memory who have had the content/material b4 and aced everything. I agree that its a way to find your cream of the crop but cream of the crop in reading and regurgin content doesnt always equal cream of the crop in patient care...just a lil food for thought : )

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the gpa question got me as well! i had a phone interview and one of the first questions she asked me was "why isn't your gpa higher?" seriously?! i was so caught off guard, and i didn't know how to answer that question! here is the truth: i have a 3.16 gpa and i was working about 16-20hrs a week. but still, even without working, i think a 3.16 gpa is damn good! my program was not easy by any means! i am not sure how many other nursing schools do this, but we needed a 75% for a 'c', an 83% for a 'b' and 92% for an 'a'. i studied hard and worked my butt off! unfortunately, because of the grading system, i ended up with two 82% c's and one 91% b. now, how do i explain all that without sounding defensive or like i am making excuses! anyone have any good advice as to how i can answer that question next time?

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it really is too bad that you can't really take into account how difficult your nursing program is, because that definately does make a huge difference when it comes to your GPA. my program is probably one of the tougher ones out there, because to get an A you need a 95%! honestly that makes me mad because it's not like nursing classes aren't hard enough, but they have to set the percentage at a freakin 95% which is seriously impossible to get in some classes. luckily i still have a pretty good GPA. it'd be nice if the employers who ask for GPAs could somehow take that into account.

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Recruiters could never take into account how "difficult" a program is. That's subjective information. What you may think is difficult may not be difficult to them.

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Looking at GPA is an artificial way to weed out applicants when there are way more applicants than available positions.

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If it makes anyone feel any better, my GPA isn't getting me anywhere. A job as a CNA/PCA would have, though.

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Specializes in ED, Cardiac Medicine, Retail Health.

In a tight job market the employers hold all of the cards. As another poster stated, the GPA thing may be a tool to shrink the enormous amount of applications received for the limited positions available. New nursing school saying: C=RN, A=employed RN, it is what the market bears unfortunately.

G

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