grades for nursing program

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I am currently finishing up my undergrad in another major and plan on attending a 1 or 2 year program to get my bachelors in nursing. My concern is my grades, however. They are definitly not the best, though i have never failed anything, I know my capability is greater. My question is because i had personal issues at the start of college- namely my father passing away- do you think a program would base my application soley on my grades, or would they take that in to consideration.

Thanks!

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If you plan on going to a different school then the one you are in now, you wont have a GPA. It will show that you took the required courses and passed, that's it. If you are going to the same school (universities require a specific GPA, where as community colleges just require a c+ or better in each course to move on) you may want to check out their online nursing section. It will tell you if they require a certain GPA or not. Good luck :)

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Specializes in Oncology, Critical Care.

Actually that isn't completely correct. Many colleges will require a minimum gpa (actually most do, and the ones that don't list a gpa make a point system based on various factors and take the top applicants). Your old gpa is actually a huge factor because it's not like you took a year of college and changed, its you took 4 years of college and if you stayed at lets say a 2.7 gpa, they see you never progressed gpa's. If you progressively got better than you stand better chance. Most colleges will also consider your gpa for the past 30-60 credits if you did well. Most programs are competitive, even some community colleges are because of the amount of applicants and price of the college. Most colleges will consider a few factors, including grades (this is one of the biggest factors), Amount of medical experience (paid or volunteer (but they LOVE volunteers), the college you went to, and sometimes references or personal statement.

And to the loss of a family member, to be blunt about it, most colleges will say they feel bad about it, but it wont really help you. If you had an interview and they asked, well then they would understand but not on a transcript.

I will agree with the poster above and say find out the required GPA of the programs, and ask them also what their average gpa was for the year before. I say that because most schools list a 3.0 required to apply, but then the average gpa is a 3.5-3.7, you know where they are looking.

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I've contacted many universities, if you come from lets say a community college or another university they wipe out your GPA at the new school. They can only count your GPA from their school. They will actually tell you to take at least one course at the new school to get a GPA before you apply.

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Specializes in Oncology, Critical Care.
I've contacted many universities, if you come from lets say a community college or another university they wipe out your GPA at the new school. They can only count your GPA from their school. They will actually tell you to take at least one course at the new school to get a GPA before you apply.

Well yes, thats the same anywhere, thats the way university reciprocity works. But what i'm saying is having the GPA to even get into the university in the first place. Any college will take a student and declare them as "pre-Nursing". They spend a year taking classes and applying to the nursing program that may not even get into. Im saying with his old GPA, he should see if he meets the nursing program requirements, not if he can get into the college.

And they never wipe out your GPA. If you got a 2.3 in a BS, and then went on to a BSN and got a 3.2 GPA without the first BS and you apply to a MSN program, they need ALL your grades, so your gpa suddenly went from a 3.2 down to a 2.65. So although they may delete your gpa from the school, it doesnt disappear forever.

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I've contacted many universities, if you come from lets say a community college or another university they wipe out your GPA at the new school. They can only count your GPA from their school. They will actually tell you to take at least one course at the new school to get a GPA before you apply.

Not completely accurate. Many colleges actually base their admission into nursing programs on your cumulative GPA... the GPA of all previous college coursework.

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For all the schools that I have looked at, your GPA of previous coursework/prereqs is the biggest factor they look at when determining admission. They will also look at your application essay, references, volunteer work, etc, but GPA is the biggie....

Can you take some of your classes over to get a better grade?

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Well yes, thats the same anywhere, thats the way university reciprocity works. But what i'm saying is having the GPA to even get into the university in the first place. Any college will take a student and declare them as "pre-Nursing". They spend a year taking classes and applying to the nursing program that may not even get into. Im saying with his old GPA, he should see if he meets the nursing program requirements, not if he can get into the college.

And they never wipe out your GPA. If you got a 2.3 in a BS, and then went on to a BSN and got a 3.2 GPA without the first BS and you apply to a MSN program, they need ALL your grades, so your gpa suddenly went from a 3.2 down to a 2.65. So although they may delete your gpa from the school, it doesnt disappear forever.

This^. I've had a log road full of transfers from pre req to prereq and unfortunately, the gist of it is- from community college to state universities (both of which I've attended and applied to), your GPA matters.

I randomly got sick of pursuing nursing. Thought I'd never accomplish it and decided to finish a degree in business. Even though the 4 courses at the one school I took had nothing to do with nursing, and I transfered out as soon as I got my wits back, those two d's haunt me and drag my GPA dowbr.

I was lucky to find a program that worked on GPA, teas, letters of recommendation and transcripts, but Frye previous three schools I attended (for prereqs) and applied to were completely GPA based.

It's tough.

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Also, if this OP is thinking ABSN (which they may be), the admissions will sometimes require "at least a 3.0 in all previous coursework/baccalaureate degree" or something along those lines. Meaning: they will look at that 2.7 or whatever you graduate with, while also considering the specific pre req GPA

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Specializes in Oncology, Critical Care.

That is correct, some schools will consider pre-reqs into it. There are some schools that go by the pre-reqs alone, but those schools....lets just say many of them don't have high NCLEX pass rates or happy students. Some schools take all the factors in, and others just go based on top gpa students.

Untimatley the fact is how your grades were. If you weren't strong and sat at a 2.6 gpa, you may be out of luck and have to take an ADN program route. If colleges based entrance on "i know i'm capable of more", we would have some of the stupidest doctors and nurses out there. Not all, but the GPA requirements exist for a reason, nursing school isn't easy by any means.

The other fact you need to take into account, if you have had a 2.9 gpa during a standard bachelor program (lets take psychology or business management), your going to have a tougher time during nursing school. Nursing requirements are set up because they believe that thats the grades it takes to maintain the grades required to pass the classes.

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I've contacted many universities if you come from lets say a community college or another university they wipe out your GPA at the new school. They can only count your GPA from their school. They will actually tell you to take at least one course at the new school to get a GPA before you apply.[/quote']

This is true, BUT when you apply to nursing school they take the GPA of all course attempted because they require that you must disclose all transcripts from all the schools you have attended in the past. Unless you are doing an ADN program, those programs usually just use your prerequisite GPA. But for BSN they look at all your transcripts.

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Specializes in Hospitalist Medicine.

It depends on the program you want to attend. Some only look at your pre-req grades. Some look at your cumulative GPA. You'll need to contact an advisor at the school you wish to attend to get this question answered. I applied to a points-based admissions program. GPA in pre-reqs was the biggest point factor. My cumulative GPA is 3.75, but my pre-req GPA was a 4.0. They gave me points for a 4.0 GPA because they only looked at pre-reqs. The BSN program at a university nearby only looks at cumulative GPA (not a points-based admissions program). Each program is different, so the only way to answer this question is to speak with an advisor with the program you want to apply to.

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