Has anyone had to dig themselves out of a hole gradewise?

VYisgod · Oct 22, 2009

So I'm guessing you didnt graduate? You dropped out soph year?

Squirmy McCoy · Oct 22, 2009

That's right. I was a Secondary Education major. I hated it and my life was imploding, but I was too stubborn to get help or drop my classes before I got in over my head.

liquidblue · Oct 22, 2009

Yeah, I've kind of been where you are. I got SO close, and then a bunch of things happened, and I really lost my motivation. I am finally getting back on track. It has been HARD, but you can do it! Keep your eyes on the end result - graduating, and being able to move on to your career. =)

Good luck!!

SaraFL · Oct 24, 2009

I attempted 3 different semesters where I either failed (due to not withdrawing properly) or withdrew. Like you, I was dealing with depression, lack of motivation, and family issues. When I started back, I had something like a 1.5 GPA (that's a generous estimate). This is my 4th semester back on track and I've brought it up to about 3.1. I know it seems like it will never happen, but it will. I have heard (from reaading here, and from real life) that a lot of times colleges notice a turning point, and will be more lenient. When you're applying for nursing, it will depend, but a lot of schools only look at your GPA for your nursing pre-reqs (for example, I have nearly a 4.0 in my nursing pre-reqs). You can do it!

Squirmy McCoy · Oct 24, 2009

I'm not glad that anyone else had to go through this, but it's nice to know it can be done. :) I'm going to give it my all this time.

The school I'm going to attend - FSCJ - looks mainly at the nursing pre-reqs, but regular GPA is a factor, especially when it comes to financial aid.

brittany_micah · Oct 24, 2009

I've been there. Right after I graduated hs, my parents made me go to college for Medical Transcription. I hated it! I like the fact that I could work from home, but I wanted to be the hands on person, not the one typing. So I quickly failed and dropped out. A few years later, after I had my son, I decided to go back for nursing. I did fairly well. But I had to transfer schools because we moved and nothing transfered over, so I started over...AGAIN. Now I realize that I have been doing this for way too long and I need to work hard now and finish it, so I can get to work. :) I've been there, you're not alone. Good Luck!

SaraFL · Oct 24, 2009

I'm not glad that anyone else had to go through this, but it's nice to know it can be done. :) I'm going to give it my all this time.
The school I'm going to attend - FSCJ - looks mainly at the nursing pre-reqs, but regular GPA is a factor, especially when it comes to financial aid.

Hey, I'm at FSCJ now, and it's one of the programs I'll be applying to for nursing! :)

hiddencatRN, BSN, RN · Oct 24, 2009

I'm getting ready to go back to school in January and I have a lot of cleaning up to do when it comes to my GPA. My first attempt at college was a disaster, and even though I have 35 credits, I have more that I failed due to non attendance. Yay for depression and lack of motivation!
Now, over a decade later, I'm mentally healthy and have the full support of my family and friends, so I know this time will be a success. But the amount of classes (retakes and prereqs) I have to take before I'm eligble to apply is a little bit daunting. Has anyone else here been in this situation? It'd be nice to know that I'm not alone. :)

Are you me? I had a similar experience with my first degree- failing classes because I didn't go, should have been getting treated for depression....

I graduated with a 2.795 which was mostly Bs and As but then several Fs, and that's not accounting for the Fs I got at schools I transferred out of. Those appear on my record but didn't count towards my graduation GPA. I think I might have failed a total of 13 classes (so bad! I actually have to go through my transcripts to count them up b/c I can never remember).

When I started prerequisites I knew that I really needed to prove myself, which initially created a LOT of stress and anxiety, but when that cooled down a bit it was a huge motivator. Now that I'm in nursing school, I still feel that need to prove that I am a good student. I will always carry those bad grades with me, but as time goes on it is becoming more a mark of transformation.

The good thing is that you *do* have a lot of classes to take and retake. Even though it seems daunting, you have that many more opportunities to show a new pattern with your grades. It will also help your cumulative GPA to have all those classes to take.

You may run across a few schools that will still heavily consider your older grades, but so many just look at last 60 credits or would take in to account the improvement between your past and current grades.

Coriander, BSN, RN · Oct 25, 2009

Me!

I "attended" three semesters back in 1992-1993 and failed miserably, ended up with a 1.32 GPA. I went back to school a couple of years ago, rallied hard and now have about a 3.3 GPA. You can do it :)

Trauma Columnist · Oct 25, 2009

Went to college in 1977 right out of high school....was one semester from completing my ADN when I decided I didn't want to be a nurse, so quit, joined the US Navy the next day and shipped out to FL the next day!

Fast forward 13 years and its 1990 and yep, I wanna be a nurse. Well, believe it or not, a 0.7gpa doesn't help you much. I was on academic probation the first year and was able to obtain my LPN. Then, my husband came down on orders very unexpectedly and we moved. So...got to repeat some classes, made it thru the ADN program.

It is not impossible to recover - it might just take a little while. Is is possible to enter on academic probation for your pre-reqs?