The year is 1987. A young man, raised in a cloistered small town in rural Alaska is accepted to a mid-western university. At first, things go well. Then, trouble begins. Girls and other worthy diversions are discovered, and classes are nearly forgotten. Our protagonist spends over three years rudderless and adrift, amassing an absolutely dismal academic record.
By chance, he takes an EMT class, and discovers his calling in the medical field. He ends his prodigal ways, moves back in with relatives in a different mid-western state and enrolls in an ADN program, and does quite well.
After 20+ years of ER/Critical Care transport and Urgent Care experience, the now not-so-young man enrolls in a RN to BSN program, and does VERY well.
He thinks to himself, "I'd like to become a Family Nurse Practitioner, and move back to rural Alaska. I can help provide care to people who really need it."
As he looks through the institutions which offer FNP, he begins to panic...."3.0 Cumulative GPA required for application...." "Applicants must have a 3.0 cumulative GPA to apply." "Minimum cumulative GPA required: 3.0."
Our subject gets a sinking, hollow feeling in his gut: Even with the good grades achieved in the ADN program, and the excellent grades in the RN to BSN program, his cumulative GPA sits -like an elephant upon an MI victim's chest- at a disappointing 2.78.
"Well," he says to himself "Maybe they don't mean it. Maybe if I just explain that I was a different person 30 years ago, and I have since gotten my act together. The RN to BSN grades prove that, don't they?" He completes the application for Concordia University, and the admission essay, he points out that his life has become more focused, more intentional and more driven than it was those 30 years ago.
It is to no avail. The dreaded letter arrives from Concordia: "Dear applicant.....regret... inform...GPA...does not meet requirements..."
A labored calculation shows that our hero must take 40 credits worth of classes at a 4.0 to raise his cumulative GPA to 3.0.
Are there any other options? Are there any programs which do not require a 3.0? Are there programs that look not at your cumulative GPA but at your major-specific GPA? Are there programs that cater to now-experienced middle-aged folks who may have made some mistakes in their distant pasts?
