HELP: Will I ever get into ANY nursing schools?!

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Hi all,

So a little background information: I have a BS in Health from TAMU, therefore I'm qualified to apply for accelerated nursing tracks. I am hoping I will get into at least ONE school in Texas. I will list some of the schools I'm thinking about applying to: TAMU, TWU Houston and Dallas, UT Arlington, UT Tyler, UT Houston, Texas State, Baylor, TCU, UTMB, University of Houston, Sam Houston, and SFA. If you currently attend or have been accepted to any of these schools or even someone who attends nursing school in Texas, can you please comment so I can reach out and ask for your advice? I would basically just like to know if I am wasting my time and money applying to these schools with my HESI scores and my nursing science GPA.

I have not yet taken the TEAS but heard it was harder than the HESI. Today I took the HESI A2 nursing exam. I was very pleased with all my scores with the exception of A&P. So first question: Can you retake just one section? I have seen some people say yes some people say no. Has anyone gone in to just retake ONE? Second question: Should I apply with these scores (will list below), or should I retake the entire thing if I'm not allowed to take just the A&P one. Honestly, I don't know how great I will do if I were to retake some of the sections. I did surprisingly well on vocabulary and I definitely used educated guesses and even just a random guess on some of them. With that being said, I'm pleasantly surprised with that grade and I believe most schools will use your most recent scores. Third question: If I were to retake the entire thing or just a section, is the test the exact same? Similar? I have seen people say they were the exact same and completely different, so what is your experience?

Math: 98%

Grammar:96%

Vocabulary: 92%

Reading: 88%

A&P: 72%

Critical Thinking: 880

I studied hard for A&P but the questions were very random and hard not to mention none of it was really in the study book. It also was a disadvantage to me that there were only 30 questions.

Please comment with any advice you have!!

Thank you!!

- A Girl Who Just Wants to Get Into Nursing School

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Why don't you try umhb? It's not hard to get into at all

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There is also the local satellite campus from PVAMU for nursing. I've heard good things about them too.

Good luck either route.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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I am going to apply but I am very worried about the financial aspect of that school...

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Texas Tech HSC was 875 applied 157 accepted. 3.75 and above to get in. That was for traditional BSN program 2 years ago.

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I was accepted into TWU with a core GPA of 3.4 and a nursing GPA roughly the same. I have taken both the HESI and the TEAS listed below are two of the MAIN differences I encountered,

TEAS-No calculator whatsoever so the math section is purely by hand or a REALLY educated guess

TEAS- more answers that COULD be right. The TEAS is looking for the answer that makes the most sense and is "more correct" than the other answers (if that makes sense).

My TEAS overall was an 84%

I think the one thing that helped me most was I have a previous bachelors degree (which I see you have).

You get a bump for that as well as taking 22 pre req credits at TWU (I may be off a few credits as I didnt take any of my pre reqs there)

My contact person in Houston was Victoria Lewis

She is an advisor and is an awesome guiding light on the whole process!

Good luck and let us know which school you choose.

Btw, you cannot take just one section of the HESI, you have to take all of it over. Be careful in your tries as UT houston only allows 2 times and after that you cant get in with them at all. If you want more info on this send me a PM.

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Try Texas A&M - Commerce, part of the A&M system. It's a new program that's been teaching for 2.5 years now. 3 years ago there were only 100~ applicants and they accepted 42. Right now the program only starts in January each year (app deadline is May 17), but they're trying to arrange having a starting class in Jan and August. They're also building a new state-of-the-art building for the nursing program.

Pros: admission criteria, low applicants, Clinicals in Rockwall, Rowlett, Scottish Rite, Children's Dallas (if you're looking for a job after graduation in Dallas and surrounding area)

Cons: commerce is in the middle of nowhere, long clinical distances in the early AM (if you live in Commerce/up north and have a 6-630am downtown Dallas clinical), some clinicals in Paris, Sulphur Springs, Terrell/Kaufman

Admission Criteria - Texas A&M University-Commerce

Student Guide 2015 - Texas A&M University-Commerce

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i believe you must make at least at 75% (for most schools) in each HESI section to be qualified for admission. Thats what i was told for PVCON and UTHSC

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I would go ahead and take TEAS too because some of those schools require TEAS instead of HESI. Also even if it's not what you necessarily want to do look into the traditional programs at the schools, at least they start twice a year, where as fast bacc at my school at least is only offered once a year.

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Specializes in Cardiac (adult), CC, Peds, MH/Substance.

Dear Scout,

I'll introduce you to a program you've never heard of, since most people haven't, but may be a great option in your situation. Texas Tech HSC has (as far as I'm aware) the fastest program in the state for those who already hold degrees. If there's a faster one, I pity anyone in it, because the TTUHSC 2nd degree program is incredibly intense at 61 semester hours in 11 months. The website says it's 12 months, but it's not. The website also says it's "web-based," but not so much. Sure, you use web schtuff during classes, but expect to be at the hospital and in classrooms.. a lot.

It requires the TEAS-V. I never took the HESI-A2. I knew people studying for it, and they appeared to have much more studying to do than I did, so I'm not sure how they compare but the science/math/etc were very basic. ATI has practice tests you can take online if you want, and since they write the TEAS... if you're worried, worth doing.

The cost is very low, I think under 10K for Texas residents.

It is competitive to get in, and most people have very high GPAs as far as I'm aware. However, they take other factors into account, because they accepted some people who were not in the 3.75+ GPA category as well. I'm not sure how the rubric is scored, but other factors are listed on the admissions page.

There are sites in Dallas, Abilene, Amarillo, Austin, Lubbock, and Odessa. A new site was opened for the VBSN (Veteran) program in San Antonio this year as well, so I suspect at some point a 2nd degree site (VBSN and 2nd Degree BSN take most classes together) will open there at some point too.

Good luck. You're welcome to send me a message if you have specific questions or just want to brain pick. Super program, most people seem to have their job offer of choice a month or two before they even graduate. Has a great reputation in the Dallas area, assume it does elsewhere in the state as well.

If you really want comments on how competitive you are, it would be helpful to know what your overall GPA and science GPA are.

If you want a good feel for how competitive you can or can't be based on your GPAs and how much you could impact that with a stellar TEAS score or other factors, give Sonia Moore a call. She's a straight shooter. Her contact info is on the contacts page.

TTUHSC :: School of Nursing

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I believe I have an overall of 3.6, prereq gpa of 3.2 and science gpa of 3.0

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Specializes in Cardiac (adult), CC, Peds, MH/Substance.

I'd ask Sonia how she thinks you stack up in light of that and/or what you could do to increase your score on the rubric. TEAS score - I'd definitely study and ace it if I were you. You also get points for things like work experience, community service, speaking another language. She should be able to give you a pretty good idea of if you can / how to increase your points enough. The answer in some cases may be "Well, you can take science courses twice. Go on ratemyprofessor.com and find the absolutely easiest microbiology professor and retake it," or something like that. I can't tell you the number of wish-to-be-nursing-students I had in my micro class that were taking it for the second time so they'd have an A instead of B or whatever. Either way, Sonia is super helpful. I think she'll be honest about if it's probably advisable to re-take some classes or whatever.

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