High school GPA haunting me!!! Need input.

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Hello All!

I am a new poster to the all nurses community, however everynow and then, I like to come on and read inspiring stories! With that being said I'm feeling rather anxious. I applied back in December to the only school I would really like to attend nursing at. The school is very competetive much like many other schools in my area. Anyway, my college transcript is good. I have a 3.5 GPA but, my high-school GPA is haunting me. To spare you all the details I'll just say my home life was a mess. I just recieved a copy of my transcript and my HS cumulative GPA is a 1.73.... I am absolutley terrified that I won't be accepted because of my HS GPA. I was asked by the Senior Admissions Counselor there to write a personal statement explaining why I did so poorly in high school, how I was able to turn my grades around and why I chose nursing. ( keep in mind I graduated from HS almost 7 years ago)

Any input or words of incouragment are welcomed here!

Thank you!

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Yes, it turns out that all those years that our parents cautioned us that our grades would follow us the rest of our lives, they knew what they were talking about -- who knew?? When I applied to grad school, with a 3.8 from my original diploma program and 4.0 from my BSN completion program, I got asked in an interview why/how I had flunked a badminton class I had taken (for PE requirement) in college the first time around, 20 years earlier (that school ended up accepting me).

It sounds like, by asking you to write the statement, they are giving you a chance rather than just turning you away, which is good. I would not go into too much "gory" detail about your home situation at that time (stick to a general, broad summary), and focus on the part about how your turned your situation and grades around. As for why you want to go into nursing, one helpful tip I can give you (having worked on admission committees as a faculty member in the past) is to come up with something more specific and self-reflective than "I want to help people" -- that's become a standing joke around nursing faculties and, if that's all you've got, your essay will go to the bottom of the stack. If you have access to a college writing center, they can help you with the basic "nuts and bolts" of a good essay.

Best wishes for your journey!

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I can't imagine your HS GPA will hold much weight since you have done so well with college level material. Once your accepted to the school, I don't think the nursing program will even look at your HS GPA.

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Thank you for your kind words! Being the student I am today is very different and it's hard to even grasp that I'm doing so well. As far as listening to my parents about things, you're absolutley correct! As a mother of two children now, I try and teach them the importance of learning so that once they get into more rigorous subjects, they know how to handle it and will enjoy learning. ( wishful thinking, I know, hehe)

As far as my personal statement essay, I had absolutley no trouble writing that. I'm happy to see that you suggested not writing the "gory" parts of my home life because I didn't. I don't think that is really the crux of what admissions counselors are looking for. I feel that I answered everything to the best of my ability. It's funny you say not to write " because I want to help people" as the reason for wanting to be a nurse. My sister is going to school for her pre-reqs right now for nursing and she tells people ALL THE TIME that the reason she wants to be a nurse is to help people. I know she means well and she's just trying to cut her conversation short but I laugh and tell her that people working at Mc.Donalds are helping people and we both laugh.

Anyway, sorry for such a long response. Thank you again for the kind words!

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I thought the same thing as well but they requested it. Fingers crossed!

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Doubt it'll badly affect you.. since your GPA now is pretty good!

-Sent from my iPhone

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