How to up my chances for nursing school?

[ashlaine83]

I am applying to the BSN RN program in October; classes start in January 2010. I need some advice on how to up my chances of getting accepted. It is a brand new program, just accredited, and this would be the first cohort of BSN students at the school. I already have a BA in English. I worked in a dermatology office as a medical records clerk, and I have spent the past 5 years being a caregiver (sometimes primary) to my dad, while he has recovered from spinal fusion surgery, radiation/immunotherapy/chemotherapy, and now kidney surgery. I just started the Fall semester, and after this, I will only have 3 pre-req's left (a Spanish class, Art History and Public Speaking. Super easy). I am retaking Chemistry this semester; I got a D in it over the summer, despite working my butt off; also taking Microbiology and Anatomy. I got an A in Statistics and a B in Human Physiology.

The required minimum GPA is 2.75, and I am right under that, b/c I was an idiot a couple of years ago and didn't withdraw from classes and ended up with several F's on my transcript. If it weren't for that, I would be well over a 3.0.

Any suggestions on how to up my chances? My nursing advisor, who is also a nursing professor, told me she thinks I make a good candidate. I have no idea how many applicants there will be.

[caliotter3]

At this point I would say the best thing you can do is to get As in Micro and Anatomy, no easy task. Also, As in the other courses this term will bring up your GPA. And of course, an A in your chem retake. The higher you can get from that minimum GPA, the better your chance. Good luck.

[Elizabeth K.]

I would talk to the advisor and find out where you need to be in order to be competitive. The school I want to attend offers advising sessions where they go over this. They told us how many students get accepted, the average number of applications, the GPA needed to be competitive and what other things they look at that strengthens your application. This session was really helpful.

One example is: the minimum GPA is 2.5; however, you need a 3.7 or 3.8 minimum to be competitive. Another is, they give you more points if you have already taken some of the corequisite courses.

Those are things I found out at the advisory session. If your school doesn't offer them, speak to the advisor to get this info.

[45whenimdone]

When you received the "F's" did you take and pass any other classes that semester? If not, or if you did bad in those as well, talk with your counselor. I know at my CC if you do poorly one semester you can petition it off your transcript if you did one semester afterwards passing all your courses. you should check. The worse they could say is 'no". right?

good luck!

[PacoUSA, BSN, RN]

EVERY school seems to be different! That's what I have seen ... you definitely should sit down with the school(s) you are considering. Even though schools publish their minimum GPA cutoffs, the reality is schools are increasingly presenting applicants with averages WAY above those, thereby making the actual competitive cutoff much higher. Don't settle for a nursing school's answer of the average GPA in their last class, which could be as high as 3.7 (as is the case with one school I am considering), you want to know what was the lowest GPA of someone that was accepted (if they even give you that info) so you can realistically gauge if you stand a chance @ that school. But an average alone also tells you something about the applicant pool: even if there were a lot of 4.0's, there must have been some lower than 3.7 to bring down the average - find out HOW low.

By the way, I have seen nurses with F's on their transcripts get into nursing school, even accelerated programs. They were however able to explain somewhere on their application what caused them to earn those grades. Better that than to let them conclude why you got F's. The key is to ace everything you do going forward - you can only do so much to change the past.