How important are the grades?

[pmgamber]

Ok, I know it may seem like a silly question, but really, is that all they look at or care about? I am in CA and interested primarily in CA schools. I am applying to 1 RN only program, 1 private ELMSN, 2 public ELMSN. I am currently in my last (hopefully) semester and am working on apps now; taking the GRE in 2 weeks.

I have gotten A's and B's (mostly solid B's) in the majority of my pre-req classes. I learn the material and work hard to retain it. I'm so afraid though, that all they'll look at are my transcripts and I'll be out. Any advice? I think my 'total package' (HA!) is a lot to offer, even though the grades aren't all A's. Do they look at the total package?

[casi, ASN, RN]

It really depends on the school you are applying too. There are some that look at just grades and some that look at other things as well. You really need to check with the schools to see what admission is based on.

Depending on admission criteria you can get into a school with a lower GPA (ie 3.something), but you need to find the school that looks at more than GPA.

[shock-me-sane]

I just wanted to point you to the graduate forum. Most people on this are looking for ASN, BSN or LPN.

Best of luck to you!

https://allnurses.com/forums/f223/

[3rdgenRN2B]

My school looks at your GPA for all classes taken in the past 5 years. Anything before that, they only look at the grades for the classes that transfer into the nursing program...

[Asherah, BSN, RN]

I would definitely recommend investigating the policies of each individual school/program you are applying to. The DEMSN program I applied to last year (UCLA MECN), only looks at the last 60 semester (or 90 quarter) units of your undergrad degree, so no matter how well you did in your science pre-reqs post grad, you can't be competitive unless you aced your upper division undergrad.

This is just an example of how narrow the GPA scope can be, however there are also schools that look at your entire cumulative GPA. In terms of whether your pre-req grades are competitive (being mostly B's), again you will want to contact the program director or admissions officers to get an idea of what is competitive.

Good luck!

[LMRN10]

Definitely depends on your school. With ours, as long as you have a 2.5 GPA, you are considered, but they don't look at your GPA (other than to verify that you have at least a 2.5) to determine who is in and who is out. Ours is solely based on our NLN test.

I'd call the Nursing department at those schools and ask them how they decide who is accepted to the program. Or see if it is listed online anywhere.