How was your journey to nursing school?

[inikib]

Does anyone else feel hopeless about being actually accepted into nursing schools? Or for those of you who are in nursing school: was it a real struggle?

I started off at age 18 at CUNY Lehman College - I thought I was going to do nursing but I had no idea I even had to apply to a separate program. I thought it was like any other major... lol, wrong. I did very poorly in college as a teenager, my GPA was absolute garbage.

Age 23 I started going to LaGuardia Community College, where I thought I would do the RN program. I got all A's but then discovered from my peers that an ASN is basically useless and I needed a BSN. After 2 years my GPA was 3.9.

Age 25 (now) I transfered to CUNY Hunter so I could apply to their nursing program, only to discover that my Lehman College awful GPA would be incorporated into my new beautiful GPA, therefor completely ruining any chance I had at being accepted into Hunter College.

After 3 schools and numerous let downs, I feel overwhelmed and sad. But: I refuse to give up. I am thinking Long Island University will be my best bet, and am hoping I can get scholarships to help with the high tuition.

My theory on LIU: The reason why so many people complain about how awful and difficult it is, is because LIU accepts lower GPA students. People state that more than half of their students drop out, but maybe if they were more strict about accepting people their drop-out rate would be as low as any other school? I am sure I could be wrong, also sure they are just money hungry, but that's just me trying to be hopeful.

Anyway, please share your journey to nursing school!

[WanderingWilder, ASN]

You should apply at LaGardia, you can go for a RN to BSN after you graduate.

[ahleigh12]

I get where you are coming from. I originally was going for pharmacy in LIU Brooklyn, it was incredibly pricey for something that I found out I didn't want to do my whole life (I'm more of a hands on, instant gratification person). I ended up going to City Tech & then Queens College & was unfortunately screwed by the entire CUNY system with my transfer credits and such. I ended up taking a break all together and tried to figure out what I really wanted to do. I decided on nursing and went for an ADN in a small private school in which the course work was fast paced, challenging, and full of information. I finished my ADN on time and right afterwards took my NCLEX and enrolled in a BSN program online. In total, it will have taken me 2.5 years to get my BSN. I'm currently working as an RN with my ADN, but I must admit it is very hard to find a job aside from home care or nursing home. If this is where you want to practice, then starting out with an ADN is fine. I've tried these settings and found that they were not for me. I definitely see myself as a floor nurse. I'm more have about 4 months left until I get my BSN, but getting a hospital in a job, I've found is either luck or based on who you know. One of my coworkers has a BSN and still cannot find a hospital position after 1 year of working at our job, another took 2 years before getting picked up by a hospital. A few classmates of mine got picked up by hospitals within 4 months because they knew management. So you really have to weigh your options here.

[EllaBella1, BSN]

If you can leave the NYC area for school I would strongly suggest doing so. I had a similar story. Went to a college when I was younger and graduated with a 2.9 GPA. Did my pre-reqs at a community college, had a 3.9 GPA. Was accepted to/ went to NYU for one semester in their ABSN program, but had trouble obtaining student loans for the second semester. Ended up taking a year off and applying to a SUNY school ABSN program, got in, and finished my degree at LESS than the cost of one semester of NYU tuition for their whole program. I 100% promise you the additional cost of a private school is not worth it. If you can leave the city for a year for a 12 month ABSN you will not regret graduating with so much less debt.