I made poor judgments during my university days and need some real advice.

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Hello. Please be very honest with me and not sugarcoat anything. I graduated with a bachelor's degree in History with a 2.17 because of not being focused and goal-oriented when I attended UC Santa Barbara. Being alone and having the freedom to do whatever I want really caught up to me. My first 2 semesters, I failed 4 classes. I barely graduated with a 2.17 gpa which I am terribly embarrassed about. I was in a rut and felt utterly hopeless about life and wanted to give up. I decided to enroll at El Camino College, a local community college near where I live. I decided that I wanted to pursue a career as a RN. I currently have a 3.47 gpa in my prequisites. In my core classes, I have an A in Microbiology, B in Anatomy, and B in Physiology. I needed advice as to how I can improve my chances of getting into an ADN program. Also, if I don't transfer over my transcripts from the University would they somehow find out? I so regret not taking my education seriously in my early 20's and it has definitely caught up to me. I would love to hear from people who are in similar situations as well as current RN's who can give me some real advice. Thank you so much!

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I managed to slap together an AA with a 1.7 gpa with my first try at college so I know exactly where you are coming from.

It depends on the school policy so start at the advising office. For me when I applied to the school they only transferred classes with a C or better and the rest magically disappeared. I took a bunch of classes I knew I would do well in to pull up the gpa to the required level and then applied to the nursing program. If that is not how the program you are applying to works you can go back to the first school and retake the classes to cancel out the bad grades...or scrap those credits and start all over again.

If I managed to do it you can too but you are going to work for it.

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Specializes in PACU.

Don't withhold transcripts. It is extremely ill-advised, because they will view you a lot differently if they later find out through a student clearinghouse that you willingly withheld transcripts from them than if you were to submit them with subpar grades. It could have horrible consequences for you.

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Specializes in Prior military RN/current ICU RN..

Agree with beachy.. ALWAYS be honest. It is a vital start to your career. Go talk to someone at the school you want to attend and try to come up with an actual game plan as to how (if) you can do it. Just lay it out there and most important if you get in..totally change whatever you did on your first degree. They give no quarter in nursing school. I saw students there one day and gone the next.

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oh I never thought of that, they are pretty strict about things, good point.

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I really appreciate all the feedback you guys gave me. I am willing to work hard and do whatever it takes to be a RN. RBD the problem with retaking some of the classes I failed on is the fact they were upper division courses which cant be made up at a CC. I am really encouraged about your story though and how you were able to rise to the occasion. it really lifted my spirits up so I thank you for that. I guess I will be completely honest and see what happens. Thanks for all the comments and I hope to join you all as a fellow RN!

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Could you go to trade tech??? not to far from el camino and they will acccept you as long as you finish your pre rec with a c or above. That would be a nice safety net....

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Also a lot of the schools in the LA area use the lottery system that may help you. You just may have a crappy commute

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You would have to retake them at the same school to cancel out the old grade.

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muirite, are you referring to LA trade tech?

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RBD, the problem is that I cannot go back to UCSB since I already received my degree there.

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In my school, only pre-req courses are factored and only the higher of two attempts if the first attempt at the class is a fail. For me personally, I had failed some general classes that counted as a pre-req because I simply was not driven or focused on anything. My overall GPA was low, around 2.8, (I had a .5 at one point) after retaking the failed classes, but my Pre-Req GPA was closer to 3.8. I used that drastic change in my GPA to illustrate my change of academic lifestyle. Show them you're not the same flippant student you used to be! Good luck

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