I need advice. I am worried about my GPA.

[ctdavis39]

Hello All,

When I first went to college ten years ago, I did a lot of screwing around. The result of this is a terrible cumulative GPA (2.22 right now). However, in the last two years I have finished all but one of my nursing pre-requisites (Nutrition, Psychology, Anatomy, Microbiology) with a 4.0 at my local community college. I am currently enrolled in Physiology, which is the last on my list and I am certain I will receive a 4.0 in this course as well.

I have recently begun looking deeper into the application process for various schools on the West Coast and am beginning to feel very discouraged. Most of the schools I am looking at require at least a 2.5 GPA and I am far from even that. I have heard that some of the private schools, like Denver School of Nursing are a little more forgiving of poor GPA and I am wondering if this might be a decent route for me. I do have work experience as a medical assistant of one year at a dermatology office. This is actually a very diverse position, as I do everything from rooming patients and taking their history, to scribing for the doctor, to assisting in surgeries and many things in between.

All comments and questions welcome. Thank you for reading!

[NurseGirl525, ASN, RN]

Every program is different. Most have a min gpa of 2.5 to apply. After that some just look at certain prereq classes and some will look at the entire gpa. CA is a very competitive state.

You will need to research schools and talk to admission officers. They will be able to give you the info you need.

But to be frank, you are in a very difficult position and it's going to be hard to get in anywhere with a 2.2.

[ctdavis39]

Thank you for your input. I think I'll probably end in an ADN program where they only look at prereq GPA and moving forward from there. My next step is contacting some of the programs I've researched and just laying it out there to see what they think. I just got on here to confirm what I already knew to be true.

[windsurfer8, BSN, RN]

Your "reason" for horrific grades makes zero difference. There are single mothers working 2 jobs who get perfectly good grades. So don't even mention that. You need to contact the actual SCHOOL you want to attend and lay it out there for them and see if they will even accept an application from you. You say you "heard" something about a school. From who? The actual school? Get facts and move on. The key is you absolutely CANNOT get grades like that in the medical profession...it seems you have learned your lesson. So start doing the work and contact schools. Good luck.