I'm not sure what to do next!? I greatly appreciate any and all advice!

[amandakatherine]

Hello! I am going to be graduating with my Bachelors degree in Public Health next December, however, my heart is in Nursing! I also knew I wanted to be a nurse and that is what I originally went to school for. Long story short, I really messed up my freshman and part of my soph year in college and my grades were not great and unfortunately this is when I took all of my pre-req for most schools. I turned my grades around and have been receiving straight As for the past 2 years and have a 3.6 gpa

I know I will not be able to get into a nursing school with my grades from college, but I was wondering if I could basically start over and apply with my high-school transcripts again even though I will have just graduated with a BS in Pub. Health.

Does anybody have any ideas as to what I could do? I've looked into associate degree programs but I really was to have a BSN and would rather not have to do an RN to BSN program in the future. Thanks!

[WookieeRN, BSN, MSN, RN]

They will still request transcripts from ALL colleges attended, even if you don't want to transfer the credit. They have ways of finding out whether or not you've attended other colleges, the easiest being via financial aid. Just be honest and up front. You will look worse if they find out you lied to them, up to and including removing you from the program if the don't find out until afterwards.

[ORNurseCOS]

I think you'd be surprised what schools you could get into.

For one, your transcript history will tell the story of your progress and is a very common thing.

Schools are very interested in your test scores not just your GPA and individual grades.

If you do well on the TEAS and the you score high in the areas where you had trouble that will go a long way to securing your spot in school.

[ThatBigGuy]

For one, your transcript history will tell the story of your progress and is a very common thing.

Schools are very interested in your test scores not just your GPA and individual grades.

This.

In addition, go ahead and complete your current degree. Nursing schools like applicants with previous degrees, because you've proven you can complete a degree. Combining a bad early GPA with a stellar TEAS score, a completed degree, and a great application essay explaining how much you're matured and grown as a person since your early grade struggles will go a long way toward getting you in to programs.

You need to be up front and honest about your previous grades and supply all transcripts.

Now, all that being said, the further your cumulative GPA is below 3.0, the longer your odds become. If this is true, then you'll want to look at retaking some of your worst grades, even if they are completely unrelated to nursing.