I struggled my way financially and educationally, almost got through community college with an AS degree and made an attempt to fulfill the nurse program pre-requisites. My grades fell and I was disqualified from financial aid. Finally, I am taking a break from school to re-evaluate and gather funds.
I can appeal for financial aid when I return. My GPA is now only 1.79. I have about 6-8 classes left for an AS degree including Algebra ii, Statistics and 1 or 2 English classes and the 4 science pre-requisites for nurse program (anatomy, physiology, microbiology, and chemistry). I have no background in science so I want to get some foundation before I do those classes. Which science classes should I take before taking those pre-requisites? I have completed Nutrition already. Should I take Biology for example (I never did in high school)? Would Physics help if I first complete Algebra and Geometry (should I take this class even though it's not required to get a better background in math) and Statistics? Or other science classes? I think my high school education did not prepare me for this education level. Would you recommend computer classes or English classes or other? Any classes you think helped you to be a better nurse student?
One more important question is how much will my overall GPA, and how much will my pre-req. science classes GPA be taken into account and affect my chances at getting into a nurse program?
From my experience counselors at the community colleges are useless. Talk to the nursing department or students currently enrolled in the nursing program. The department specified GPA may be 2.5 for the science classes but if 80% the applicants are at least 3.7 GPAs then there's no way you can get in with anything less. The demand far outweighs the supply. I can't speak for any other state, but in California colleges choose the top students because they have a higher chance at passing the program and passing the NCLEX on the first try.
Bottom line... You need A's. Straight A's. I'm a straight A student (one B) and that B killed my admission to CSUSacramento. I'm at American River College doing an ADN program and it is HARD. I've never worked this hard to pass a class before.
I might be applying to that ADN program too :) It's on my loooong ADN list lol. I'm chipping away at the list, applying to all the colleges on it which I already qualify for based off completed pre-reqs... I was accepted to a BSN out of state once before.. I hope I can get into an ADN program here in California!
How long is their wait-list, based off their lottery, if that is their system? As somebody else said... you might want to start over at another community college and re-do your degree if possible, though I know that's hard bc of re-assessment tests and such. Plus if you have an AA or AS already, the pre-requisites for many classes don't need to be re-done or the assessment tests.
You might want to re-take some of those failed classes along with your nursing pre-reqs and get higher grades. I've looked at some CC's, and under 2.0 causes academic probation or dismissal. Are you on academic probation? As far as I know, as long as you wait enough for the lottery systems (idk how many years for each - haven't asked yet) you should get in w/ at least the min, but I think some colleges like American River use BOTH merit and lottery. I.e., they pick out people with the highest merit scores in their point systems til their cut-off score. It depends on each program. Good lucK! :)
Students in nursing school have to take multiple difficult classes simultaneously. Taking one prerequisite at a time may help you improve your grades enough to be competitive for admission but may not help you develop the study and time management skills to successfully navigate nursing school.
You are going to have an extremely difficult if not impossible time getting in. If you have a 1.79 and haven't taken the difficult sciences, you are seriously in trouble. Not to mention if you got extremely lucky and got in..... Nursing school itself is difficult. Stop wasting money and pick something else.
Nibbles1
556 Posts
No one in my class had less than a 4.0 gpa. These schools can cherry pick who they want.