Just applied to UHM fall 2010 nursing program

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I feel silly for posting this but i applied to UHM BSN program about a week ago with my NLN score 112, pre-req 3.3, and cum 2.75... I am kind of stuck right now on what to do while waiting because i've been in school for almost 5 years now and first few years of college, i didn't know i wanted to become a nurse so i kind of played around a bit and took the wrong classes. This explains why i have such a low cum GPA. My counselor told me it's going to take several years to raise my cum GPA to at least 3.5. Right now, i am only taking two classes (psy 240 and eng 271) to fulfill my general req to graduate from UHM.

I wasn't going to apply for fall 2010 because of my low score on the NLN and my GPA but i thought i would just try and see... I would be surprised if i get in. I didn't even score 50%tile on the verbal. Only 41% and 30% on the norm. However, i scored decent in math and science portion. As you can see, verbal is my weakness being that english is not my first language but i am taking another NLN in July and will prepare for the test this semester. My dad is worried about me and i'm in my 5th year in college and i'm just afraid what i should look into if i don't get into nursing school soon. I need to find alternatives so i'm not stuck waiting to get in. I just don't want to waste anymore time.

Should i look into CNA? LPN? Or should i just keep retaking classes to get better grades and apply to UHM?

What is better? Retake all the pre-req classes to get better pre-req GPA, or keep taking classes to raise cumulative GPA, or study hard for the NLN and score high in July, or go for CNA or LPN? Please help... I am also going to apply to HCC in Hilo... I need all the help and strength i can get. Thanks...

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you're limited on your pre-req retakes for UHM so you're not going to be able to raise it unless you take different courses (e.g. taking the 300 level A&P). other than A&P and Microbio you've got some flexibility in the courses you use so if your bad grades are in those, look into taking other courses which meet those requirements. rasing your cGPA is very difficult once you've got a lot of credits so it's probably best to focus on your pre-req GPA and NLN.

on a side note, i got in with a 2.5 cGPA but i had a 4.0 pre req and 150ish NLN.

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Yes i did take A&P 301 lecture and lab last semester and got a C in Lecture and a B in lab. I did use the 6 credits that you are allowed to retake for a better grade which are microbiology lab, a&p 142 lecture and lab... I just need to take diff classes of all the non-science courses required in pre-reqs that i got a lower grade in. If i get straight A's this semester, my pre-req GPA should go up to 3.5. I'm also retaking the test to get a better score.

My goal now is to raise my pre-req gpa and get a good score on the NLN since trying to raise the cum gpa now is pointless, time consuming and only waste of money. Would that be good enough to apply for spring 2011? I hope so... I'm 23 going on 24 this year and this is my 5th year in college with no degree. I am at fault for not studying hard enough in the beginning but i am willing to do what it takes to get into the nursing program... I am a fighter and i believe that i can do this!

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jellyishh, how did your application go? We are in the same exact situation.. right now I' m confused if I should still continue applying at manoa ( 'cause of my low cgpa) or just move on and take another ruote..

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I didn't get in and this was about a year ago. But that's ok, i am retaking the nln hoping for a higher score. I just need to do really good on the reading comprehension and vocab section. I've been trying to improve my gpa. My cum gpa is now 2.9 and pre-req gpa is about 3.5. After spring semester, i hope to get a cum gpa of 3.0 and take a class in the summer to get a even higher cum gpa for a better chance to get in.

Please don't give up if this is something you really want to do. I've read many posts on this website and there are so many inspiring people out there who have similar gpa as me but worked their way out and got in. There is hope for you if you are in a similar situation as me. I've been getting A's in my classes. I've never been an A student and my last semster, i took a sociology class and got my first A+! It was a pretty easy class but i worked hard and it was very satisfying to see an A+ on the record. I'm retaking my A&P 2 for the third time to get an A. Third times the charm lol. Just believe in yourself, you can do it if you want this bad enough like i do!

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what you said somehow gave me a hope, thank you! I actually took a semester off last semester because I was really confused and didn't know what else to take. I'm done with all my pre-reqs and most of them are A's and B's, my only problem really is my very low cgpa 2.47. I was so frustrated and feel like I'm in a hopeless situation. I have never applied yet though, I'm going back to school this spring but at KCC and thinking of going to MLT prog instead. Just like you I've been in school for 5yrs now, I do really want to be a nurse but at this age of 24 I feel like I need to accomplish something.

If you don't mind me asking, how did you raise your cgpa? did you just retake the pre-reqs? don't we only have certain number of credits for retake?

Sorry for the long post. Thank you and good luck!

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what you said somehow gave me a hope, thank you! I actually took a semester off last semester because I was really confused and didn't know what else to take. I'm done with all my pre-reqs and most of them are A's and B's, my only problem really is my very low cgpa 2.47. I was so frustrated and feel like I'm in a hopeless situation. I have never applied yet though, I'm going back to school this spring but at KCC and thinking of going to MLT prog instead. Just like you I've been in school for 5yrs now, I do really want to be a nurse but at this age of 24 I feel like I need to accomplish something.

If you don't mind me asking, how did you raise your cgpa? did you just retake the pre-reqs? don't we only have certain number of credits for retake?

Sorry for the long post. Thank you and good luck!

cGPA is based on ALL your courses at UHM. The only way to raise it is to keep taking courses and getting A's. The way UHM calculates cGPA, there is not really any benefit to retaking courses unless it will be an easy A the 2nd/3rd/4th time around. But an A in a retake counts the same as an A in a completely new course. So you've really gotta pick courses that you know you can do well in.

if your cGPA is a problem, KCC is always an option. their admission policies do not factor in cGPA, only pre-req GPA. I was orginally plannin on going to KCC b/c i thought it was not possible for me to get into UHM but my pre-req GPA and NLN were enough to offset my cGPA.

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cGPA is based on ALL your courses at UHM. The only way to raise it is to keep taking courses and getting A's. The way UHM calculates cGPA, there is not really any benefit to retaking courses unless it will be an easy A the 2nd/3rd/4th time around. But an A in a retake counts the same as an A in a completely new course. So you've really gotta pick courses that you know you can do well in.

if your cGPA is a problem, KCC is always an option. their admission policies do not factor in cGPA, only pre-req GPA. I was orginally plannin on going to KCC b/c i thought it was not possible for me to get into UHM but my pre-req GPA and NLN were enough to offset my cGPA.

Well i heard it's A LOT harder to get into the KCC program no matter what... even if i have all As in all my pre-reqs and do decent on my NLN, and have a bad cgpa, don't they still look at the cgpa a little to determine who gets in or not bc of the amount of people applying? I don't mind getting into whichever program but i've been focusing on getting into the manoa program because i prefer BS degree over AS.

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Well i heard it's A LOT harder to get into the KCC program no matter what... even if i have all As in all my pre-reqs and do decent on my NLN, and have a bad cgpa, don't they still look at the cgpa a little to determine who gets in or not bc of the amount of people applying? I don't mind getting into whichever program but i've been focusing on getting into the manoa program because i prefer BS degree over AS.

Depends what you mean by harder

If your cGPA is so bad it'll take you several semester of straight A's at UHM to raise it, your time might better spent finishing & aceing all your KCC pre/coreqs and raising your NLN. AFAIK KCC does not look at cGPA. In any case, every campuses's cGPA is separate. So unless you failed a bunch of courses at KCC as well, your cGPA there shouldn't be too bad.

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