Kiss My Nursing Dream Goodbye?

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Hi everyone, I am an 18 year old college freshman in NY. I started off my freshman year terribly. I had no idea what I wanted to do and just randomly picked accounting. I unofficially withdrew from my English class because I didn't know any better (long story) which basically gave me a F, failed my accounting class and I passed my speech class

with a B+. So technically I have no GPA and I'm currently on academic probation. At the ending of my fall semester I decided that nursing IS what I wanted to do and no matter how hard it will be, I KNOW it will be rewarding at the end. However I intend on just taking my perquisites at my current community college and then transferring to a four year school by Fall 2018 for a bsn program. After tons of research I feel like it's impossible to get into a four year nursing program with my first semester grades. I am looking at SUNY Farmingdale, Medgar Evers, and SUNY Brockport What am i suppose to do? I feel so lost and losing hope.

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Contact representatives of the programs you're interested in for guidance and advice. Every school has different admission criteria. The only sure thing is that a "dream" is not enough.

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You are 18 years old. Way too soon to kiss ANY dream goodbye.

These are questions for your academic advisor.

Completing your nursing pre- reqs at a community college is an excellent plan.

Take deep breaths.. listen to your advisors. You are FAR from lost.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Moved to another forum.

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ok, you had a rough start. Lots of people do. What matters now is what you DO about it. Like the others said, contact the schools you want to go to for nursing and talk to one of their advisers. Lay out where you are and find out what you need to do to get back into the game. You are on the sidelines now but that doesn't mean you can't turn it around to become a starter! (yes too many sports analogies for one post sorry!)

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Specializes in Mental Health.

Is the community college where you did these classes, too? If not, why not just start over? Also, why not just aim for an associate's degree, start working as an RN, and finish your BSN as you work and have them pay for it?

Before you do anything though I would make sure you are actually ready for the work involved. A&P will make mincemeat out of you if you aren't ready to put in the time necessary. You are still very young, you could always start as a nursing assistant or even a LPN and work your way up.

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Is the community college where you did these classes, too? If not, why not just start over? Also, why not just aim for an associate's degree, start working as an RN, and finish your BSN as you work and have them pay for it?

If the plan is to get the ADN first, then work while in school for BSN, that's a great plan. But be careful that your plan also includes how to pay for it, as it is becoming increasingly rare to find employers that will pay more than a few bucks toward a higher degree, if they pay anything at all. And on top of that they will oftentimes have a requirement that if they hire you as an ADN you must get the BSN within a specific timeframe (and they aren't paying for it).

Only saying this as a cautionary note, you should make financial plans that allow YOU to pay for continuing education if/when your employer decides not to.

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Usually if you retake the exact class, the new grade "washes away" the first grade.

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Excuse me???

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Excuse me???

I'm sorry I don't know who should answer this, who is it directed to?

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So, you screwed up at a community college. That is not a very good way to show any 4 year college that you have what it takes to get through nursing school---failing an accounting class, "unofficially" dropping an English class & getting an "F" and passing a speech class, when those were the only 3 classes you took in one semester looks pretty bad.

My question is, who was your advisor that recommended that you major in accounting? What subjects did you like in high school? Did you do well in science & math? If not, you're going to have a hard time getting through the nursing curriculum. Because you have to still take pre-requisites, it leads me to believe that you did not max out on science classes in high school, and you are at a great disadvantage because of that. You really need to speak to a college advisor (or even go back & talk to one of the advisors in your high school) to explore what career options are good for you. If you can't stand the sight of blood or cringe at the thought of a syringe & needle, nursing is not the place for you. The nursing curriculum at any college is rigorous and demanding. You will have to buckle down in a big way to get through 4 years of it. Nursing has minimum required GPA's to stay in the program, too. You can't skate along with C's and expect to do well on the NCLEX exam. College-level anatomy & physiology, organic & inorganic chemistry, microbiology & pharmacology are not easy courses, and you will likely have to take a few of them together. They will be far, far more difficult than the English, accounting & speech classes you took that you ended up failing.

How do you "KNOW" it will be rewarding? What have you based your decision on? The stark fact is that nurses are having an extremely difficult time finding a job, especially if they get associate's degrees. You can forget about getting a job at any NYC hospital without a bachelor's degree. Many teaching hospitals in Nassau & Suffolk are the same way---they want their nurses to have bachelor's degrees. If you can't get a job, it is not going to be "rewarding" at all, especially if you have to start paying back student loans 6 months after you graduate.

My advice would be to make sure nursing is definitely what you want to do before you waste money on something you come to realize you don't like. Take some time off, get a job & think about it. Talk to an advisor. Talk to people that are currently nurses & ask them what they do on a daily basis.

Don't just jump into something haphazardly because you blew it in your first attempt at something else.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Well first, I know hindsight is 20/20 but pre reqs are good to start with & taking them seriously is another. However its past & I hope whatever lessons are to he learned are learned.

If you're in Community College, re-take the classes you need, talk to local nursing programs (dont forget SUNY Stony Brook has an excellent program & CUNY Queensborough Community in Bayside used to have a top notch Associates program) see who will work with you & what pre-reqs they'll accept.

We are all human & mistakes are made all the time. Talking to advisors & admissions officials may help guide through your next steps. Be honest & work hard in your current school. If your grades going forward are strong it may help convince other schools of your dedication.

You CAN do this but it may not be the way you planned. Stick with it, you'll get there.

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