Learning Disability and Getting Into A Program!

NCRNMDM, ASN, RN · Apr 9, 2011

I would go to another school, honestly. If that school no longer offers some of the classes that you need to retake, and they are adamant in their admissions policy, then you don't need to waste your time with them. Go to another school, start fresh, and keep your head up. Having ADHD does not make you less capable, less intelligent, or less of a person. You can overcome your ADHD, and you can get through nursing school despite it. I know nurses who are incredibly ADHD, so bad that they are on multiple medications, and they got through school and made wonderful nurses. Don't let this little bump in the road through you completely off your path. Hang in there, I know it's tough, but if you start somewhere new you can retake all the classes you need, try and transfer the classes you did well in, and then apply for nursing school there. Don't give up on your dream! Good luck!

unionnurse12 · Apr 9, 2011

My original university no longer offers the classes I need to retake and my current school doesn't offer them either. I have been doing perfect since being on my meds and finding my true calling to be a nurse. My GPA as a business major was a 1.9 and now My nursing classes GPA is a 3.2. I wish I could change school to get a fresh start but around this area all pervious GPAs are taken into the averaging of grades. In Chem, A&P1&2, Stats, Micro,and Patho I have a GPA of 3.5 (I have taken all those in the last 18months)!!! I wouldn't be making those kind of grades if I couldn't cut it in nursing classes. Even with a small school where only 64 people applied I guess I'm still just a number instead of a person.

Student4_life · Apr 9, 2011

I am sorry to hear the bad news.

Even if they just look at your 3.0 since recording treatment and your 3.5 science GPA there are still boatloads of candidates out there trying to get into school and those grades are not going to cut it in a program that looks solely at GPA. However, there are alot of programs that look at the whole package (essay, resume, VOLUNTEER WORK, letters of rec, as well as grades and test scores) and it would be to your advantage to seek out those schools.

purevintage · Apr 10, 2011

I am also in a situation where I'm trying to raise my GPA, so maybe I can help.

If you cannot retake the failing classes because they are not offered, consider simply taking NEW classes. If you take a new class and get a grade better than your current GPA, you will raise your GPA. This wont raise your grade as much as repeating a course with an F, but it still puts you in the right direction.

You said you had a GPA of 2.5, so I think you need to shoot for at least a B to raise that GPA; BUT an A would raise it more.

The amount that you can raise your GPA by with taking a new class will also depend on how many credits you have attempted so far. If you have taken only a few classes (pass or fail) then taking a new class (and getting an A or B) would raise it more than if you've takin a TON of classes already.

You should talk to an academic advisor who can look at your transcripts and help you figure out what you need to do to raise the GPA to meet the requirement. If you find a good advisor, he or she will look at the number of credits you have taken and re-compute your hypothetical GPA if you were to take another class.

One last thought. Try not to think of your school as punishing you. They have rules that apply to everyone, and those rules serve a good purpose. They want to make sure that the will only accept students into the program that have a good chance of passing the program. Now that you have your diagnosis, you have the power to show that you can pass in a way that they can understand; give them GPA that meets their requirements. It wont be quick and easy, but what is anymore?

Best of luck to you!

jennylouwho · Apr 10, 2011

If it's your total GPA that you need to increase, it's time to find some classes to take that will bump that GPA up for you - I found Sociology to be very easy and interesting. I took a Humanities class (which will help for a BSN later on as well), again another easy but interesting class (for me). What classes have you done really well in, that didn't take a large amount of time? Take classes like those.

unionnurse12 · Apr 10, 2011

I took Sociology last fall and received a 98 in the class, I'm taking another sociology class this spring and currently have an A in that class. My problem is as of the end of the spring term I will have 129 credit hours and 24 of those hours are F's and 12 of those hours are no longer offered by the pervious school I attended. In all reality I only need 60 something quality points to obtain a 2.8 GPA but the school feels that I can not take 12 hours over the summer. After some thinking over the weekend how can a program judge a student by just a piece of paper without speaking with the person and getting to know them? A student could have a 4.0 GPA but get into the program and not have the emotional ability to handle the stress and clinical situations they nursing students come across? I have a friend at the local community college who is in her first term of nursing school and out of the 90 who were accepted 10 have already failed out, 4 were caught cheating, and several others just decided it wasn't for them. Many of these people could have been weeded out with just a simple interview or some type of intro to nursing class as part of a pre-req. When hospitals are sooooo under staffed because of a lack of nurses to the point 1 nurse has 10 or more patients it becomes a case of life or death if you truly think about it. Ok I'm getting off my soap box!

Thanks everyone for the advice in this time of need!

rachie_roo · Jun 2, 2011

You should look into transferring! I transferred from Union to Memphis. I know everyone loves Union but there are other great programs in West TN.

unionnurse12 · Jun 2, 2011

I looked into transferring but there is no way i will get into Memphis Program! I would have to retake all my classes to get a 4.0 GPA! I'm truly at a point where I have no clue what to do!

rachie_roo · Jun 2, 2011

Well if you could get your cumulative GPA up to a 3.0, that's the lowest GPA they accepted last semester so you'd be ok. How many classes would you have to take to get your GPA up that much? Memphis is so cheap per credit hour, you'd probably be able to take some easy stuff and retake some stuff to get that overall GPA up, especially since your Science GPA is so good! I've never heard of someone having a problem like this and I really hate it for you! I'm glad you're on the right track now but it is unfortunate that those old grades have to keep haunting you.