Like many others, concerned that I am not a qualified applicant for nursing programs.

[Compassion4Others]

Hi everyone,

I am new to this both this forum and the pursual of nursing as a career.

I'm a student from NYC and would like to apply for nursing programs out of state. Currently, I am working towards finishing my Biology degree with a minor in psychology; I will have a degree by Fall 2011. Though I will be applying everywhere, I am aiming for the nursing program at Georgia Health Sciences University (a.k.a Medical College of Georgia) and other schools up and down the East Coast. I've been noticing a trend in which many (if not all) programs are becoming exceedingly more difficult and competitive to get into. Since I plan on applying this summer, for the next program cycle, I'm starting to get worried that I might not be considered a good applicant. So, I was wondering if there was anything extra that I could do in order to make myself a better applicant; perhaps not just for this particular program, but all nursing programs. It's kind of late for me to boost my GPA any further since I will be graduating and applying soon, but so far my overall GPA is a 3.439 and my GPA for science and math is 3.528. Most of my grades are of the A to B+ range, and the lowest grades on my transcript are:

Music in Civilization- D

Pre-calculus- C+

Applied Calculus- C

General Physics 1- F (However, was retaken and I earned a B+.)

I'm currently taking Human Physiology, and plan on taking Human Development during the Summer; which just about rounds up the last of the prerequisite requirements of the program. In addition, I also have over 160+ volunteer hours (working with patients directly) and I plan on continuing to volunteer until I submit my application. I speak Cantonese fluently and I have basic knowledge of conversational Spanish and French. I'm also considering getting certification for CPR and AED from the American Heart Association.

So, some question and concerns that I have are:

This is probably a really stupid question, but from reading through some of the other forum posts, I saw that some people had to take the TEAs. Is this exam required for all of the nursing programs or just some? The schools would say if that were a requirement right?

Does being an out of state, second degree seeking student, make it more difficult to get into a BSN program?

Does anyone have any suggestions that would make me a better applicant?

If it doesn't bother anyone, can you tell me about your experience? What things you had on your application when you applied? Would you have done anything differently?

Thanks so much for reading my extremely long post.

[jtboog2003]

Are you applying to a regular BSN program or an accelerated BSN for students who already have a bachelor's degree in another field? If it's the second, they will look at your overall GPA and look at your GPA for the pre-requisites they require for the program. Your overall GPA seems good, but you need to see which pre-reqs are required for the accelerated BSN program you want to apply to and then find the GPA average for those. If you are doing it the regular BSN way then you will probably have to complete a entrance exam whether that be the TEAS, HESI, NLN-PAX, etc. It will be listed under the admissions requirements for the program. Not all nursing programs require an entrance exam, so you would have to check the school you wish to apply to and find that out.

[caliotter3]

Since your school program is coming to an end, best thing you can do is to apply and see how things turn out. Start lining up your list in case your first or second choice do not accept you. You can't change what is done unless you want to start from scratch and take the chance of getting caught misrepresenting your complete record.