Low GPA Applicants

Neo Soldier, BSN, RN · Jul 10, 2020

I went to a community college and I noticed that a lot of community colleges have a point system. This means, they take into account not just your GPA but your TEAS or HESI, work experience, life experience, previous degrees, etc. See if it works like this where you live.

You can try diploma RN programs, or private programs. You should bear the cost in mind. Some are unreasonably overpriced- avoid those.

The first time, I started college, I was not prepared and my GPA was low. I got somewhat of a fresh start at a community college. My previous grades were incomparable to my grades from the community college. One showed a student who was young and lacked direction, the other showed a student who had motivation. Some schools will only look at your last 60 units which is very helpful.

Michellestudentnurse, BSN, RN · Jul 11, 2020

Hi,

I just graduated nursing school and it was by no means a linear process for me either. I started college in 2012 and I was also a pre nursing major. However, after my first semester, life happened as well. Long story short, fast forward to 2017 and I still had no degree and a pretty crappy GPA from all the classes I either did not complete and ended up with an F or I had a bunch of withdrawals. It was quite embarrassing. In 2017, I retook some classes and my community college had this thing where they won't factor the initial failed grade into your GPA if you petition for it. That helped to boost up my GPA. At the end of 2018, I applied to Roseman University, D'Youville College, and Barnes Jewish College. I am from California but I did not even bother applying to their programs because I knew the competition would be fierce and I did not want to waste money on application fees. Long story short, I got accepted into all 3. I ended up going to Roseman University and I now have my Bachelors of Science degree in Nursing. It was expensive but still way cheaper than a private school in California. Also, the above 3 schools that I named are fully accredited and they are NOT for profit schools.

I understand the overwhelming feeling of thinking that you have destroyed your chances, but there are still options, you just have to be flexible with how you get there.

I know you can do it!

Michellestudentnurse, BSN, RN · Jul 11, 2020

Also might I add that in 2017, I met with a counselor at my community college at the time and she outright told me that she did not think that I had what it took to be a nurse and that I should become a medical assistant instead. (Then the b*tch proceeded to tell me that I would be lucky making 40k a year) Imagine that! Jokes on her, now I will be making more money than her while she sits in an office trying to kill people's dreams.

kvti · Aug 1, 2020

On 7/10/2020 at 7:40 PM, Michellestudentnurse said:
Also might I add that in 2017, I met with a counselor at my community college at the time and she outright told me that she did not think that I had what it took to be a nurse and that I should become a medical assistant instead. (Then the b*tch proceeded to tell me that I would be lucky making 40k a year) Imagine that! Jokes on her, now I will be making more money than her while she sits in an office trying to kill people's dreams.

THIS!! your post gave me soOOO MUCH HOPE! It is so inspiring. I just switched my counselor because she told me that with my current GPA, which is crappy and it's a reflection of my poor choices the first years of school, she just did not see nursing school happening. She also told me to get a BA in something else and come back in 5 years to try to pursue nursing bc by that time the recency would've dropped and that getting my BA would make it so I can just get into an accelerated program. The thing is that she didn't quite say it that nicely. She made me feel so small and inept. I know I made poor choices in my past but they are not a reflection of the student that I am today. However, My new counselor is giving me so much hope and informing me that while it will be hard, it is still possible and that if I really want it, I should go for it. She is being so helpful and she informed me that a lot of the information the other counselor gave me is wrong. She is soooo good! I am so happy and motivated all because I got a counselor who matches my energy and she even told me the first day I met her that she could see how much I wanted this for myself and told me to start doing research on Community colleges in california that are MULTICRITERIA because they are the ones that see the student as a whole unlike the Chancellor's cut off.

Although, I will not be finishing my science courses until next Fall 2021, when I tell you I am motivated, I mean it. I pulled up the list of all CA community colleges and looked at their admission criteria and started printing out all the ones with the criteria that look at all your work. SOOOO MANY !

From what I have found so far is that even if you repeat your sciences there are some schools that do not look at your repeats but only at your final grade. I remember at least one that allowed 3 repeats but they did not count a W as a repeat while others count W as a repeat. I did see a bunch of schools that allowed 1 repeat only or you would be disqualified. So again, DO THE RESEARCH.

bgo07 · Aug 25, 2020

Hi,

Thanks everyone for sharing your story. I am in the same boat, I switched careers 2 years ago and this year I applied to my first choice ABSN program in California. And as mentioned is so competitive here. I just wanted to ask if you guys had any tips on how I can improve my application? I am going to retake Physiology this fall and I was thinking of volunteering again, but I don't know if that will be possible due to COVID. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

ChiDashYan, CNA, EMT-B · Nov 26, 2020

hey y'all im so late and in the same boat I live in Los Angeles 27 yrs old and I have the same story . LOW GPA from bachelors and finishing science pre reqs fall of 2020 . I really need an accountability partner so if anyone is down im here . Just to exchange ne information with and assist each other through the process

TheNursingdoll, CNA · Nov 28, 2020

On 7/10/2020 at 10:40 PM, Michellestudentnurse said:

Also might I add that in 2017, I met with a counselor at my community college at the time and she outright told me that she did not think that I had what it took to be a nurse and that I should become a medical assistant instead. (Then the b*tch proceeded to tell me that I would be lucky making 40k a year) Imagine that! Jokes on her, now I will be making more money than her while she sits in an office trying to kill people's dreams.

I am going through the same thing in my school , this lady misled me with information and told me I was aiming too high and if I sent for information she sent it as low importance , I'm gonna keep fighting. for OP,In your school , do you guys have to where if you retake the class that the higher grade replaces the lower one? I would retake some classes just to boost my GPA

kubelkabondy, ADN, RN · Nov 30, 2020

It really depends on your area and how competitive the programs you're looking at are. In my area, anything lower than a 3.7 (both cumulative and science only) disqualifies you from most if not all nursing programs.

Most schools publish statistics on the average GPA of the most recent cohort admitted. If they don't, you can probably get in touch with the admissions coordinator of the programs you're looking at to get a better idea of what GPA would make you a competitive applicant. If your grades are nowhere near where they need to be, then you will need to retake the prereqs you did not do well in.

Unfortunately, admissions for nursing school is VERY numbers-based, so if you don't have the GPA, there's nothing else that can really compensate for that. Good luck.