More than two science repeats, am I out of luck?

[Sojourner LVN]

Hi everyone, I started taking my college prerequisites in 2003 and entered a private nursing school in 2007 where I graduated with my LVN degree one year later.

Right now, I'm licensed as an LVN and interested in becoming an RN.

I've taken the following science courses:

Anatomy (2005) - C

Physiology (2005) - D

Chemistry (2006) - C

Physiology (2006 repeat) - C

Microbiology (2006) - F

While I know that I screwed up, especially since I was going through some tough times (my mother was sick, and died during my second term of LVN school) during that period, does this permanently disqualify me from applying to any of the community college nursing programs here in Southern California?

I did well in LVN school, did well on the NCLEX and am a different person than I was four years ago, seeing that I'm in my mid-20s now and have settled down.

I was hoping to take microbiology at OCC and get an A to raise the whole shindig up to 2.5 and try to apply to any program I could.

Right now, these seem to be my only options:

Go to West Coast University or another private RN school and pay $$$$ (I already had that experience and I don't want to do it again)

Try to do Indiana State or Western Governor's University online, although I'm not sure I'll get in and I'm not sure I want to spend all this money on the OCC course if I won't get into one of these schools.

Continue to work as an LVN and go to night school and try to branch into another profession, which is something that I don't want to do.

Any input would be appreciated.

[NickiLaughs, ADN, BSN, RN]

Tough Call, You would honestly probably want to retake all of them. C's don't usually get you into a public school anymore. The minimum 2.5 GPA isn't going to cut it. Some schools average out the two grades, other schools just take the highest grade for your GPA, so it's not completely over. I would definitely retake Microbiology, and probably chemistry.

If you can get your GPA above 3.0, and had some good grades in your LVN program, as well as references as a working LVN, that will certainly help. Unfortunately, a lot of LVN to RN community college programs have been cut, and you may have to "re-start" from the beginning.

Good luck to you.

[NurseCubanitaRN2b, BSN, RN]

You're going to be very limited but don't rule out going to the cc. Yes, you messed up back then, but you're a different person now. There are several schools that go through that lottery system and some of them also don't look at repeats for the LVN-RN program. You will just have a lot of homework to do when searching for a school. Bring up your grades in those classes and do well in your general education as some schools do take that into consideration. Good luck

[Bella39841]

I think that once you apply to an RN program, your sciences can't be more than 5 years old. So, you might have to take the classes all over again. You need to hurry up and apply because your Anatomy is 5 years old. Also, a lot of the programs want at least an overall 2.5 on ALL your college coursework. I might be wrong but you need to check with the schools you're interested in applying to. As an LVN, you need to probably take a required Bridge program to help you transition, as well.

Good luck..!!

[caliotter3]

As said before, five years is the cutoff for most schools nowadays anyway. So use that as an excuse to start over. New school, new start, aim for As. You can do it.