My GPA is trash. What to do now?

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So, after many years of being in school, then dropping out due to personal reasons, I'm now back in school and taking it very serious. It's been a long hard road in my adult years and I just haven't been able to stick my a dream of being a nurse. Until now. The problem is my GPA at a previous school. I had to drop out 3 different times, and didn't do it the proper way. So now I have a bunch of Fs since I wasn't smart enough to withdraw.

My collective GPA is 2.5 but my GPA at my current school is 3.86. I need a minimum of 2.8 to even be considered for nursing school in my area. I'm lost at what I should do. I'm really working hard now, putting in 19 hour days with full-time work and school 5 days a week. Making As, on the Honor Council, but it looks like it won't be enough. Feels like I will always be punished for the transgression of my youth. I'm almost 43 now and I don't want to be going to school for nothing. There isn't ANYTHING I would rather do than be a nurse.

Please help with any advice. TIA.

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Specializes in ICU Stepdown.

Does the LPN program at a nearby community college require a lower GPA (2.5 maybe)? You might have to start there, get all A's then try for an RN program

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What about a 2 year RN degree? Would that be better than the LPN? Provided I could get in.

And I'm not sure about the LPN GPA. I do know that the Rad Tech program is 2.5 at the school I want to attend.

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Specializes in Adult and Pediatric Vascular Access, Paramedic.

Nursing programs, both RN and LPN are competitive everywhere. Your best bet would be to keep taking general classes towards nursing and maintain a higher GPA, and then apply for Nursing school. If you have to any class that you got a poor grade in that is required in nursing take over.

Annie

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I'm assuming I should take some classes over at the previous school that has the terrible GPA? As of right now, I will be a Sophomore at the end of this year but my GPA at my current school can only go so high. If I finished with a 4.0 it still wouldn't get me to where I need to be GPA wise.

Also, will they just take the GPA from each school and get the average GPA like that? I have some computer classes that contributed to that GPA but have nothing to do with my degree. Would they still include those? I would imagine it's different from school to school.

Sorry for so many questions, I'm just really worried. Either way, I WILL get in to nursing school. Even if I'm 50 before I do. It's all I have really ever wanted to do. Life just took me down a different road to get here.

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I second this advice, because that is exactly what I did. Then I re-took math and physics and I qualified. Good luck!

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Specializes in ICU Stepdown.
I'm assuming I should take some classes over at the previous school that has the terrible GPA? As of right now, I will be a Sophomore at the end of this year but my GPA at my current school can only go so high. If I finished with a 4.0 it still wouldn't get me to where I need to be GPA wise.

Also, will they just take the GPA from each school and get the average GPA like that? I have some computer classes that contributed to that GPA but have nothing to do with my degree. Would they still include those? I would imagine it's different from school to school.

Sorry for so many questions, I'm just really worried. Either way, I WILL get in to nursing school. Even if I'm 50 before I do. It's all I have really ever wanted to do. Life just took me down a different road to get here.

What state are you in? You'll probably have to talk to an advisor because it'll probably vary. The community college I'm going to currently only counts the GPA from that school. But a couple of the schools I want to apply to take all the GPAs from every school you went to and average it out. It'd be best if you can get into the RN program but that might not be an option for you right now. I also agree with a PP who said that you should take the pre-reqs required for your program to strengthen your GPA. You are not a lost cause 😊

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I'm in Georgia. I was just talking to a friend about it. I was under the assumption that they would take my GPA from all 4 school, add them together then divide by 4, giving my overall GPA. That would be bad because it wouldn't allow me to raise my GPA high enough at my current institution. I'm already at 3.86 and a 4.0 wouldn't get me high enough. He said they would take all of my attempted classes with a formula including the grade for each class, credits hours attempted. So that would actually allow my GPA to rise steadily over the next year. Is this correct?

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Specializes in NICU, telemetry.

Some schools will only look at the last X hours of coursework for GPA, especially if it's been a while. What I would do, is call an advisor at the school you want to go to and tell them your current situation. They can help you know more what you need to do for that specific school.

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Thanks for the advice everyone. I'll just keep on keeping on!!

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Specializes in Prior military RN/current ICU RN..

Stop assuming and talk to the schools you want to apply to. Explain your situation and the horrific grades upfront. You may never get in as grades DO matter..they are the KEY to getting into nursing school. It is no different than medical school, but on a different scale. A person with horrible grades will never get into medical school. No matter how much they "want" to be a doctor.

Explain to the school your situation and ask if there is a pathway to possibly getting into the nursing school with multiple Fs on your transcripts.

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One thing you can do is complete all of your nursing prereqs at your current college. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like your previous GPA is from a different degree so you probably don't have many of your nursing prereqs from that school. If you do have any classes from that school, just retake them at your new school.

For example, lets say you took A&P at the college where you have a low GPA, but that is the only class from that school that would count toward your nursing prereqs. If you retake that class at your current college, you don't have to send in your transcripts for the college with the bad GPA. As long as all of the courses required by the school are at your current college, there is no reason to send in your other transcripts. That may be your best option.

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