My undergrad GPA will likely prohibit me from becoming a NP

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I am sooo mad at myself. I went through school with the motto "C's get degrees" and I basically messed up my GPA up as an undergrad. I didn't care what my GPA was so long as I graduated. Now, on my behalf, the grading scale at my former uni was VERY high and a C at my uni is like a B at other uni's...blah blah blah. No excuses and it doesn't matter. But here I am older and wiser, and I really want to go to NP school.

I am in the best position in life to make this happen. I don't have kids, I have $$ in the bank, and I have the option of living with 2 people rent free (my mom or boyfriend). I won't have to work and I can concentrate on school and I will take it VERY seriously! But I am afraid that my GPA is sooo low that most schools won't consider me. I can declare myself as an undecided major, take some extra classes to boost my GPA, and THEN apply for NP school. However, I need to find out what general ed classes I need as an undeclared major, that will transfer over to the NP program. Obviously, an advisor from the NP program will need to review my transcripts and tell me what classes I need. I feel like it will be held against me when it is time for me to apply to NP school. I mean, if they remember that I was the girl with the LOW GPA who went undeclared for a year......

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Specializes in Cardiac.

If you are looking for FNP, have you looked into Frontier? Its an online school with a min GPA of 3.0 if you have that.

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Hi,

I am in the same boat as you were last spring.

I was working full time, married and going to school full time while earning my ASN degree in 1993-95. I decided to do my BSN studies online, got really good grades...okay, fine.

When I went to apply for grad school, I found out that ALL of your grades are taken into acccount. Even with my good baccalaureate grades, my GPA still fell below the 3.0 requirement.

I had to take the GRE exam, score above 600 to qualify for provisional acceptance, and also had to obtain a 3.5 GPA for my first semester of classes to continue on into my program with full acceptance.

Another HUGE piece of all of this was my interview for the program. The director said that she was so glad she got to meet me in person because what was on paper was obviously not a clear picture of who I really am today.

You should NOT let this be an obstacle for you. Apply, interview and explain yourself and why this is so important to you and how you will be a success in the program. I'm half way through my second semester and getting ready for my first clinical in the spring. I love it!! I can't wait to get my hands on some patients and get more into the meat of the work.

If it's really that important to you...go for it!

Good Luck!

:nurse:

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Specializes in Critical Care, Orthopedics, Hospitalists.

I wouldn't start taking classes to boost my GPA unless the NP school you are applying to asks you to. I agree with pretty much everything BC Grad said. Like many, my undergrad GPA wasn't the best (our motto was "C=RN"! LOL), but I really focused and excelled after I graduated as a nurse. I put a lot of time into getting great references and formulating a great "why I want to do this" letter. If you sit down and talk with the NP admissions dept, tell them your concerns, have concrete examples of why you will excell as a NP, and ask what you need to do to make sure you are considered as a candidate for school, you should be fine. :)

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Specializes in PICU.

Just a side note, I'm surprised to read that you don't need stats. I had to retake stats as a prerequisite to my research class in my MSN program since it had been just a few years ;) since my undergrad days.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Orthopedics, Hospitalists.

I'd taken stats for my BSN, but I think one of my classmates had to retake it as it had been "too long" or whatever. This probably varies from school to school. The GRE was mandated, but another of my classmates took it like a semester before we graduated, so it wasn't really taken into account in the admissions process where I went. But my school is pretty small and I'm sure this varies from school to school and depends on how competitive entry into the program is.

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Specializes in Psychiatric.

I wouldn't bother retaking classes. Go ahead and try applying to a school, many will let you in on a probationary basis. You have to maintain a certain grade average for say, 6 months, then you will be in good standing. Some schools are a bit snotting and would not let you in, others are looking for students, and will work with you. There are many online schools that are hungry for students, this would give you a good selection, instead of whatever school is local.

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Specializes in LDRP.
If you are looking for FNP, have you looked into Frontier? Its an online school with a min GPA of 3.0 if you have that.

Technically, you can have a 2.7 and still get admitted to

frontier. If you have a 2.7-2.99, you will have to take GRE or MAT.

I am not sure if they use GPA from most recent degree, or from all college courses.

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