Need Advice

Hi All,

I'm really interested in getting into a nursing program and had a hard time this year. Here's my predicament:

I am a 2nd degree student. During my first Bachelor's degree, I was placed on academic probation. I had to take care of my family and worked multiple part time jobs and in the end my studies suffered. I worked hard and was taken off of academic probation. By the time I graduated, I had a 2.6 GPA from my first school.

I have been working at a hospital for the past 4 years and realized during the time that I would really love to be nurse. I have letters of recommendations from the doctors and nurses that I work with. I went back to school for my prereqs with the following grades:

A&P I: C

A&P II: A-

Microbiology: A-

Intro to Pscyh: B

Statistics: A

Life Span/Developmental Psych: A or above (i'm still taking this class right now and as per my midterm grade report of about two weeks ago - I'm getting an A)

Chemistry Lec: B-

Chemistry Lab: B+

Even with this, my combined GPA is not a 3.0. I've taken the NLN, TEAS V, and the GREs. I did well on my NLN and TEAS V and got a decent grade on the GREs.

Does anyone have any advice as to what I else I can do in order to increase my chances of getting into a nursing school within the tristate area? I know for a fact that this is what I want to do and I'm really upset that I am unable to get into any school (I've applied to about 8 with 7/8 telling me that I'm not accepted).

Any advice is much appreciated.

Thanks!