Is it too late for me to become a nurse?

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I'm heading into my last semester of college and scared out of my mind because I have no idea about what I want to do. I'll be graduating from Cal with a degree in Psychology and an abysmal GPA. I originally transferred from a JC with a 3.7 but had two semesters of below 3.0 at Cal due to carelessness and immaturity. I rebounded this last semester which should bring my GPA a bit over 3.0 cumulatively.

In JC, I completed:

1 semester of Chem with lab for a B

Biology 1A and 1B for As,

Inferential statistics for an A

1 semester of Calculus for an A

1 semester of General Psychology for a B (and a bunch of psychs at Cal for As/Bs)

However, at Cal, my motivation was lacking without any goals and my grades suffered. However, I did manage to get an A in anatomy lecture but an incomplete in the lab since I bombed the first midterm.

So right now I'm scared that I've screwed myself up to be an uncompetative applicant. Since I'll be receiving a BA, many of the ASN, BSN, and MSN programs I've looked at state they will look at the GPA from the last 60 semester units which is all from my time at Cal which will amount to just over a 3.0. I'm also scared now because it turns out that I completed a lot of pre reqs at my time in JC without even realizing it, but these are not the recent 60 semester units that they state they will evaluate my GPA on...does this mean I have to retake all those classes all over again????? Additionally, I can't take any more pre reqs at cal like microbiology since I'm almost over the unit limit and will risk being kicked out without a degree. Which means I'd have to do the rest of the pre-reqs in junior college.

I never even thought about nursing until a friend of mine who is in nursing school right now told me about it. With the competition for spots so high, is a career in nursing too unrealistic for me now?

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

I think it just depends on the local environment where you are. Some schools won't consider you, but others might. The only thing you can do is try. Look into accellerated programs (BSN programs that only take students with a previous degree) that might take you after you graduate. Another option would be to look into LPN programs and then go LPN to RN after that.

Lastly there might be private schools, very expensive ones, that take students with your grades.

Best to talk to a counselor to get advice. Good luck!

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I think it just depends on the local environment where you are. Some schools won't consider you, but others might. The only thing you can do is try. Look into accellerated programs (BSN programs that only take students with a previous degree) that might take you after you graduate. Another option would be to look into LPN programs and then go LPN to RN after that.

Lastly there might be private schools, very expensive ones, that take students with your grades.

Best to talk to a counselor to get advice. Good luck!

Hey thanks for the reply! It sounds like I have only a slim chance at best to get into any schools. This is most unfortunate since I know I would have been a competative applicant if I just knew about nursing before I decided to transfer and go to a 4 year university. The councelors here just point me to websites and don't give me any relevant feedback. I don't know what do :uhoh3:!

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Is it ill advised to go for an RN through the ASN route? If I want to advance later on, I would have to go through RN-BSN programs? Then after that BSN-MSN programs?

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If I can increase my GPA to a 3.1-3.2 will that make me somewhat more competative? Do nursing schools not look at grade trends? OMG it's 3:17am and I'm just tripping out too much! :trout:

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

It really depends on the requirements of the school. Some RN programs do not consider the overall GPA if all of the courses are not required by them. They may just look at the courses that are compariable to theirs. If it is a program that has a limited amount of seats, like a community college, for example, that may be a problem. Some schools take students by a lottery, there are others that may have say, 40 seats and 300 applicants. In a case like that, many of them will take the HIGHEST GPA....usually being 3.8-4.0. You really have to see the requirements of the school that you are interested in. Also, you can consider getting an LPN license, then, taking the Excelsior on line LPN to RN program. They do not seem to require that you have exceptionally high grades to enter their college, so, maybe that is the route to get your RN. Good luck!

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Specializes in Psychiatric.

If you really want to become a nurse, you should go for it. There are programs which will look only at the GPA for the pre-reqs and your grades in those are very good. Don't give up until you do your research. There are also programs which will choose by lottery method and they are not concerned with GPA if you meet a minimum standard. And, as someone has stated previously, the private programs are less concerned with GPA. This should not keep you from getting to your goal!! Good luck...

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