Nursing program-Low undergrad GPA. Advice welcome!

Kuriin, BSN, RN · Sep 7, 2014

Just to let you know, BSN = Bachelors of Science of Nursing. You probably mean BS in business. With that GPA, I do not believe you will get into a MEPN style program nor an accelerated program unless you ace all of your prerequisites, bringing your GPA above a 3.0. Otherwise, I recommend ADN->BSN or traditional BSN.

loveflowers · Sep 7, 2014

Thanks for the correction. I meant *BS in Business, above.

ThatBigGuy · Sep 7, 2014

I have bad news. Your business GPA is going to be a huge roadblock, and you have to understand that from the get go. That cannot be stressed enough. You screwed up 8 years ago, but that's in the past. What can you do now to improve your chances at becoming a nurse?

First, get A's in EVERY single pre-req. That's the single most important thing you can do to help yourself at this point. EVery B will set you back even further. You HAVE to get A's.

Secondly, continue working as a doula and volunteering as much as you can without affecting your pre-req grades. See if you can maybe get some certifications on the side: CPR, medication tech, any assorted L&D type certs.

Thirdly, turn your life's experiences into a killer admission essay that addresses your previous struggles and your continued self improvement.

When you combine the killer essay, your volunteering and doula work, and the 4.0 in your pre-reqs, you'll have the best possible balance for your previous GPA. It's going to take some work to overcome that 2.6, but it can be done.

It may help to consider a move out of state into a place where the nursing schools are a little less competitive.

windsurfer8, BSN, RN · Sep 7, 2014

Have you researched this at all? I did an ABSN in 2006. My first GPA was business with a 3.3 GPA. What I found is approximately 90% of schools require a 3.0 on your first bachelors. It DOES NOT MATTER what your grades are in your pre reqs if you do not meet the minimum GPA on first degree for ABSN admission. People on here have the hardest time understanding this. I did see one school..Univ. of Wyoming..that would accept applications for their ABSN with a minimum of 2.5 on first degree. This does not mean you do not have options. I would actually talk with the schools you are interested in. See what options they have and what they recommend. Yes..maybe go the ADN route. Or see if you can go the traditional BSN route and they could maybe accept the grades you earned that can transfer. Good luck.

Pilot2FNP · Sep 8, 2014

I disagree with windsurfer8 on the point that most schools look at GPA from your first degree only. I went through an ABSN program myself, and I looked at many schools, and went to 7 different in-person information sessions at various schools for their ABSN program. In my experience, the schools that I looked at calculated the TOTAL GPA from ALL undergraduate courses taken. I asked each of these schools this question, because I had completed a lot of college courses after I graduated. Every single institution that I visited said they would calculate the GPA based on every single undergaduate course I had taken from all college work completed. I'm sure there are schools that do calculate GPA based on only your 1st undergad degree, but all the schools I looked at (in 5 different states) calculated my GPA on every single undergraduate class I took, regardless of whether it was taken before, during, or after my first undergaduate degree.