Nursing school and GPA

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So I have a slightly unique situation (maybe it's not unique but I couldn't find many posts online about it). I went to a university my freshman year and started as an engineering major. Long story short I bombed my first semester, 1.8GPA. I failed an advanced calculus course, got a B in computer science and basically the rest were straight C's. My 2nd semester however I knew I had to pick up the slack and that I couldn't treat college like I treated highschool and finished that semester with a 3.4GPA. It was after this I realized I wanted to do nursing, I've always had a passion for helping/serving and have wanted to be in the medical field since a young age. So I transferred to my local community college and began working on pre-nursing. So far I've taken A&P1 and passed with flying colors, highest grades in my class and thoroughly enjoyed it. I expect the same for the rest of my sciences as I've found a passion in it rather than a chore.

However, I've done some math and even after 3 semesters of straight 4.0GPAs my cumulative will still only be a 3.45ish. I fear my first year screw ups will keep me from getting into nursing school. I could go back to the uni and retake a class or two but I would really rather not as it was ~$22k a year, and plus the only class that I could honestly retake for an A would be U.S. govt that I got a C in. No way I could retake that advanced calc course, I feel like I'd just fail it all over again.

Right now my top choices for nursing school are University of Texas at Arlington and Texas Women's University, as they are both fairly priced and each ~35minute drive from my house meaning I could save rent and commute. I went to my CC transfer fair the other day and both universities recommended *at least* a 3.5GPA to be competitive. I suppose I could open up to other choices, but these 2 are by far and away the smartest options for me. Does anyone know what I can do to be more competitive, or perhaps other suggestions for nursing schools? If it's worth anything I am an eagle scout and will hopefully be joining my CC honor society as well as getting EMT-B certified this summer. Also I expect to have a 4.0 science GPA even if my cumulative is only 3.4-3.5. I'm just unsure what my options are right now and any suggestions would be very helpful.

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First, you MUST keep a 4.0 in your pre-reqs. This shows that you've learned from your past mistakes and have applied what you've learned to your life.

However, when these schools say "at least a 3.5 GPA", they really mean a 3.8 GPA. There's a distinct likelihood you cannot gain entry into these two particular schools.

You need to expand your search to the whole DFW metroplex. Go to the Texas BON website and you'll find a list of accredited nursing programs, there's 10 in Dallas and Ft worth alone. You'll need to apply to all of these schools. Some will place a greater emphasis on your pre-req GPA, so your mistakes in your freshman year will be minimized.

You can draft an exceptional admission essay that explains your early struggles and how you've since overcame them as evidenced by your 4.0 pre-req GPA.

Increasing the number of applications will be your best chance at getting into a nursing school, considering your GPA.

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The classes you took at university are not weighted in your gpa at a community college. Only the classes you take at a particular school are weighted at that particular school. If you transfer credits, they accept the credit as a class towards your degree. It's not weighted in your gpa.

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So the classes I took at the university, the only ones that were even nursing prereqs were 2 govt classes (one C and one A) and a business calculus class (I got an A in this one). I did transfer these to my CC, all the rest of my nursing prereqs will be A's earned at the CC. The CC may not calculate these into my GPA, but what about when I apply to a nursing school? Will they only use my CC GPA?

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Hey there,

You're not alone here..I totally was irresponsible and made poor grades my early years in college as well (a D in Into to Threatre? Yes it can happen)

Because of these past mistakes, you just may have to go a different route for nursing. Either a private school who will charge you out the whazoo but is fully accredited and is a tad more lenient on certain things, or an ASN program which only takes your pre reqs into consideration.

There are a ton of RN to BSN online bridge programs you can enroll in right after you pass the NCLEX, so don't rule that out either.

Just because a road isn't paved, doesn't mean it won't take you somewhere great.

Just keep an open mind to all the different programs you have access to.

Good luck!

Sarah

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Specializes in ICU.
The classes you took at university are not weighted in your gpa at a community college. Only the classes you take at a particular school are weighted at that particular school. If you transfer credits, they accept the credit as a class towards your degree. It's not weighted in your gpa.

This is is not true. When you apply to nursing school they will request your transcripts from every college you attended and calculate your total gpa.

Your gpa is not awful. A 3.45 is decent. It really depends on how many people apply and what their grades are. If a hundred people apply and they only take 20, and those people have a higher gpa, then you won't get in. It's really all a numbers game.

If you have to write an essay or do an interview, make sure you kill it. Do not go into all the it's your passion stuff. It's very cliche and I see about 10 people a week in here saying how nursing is their passion. Be original and make yourself stand out.

Good luck in your journey.

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I made bad choices right out of HS and didn't drop classes and ended up with 3 or 4 Fs and 1 B. My GPA was a 0.50 or something crazy like that which is even worse than yours. Getting more As should bring your GPA back up. I have worked my butt off and even made a couple of Cs in there and have a 3.8 cumulative so it can be done.

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Specializes in PACU.
The classes you took at university are not weighted in your gpa at a community college. Only the classes you take at a particular school are weighted at that particular school. If you transfer credits, they accept the credit as a class towards your degree. It's not weighted in your gpa.

This is so false I don't even know where to start. They will be weighted in OP's application for nursing school unless they only look at pre-req GPA.

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My community college only looked at 11 core classes plus 5 pre reqs to calculate my GPA. I think it all depends on the classes.

I was in a similar position, I came out of undergrad with a 3.0 overall but the community college took those 11 class grades, and I had a 3.75 in my science prereqs and by their calculations I had a 3.6 overall and got into an accelerated (1 year) ADN program. So it's possible. I think you need to talk to the CC about how your grades would be factored.

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Well I have some good news I think, if what I'm reading online is correct (granted I need to confirm with TWU advisers) I'm seeing that TWU only uses nursing pre reqs to calculate the cumulative GPA. That's freakin awesome if it's the case because if they only calculate nursing pre reqs I'll still have like a 3.8-3.9. Only one of my actual nursing pre reqs is not an A, and it's a C/C+ (forgot which) in U.S. govt, the rest of the classes I got Cs/Bs (and 1 F in an accelerated calc course... why oh why I let that adviser convince me to take that class I'll never know) in were completely irrelevant for nursing school.

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