Nursing School Options

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Hey all,

I need a little help/ guidance with nursing school options. I will be graduating in June with a BS in Biological Sciences. I will not have a very good graduating GPA, falling somewhere between 2.85-3.0 (although my last 60 units should be around 3.5) and my prerequisites GPA should be right around a 3.0, near the minimum for most ABSN programs. I am looking to retake a couple of these prerequisites, which would boost it to around a 3.2ish. I have been working as a Personal Care Assistant for a quadriplegic man the past two years and hope to get some volunteer experience at a hospital in the coming months. If all goes well the plan is to take a year off and get all my prerequisites straight and apply next winter for the fall 2017 term.

I've been looking at ABSN programs around the country but have become a little discouraged at my prospects of being accepted. Would a traditional bachelor's program or an ADN program be a better option for me? I will probably only apply to ABSN schools that look at last 60 credit hours at this point. Any help or advice would be great!

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Specializes in Surgical Cardiovascular ICU.

Hey nursing221,

I have an undergrad degree in biology with a 3.1 gpa. I applied to multiple programs and I was granted interviews and got accepted to other programs so don't get discouraged. I went with the program that was in my state because it was the cheapest option, but the school I go to has a really good reputation. Every accelerated program is different and I know there are programs that ask for a min of 2.5 gpa. My program required a 3.0 but some people in my program had gpas of 2.5 or 2.75 so I guess schools look at many things.

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Specializes in NICU, Trauma, Oncology.

Check out LSUHSC- New Orleans. They only use the pre-req GPA for your application ranking.

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Specializes in Prior military RN/current ICU RN..

ABSN schools look at all your transcripts. Your final GPA is what matters. A 3.0 looks much better than 2.8. You need to pull a 4.0 next semester. Do what you need to do. Get your final GPA AS HIGH AS YOU CAN.

You are wasting time and money if you completed a 4 year degree then have to do a traditional program. Also on prereqs..there is no reason you should not get at least a 3.5. The party is over. If you want this you have to take a Search & Destroy mentality. so-so effort gets nothing in the medical world. There are a zillion people who get Cs. Make yourself stand out. Good luck.

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Thanks for the responses guys! Discouraged probably wasn't the right word to use... I guess more realistic about my current chances fits better. @windsurfer8- ABSN is definitely more favorable for me, but I have also read on a few threads here and doing research on some programs that traditional is only a semester or two longer than an ABSN and in some cases may be cheaper than ABSN. Not true for all traditional, but I am just trying to keep options open. My mindset is in this, its been my target for a year and a half now, I am just trying to distance myself from my first couple years where a few personal issues tanked my GPA and I really did not have an idea of what career path I wanted. Unfortunately, I took most of the nursing school prereqs as my major support courses during that time, thus the lower prereq GPA. Your post really made it clear to me that I have to focus on and fix my prereq GPA to put myself in the best position to succeed.

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