Opinions on Retaking classes

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Hello! I wanted to hear your guys' advice, personal experience, or opinions on retaking prerequisite courses and general courses. I am currently looking into both ADN and ELMSN programs because my GPA situation is not so good. My undergraduate from a local UC was low (2.3), and as I have come to understand, nursing, especially in California, has gotten exponentially competitive over the last few years. Currently, I have retaken a number of courses and my most recent 60 unit GPA averages out to 3.3 (I retook physics and calculus for no reason) and my prerequisite GPA, not averaging current grades with previous grades, is a 4.0. In hopes of making up for that huge hole my undergraduate GPA left, I'm currently working as a medical scribe, pharmacy technician, and working on getting my EMT license. I'm looking into Samuel Merritt because I heard that they factor in other elements from your application other than GPA but would really appreciate any word from you all! Thank you!

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A lot of schools don't accept retakes. One of mine doesn't. So that's the first thing I'd check before investing any time or money into it.

Good luck! I'm trying to outwork a bad GPA from my teens. It's rough going.

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You also should consider the fact that many schools require you to submit all transcripts, from all post-secondary coursework, and use all grades in calculating GPA for application purposes.

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And then there are schools that don't allow retakes of their courses without a petition if the first grade was C or better.

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My school also did not allow retakes; only the original grades were viewed.

Maybe consider a private college / medical academy, which don't look at the GPA. I know a few people who have successfully done that.

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You can retake classes at my school and nursing program and the highest grade will stand. It sounds like most don't take retakes though so definitely do your research. I know some will take an average gpa of the classes you retake. Just depends on where you go really.

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Specializes in mental health / psychiatic nursing.

Retakes depend on school. One program I applied to took last 60 credits of undergrad GPA regardless of what additional course work had been taken (even graduate degrees). Another took only most recent pre-req course GPA. In the first case retaking courses would be a mistake as it wouldn't happen. In the second case well worth while.

I am not overly familiar with nursing programs in CA beyond a couple of schools, but I would guess CA programs are a mix of those who don't accept retakes, those who accept with limitations, and those who don't have any policy. It's going to be up to you to carefully look into the programs you are interested in and figure out which one will accept your re-done scores, or look only at pre-req courses.

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Specializes in Psychiatry, Community, Nurse Manager, hospice.

I recommend that you schedule an interview with the dean of the school/schools you wish to attend and ask his/her advice on how to improve your chances of acceptance. Dress your best, wear a suit if you have one or the most professional thing you've got, and be impressive. Address deans as Dr. So and So.

Every school is different. My school did not accept less than a B for A&P 1 and 2, and micro. If you got less than a B, you would need to retake the class. Otherwise, retaking classes was not encouraged.

Be open. Let the dean know you were considering retaking classes, but wanted to know if that was necessary or desirable. Listen for any advice. If you are told that your chances are not good, and that there isn't any way to improve them, politely thank them for the information and proceed to another school.

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From Cali here!!

My recommendation is this....First research schools!

We have impacted programs throughout cali, so getting in is tough! I recommend first making a list of all the schools you can apply to. There will be some that you unfortunately will not stand a chance getting into. I don't mean to sound discouraging, I know it is disheartening, trust me there's some I can't get into as well & it kills me!

So after you have your list go to each schools BSN/ADN nursing website and find the selection process for each school. As others have stated each school is different, so requirement vary from school to school. Many in Cali use what's called the multi criterion screening. That's just a fancy name for a point system. So you will need to go to each website and see what they offer points for. Add up your points and see if your totals are even enough to apply (a lot of schools have a minimum cut off at a certain number of points).

Also as you read the application process you will notice that some schools only accept your fist grade of pre-reqs, some allow repeats but dock you points for repeats, so you have to do the math and see if it's worth retaking.

From my experience, in Cali, the nursing programs tend to offer the most points for good GPA or pre-reqs & co-reqs, and TEAS scores. DO NOT take the TEAS without studying, because again some schools only take the first teas score!

So as i've stated you really need to do the awful reading of each website to see what the minimum qualifications are, if you meet them, and if it would really benefit you to retake some classes. BEST OF LUCK, hope this wasn't confusing

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Which school Katrina?

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You also should consider the fact that many schools require you to submit all transcripts, from all post-secondary coursework, and use all grades in calculating GPA for application purposes.

Curious on how that works. Think the School I am at only counts GPA of classes I took at the school and outside classes are just graded as TR.

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MSU Denver

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