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Discussion

Passed Pre-reqs (Bio) but it's not enough!!

Hey there,

I'm new at this, but I thought I'd get some thoughts from other nursing students and pre nursing students about my situation. I'm planning to apply for the Sept 2012 entry at UBC. But my pre req mark for the biology requirement is not high enough. I passed the course in first year with a 50, at the time I was not planning to go into nursing, but after volunteering in the ER and seeing what nurses do, I'm want to become a nurse. The problem is I'm worried about this mark and I'm not sure whether I should retake it at UBC (I'm at UBC right now doing my bachelor's degree) or whether I should take it at another college or not? Any thoughts?

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It will depend on the entrance average they require for your pre-reqs. Are there other pre-reqs you still need to do? Do you think you can do well in them? Also look into whether the school will simply replace your 50 with a new mark if you were to retake it or if they will take an average of two marks. Either way, having a good knowledge of A&P will make your fundamentals of nursing and pathophysiology classes that much easier.

50% will not be good enough, to show that youre motivated I would suggest doing it again. Nursing and the sciences are focused on heavily in any school. Youre going to be taking Anatomy, Physiology and all of that. 50 is barely passing, I would assume nobody would be succesful in these courses unless there is more background knowledge. Its not so much a matter of passing, its understanding.

Good luck with everything, hard work and persistence pays off :)

In my area you need at least a 60% Even though they say this I dont think

60% is enough. It is a competitvie course to get into.

I would re-take the course if I were you. Maybe go and talk to an advisor to see how they will calculate your grades for entrance.

@MissMcCoy.....where are you in school or planning to go to school if you dont mind me asking? Because I know any University in Ontario or even joint BScN programs in College you need at LEAST an 80% to get into any program. You're right about that though, it is very very competitive to get into which is why the entrence averages are so high. Sometimes it may say minimum 60% but in reality the people applying actually are averaging 80% and above. Rather it be for RN or BScN.

I am in Alberta.

I have not applied and I wont for sometime.

I was trying to get at the fact that the minimum 60% requirement is not always the case.

I almost can't believe that you are looking at an over 80% average.... Maybe I need to rethink my career path! lol ...It almost makes you scratch you head when you see some of the people that somehow found themselves in the nursing field! haha Just Kidding

...This has been a reality check. I had better get my butt in gear for my next set of pr-req's. I only came out of my Biology requirement with a 75%

Oh, okay then that makes more sense :) lol I know what you mean though. It's very competitive thus the 80% admission requirement. They want the best of the best. I hope it is helpful to you though this reality check because it is sometimes the same for other people wondering about admission requirements. I wish you luck in your comming years with your pre-reqs though, youll do great !

I got looking into this...

The competitive averages in my area aree VERY LOW! I live amongst slackers!!! Come one, come all move to Alberta!!

I got looking into this...

The competitive averages in my area aree VERY LOW! I live amongst slackers!!! Come one, come all move to Alberta!!

It all depends on where you live. Competition to get into the RN or PN programmes in Edmonton or Calgary is intense. Less than an 80 in the Sciences won't even get you looked at. I've known people to move to smaller towns to get their education because of the lack of applicants there. (Trust me, someone I know graduated with a degree this year who just didn't have the academics to make it into one of the major universities and passed CRNE first try, by moving to a small rural town) A perfect example of how the most academically inclined won't make the perfect nursing student.

The marks posted on the prospectus are for information only. Even for mature students. Mature students making it into a programme with the bare bones (65% average) just doesn't happen any more.

I got looking into this...

The competitive averages in my area aree VERY LOW! I live amongst slackers!!! Come one, come all move to Alberta!!

I don't think it was right to say that you live among slackers. Some of my friends attend schools in UBC, McGill, Alberta all in school for their BScN ...you will not even get looked at without having at least an 80% its super super competitive for ANY science program. Especially since you're a mature student as you mentioned, I have to agree with above that now a days a even a 60% wont get you anywhere. This is because of people who think that just because they barely passed they can do all the more advanced things and thats not true, not even close to it. Look at it from an admission advisors point of view, they want the best of the best. A 50% is like saying you only understood half the course, know what I mean? I know if you put your mind to it, you can do much much better than that. If this is your passion, you can do it. Show the admissions department youre dedicated to learning. :)

When I entered Ryerson U in 2006, the Dean of Nursing told us that the average was 83 percent. Two years ago, it had increased to 86 percent. This is true of most nursing schools across Canada. They receive many applicants, and can afford to choose. As mature students, we also had to write a letter and submit a resume. But the grades are first and foremost in your prerequisites. I'm sorry to say, but anything below 80 percent probably isn't cutting it.

A 50% in Biology isn't ideal but depending on your school and your situation it may not matter. Are you only considering UBC? Are you using your high school grades? You mentioned first year so are you thinking about transferring? The reason I'm asking is because these answers change the admission requirements.

Things may have changed, but a couple of years ago for the accelerated track program at the UofC, the cut off GPA was said to be around 3.7 for the previous year and it was the GPA of your 10 most recent half courses. http://nursing.ucalgary.ca/undergradprogram/bn-degreeholder

So basically this means two things:

1. Since it was a competitive admission, it depends on the people that are applying when you are applying. There is no set mark you had to have even though higher is obviously better.

2. It was the GPA of your 10 most recent courses... well if bio wasn't one of your 10 most recent then they wouldn't use it to calculate your GPA which can bode well for you.

To give you more hope, the UofC site said the cutoff GPA of the previous year was 3.7, well when I got in it was only 2.7! (Which in my opinion isn't that high) Depending on your school and how they calculate GPA, that could range from 65-72% http://careers.mcmaster.ca/students/education-planning/virtual-resources/gpa-conversion-chart

And this is the average of your 10 most recent courses. So even if your bio mark was 50, it's still possible according to how the UofC calculates it's requirements to get a GPA of higher depending on how you did on your other courses.

This is for the accelerated track for people who already have degrees but if you don't have a degree. Here is a link: http://www.ucalgary.ca/admissions/competitive_admission_avg

It shows the admission AVERAGES of 2009 and 2010 which means people with a lower GPA of 2.7 or 75% if coming from high school can still get into nursing at the UofC!

That was just an example using the UofC but my point being, a bio mark of 50 isn't the best but there are ways around it. Hopefully this long winded answer makes sense.

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