Post-bacc student needs advice!!

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Hi,

I am a post-bacc student at Stony Brook University in NY finishing the pre-reqs needed to apply to a Nursing program. I got my bachelor's degree in Legal Studies and Business Administration from St. John's University back in 2007. I worked for a few years in training and development at a large NYC law firm and never felt fulfilled. I love people. I love working with people, helping people and I had always thought about going into nursing. However, in college, I was afraid to change my major, afraid to spend more money in school, more recently afraid to quit my job, leave my apartment, etc. This past year, I finally had the courage to fulfill my dream. I left my job, moved out of NYC and enrolled at SBU to take the classes to fulfill the requirements for nursing school. This is where I need advice. I have no idea what to do next! I graduated with a mere 2.98 GPA from St. John's. I worked 3 jobs to pay for school while attending full time and was involved in alot of extra curricular activities (student organizations, clubs, volunteer work, etc.) which definitely affected my GPA. The courses I am taking now are HARD (they are designed to cut and weed out students who want to go to med school) and I am struggling so I am afraid my pre-req and bachelor's GPA won't be good enough to be accepted into a nursing program. I am leaving SBU to take the remaining pre-reqs at a local community college to cut costs and boost my pre-req GPA. I initially planned on enrolling in an accelerated BSN program but have become discouraged after reading the threads and seeing all these people with high GPA's with experience that are being rejected due to the competitive nature of the field. I am a hard worker and am determined to get into a program. I was wondering if it would be best to pursue an accelerated BSN or even a 2 year BSN at a university or go for my ADN and possibly bridge to BSN once I have a job and an income. I gave up so much when I made this decision to pursue my dream and would hate to be rejected from these programs, waste all this time and money and not be able to fulfill my dream. Any advice you can give to me would be greatly appreciated. My heart and stomach are in knots over this.

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To be honest, the ADN programs are often no easier to get into than the BSN programs. If fact, they are often times even harder to get into because they get so many applications. If you want to pursue nursing I would stick with your original plan and try and get into an accelerated bsn program (unless you are unwilling to relocate, then you need to take what you can get).

Not all schools are as hard to get into as others. For example, I applied to 2 different accelerated bsn programs that both start in january. One got 700+ applications for 85 spots. They other got 71 applications for 24 spots. Lot better odds at the second school, but it would also require me to move out of state, and thus pay out-of-state tuition.

It's all a matter of what you are willing to do and how far you are willing to go to get into a nursing school. Not to mention that even if it took you an extra year to get accepted into an accelerated bsn program you would still graduation at the same time as if you had started an ADN program a year sooner. So going to ADN route in order to start working sooner doesn't make much since. You also have to remember that lots of the discouraging remarks you read on here are from people that want you to be discouraged. These people are your competition for getting into school, obviously they are going to try and discourage others from applying so they have a better chance at getting admitted. If you truly are "a hard worker and am determined to get into a program" then i am sure you will do just that. Good luck

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I think you should go with the ABSN. The other thing you may want to double check is if taking the courses at the community college are acceptable. Since you already have a bachelor's degree taking additional classes at a four year institution may be required for some program's. If your on LI, which I assume you are, you might want to try St. Joe's in Pathchogue, (I believe they have brooklyn campus too). It is expensive but I found the A&P course to be more doable than at my instution and it has smaller class sizes than Stonybrook so it will be easier to get more focused attention if need be.

There are several ABSN programs on the island and in NYC. Stonybrook is one of the most competitive to get into but I would imagine that getting in may be easier if you took their prereqs because they know it is hard and they will appreciate your perseverence. Check out Hofstra, Molloy College (I know there are more but I can't think of them off the top of my head) For their ABSN programs.

Another reason to do ABSN is that NY is one of the few states that requires you to get your BSN within ten years (other states are talking of following suit). So you will eventually need to get it anyway plus you already stated that you would do a bridge program if you did get your ADN, so just a little extra incentive.

Don't give up on your dreams. I'm in an ABSN and it is difficult but doable! I am astonished by the perseverence some of my classmates have. They are late career changers with families at home, single moms, others working and doing the fulltime program. You've gotten this far you can attain yor goal!

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Thank you both very much for your advice. Yes, I am on Long Island now. I spoke with the Dean of the community college I will be attending next semester and he helped me choose courses that he knew Stony Brook would accept. I then followed up with the Nursing School at Stony Brook to make sure that the courses suggested were acceptable and they were. I would have to do the same for any other school/program I apply too but since the community college I will be attending is a SUNY school, I was told by both Stony Brook and SCCC that most of their courses are transferable since they are basic. (A&P I and II, stats, Bio, developmental psych..etc.).

I would prefer to apply to an ABSN program so I will continue to do my research on the best school for me and work hard to pull my grades up. I am so afraid that this past semester at SBU is really going to mess up my pre-req GPA and ruin my chances of getting in to any Nursing program. I am trying my hardest to avoid being discouraged but I am extremely worried about my low GPA. I have never studied so much with such little progress and never been to a school where the class average was below a failing score! I guess thats just the nature of the school and i just need to work as hard as I can. Unfortunately, I am unable to relocate at this time and will have to apply to NY/NJ schools within a commutable distance from my home.

Would you recommend getting some type of experience before applying? The only job I've ever held in a hospital was in medical records and that was some years ago. Someone had told me that it may be beneficial to look into becoming a CNA and taking a 6-12 week course to do so.

When you applied to you ABSN program, did they look at your undergrad GPA and your pre-req GPA separately or combine them together. Stony Brook told me they are going to look at my science GPA and then overall GPA. Both the science and overall GPA must be at least a 2.8 although most applicants who apply have over that.

Thanks again for the advice! I really REALLY appreciate it.

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I got in to an ABSN program with a 2.79 undergrad GPA, BUT I also had a much higher prereq GPA. My school looked at both prereq and undergrad GPA but gave more weight to the prerequisites.

Can you slow down your prerequisites at all? I think a switch to a CC instead of SBU is a good move- my prerequisites were still challenging, just not designed to weed students out in the same way that BA level science courses often are.

All the schools in my area will actually give you a list of local community college courses that meet their requirements, so I've never heard of a school only accepting prerequisites from 4 year institutions.

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Some schools looked at my science and prereq GPA others looked at my undergrad GPA. They took experience, and letters of rec and a personal statement though too, so I'm sure its more of a culmination of factors than any one as long as you meet the minimum requirements. I was an EMT and loved it and I'm sure that helped. I know lots of people with their CNA's and they did well too! If you think that you could become a CNA and still keep up your prereqs then I say go for it!!!

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Thank you again for your input and advice. I am going to look into CNA for experience and think I'll be able to keep up with my pre-reqs and CNA once I switch to the community college next semester. Finals are fast approaching so I am going to log off and lock myself up in the library for the next 15 days! Hope you have a wonderful holiday season and I will keep coming back to the forum throughout my little journey!

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