Pre-ABSN Student, worried I may not be en route

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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Hi!

I'm currently an undergrad Junior at Emory Uni. I'm an Econ/Math major with an ~3.2 gpa and a number of ec's (though from what I can see those seem irrelevant). During the course of my college career I've become increasingly interested in a career in nursing, due in large part to the fulfilling lives and careers that several of my family members lead and extol.

At the beginning of my Junior year, when my uncle alerted me to the existence of Accelerated post-baccalaureate nursing programs in GA I decided to pursue one of them upon graduation. Upon looking further into the requirements I realize I may not be the level of applicant required for one of the these programs and was hoping that one of you who know the system could show me where I am lacking or clear up for me whether there is a realistic chance of being accepted to one of these programs.

One area where I'm confused is in the prerequisite classes, these programs all seem to have some similar core prereqs but differ pretty wildly in some. As far as I can tell it doesn't seem possible to complete 'all' prereqs for absn programs in GA, but does that mean just meeting one school's requirements and not applying anywhere else? This concerns me because I have a very low gpa that I at best hope to pull up to 3.3-3.4 before graduation and I don't want to sacrifice a huge amount of effort only to be able to apply to one or two programs with, from what I can see, often 5-10% acceptance rates.

Along these lines, courses that I've taken that seem relevant are Chem I&II, Statistics, Calc I&II (would I still need to take college algebra, as it does not seem to substitute for it for some schools?), A&P I&II, and Sociology. Notable classes that I haven't taken are Nutrition, Human Health (variations of), Microbiology (which I am supremely confused about as at Emory it requires Bio I&II as prereqs while at other schools it does not), and Psychology, + many other wildly differing elective-like requirements.

Also my science GPA is ~3.2 as well, and I could similarly hope to pull it to around the 3.4 range. I understand that I am not a very competitive applicant (if I am even a realistic applicant at all), but with two semesters, plus possibly taking 1-3 classes at the university in my home town this Summer, is there a realistic way I could make myself a candidate for several GA ABSN programs.

I would appreciate any advice or feedback, no matter how harsh, thank you for reading!

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Depending on how the programs you are considering evaluate candidates, you might not be as far down as you think. Many ABSN programs (not all) consider candidates holistically not just based on their undergraduate GPA. Some also tend to focus more on the pre-req GPA or the GPA of your last 60 units versus our overall GPA. My undergraduate GPA by itself isn't great, as it's just under a 3.0. However, I've been making all A's in my pre-reqs so far and I've gotten into two ABSN programs and 1 masters program.

I would honestly make a spreadsheet of all the schools you are interested in, their requirements, application deadlines, etc. so you have one centralized location for your information. That was you can easily compare the differing pre-reqs needed and figure out which ones you still need to finish before you apply. Many schools, though again not all, will let you apply if you only have a few pre-reqs in progress. This would allow you to apply to some other schools you might be interested, but not to have to complete every single pre-reqs before you apply. As far as your question about calculus versus algebra, I personally haven't had an issue with my calc classes satisfying any algebra requirements, but to be sure you should reach out to the individual programs and see if they will accept it.

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Person above has good advice.

I'm in Atlanta as well. I have a prior bachelors from GA Tech and am going back to school for nursing. There are several good accelerated programs in the area for sure, but I also had issues with each of them having different prereq requirements. I decided to pursue my ADN for now at Georgia Perimeter. It would have taken me another year or two to complete the extra prereqs for the ABSN programs. I had taken most of the classes before, but they were too long ago to count. Perimeter had no problem accepting my (many) calculus credits for the algebra requirement, which was a relief. Georgia Perimeter has a well-regarded program in the Atl area, and has great retention and NCLEX pass rates, and a BSN program can always be acquired online after you get your RN. Definitely reach out to the ABSN schools (I assume you're looking at Kennesaw, Emory, and GSU?) and see how they evaluate applicants, but don't discount an ADN program. It could be the quicker (and much cheaper) route to go for.

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Thanks for the responses! Is there any resource to find acceptance rates for these programs? Also to complete enough prereqs I was planning to take a couple of classes at the uni in my home town over the Summer, is that frowned upon?

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Specializes in School health, pediatrics.

Look into information sessions for the programs you are interseted in. The program I looked into offered this as a webinar, and it answered all of my questions. What is taken into consideration for acceptance, what pre-reqs have to be done before applying, what is the cost, where are clinicals, what alternate schedules (evenings, weekends) are available, etc. It was very helpful, and I highly recommend attending one if it is available at all schools you are considering.

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Definitely look for info sessions. GPC has one every few weeks. Most places don't post their acceptance rates, but by doing searches here and on google you can usually find people talking about the acceptance likelihood for the different colleges. And just make sure the courses that you take at home have transfer equivalency to your college of choice.

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I just finished up going through the application process for ABSN programs. I'm from MI but I ran into the same issue. While the schools had a lot of overlap in prerequisites, the majority of them had at least 1 prereq that the others didn't have and some prereqs I could only take at that school. Have you considered applying to any out of state programs? I found many out of state programs that had looser prereq requirements and had tuition comparable to in-state tuition. I didn't want to waste time taking a bunch of prereqs so I focused on getting the prereqs for my top choice in-state program and applied to a bunch of out of state programs as backups. I did end up being accepted to the in-state program but I'm glad I didn't put all my eggs in one basket. Definitely compare the prereqs for each schools, choose a couple of programs with similar prerequisites, and focus on those instead of trying to have the prereqs to apply to every school.

Since you haven't taken psych or human growth and development, I would see if any of the schools would allow you to take the CLEP test instead. There may also be DSST tests you can take.

I took the majority of my prereqs at community colleges and had no issues. Taking classes at another university should be fine. However, each program is different and I would make sure the programs you're interested in will accept the classes before taking them.

Yes, your GPA is a little on the low side but you could definitely be a competitive applicant if you do well in the rest of your prerequisites, get some healthcare experience, and have great recommendations and essays. Some schools publish acceptance rates but not all. The program I'll probably be attending accepts between 40-45% of applicants and admitted student GPAs range from 3.25-4, if that's helpful.

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Hi! I had an unimpressive undergrad GPA and got into a public BSN program in GA. Trust me, I have done the research on this question! Make sure you do great (all A's!) in your pre-reqs and earn great scores on your HESI/TEAS (90+).

I made a massive spreadsheet of requirements for various schools. Usually in GA you will need to have English 1 and 2, Chem 1 & 2, Anatomy & Physiology 1 & 2, Microbiology, Algebra (many will accept Calculus), Statistics, General Psychology, Lifespan Developmental Psychology, and sometimes Sociology. Nutrition is usually not required in GA, nor is Human Health. You'll also need to take History & Government for that GA law. You can take all of these pre-reqs online cheaply through GA Perimeter. You'll need to go in for the labs though (In addition to regular daytime labs, they have labs 8pm-11pm twice a week in summer, and 7pm-10pm once a week in fall and spring. They also have some Saturday labs). So you can have a 9-5 job earning money while taking pre-reqs if necessary.

If you are trying to figure out if a school will take your credit, you can google "Transfer Articulation" and the new school's name. Then you can plug in the class you are trying to transfer, and see if the school accepts it.

Kennesaw and UNG are very competitive. However, if you have a prior bachelor's, UNG will ignore your undergrad degree except for pre-reqs. Check out their nursing page.

Look at Armstrong (now part of GA Southern). They have a 3 semester accelerated program. I believe this is the shortest program in GA and super cheap as well. An advisor told me their average is around a 3.4. They are very picky about Microbiology, so I think you would need to take that through them and not another school.

Check out Clayton State, GA Southwestern, Columbus State, and Middle GA. Remember that typically schools in Atlanta will be more competitive than schools outside of Atlanta.

I wouldn't get too worked up about an accelerated bachelor's vs regular bachelor's. Some of the accelerated are longer than the regular! You can always just do the last two years of a regular BSN. For example, Kennesaw's ABSN is fall/spring/summer/fall. But you could go to, say, Columbus State and do fall/spring/fall/spring. That's only 4 months longer!

Remember that you will need to apply to nursing school far ahead of time. For example, I wanted to start going to school in Fall 2018. So I applied to the universities in Fall 2017. In January 2018, I applied to the nursing school for each university. Then you hear back in March/April. If you are trying to start in the Spring, then applications are usually due around June and you hear results in the fall.

From talking to others, most hospitals in Atlanta hire ASNs as RNs but want them to get BSNs soon. I have only heard of one that doesn't hire ASNs. An ASN is a very affordable way to get an RN license, and GA Perimeter is a great school. From there, you can work as a nurse while taking classes online in order to get your BSN. Completing your BSN could be done online in as little as 12 months. GA State and many other public colleges have RN to BSN online programs.

Here is a list of all the ASN and BSN programs in GA. This is showing their NCLEX exam pass rate. The NCLEX is the exit exam nursing students take in order to obtain their RN license. If an NCLEX pass rate is low, the school is not regarded as being very good.

http://sos.ga.gov/PLB/acrobat/Forms/38%20Reference%20-%20Nursing%20Education%20Program%20Results%20(NCLEX).pdf

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Hello!

Are you considering Emory's program? I believe you are automatically accepted if you have >3.0 GPA and have met all the pre requisites, unless they changed the rules since I applied (this applies to ABSN as well as BSN programs). I know it's an expensive program, but you are guaranteed acceptance, from what i know! Here is the link:

Freshman Option: Emory and Oxford Students | Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing | University | Atlanta GA

under admission requirements.

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Isn't that only for rising Sophomores or before?

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