Pre-Nursing student STRESSING PLEASE HELP

[Prettybirdy]

I am currently an undergraduate, this summer I will have completed all of my Prerequisites to apply for Nursing School. My current struggles consist of the following : My poor GPA of 2.38, The fact that this is my fourth year of school and I am just now completing the prerequisites, I have failed Chemistry 3 times and I am taking it a fourth time this summer. And so many people and Advisers have told me to "give up" and change my major to Health Sciences or Biology Education Major. I am having an extremely difficult time taking that advice because, I know I can become a Nurse and I am not willing to give up! I have looked at ADN as an option and I have all of the classes to apply for it now. As a short term goal I would like to go from ADN to BSN and long term goal is to get into and Anesthetics program. If there is any hope for me that you know of please let me know. I'm freaking out over this because I know that Nursing is very competitive and my GPA is no where near competition ready. But the main focus for me is finding a way to do what I love and that is Nursing. I need realistic views and answers! Thank you all in advance

[IHeartPeds87]

First of all, you need to research on SPECIFIC PROGRAMS. The requirements for each program vary drastically, and with your poor academic record thus far your options will be limited.

I said limited. This is the key word.

I was like you, OP. I had a very poor academic record and had taken classes including prereq's multiple times. Not good. Lots of wasted time and money.

I was immature and didn't go to class! That will kill your GPA real fast.

A job as a caregiver paying minimum wage really changed my life. It made me want to be a nurse. It made me buckle down in school.

I found a program that did not care about the number of times I repeated courses. They just looked at my grades in 11 classes. If you had taken those classes 10 times, they didn't care. They cared about those 11 classes.

So what did I do? I took those 11 classes. Out of those eleven classes, I repeated no less than 5 of them.

However, I buckled down and studied. And I don't mean kind of studied. I mean all encompassing studying. And in those 11 courses I ended up with a gpa of 3.88 (if you calculate my gpa the way the school did, with your last attempt in each course counting).

I did not get in. I had to repeat one class for the third time and ended up with a gpa of 3.997 calculated the way the school does.

Reapplied to the program the following year and got in. I graduate at the end of the month.

It can be done. You need to RESEARCH PROGRAMS. If you can find a program that does not care about your repeated classes, it can be done.

That being said, your options are limited. I was fortunate to have that at my program, and my program has a very good reputation in my state. It is an ASN program. However, as of last year they changed the requirements and now do care about the number of times a student has repeated the courses. they have reduced the number of classes a student must take and now require the TEAS exam.

Research programs. You may have to move.

And you need to figure out what was causing your poor grades. You will need to fix whatever the problem is before you can get in. Just saying "you want to be a nurse" is not enough. Now you need to demonstrate that you have the academic ability to do so by figuring out what programs are still options and doing EXTREMELY well in the classes that are required.

[Purple7]

Where do you live, are you willing to relocate? I had the same problem. Been in school for 4 years doing pre-requisite. Made mainly c's the first time than b's and finally A's. It wasnt easy but I tried real hard. I had to relocate because the programs where I am from are more competitive. Try alabama schools if you live in the south. The community colleges go by point scale and the last 24 credit hours. As long as you have an 2.5 and have taken your teas. You should be able to get into one of their programs. Good luck.

[jaycam, RN]

I agree. I took my prerequisites at a smaller four year college that used to be a cc. One thing they kept were the smaller class sizes. This helped me a lot with chemistry. I had professors who knew who I was and my weak points and they were willing to help. I just had to show I wanted it.

[PapaBearRN, BSN]

You do not need to give up. You can do this. You just have to try something different.

Find a community college that lets you take classes as many times as you want.

Retake your prerequisites that are lower than an a.

Take the hesi... And apply. Get accepted. And become a nurse.

Community colleges do not allow you to repeat courses endlessly anymore. To apply to an ADN program you can't repeat a course more than once. If you repeated anatomy and chemistry once, you are no longer eligible. They've become a lot tougher because of how many applicants there are. I think it's best considering we lost 20 students in our nursing class due to failing grades.

[RNtobe17]

Community colleges do not allow you to repeat courses endlessly anymore. To apply to an ADN program you can't repeat a course more than once. If you repeated anatomy and chemistry once, you are no longer eligible. They've become a lot tougher because of how many applicants there are. I think it's best considering we lost 20 students in our nursing class due to failing grades.

That's not a rule for EVERY community college. Mine allows you to take classes as many times as you want. They all have different rules.

[RNtobe17]

Community colleges do not allow you to repeat courses endlessly anymore. To apply to an ADN program you can't repeat a course more than once. If you repeated anatomy and chemistry once, you are no longer eligible. They've become a lot tougher because of how many applicants there are. I think it's best considering we lost 20 students in our nursing class due to failing grades.

I said "find a community college that lets you take it as many times as you want" not that all community colleges let you do that.

[RNtobe17]

Community colleges do not allow you to repeat courses endlessly anymore. To apply to an ADN program you can't repeat a course more than once. If you repeated anatomy and chemistry once, you are no longer eligible. They've become a lot tougher because of how many applicants there are. I think it's best considering we lost 20 students in our nursing class due to failing grades.

And I said community college just because it's faster ....

I know this because I was in the same position as this person is. I failed classes because I was immature and irresponsible for my first two semesters.

I called around and found a few community colleges that allows people to take classes as many times as they want to.

I retook all my classes and now have a 4.0... That's why I gave that advice.

[PapaBearRN, BSN]

And I said community college just because it's faster ....

I know this because I was in the same position as this person is. I failed classes because I was immature and irresponsible for my first two semesters.

I called around and found a few community colleges that allows people to take classes as many times as they want to.

I retook all my classes and now have a 4.0... That's why I gave that advice.

That's excellent. I should have said cc's in the so cal area. You in nursing school?

[RNtobe17]

That's excellent. I should have said cc's in the so cal area. You in nursing school?

I'm actually waiting to get my letter from my school to find out if I made it into their nursing program. 😃 I will find out in June

[kelleyaburton]

You sound just like me eighteen years ago. Eighteen years ago, I was in a BSN program at a university (I won't mention the name to protect the innocent) that was known for producing dynamite nurses. I repeated ALL of my sciences except two, Microbiology and Physiology. When I got a D in my Health Assessment class, I switched majors and graduated with an English degree. Long story short, I am now in an ADN program at a community college five minutes from my home and I am about to finish my first year. I have also been a phlebotomist for ten years. I can understand struggling with the sciences, believe me! They are hard, but not impossible. I would utilize every resource available to you, tutors, video programs, internet programs, shortcut books, study groups, everything. You have an advantage in this day and age that students in the past didn't. Don't give up! If you really want to be a nurse, passion goes a long way. I keep telling myself that people with less brains than me have become nurses whenever I feel discouraged. Often times, if you must repeat a science and you can get a higher grade, that is the grade that the powers that be will look at. Also, a very caring RN told me in my ear, "When you apply for a job, nobody looks at your GPA!" That's not to say get bad grades, but I think often times we student nurses stress ourselves out trying to get As and Bs when sometimes, if you can pass, that's an achievement! I know several nurses, yes, registered nurses who repeated a class or two. So you hang in there!

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Also, a very caring RN told me in my ear, "When you apply for a job, nobody looks at your GPA!"

I've been asked to submit a copy of my academic transcript to recruiters prior to being granted interviews. Some new grad RN positions do have minimum GPA requirements, so we cannot pretend that GPA is a non-issue.

Once a nurse has experience, no one cares about the GPA. However, the GPA is evolving into a weed-out tool for hiring into competitive new grad RN positions.

[WookieeRN, BSN, MSN, RN]

I've been asked to submit a copy of my academic transcript to recruiters prior to being granted interviews. Some new grad RN positions do have minimum GPA requirements, so we cannot pretend that GPA is a non-issue.

Once a nurse has experience, no one cares about the GPA. However, the GPA is evolving into a weed-out tool for hiring into competitive new grad RN positions.

GPA is definitely become more important in the hiring process of new grads, and it's gaining momentum. We were told recently that many hospital health systems in the area will toss your resume if you have anything less than a 3.5.