The craze for all As

[oneday_nursepoundcake]

Is it pretty standard everywhere for people to need all "A"s in their core pre-requisite classes when applying to a nursing program? Where I'm at (NYC), this seems to be the case, due to very limited slots in the (affordable) public schools and GPA being the #1 thing that gets you in or not.

At the community college I go to, this means up to 2/3 of the class withdraws from classes like A&P by the last few weeks of the semester if it looks like that A isn't going to happen. In a typical A&P class, you'll find more people repeating the class than not, sometimes multiple times (there seems to be no penalty for this). All that matters, it seems, is that golden A.

It just seems like other factors should count (e.g. were you a hard-working student who participated, came to all classes, etc -- but messed up your A by mis-calculating what to study for on the mid-term, or had a panic attack during the lab practical that threw you off). I guess it's a dog eat dog world, and you've gotta be "tough" for nursing, but I just withdrew from A&P 2 because I messed up my A and not sure if I should feel mad at myself or the "system".

In the study of nursing, is it always going to be about that number?

[Rionoir, ADN, RN]

It's not like that everywhere :)

[caliotter3]

Some schools have taken measures to stop the "start-stop" practice of repeatedly dropping classes. It goes along with rule changes regarding the acceptance of W grades. When admitting committees compare transcripts of applicant students, they are not fooled.

[MiladyMalarkey, ASN, BSN]

I believe it is more like that in pre-reqs when trying to get into nursing school. Everyone is competing for that almighty spot in nursing school and institutions place highest value on academics, which makes sense if you think about it. Once in nursing school, most people relax a bit and "C's get degrees" becomes acceptable all of a sudden. There are still the overachievers and type A's, but nursing school usually has a way of humbling even the greatest of academic geniuses.