t-rick

That's what I was thinking -- it depends on the program. I guess truth be told I'm trying to make it into an np program before they make it a doctorate. But a small part of me would like to earn my doctorate. So where does this leave me? I have no clue.

Well I've been working as a NA since may on an ortho unit. I've been able to get some hands on experience while I worked 40+ hours a week over the summer and now that school is in session, I've been working every weekend for about 20 hours. The time I've spent on the floor has increased my confidence in myself and has allowed me to see a lot of things I wouldn't be able to see during my 120 hours of med-surg clinical. I have over 540 hours of time logged at the hospital I work at, not including clinical hours for other rotations. I feel my time as a nursing assistant has prepared me well for becoming an RN, but I'm still not so sure about moving forward that fast and jumping into grad school. As far as my gpa goes, I'm really nervous that it will make or break me.

Hello! My name is Rick, I'm in my senior year of nursing and I'll graduate in May with my BSN. I'm currently looking into grad schools and a few questions keep popping into my mind that I hope someone here will be able to assist me with. 1. Many of the schools I'm looking at (Case, UNC, Vanderbilt, Clemson, etc) require a 3.0 gpa on a 4.0 scale overall AND within the nursing courses. My gpa is above a 3.0 overall, but nursing has been tough and it's probably closer to a 2.5 for the past year. I have the remainder of the semester and an entire next semester to get my gpa back up, but the question is, how important to admissions people is it that the gpa is over a three? 2. The other question I have is whether or not it's advisable to go directly from undergrad to grad school while working part-time. I plan on enrolling in a practitioner program, which specific concentration, I haven't decided (leaning towards family or just adult). I'm not sure how long is a good time to wait, if any, because I know for myself, the longer I wait to go back, the less likely it will actually happen. Thanks for reading, especially if you have some input!