marie85

I can say that is doable BUT it will require a lot on your part to make sure you give each class its deserved study time. I know it will be tough but don't neglect your other classes. Everyone always says that the sciences are really important, and I agree they most certainly are, but your other classes are important too. Those sometimes tend to suffer when all we focus on are the science courses. Anyway, I did something similar a couple semesters back and took A&P II and Chem I together in one semester..talk about studying overload! lol So on top of Chem I and A&P II, I was taking Dev. Psych, Eng II, Public Speaking, and a PE which all totaled 18 hours. You may think, well those are easy classes..but in between studying for Chem and A&P AND doing papers for Eng and Pub. Speaking AND having to log hours for a dumb PE class and study for Psych, things got stressful..but it's all about prioritizing and staying ahead as to not feel overwhelmed because it could have easily ended up that way. Just study, study, study (but make sure you are LEARNING not just MEMORIZING because that's not going to help you when you get into the program) and you will see the results like I did, all A's. Good luck! PS- I did the math, and I might be wrong but wouldn't A & P II, Microbiology, Dev. Psych, and Sociology add up to be 14 credits? At my school the sciences are 4 because they include lab and the psych and sociology would be 3 credits each. Just wondering because I think 14 hours is a good number to take. I was taking 18 because I am towards the end and I wanted all those classes out of the way. 18 hours (to me) was a lot and I would not do it again unless I had to! lol

Thank you so much for the advice! I have been pretty bummed out about the situation and it is nice to hear some words of encouragement. :) I live in the South and all the schools I really want to get into are in the North (New York and surrounding areas) so I'm not sure I would be able to do to an information session but it would be nice to get a mini vacation in with that as an excuse. I have looked at some schools in South and North Carolina so that would be more doable in terms of travel. I also like your idea about trying to explain my situation, briefly, in the cover letter. I also did not even think about asking for academic forgiveness. I wonder what the time frame for that is? I might be wrong but I think it has to have been at least 10 years? I'm hoping most of the schools I apply to require an essay (I'm a pretty solid writer) and an interview as that would at least give me a chance to explain myself. I'm just afraid of sounding like I'm full of excuses or that I'm trying to have a pity party for myself. I just want them to understand that I did not make the best academic choices early in my educational career but now that I am older I am serious about school and I know that I could bring a lot to the nursing community. Although, I did call a local nursing school that works with a community college a couple of towns over and tried to explain my situation to the secretary and she (not so nicely) told me that with two F's (in Eng II and Public Speaking..I know, I know..embarrassing) they would not even consider me (even if I had straight A's in all my other classes) and neither would "any nursing school in the US.":eek: I literally cried for 4 hours straight and felt so bad about myself. After I really thought about it though, I don't care what that lady says, I've worked hard to get this far and the least I could do is apply. If they reject me, then so be it, but at least I tried!

I myself am not a "math person" either! I was scared to death when I took it because I was taking it the same semester I took Anatomy and Physiology I. I failed the first Stat test I took but then got progressively better as the semester went on. I ended up making an A in the class but that is because I studied my butt off and went to my professor for help every chance I got. It is doable to balance Statistics with another science course (I made A's in all my classes that semester) but you have to have good time management skills, I can tell you that! Just be prepared to study...ALOT! lol I would not recommend taking Stat in the summer though. You already said you were not a "math person" and, in my opinion, if your going to cram a subject in a short amount of time and expect a good grade, I'd have to be pretty confident I was going to do well. Again, I don't know what your strengths and weaknesses are and who knows, you may have a knack for Statistics since it isn't a regular run of the mill math course. Just giving my two cents worth. Good luck with whatever you choose to do! :)

I have heard of plenty of people who have done it but I was not one of those people. I tried to work full-time (40+ hours) while taking pre-reqs and my grades were suffering tremendously. I was stressed all the time because I felt like I never had time to do anything. Keep in mind my work was not very understanding of me being in school and even tried to discourage me from going. I quite my job and got a part-time job (19 hours) and even working that seems to be stressful at times with the hours I am taking for school (18 hours this semester and one of those is online). Working less, at least for me, has made all the difference. I feel like I have more time for school work and family and even though I wish I did not have to work at all while trying to finish up, I know that financially I have to. I honestly feel that you know what your strengths and weaknesses are and some people may be in a position where they can while others may not. Try it for a semester and if you feel like it is too much then cut back on the number of hours you work. School should be your priority right now because grades can make or break you in nursing school. Good luck!!

Ok, here is the rundown. I'm 26 and I've just decided to go back to school (for the third time) and pursue nursing. I've worked in the medical field (mostly clerical stuff, some pharmacy, for 10 years now) but I have not been too happy with my job lately so I wanted to go back to school and do something more rewarding, like nursing. So now, let’s back track a bit, I started University around 2003 and only lasted to 2004 (I was an Early Childhood Education Major at the time, Nursing really appealed to me, especially because I am bilingual, but I knew Nursing required a lot of studying and dedication and at 18/19 years old all I wanted to do during college was hang with my friends and go to parties). I earned sub-par grades(some A's and B's, MANY C's and D's..and yes, even some F's ) I stopped going to school in 2004 and worked full-time for 6 years then in 2010, I got the itch to go back to school. I switched majors to General Studies and I literally lasted only 1 semester before I failed out. (I was trying to balance 40+ hours of work and a newborn baby.) I got really discouraged about school and started to feel like maybe I was not smart enough to finish college, even though I had always been a solid A/B student in high school. I decided to stop feeling sorry for myself and signed up to take classes at a local community college. I quit my job and got a part-time job and studied my butt off. I have held a 4.0 during my time at the community college and when I graduate it will be with honors with a 3.5 GPA. (No, that is not the greatest GPA but the mere fact that I brought up my GPA from what it was to this is a miracle in itself!) I was so excited about this that I felt like maybe I had a shot at getting into Nursing school only to find out that I might be wrong. I did not realize that the Nursing schools I was looking at going into looked at ALL your attempted grades. This makes me very sad because I don't feel like I should be punished for grades I got in 2003/2004. I have repeated all the classes I got F’s, C’s and D’s in and got A’s in all of them. I thought if I took them again that schools would only look at the higher of the two or that somehow the higher grade would “replace” the bad grade. I have made A's in all my science courses( A&P I, A&P II, Micro, Chem I, and Chem II) but I'm worried that if they take into consideration my GPA from my previous University experience (it is so low I'm embarrassed to even post it) that no school will want me. I calculated it and it drops my GPA from a 3.5 to a 2.88! No school will even look twice at my application with that GPA! So, after that spill, here are my questions: 1) Do schools look at your GPA as a whole, all classes, or just Nursing requirements (Sciences, English I &II, Psych, etc) when determining GPA for who gets in and who gets denied? 2) Does EVERY nursing school look at all attempted courses when evaluating applications? And, again, is that attempted classes as a whole or just in the Nursing requirements? 3) Do you think schools would take into consideration that it was so long ago when I got those bad grades or is that going to haunt me forever? Do you think they would consider the fact that I retook all those classes and made A’s in all of them? 4) Will schools look at the fact that I have aced every single one of my science courses and will that be enough for them to overlook my crappy GPA? 5) Also, if I make a really great score on the TEAS or the HESI (depending on what school I decide to apply to) do you think that would be enough to get them to at least consider my application? I’m scared to death they will take one look at my GPA and throw out my application! 6) Should I even bother applying to Nursing school after all this? I just don't want to waste time/money on applications and tests if I'm definitely not getting in because of my GPA, yet, on the other hand, I don't want to live with the "what if" if I don't apply. I COULD REALLY USE SOME ADVICE!!!!!