TXAshley

Oh yes, I know all about the science classes med students take. I have a previous BA in bio from UT-Austin and was in most of those classes the premed students have to take. Believe me, the two semesters of o chem I had to take for my degree was much harder than the one semester nursing students took. Same with the A&P ( I took both the upper division A&P designed for bio students plus I had to take the nursing A&P b/c the one for bio students didn't have a lab component). Let me tell you... those were a great 4 years :roll .

I did not know they accepted some med students there with such a low GPA. I thought you AT LEAST had to have a 3.0 for med schools to even glance at your application. The thing is though that with med school applications there is so much more that goes into it than with nursing school (at least for UTHSCSA). For med school they also take into account MCAT scores (which if they are great can make up for a not so great GPA), a personal reflection, interview, and any volunterring/research/interships that med school applicants may have done. So maybe they just had a weak GPA, but great MCAT score, interview, and tons of experience and research. Another thing is that med schools are really picky about where people take their prereqs from unlike nursing school. When you are talking four years of very difficult classes at a hard university of course the GPA will be lower. The thing I never understood was entry into PA school. I had several friends at UT-Austin applying to PA school with bio degrees, and the GPA cutoff for that was incredibly high. You had to take the same classes as somebody applying to med school but yet you could get into med school with a lower GPA.

You do need about a 3.6 to get into UTHSCSA, and that's all you need. That's really the only program you found that required two semesters of chem? I thought all nursing schools did, at least all the ones I applied to did and I applied to about 5. When I applied to them you needed a 3.55 to get in, and let me tell you, they do not give a crap where that GPA came from. I have a previous Bio degree from a UT-Austin so my GPA is ok, but not a 3.55..... well I just finished my first semester of nursing school with all As.... a woman in my nursing class FAILED EVERY SINGLE class she was taking but had reapplied to UTHSCSA and was accepted based on the fact that her prereq GPA was so good. I really think they need to re-evaluate how they accept people and maybe look at some other things other than pre-req GPA b/c I kind of wonder how many students they accept are like this woman....sure they have a great pre-req GPA but as soon as they are a step up in nursing school they can't handle it. A older friend of mine has her MSN from them. She hated the time she spent there. I guess there was too much "politics" for her taste.

Actually, at my college most serious pre-med and pre-PA students did volunteer at a hospital or did some kind of medical research internship over the summers. It is a big part of their application process, as medical schools want to be sure that their new students are not going to take one step in a hospital and drop out because they can't handle it. I'm sure there are a lot of nursing students out there that don't need to volunteer because they are sure they can handle it, but if I had not volunteered I don't think I would have even considered being a nurse and if I had gone to nursing school without volunteering I would have been overwhelmed at first. I had never been in a hospital before I volunteered, and when we were shown around the ICU visiting hours were ending and all the families were leaving. I knew that I would see some upsetting things, but I was surprised by the emotion I felt when I saw the families sobbing as they left. I'm just glad I had a wake up call before I jumped into it all. Considering that it is taken into consideration when applying to other types of health professional schools, I was surprised that it really wasn't important when applying to nursing school.

EricTAMUCC-BSN-"most of my classmates had never stepped foot inside a hospital this concerns me a little" Yeah, it concerns me too, but I think it is very true. I volunteered 3 semesters at a local hospital but I was very surprised when applying to nursing school b/c most nursing schools never even had an area in the application where you could mention that you had ever worked or volunteered in a medical setting. From what I have seen of the nursing students at my school, many have never been in a hospital, which I think is a very important thing to do. I remember being a little overwhelmed the first time I took a tour of the hospital I volunteered at, and if I was in nursing school and that was my first experience with one I think I would possibly change my mind about the whole nursing school thing.

I from Spring and I think it is a great place! There are tons of neighborhoods going up there, and most house are somewhere around what you quoted. Also there is the Woodlands (which is very close to spring). The Woodlands is a very pretty area.

Sorry if I offended you Ketcia, didn't mean to. I have been to visit it a few times, I am from the Houston area. That was my impression of Beaumont, and my two best friends actually grew up in Beaumont and have families that have lived there for years, and they feel the same way about it as I do. Maybe I just saw the bad part of town, and it would be a major adjustment for people from a big city, but I'm sorry if that offended you.

I don't get it either. Their deadline was March 1st I think, which isn't too far off from other nursing school deadlines, so I have no idea why it would take them so much longer. It's silly, b/c you can't sign up for any last minute prereqs you need over the summer or anything, that's why I'm basically ruling it out. But there website claims they have like 500 something applicants, which really shocks me that so many people apply there.

I applied there, but I don't really know anything about their program. My mother had a friend who got her BSN there several years ago and she seemed to like it. Beaumont is a horrid place to live though, or from what I've seen it looks like it would be. It's a real small place, really poor, and not too pretty. I recently got a letter from them telling me what transferred and what did not....my micro, chems, english, math, and pysch classes did not transfer, and I took these at UT-Austin, so I have no idea why. I didn't bother to pursue it anymore since I have already been accepted and registered at another school. They don't even tell you if you are admitted until July, which seems horribly late and short notice.

Ut Austin does have one for students that already have an ungrad degree. It's a master's program so you end up with an MSN, the only problem is that I've been told that even though you have an MSN you can't not become an NP, only an RN. But you'll still be considered an "advanced practice nurse." I believe the program is like 3 years long. Also, I've heard that it is not so hard to be accepted into the alternate entry programs as it is to be accepted into the regular programs for BSN. I've been considering doing that....

I'm a student at UT in Austin, but my family is from Spring. The northwest side of Houston is really nice, and Spring was a nice place to grow up. It very close to the Woodlands, which is another great area. It's very possible to live in Spring and still work in the big hopitals downtown. My Dad works for Memorial Hermann and my sister works for M.D. Anderson and the drive for them is not too bad.

Ok, so I wanted to get some opinions on this. I will be receiving my biology degree from UT in May and decided after that to go the nursing school. I applied to UTHSCSA hoping I had a chance because on their website they claim that a 3.0 and higher prereq GPA was a competitive GPA to have. I also applied to come others, but this was the one I really had my hopes on. Well, in Feb. they sent a letter with all my transcripts and what classes were accepted and all, and that my prereq GPA was a 3.23. The letter stated that their were some classes that I needed to finish and that I needed to contact them immediately to let them know that I would finish up the classes, and if I did not contact them my application would be ineligible. So I contacted them THAT DAY b/c not only did I want them to know that I would be taking the classes, I also had a question on why they would not accept my two general chemistry classes I took to complete my bio degree. The woman in the registrar's office was very nice, explained why they did not accept that chem. from UT and said that she would record that I had called and would be finishing my prereqs. Well, I still had not heard from them by Monday, so I sent an e-mail asking when the letters would be sent out. This morning I got a replay saying that my application had never even been looked at because I had never called to make sure I would be completing the class, which is completely untrue! So I immediately called the registrars office and the woman who picked up was no help at all. She asked me if I remembered who I talked to (which I don't even think I bothered to ask that persons name at all, thinking it wouldn't be a problem) and then basically told me, "well, it doesn't matter that your application was never reviewed, because the lowest GPA we accepted this semester was a 3.55, which you do not have." So basically she made me feel like an idiot for even applying. The she had the nerve to ask me if I wanted to keep my application active for next semester. I am really mad, because I did what I needed to do, plus even though I maybe didn't have a chance to get in right now, that still means nothing for if they end up sending out more letters later this summer after they know who is actually coming into their school. I want to write a formal letter of complaint to the dean because I think this is totally wrong, but I feel like I have no proof I called because I don't remember the name of the person I talked to. Anybody know anything about UTHSCSA? Should I be upset about this?