Prospective nursing student

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I have submitted my application for the fall semester and i am nervous. How can you not get excepted? I have heard even if you maintain a c average, as required by the program that you will not get in. What am i suppose to do?

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.
I have submitted my application for the fall semester and i am nervous. How can you not get excepted? I have heard even if you maintain a c average, as required by the program that you will not get in. What am i suppose to do?

You can not be accepted if your application and credentials are not above the minimum. Nursing school admissions are generally highly competitive. Not all students that meet the minimum admissions standards are accepted. Plenty of schools have a minimum standard of 2.0 or 2.5 GPA but most candidates accepted have a 3.0, 3.5 or higher GPA.

If you are not accepted meet with a nursing school counselor to see where you can improve. Perhaps take additional classes to raise your GPA

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Specializes in L&D, infusion, urology.

Very few schools will accept you with a C average. As JustBeachyNurse said, you need to at least meet the minimum requirements, but most programs are at least somewhat competitive, and only the top candidates are accepted.

The best thing you can do is work toward improving your grades. From your OP, it appears you would benefit from English courses. I don't mean that in a rude way. Nursing school is full of papers to write, and you NEED to be able to write well in proper English. If you are a C average student, you probably won't survive the rigors of nursing school, to be honest. It's like no other class or program I've encountered, and it takes A LOT of internal drive. Would you want a nurse who just skirted by? Again, not trying to be rude, but nursing is quite literally life and death.

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I UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE SAYING RunBabyRN. ALTHOUGH YOU CLAIM THAT YOU ARE NOT TRING TO BE UGLY I DON'T THINK THAT COMMENT WAS NECESSARY. I ALSO KNOW THAT WORKING IN THE NURSING FIELD IS VERY CUT THROAT AS IT'S SHOWN IN YOUR OP. I AM ENTERING THIS FIELD TO PROVIDE CARE TO THE SICK. I UNDERSTAND THAT ARTICULATION IS VERY IMPORTANT. SO I GUESS IT'S NURSES LIKE YOU WHO I WILL NEED TO BE AWARE OF. NURSES THAT WILL ACT AS IF THEY DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT IS BEING SAID WHEN COMING IN CONTACT WITH A PATIENT OR ANOTHER NURSE WHO DOES NOT SPEAK PROPER ENGLISH. OH, BUT I WILL SURVIVE BECAUSE THIS TO WILL PASS. I GUESS I HAVE ENCOUNTERED A LOT MORE THAN YOU. NOT TRYING TO BE RUDE. THANK FOR THE ADVICE.

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Specializes in ICU.

Please do not be hateful. The fact of the matter is, you will not get in with a C average. You just won't. You have 2 options: pick another field or try to get a higher GPA.

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Just walking away now. But will add my nursing school class of 62 lowest GPA was 3.6.

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Specializes in Hospice, Palliative Care.

Good day Emotions:

You probably know using all caps is the equivalent of screaming your head off. Nursing is not normally cut throat. The main issue is there is no nursing shortage; I repeat, there is no nursing shortage. New grads in highly impacted states have an unemployment rate of approximately 50%; this compares to the national average of 6.2%. Because there is no nursing shortage, the field is extremely competitive to get into school. It is that competitiveness the schools (not the students) put into place that require a high GPA with extremely solid grades in the prerequisites especially the core sciences.

Now, if you love nursing, completely understand there is no nursing shortage, you do have options with a low GPA. You can continue to take classes for which you know you will do well to increase your GPA. You can about retaking classes to get a better grade in them. You can ask your school if they have any type of academic forgiveness. You can change it up, and become a CNA for a few years, then try again possibly as an LPN with the intent to do an RN bridge.

Thank you.

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.
I UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE SAYING RunBabyRN. ALTHOUGH YOU CLAIM THAT YOU ARE NOT TRING TO BE UGLY I DON'T THINK THAT COMMENT WAS NECESSARY. I ALSO KNOW THAT WORKING IN THE NURSING FIELD IS VERY CUT THROAT AS IT'S SHOWN IN YOUR OP. I AM ENTERING THIS FIELD TO PROVIDE CARE TO THE SICK. I UNDERSTAND THAT ARTICULATION IS VERY IMPORTANT. SO I GUESS IT'S NURSES LIKE YOU WHO I WILL NEED TO BE AWARE OF. NURSES THAT WILL ACT AS IF THEY DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT IS BEING SAID WHEN COMING IN CONTACT WITH A PATIENT OR ANOTHER NURSE WHO DOES NOT SPEAK PROPER ENGLISH. OH, BUT I WILL SURVIVE BECAUSE THIS TO WILL PASS. I GUESS I HAVE ENCOUNTERED A LOT MORE THAN YOU. NOT TRYING TO BE RUDE. THANK FOR THE ADVICE.

Please be aware that typing in a caps is not only difficult to read but the equivalent of shouting and impolite on message boards.

Nursing isn't cut throat, it's competitive. Many times nurses "act" like they cannot comprehend what is being said when a patient or fellow nurse doesn't use proper English is not a personal attack but truthful. Failure to clearly communicate in a common language (whether physician, nurse, patient, or anyone else) is one of the leading causes of medical or care errors that can cause pain, injury/disability or death. For example there are many look alike/sound alike drugs such as Xanax and Zantac.

If your GPA is 2.0 and meets the bare minimum, even in the less competitive schools you are less likely to be accepted as explained above. To improve your chances meet with a nursing admissions counselor to review your academic credentials and application so you can create a plan to gain admission in the future.

Generally speaking not everyone that wants to be a nurse can or should be, you need a certain amount of academic skill and critical thinking required of nurses to be successful. Nursing school is not like other college classes; many who earn A's and B's in non nursing science and other pre-req's struggle to earn C's and B's in nursing classes. Nursing is a different way of thinking.

Good luck. In my local nursing program the minimum pre-req GPA is 2.5, but the average GPA of an admitted nursing student is 3.65.

Good luck if you are not accepted with a C average meet with a counselor to create a plan if action for acceptance.

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Thanks for the advice.

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Specializes in ED, Medicine, Case Management.
I UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE SAYING RunBabyRN. ALTHOUGH YOU CLAIM THAT YOU ARE NOT TRING TO BE UGLY I DON'T THINK THAT COMMENT WAS NECESSARY. I ALSO KNOW THAT WORKING IN THE NURSING FIELD IS VERY CUT THROAT AS IT'S SHOWN IN YOUR OP. I AM ENTERING THIS FIELD TO PROVIDE CARE TO THE SICK. I UNDERSTAND THAT ARTICULATION IS VERY IMPORTANT. SO I GUESS IT'S NURSES LIKE YOU WHO I WILL NEED TO BE AWARE OF. NURSES THAT WILL ACT AS IF THEY DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT IS BEING SAID WHEN COMING IN CONTACT WITH A PATIENT OR ANOTHER NURSE WHO DOES NOT SPEAK PROPER ENGLISH. OH, BUT I WILL SURVIVE BECAUSE THIS TO WILL PASS. I GUESS I HAVE ENCOUNTERED A LOT MORE THAN YOU. NOT TRYING TO BE RUDE. THANK FOR THE ADVICE.

:no: It's called reality. Not everyone gets a trophy in nursing.

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Thanks for the advice.

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Specializes in L&D, infusion, urology.
I UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE SAYING RunBabyRN. ALTHOUGH YOU CLAIM THAT YOU ARE NOT TRING TO BE UGLY I DON'T THINK THAT COMMENT WAS NECESSARY. I ALSO KNOW THAT WORKING IN THE NURSING FIELD IS VERY CUT THROAT AS IT'S SHOWN IN YOUR OP. I AM ENTERING THIS FIELD TO PROVIDE CARE TO THE SICK. I UNDERSTAND THAT ARTICULATION IS VERY IMPORTANT. SO I GUESS IT'S NURSES LIKE YOU WHO I WILL NEED TO BE AWARE OF. NURSES THAT WILL ACT AS IF THEY DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT IS BEING SAID WHEN COMING IN CONTACT WITH A PATIENT OR ANOTHER NURSE WHO DOES NOT SPEAK PROPER ENGLISH. OH, BUT I WILL SURVIVE BECAUSE THIS TO WILL PASS. I GUESS I HAVE ENCOUNTERED A LOT MORE THAN YOU. NOT TRYING TO BE RUDE. THANK FOR THE ADVICE.

You're new here, so clearly you aren't familiar with some of us. I tend to shoot from the hip. I'm really not being rude, but I'm also not going to beat around the bush and tell you nonsense about getting into the school of your dreams if you have a C average. There is absolutely no need to "all-caps" me.

If my post was too harsh for you, you're going to have a VERY hard time with some of the NETY nurses, or the old-school docs who yell at nurses or the drug-abusing patient who's trying to boss you around. It's nurses like me that strong-arm them and advocate for my patients (PLENTY of whom do not speak perfect English), because I will not cower to their abuse.

It might be smart to have more than 5 posts on a website before you go and assume people are being rude. Spend a little time in the forums here. You might just find that you're making some false assumptions here.

Also, you're not the first person that's had to work to bring up their GPA. I am one of those people, and now I am a nurse. I can tell you that it takes a lot of work, and that schools simply WILL NOT accept you with a C, or even a low B average.

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