Questions about past grades

Nursing Students SRNA

Published

Specializes in Trauma/SICU - CCRN.

Hey everybody! I will be applying to several schools in a 1.5 years. My cGPA is 3.4, nursing school gpa is 3.5, and sGPA is 4.0. I will be taking biochem in the fall.

Heres the issue. In my first three years of college i received C's on my general chem and bio courses. As i stated above i have a 4.0 science gpa, i applied to my bsn program with a chem course more suitable for non-science majors. Biochem will be taken next fall with the anticipation of an A grade.

Will my past science grades weigh me down on my application? Have any of you gone through a similar case?

Specializes in Nurse Anesthesiology.

Will they weigh down your application? Probably, but its not an end all for you. Just be prepared to talk about them and explain why you did so poorly and what you learned from it. Be honest and don't try to give them BS reasons. If you can take that Biochem or a few other Grad level courses and ace them it will show them 100% that you can manage grad level courses.

They will definitely ask about this in an interview. I also did poorly my first semester in college but ended up with a 3.76 for my BSN. I explained the personal hardship I went though at the time and how I overcame it to become a successful student. I got an offer letter two weeks later.

I don't know what schools you'll be applying to so take my advice with a grain of salt, but biochemistry is a tough science course and it is not an expectation for probably 90% of CRNA programs. It would probably be equally beneficial to retake your basic chemistry course and demonstrate strength in that way. I had a C in chemistry retook it, got an A and moved on. I was offered multiple spots after interviewing, and only one school asked about my grades in passing. As applicants we tend to dissect our applications but truth be told, type/years of experience, overall GPA and certifications are the driving force for most students with GRE included for some schools.

How can you have a 4.0 science gpa if you were getting C's in science classes and not 4.0's? Am I missing something? Either way, doing some extra things to make your resume stand out can outshine those old bad grades! My gpa was terrible for my first degree (less than 3.0) but I graduated from nursing school with my second degree as a 3.7. During my interview the school seemed impressed with how I explained what happened during my first degree and didn't seem to hold it against me too much about my past bad grades. I got accepted for fall 2019 :)

+ Add a Comment