Reading alot of posts discussing "A" nursing students vs "C" nursing students

Mom/Nurse2b · May 22, 2009

My family is full of nurses and they all say, "Do you know what you call a nursing student with a C-average? An R.N."

No one that is outside of school cares about grades. This topic is focused on here because these are mainly students.

cursedandblessed · May 22, 2009

i'm a big whiner (at least to my family) about grades. i've been an a student since i came back to college, until nursing classes. now i'm getting b's and i've learned to live with it. i agree that no one goes into nursing school thinking they're going to get c's or f's for that matter. i was shocked when my first paper got the whopping grade of 52.

my fault completely, i didn't give them what they wanted. i gave them what every english professor had expected. i ended up with a 90 on my last one and was very proud.

one thing i've noticed is that every school uses a different point to letter grade system. so my b could be a c at some schools. my school uses the standard system that the rest of my community college uses, while some on here must have a 77 or above to stay in and for a c. at my school it's a 72.

i do agree that those who take it seriously and give it their best work very hard for whatever grade they get. when i see someone who is really trying and still struggling, i feel badly for them. i do have a problem and can be judgemental (my big downfall) for the slackers who don't bother to come to class (no class attendence policy only a clinical attendence policy) and then whine when they get a 32 on an exam. what did they expect?

vashtee, RN · May 22, 2009

Ironically, I never see the A students starting these types of discussions.

Congratulations in advance on graduating.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · May 22, 2009

quite interestingly, we were very interested in a student's grades when we were hiring new grads. we asked for a transcript from them as part of their hiring process. it partly has to do with their study skills and partly with their attitude as well. the reason is because test taking and studying for those tests is a skill that we (and that is a collective we--don, nurse recruiter, manager of human resources and nurse managers) felt an unproven newly licensed rn ought to be able to demonstrate skill and success in. when that newly licensed rn walks onto a nursing unit he or she needs to have the smarts to pick up on what is going on and to think critically which means be able to solve problems. now, he or she may not be experienced enough to solve a lot of nursing problems right away, but we needed to be assured that they had the ability to learn and delivering good grades in school indicates that they had been in sync with what instructors demanded of them and successfully delivered it. they are going to need to do that exact same thing on a brand new job in their brand new role as rns. in addition, many facilities are going to give newly hired nurse employees a drug calculations test that they are going to have to pass at 100% accuracy or they are going to be terminated before they even get to the unit they were hire to work on. we also felt that thinking such as "a c still equals rn" in defense of a lower gpa was a display of negative attitude, negative thinking and evidence of the person accepting mediocre performance of themselves instead of striving to improve their performance and work toward giving the best performance that they could. if you are thinking in the negative then you are not seeking to be better than you are; you accept mediocrity. that's an unacceptable and pretty lame goal. it was a system wide policy that we wouldn't hire anyone who spewed those kinds of words from their lips because eventually you begin to hear things like, "i can't do that", "you're asking too much of me", "i was never trained to do that kind of stuff" or "nursing school was stressful enough. i don't need this same stress on the job too." find work at places that aren't intelligent enough to weed you out of a more elite group of go-getters and we'll be seeing you posting your gripes about problems with other difficult, lazy and "c still equals rn" co-workers on the general nursing discussion forum in the far off future.

ssullyorthoRN · May 22, 2009

:yeahthat: Is why I strive to be an A student. You never know when or where your grades in school could come back to haunt you. I have this thought also. What if I want to become more than a "plain jane" RN? Such as going into a specialty or getting a Masters Degree. I would hope that the grades that I earned would show that I am competent enough to advance in my career.

Junebugfairy · May 22, 2009

daytonite~

thanks for your pov, it really helps me to know that my a's will be taken into consideration, and hopefully will become an asset during "new grad" hiring.

i am an a student, but i did make one b a few semesters ago. my gpa is 3.8+

i study, study more, and keep studying, because i want my a. i ask a lot of questions, and ensure that i really 'know' what is going on. if you are making c's, i wonder "what are you missing, what do you not understand?"

yes, a c may be an rn/nurse, but a's will look better as a new grad nurse competing with other new grad employment opportunities.

the point is to be the best you can be, and i believe i am 'better' than a c, in fact, i know i am..

HeartsOpenWide, RN · May 22, 2009

Most new grad programs ask for your transcripts. And in this economy and very few jobs for new grads, having good grades/honors is one more thing for you to put on your resume that some one else might not have, some one that you are in competition with for a job.

The whole "C's get degrees" bugs be because I have worked my butt off for my A's and B's. I never got anything less than a B on any of my classes. I never went to any of the school parties, I missed out on my grandfathers funeral, I missed out on many family gatherings, I did extra clinical hours, I had no social life...so for some one with a C average to compare my degree to theirs with words like that...Well, I am just glad that I did all those things because in this economy employers can chose to be selective and stating that I graduated with honors, along with all the other extra stuff, was impressive to them.

rph3664 · May 22, 2009

My family is full of nurses and they all say, "Do you know what you call a nursing student with a C-average? An R.N."
No one that is outside of school cares about grades. This topic is focused on here because these are mainly students.

I had to struggle to make C's in pharmacy school (and even slipped below a 2.0 two semesters :eek: ) but you know what? I still got my license, and in fact when I took the NABPLEX got the second highest score I have ever heard of anyone having. So, my knowledge was the type that really matters.

Lots of my classmates were the same way, which was quite a shock for people who had received very few or no grades below an A in their lives.

2BSure · May 22, 2009

I disagree. Not all nurses are created equal -- not remotely. Differences in grades are not always the determining factor but they can be one of them.

If those who do not do as well academically really believed that it was OK I wouldn't see or hear so many debates on this subject.

So, if you think C's are fine I am thrilled for you.

Tweety, BSN, RN · May 22, 2009

Strive to be the best nurse and student you can be. Shoot for A's....nothing is inherently wrong with that unless it becomes dysfunctional and there are plenty of dysfunctional A students (you know the type that stresses so much their family life is affected, they get anxious, etc.)

Patients want a compassionate, intelligent and competent nurse that treats them with respect, that informs them of what is going on, that listens. This type of nurse is one who has done well in nursing school (even if it's C's) but also has a ton of common sense and empathy.

A good nurse has to have a lot of books smarts. Patients lives depend on us knowing how to assess, interpret, and put things together. Study hard, the final grade isn't as important as the knowledge gained and retained.

sunray12 · May 22, 2009

quite interestingly, we were very interested in a student's grades when we were hiring new grads. we asked for a transcript from them as part of their hiring process. it partly has to do with their study skills and partly with their attitude as well. the reason is because test taking and studying for those tests is a skill that we (and that is a collective we--don, nurse recruiter, manager of human resources and nurse managers) felt an unproven newly licensed rn ought to be able to demonstrate skill and success in. when that newly licensed rn walks onto a nursing unit he or she needs to have the smarts to pick up on what is going on and to think critically which means be able to solve problems. now, he or she may not be experienced enough to solve a lot of nursing problems right away, but we needed to be assured that they had the ability to learn and delivering good grades in school indicates that they had been in sync with what instructors demanded of them and successfully delivered it. they are going to need to do that exact same thing on a brand new job in their brand new role as rns. in addition, many facilities are going to give newly hired nurse employees a drug calculations test that they are going to have to pass at 100% accuracy or they are going to be terminated before they even get to the unit they were hire to work on. we also felt that thinking such as "a c still equals rn" in defense of a lower gpa was a display of negative attitude, negative thinking and evidence of the person accepting mediocre performance of themselves instead of striving to improve their performance and work toward giving the best performance that they could. if you are thinking in the negative then you are not seeking to be better than you are; you accept mediocrity. that's an unacceptable and pretty lame goal. it was a system wide policy that we wouldn't hire anyone who spewed those kinds of words from their lips because eventually you begin to hear things like, "i can't do that", "you're asking too much of me", "i was never trained to do that kind of stuff" or "nursing school was stressful enough. i don't need this same stress on the job too." find work at places that aren't intelligent enough to weed you out of a more elite group of go-getters and we'll be seeing you posting your gripes about problems with other difficult, lazy and "c still equals rn" co-workers on the general nursing discussion forum in the far off future.

the only thing is that we see umpteen threads here about "i graduated magna cum laude and no one's calling me ...". i don't see an equal amount of threads saying "help - no one's hiring me because i have c's ....". now the info on this board is all self reported and maybe people are more likely to want to type here that they got an a than if they got a c. but still something worth pondering.

there are hiring managers in every industry who use grades as an easy screening device and especially if you are in the private sector that's your prerogative because it would be very hard for candidates to prove discrimination. but these same managers can't say that their a-recruits ever showed superior job performance because of their gpa's. i find it very hard to believe that your "a-recruits" always have a positive attitude and never say "i can't ...". maybe some feel pressure to lie on the floor then come here to vent?

you won't find a correlation between gpa and unemployment stats. this means that "c-nurses" are out there nursing alongside everyone else and getting the job done - and maybe even doing a better job than the "a-nurses". the ability to read and regurgitate in a test taking setting is a good thing to have but without equally strong practical skills it will never make anyone a better nurse.