Repeating a course?

caliotter3 · May 19, 2009

Careful with the generalizations... At Cal Poly one could drop through the first week (10%). After that one needed to petition to the Dean for withdrawal for "urgent and compelling reasons."

You also want to avoid a "W" on your transcipts if possible. Some schools will show nothing if you drop by a certain date, will record "W" later, and there is a date where the W becomes W-failing or W-passing, then the drop dead date, where you can't withdraw at all. W's, if too many over a period of time, can be detrimental.

swtstephy · May 20, 2009

Have you thought about applying to community college ADN programs in the area. I know most of them are as strict as the universities, but some community colleges have a lottery program and a minimun GPA of only 3.0. Seattle Central CC has a prgrm, Bellevue CC, North Seattle CC, Shorline CC, if you are looking for schools in the northend. I am not sure what their minimun GPA's are...but you can look into it. Where about do you live? I live in Lake Tapps.

The community colleges believe it or not are harder to get into than the private schools because of the tuition. When my friend got in to a private school her GPA was 3.6 and the lowest cut off was 3.3 I believe she said in 2006 the cut off for the community college in my area to a span of 2 hours away was a 3.8 :crying2:

swtstephy · May 20, 2009

The standard for California colleges is to only allow you to repeat a class if you get a failing grade or if there is a significant lapse of time (like 5 or 10 years). The standard of transfer acceptance for California State University nursing schools is to average together all grades. So if you took a class and got a C and then retake it and get an A, both grades will be averaged together and will have the effect of a B.
My personal bias is that students should not be allowed to repeat a class if they got a passing grade. An A on your transcript means that you worked hard and got the job done in the time allotted, which is 16 weeks for a regular semester course. If you need to take the same class twice in order to get an A then your A isn't really equivalent to someone who took the class once and got an A. The student who took the class once was able to get the job done in 16 weeks whereas the student who took the class twice got the job done in 32 weeks. Big big difference. It's not really fair to those of us who worked our tails off to get the A in 16 weeks. Anyone can get an A after retaking the class and getting 32 weeks to learn what should be learnable in 16 weeks. But that's just my personal bias.

In washington state in the kitsap area, my college is based off of 11 weeks and the summer is when I'm taking Micro and A&P 2...guess what...8 weeks only!!!!

swtstephy · May 20, 2009

Have you thought about applying to community college ADN programs in the area. I know most of them are as strict as the universities, but some community colleges have a lottery program and a minimun GPA of only 3.0. Seattle Central CC has a prgrm, Bellevue CC, North Seattle CC, Shorline CC, if you are looking for schools in the northend. I am not sure what their minimun GPA's are...but you can look into it. Where about do you live? I live in Lake Tapps.

what is a lottery program?

swtstephy · May 20, 2009

Careful with "most" unless you can back it up. The public schools in my neck of the woods accept retakes only for D's and F's. By the same token, when you do repeat a class, regardless of your score, both grades are still on your transcript.
Perhaps your "most" is correct but it certainly doesn't apply around here.
Very sage advice... I often wonder why people come to the internet rather than asking the people in A&R who actually know the real answer.

getting in touch with those people...I would have better luck getting in touch with President Obama or the Pope:chuckle

swtstephy · May 20, 2009

All the school in WA are different, some programs allow repeats, some of them don't. You should be a little more sensitive to others out there. We are all working hard towards a common goal. You could be in one of our shoes at any time. It's tough, I know this, but you should try putting yourself in our shoes. We will all be nurses some day. :)

you are a very nice sensible person, a characteristic of a nurse is patience and understanding...when did this post become a debate?...great advice from a lot of people and things were mentioned that I didn't even know like the catalog thing...thanks a bunch:D

swtstephy · May 20, 2009

I'm sorry but are you being for real? How is someone else retaking a class taking anything away from you?

okay??!!...getting heated...wooosa woosa...I agree with the person who stated this response...

I have a son during the pre-requisites, during the sciences do doubt...

Moved a total of 7 times in 4 different states in a length of a year due to issues...

I have IBS type A-combination of C & D...research it...

Worked full time and school full time...

@ one time no job, sick, and a mother with no help and no income...oh oh and no car!!!...

Life happens, people need to grasp understanding and have patience. People take things into consideration differently. Use your heart not your head, seek wisdom in all areas of your life and do not do something to someone you would not want done unto you or someone you love, do everything out of love...EVEN IF YOU DO NOT KNOW THE PERSON. That is what you are going to have to do when you become a nurse...

On a happier note...I am getting married after I get accepted into a program, only 2 more classes to go...and YES I AM GOING TO RETAKE THE CLASS OF CHEM 121 AND A&P 1. Because I know I can do better, I was pregnant and sick during Chem, and going through a lot during A&P. I got a 2.8 in Chem and probably a 3.0-3.3 in A&P, and not matter what was going on I did study passionately and advently. I miss my son like crazy, I'm always going to have to deal with my IBS. And I asked people's opinions because that is what we do as humans seek other's opinions to come up with other options that we ourselves were not able to come up with!

THANKS FOR ALL THE REPOSTS EVERYONE!:yeah:

swtstephy · May 20, 2009

oh and I cannot drop out of the class with a W or anything like that because of Financial Aid!!!...that is the reason! If I dropped out or got a W, I would not FAFSA anymore

js408 · May 20, 2009

I've simply stated my opinion. I don't believe that someone who passed a class should get to retake the class for a higher grade. It turns out that the California school system agrees with me since that is their written policy. Life happens, ok I get it, but life happens to everyone. Some people make a bunch of excuses for their poor grades, and other people take personal responsibility for what happens. If you don't agree with me, and I can understand why you don't, then that's fine, I respect your opinion. But your repeated assertions that I'm going to be a bad nurse because I don't shower you with feel-good happy-talk, well I don't respect that at all. I'm allowed to disagree with people, just like everyone is allowed to disagree with me. That says nothing about the quality of nurse we will become. You're a user on a nursing forum, not my patient under my care.

okay??!!...getting heated...wooosa woosa...I agree with the person who stated this response...
I have a son during the pre-requisites, during the sciences do doubt...
Moved a total of 7 times in 4 different states in a length of a year due to issues...
I have IBS type A-combination of C & D...research it...
Worked full time and school full time...
@ one time no job, sick, and a mother with no help and no income...oh oh and no car!!!...
Life happens, people need to grasp understanding and have patience. People take things into consideration differently. Use your heart not your head, seek wisdom in all areas of your life and do not do something to someone you would not want done unto you or someone you love, do everything out of love...EVEN IF YOU DO NOT KNOW THE PERSON. That is what you are going to have to do when you become a nurse...

mickswit · May 20, 2009

:thankya:Personally, I would not waste my time during the course of school you will view and re-view the anatomy systems try to continually piece all the information together :dncgbby: sometimes the process will not be mastered until after the class is over or until you can see a patient with the system dysfunction. Build on that, but don't beat yourself up about it. Stay strong & forge ahead.

swtstephy · May 20, 2009

I've simply stated my opinion. I don't believe that someone who passed a class should get to retake the class for a higher grade. It turns out that the California school system agrees with me since that is their written policy. Life happens, ok I get it, but life happens to everyone. Some people make a bunch of excuses for their poor grades, and other people take personal responsibility for what happens. If you don't agree with me, and I can understand why you don't, then that's fine, I respect your opinion. But your repeated assertions that I'm going to be a bad nurse because I don't shower you with feel-good happy-talk, well I don't respect that at all. I'm allowed to disagree with people, just like everyone is allowed to disagree with me. That says nothing about the quality of nurse we will become. You're a user on a nursing forum, not my patient under my care.

Your just being logical, that is understandable. Stated your opinions with facts and evidence to back it up, thats great, really. Life does happen, and I have taken responsibility for it or I wouldn't be where I am today. And were not ganging up on you, if you feel that way. I can only speak for me but I actually have been keeping up a 3.8 grade average the past couple of quarters because I know how hard these nursing programs are to get into. I am looking into San Diego in places like National or something like that. If you research the schools in Washington their standards are really extreme. Not sure how they compare to Cali but I'm sure since they are on the West Coast there are some similarities. I looked at your profile, ***I hope I'm not being too forward and I do apologize if I am***, your a guy, and most of the people who responded to my forum are female. Thus being said women are more verbal and have emotional cues and men are more logical. This has to do with differing opinions and no one will ever agree, I believe the issue is how it was approached. Just that it could have been stated differently, I'm not 100% sure but AGAIN-THAT'S JUST MY OPINION...LoL.

OH and I never ever stated you were a bad nurse!!! :crying2: We need male professionals who are SMART that can take on a crazy patient or two if you happen to work somewhere like the ER. Don't read too much into things and analyze everything in another way. It's stated just as is and being the one of 9 friends yet to graduate nursing, I just know what I would like in a nurse, when I am a nurse, and how my friends and family are when they go to the doctors and say that there so uncaring. I know there are going to be extreme heavy work loads and crazy days and your not going to be MS. MARY SUNSHINE...excuse me...MR. SUNSHINE. Yet not everything can be used with logic that's all, again my opinion a different opinions of gender! And NO SUGAR COATING STUFF ****** ME OFF, I like it when people are real and forward but there is a way to do it and that thing is called TACT.

Were all here to seek advice and all must be prepared for others opinions regardless of what they are and if someone posting a topic normally wouldn't if they weren't prepared for such opinions. Really just relax, are you already a nurse? And if so what college did you attend?

dny09 · May 25, 2009

"the best solution is to start over. i also had a similar experience as you. went to college straight out of highschool and had something like a 2.0 gpa with at least one f on my transcript before i gave up. when i decided to go for nursing, i went to a new college and did not transfer anything from my prior school. basically started over from scratch, clean slate. i had to repeat a lot of courses but i would have to repeat them anyway since i forgot almost everything i learned."

js408 - correct me if i am wrong but is this not something you posted on another thread? i would think with your background, you would have a slightly more tolerant view on people wanting to get a fresh start.