retaking prerequisites

caliotter3 · Mar 26, 2015

Look on your school's website or in their catalog to see what the policy for repeating is. Some schools do not allow repeats for classes where at least a C was earned. Also check the policies of the nursing programs that interest you. You might be able to repeat at a different school and use the repeated class to apply to programs that will allow. Do the investigation.

cajunRNtobe · Mar 26, 2015

My advisor told me that if I'm not 100% sure I'd make an A the second time, don't retake it because you may end up hurting yourself rather than helping.

Leonardsmom,LPN · Mar 26, 2015

Agree with the advice that Caliotter3 has given you. Check with the school and the program that you are trying to get into of what their policy is for retakes. Some programs will only allow you to retake if you failed, others will give you a limit of how many times you may retake a class within a certain time limit. Each program is going to have different things which they will allow, so you will need to do your homework and check with each individual program.

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Mar 26, 2015

When you asked your academic advisor at your school this question, what did he or she say? That is the advice to follow, as we cannot know your specific school's policy, or your specific situation.

allivbb2 · Mar 26, 2015

@caliotter3 Thank you for your help! :) I will start investigating

allivbb2 · Mar 26, 2015

I currently attend calstatela and their policy is that you can only retake a course if u recieved a C- but that is at their univeristy. So I'm gonna double check with my advisor and see if I can retake a class I got a C at a community college

allivbb2 · Mar 26, 2015

@CajunRNtobe I just recieved the news that i got a C in organic chemistry and I know how competitive nursing school is and current nursing schools don't allow anything lower then a B- so I definitely wanna retake it.

NurseSpeedy, ADN, LPN, RN · Mar 26, 2015

There are some nursing schools that do not have waiting lists. However, the tuition is usually through the nose and you have to make sure that they have their accreditations. Many are qualified to take state boards but if they are not regionally accredited then you would not be able to transfer the credits to many institutions to further your education. Also, if they are not accredited by the NLN (a national accreditation) then some universities still will not accept them even if regionally accredited. Employers may also look into where you went to school as a basis of whether or not they will hire you after you get your license (The VA is one).

That being said, yes, the requirements to get into a nursing program are very stringent in community colleges and universities. Many are now going by GPA, they have a certain number of seats and the students that apply with the highest GPA get them, not the waiting list of the past where you finish your pre-requisites and wait for your turn in line. Many schools also have a five year limit on the science and/or math courses so if they are outdated by the time you may get in you will be retaking them before you can get accepted. This I found particularly odd since the school that I went to I got an A in the science courses but the time period had "expired" and I would have to re-take it in order to get accepted....but the rules were that we could not retake the course if we got a C or higher...okay....but they would allow us to take the course at another local accredited college and transfer the credit in, for GPA or time frame...

Bottom line is all colleges are different. You will need to check with yours to see what their policy is. Also, ask what the usual GPA is in order to get in, some schools are higher than others. The C would definitely hurt the GPA but one B with A's in everything else probably would not drag down your GPA too much for acceptance to most schools.

TooManyCats, ASN, BSN · Mar 26, 2015

You'll have to check with your admissions department. When you can, what grade will be considered, do they average the grades, etc. My school allows you to retake a course regardless of grade but you can only do a single repeat, to repeat more than once you have to get a failing grade and write a request to the dean of students saying why you did poorly and why you will do better. You also have to consider financial aid and whether you'll run out of aid before your program is done.

I actually got a C in one of my pre-requisites, and retook it for an A.

allivbb2 · Mar 26, 2015

@Mb0382, LPN thank you for the time you took to write that reply. I was about to look into this one nursing school buy read a review of an upset student because he can't apply to any masters programs because he is unable to transfer his credits. I want to apply to many of the CSU's like csulb csusb csula. When checking what their policy is, do you just call the nursing department?

allivbb2 · Mar 26, 2015

@a&csmom do u mind me asking what school your attending? My chemistry teacher was unlike an other one I've had. First time I've ever gotten a C! I will ask my admissions department. Thank you :)