Scared of GPA

[Stephanie Peterson]

Hello!!!

Soooo I'm the process of starting my pre-req's for an accelerated RN program. I already have a Bachelor's degree in Finance, I'm also a Certified Medical Spanish Interpreter- I have a 3.17 GPA from my undergrad. I hope I will be able to increase this by a few points with my pre-req's. I feel like I have many qualities that will make me a great nurse, i'm trilingual (Spanish, Italian, and English) - I also volunteer in the ER... how important is the weight of the GPA? I mean I feel like everyone has 3.8 in above that are being accepted into nursing school.

HELP in calming my anxiety!

[Saysfaa]

Before you get too anxious, check whether the schools you are interested in use the overall gpa or the "nursing gpa". It might be called something else, but the "nursing gpa" is the gpa of only the classes on their list. If you have more than one class that will fill a requirement, you often get to pick which class you use.

To answer your actual question: it varies considerably. At my school, cummulative gpa matters only as a gatekeeper (we need a 2.5). The nursing gpa is worth a bit less than 30%. The ACT score is worth a bit less than 30%, the interview is worth a bit less than 40%, and a little is added for residency in the county (or less for in-state residency).

[kenpochic]

depends on the school. bsn programs look at overall gpas where adn programs look at prereqs.

[Saysfaa]

I don't know the percentages but at least some bsn schools look at nursing gpa (prereqs and gen ed and the few nursing classes that can be taken before being accepted to the school of nursing), not overall gpa.

[iPink, BSN, RN]

I got accepted to an Accelerated BSN program. You must check their GPA requirements. For my program, if your GPA when you graduated was a 3.17 it cannot be "increased" when you've gone back to school to take the perquisites. When returning to school you start with a clean slate, so your graduate GPA is different from your prerequisite GPA. My B.A. GPA was a 3.2 and my perquisite GPA is a 3.5. My program was very strict on GPA requirements; you had to have graduated from your first degree with a minimum of a 3.0, despite having a 4.0 prerequisite GPA. A couple of people who had a 2.9 undergrad, but a 4.0 preqs got automatic rejection letters.

Again, every program is different, so do the research.

[nursingishard]

Apply everywhere. You'll get it!