Second degree in nursing

[khamylak]

I am thinking of going back to school for nursing. I have a degree in communication sciences and disorders and a minor in biology. My gpa sucks. 2.83 overall, major 3.13, minor 2.02. I know I need to raise my gpa, that's a given. Do any schools only look at the courses you have taken after graduating undergrad? From what I have read you need a C or better in the pre-recs. I think I have one biology course and one chemistry course that were C-. If I retake those 2 pre-recs and ace them would that help me a lot? I am currently working in my major field so that at least is a bit related to the health field, so experience for my appplication.

What else should I do? Do schools accept you on condtional acceptances ever? Could I offer to take the TEAS and let them use that as part of my "I'm grown up now, I can work hard and succeed even if my undergrad doesn't say so on paper". I also took the GREs and scored an 1120, with a 5.0 on writting.

Any suggestions? Thanks!:)

[PacoUSA, BSN, RN]

YES, most schools do consider grades for coursework completed after the bachelor's in your GPA. They also look at prereq GPA. Best bet is to speak with the schools in which you're interested in applying to get exact details on how they look at an applicant. Some schools take other things into consideration (recommendations, entrance tests, etc.) while others are strictly transcript-oriented. If you can manage to get a very high GPA in your prerequisite courses it's a crucial first step.

My advice is to aim for nothing less than a B in your sciences because there is a growing applicant pool out there presenting prereq GPA's higher than 3.5. Definitely take those courses over in which you got C's. You got an impressive GRE score I must say, good for those schools that actually use it in the application process.

Good luck!

[Anne36, LPN]

A friend in my A&P class has another degree already and she had some bad luck with transferring her classes. They only accepted the Psych and English credits she had that were her LOW grades! Now she has to take them all over again to raise her Gpa even though she has even more advanced classes with higher grades.

[mom2twinsplus1]

I was told by the school I want to get into that it would take a lot of re-dos to change a GPA with as many hours as a Bachlors requires that I should just focus on the pre-nursing prerequistes and they will probably only consider those when assessing my application. Now thats the case for me I think bc I graduated in 1997 (I know I'm old) but I cannot imagine if you get A's and B's in all the sciences this go-round that they would think bad about your past

[AccelCNL, MSN, RN]

I would advise you to retake the prereqs first. You should also focus on school that only will look at your prereqs and not all your grades.