Should I give up on my dream to become an NP?

Nursing Students NP Students

Published

  1. Will my old grades hold me back?

    • 10
      Nope
    • 3
      Yes

13 members have participated

Hi everyone, I am a 26-year-old aspiring nurse practitioner who will graduate in May with my ADN. I plan on going right back to school to get my BSN and then continue on to NP school. However, I'm afraid my past GPA will hold me back.

After I graduated highschool in 2009, I attended a community college for a couple years. I took 30 credits and ended up with a 1.78 GPA. (I had a TIA the summer after highschool and developed very bad depression and anxiety)

Since then, I have recovered and relocated out of state, enrolled in a new community college and will graduate with a 3.5. Even though my grades are great now, I'm worried that I won't be accepted into any NP programs because of my past GPA. I plan on applying to NP school after I finish my BSN in a year or two. (Mostly online programs)

Does anyone have any experience with this? I appreciate any advice or input you may have!

Specializes in Operating Room.

I can't speak for your state but I've been starting to look at NP programs and I have found that every program has different requirements and look at different things. Some only want your nursing GPA from your BSN, some take a cumulative GPA, some only take your GPA from the most recent past 2 years of nursing school.. So I would suggest taking a look at programs in your area/state or an area you want to be in and go from there. Another thing to keep in mind is programs are always changing, I looked at NP programs last year and have noticed some schools have dropped certain NP specialties, others have changed their requirements, etc. Best of luck to you!!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Do NP's who graduate from Diploma Mills get hired? Or get well paying jobs?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.
Do NP's who graduate from Diploma Mills get hired? Or get well paying jobs?

Anecdotally in my area so far, yes, although the bloom is starting to fall from the bush with regard to all new grad NPs based on their perceived inability to practice independently upon graduation without a significant orientation and much handholding. Worth noting is at this time the well known swarmy "Online U" schools are getting the most scrutiny.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Do NP's who graduate from Diploma Mills get hired? Or get well paying jobs?

"Diploma mills." This is the first time I've heard this and it is great.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in oncology, MS/tele/stepdown.

When I applied to my BSN program, I had a previous BA and some CC courses. My original science GPA in my BA program was terrible, but after my sophomore year, when I had my nonsense together, my grades were great. My BSN program took that into account and although they accepted me for their two year/MSN entry program, they didn't accept me for their one year accelerated program. So, it mattered, but in the end, it didn't matter that much. I would think that by the time you are applying for NP programs, you will have enough grade history that shows your abilities that it won't matter much.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in CRNA, Finally retired.
Thank you all for your feedback!

Take a deep breath. You're not even a nurse yet. You need ti get some experience to know what your interest are. Mist NP's work in narrow specialties. You haven't even experienced a specialty yet. It's becoming crowded out there and you want to have EXPERIENCE and a real NP degree to compete.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Look at the application guidelines for the NP programs you are interested in (or the ones that are in your geographical location) and they will tell you the GPA requirements. Generally speaking GPA is only one part of admission to any graduate program so don't stress yourself out about something long in to the future. Since you have no desire to be an RN, why not consider PA school? The training is more medically oriented and you end up in a similar role (though it varies depending on state license scope). If you really don't want to be an RN, I'd encourage you to think broadly about healthcare careers. If your 'dream' is to be a provider (diagnosing patients all day long), then you can be an NP, PA, MD, etc. But if you're open to non-provider careers, consider all the other options in healthcare...some of which have much better quality of work/life than provider work.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment