Soon to be nurse student needs advice

SaltineQueen · May 12, 2017

Wrong forum...we're school nurses, not people in nursing school...but I'll give my two cents. I might consider taking a few more electives, maybe science or math related, to get your GPA up, before applying. Nursing school is rigorous, There it A LOT of information thrown at you quickly. Every school I've seen grades on a different grading scale than the standard 90/80/70/60. At the school I went to, a 70% would get you an F. If you failed certain classes, you were dismissed from nursing school. You don't need to be a book worm, but you need to improve your study skills.

Silverdragon102, BSN · May 14, 2017

Moved to the nursing career forum

elijahvegas, ASN, RN, EMT-P · May 17, 2017

my question is just because you not a book worm can it actually stop you from being what you are meant to be in life? Should I let that discourage me? â˜ºï¸ ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½

what you WANT to be in life isn't always what you're MEANT to be in life. I personally don't believe anyone is "meant" to be anything other than what they become personally, but putting mantras and platitudes aside...

the bottom line is if your grades don't cut it, you don't get into the school. period. your advisor may've found a more tactful way of explaining this but basically, if your school doesn't accept a 2.16 gpa for their nursing program, you're not going to get into their nursing program regardless of your passion. you need to show them that you can handle the grit, which means making the grade and being that "bookworm".

passion won't get you in. passion wont make you pass the coursework. and passion definitely won't make you pass the NCLEX when its time to get your license.

Just take a look at all the posts of people taking the test 7+ times..

Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN · May 17, 2017

Some days I'd like to be a professional mountaineer, but my stomach lacks certain required attributes. And by that I mean I can't get halfway up a stepladder without my stomach protesting!

How did you come about this GPA of 2.16? Did you slack because you didn't know college was that much work? Or did you give it your all?

Honestly the prerequisites are the easy part. The science prereqs like A&P and microbiology are cake compared with the sciency core classes like pathophysiology and pharmacology. Plus, the core nursing classes assume that you have working knowledge of the prerequisites; you will have an even MORE difficult time in patho if you never really had a good handle on basic A&P.

If Cs are the best you can do, you need to know that you have a MASSIVE obstacle in front of you. Passion and desire are good things, but not nearly enough. Someone who comes across as cold can be a fantastic RN if s/he possess excellent knowledge and critical thinking skills...but without the knowledge piece, a warm and caring person is a DANGEROUS RN. Yes, dangerous.

Depending on which classes you got poor grades in, you may need to retake them. If you failed a class on the history of textiles in the military and that dragged your GPA down that's one thing. But if you're getting Cs in nursing prerequisites, that will be a problem.

Also as I stated recently on another thread and as elijahvegas pointed out: Cs do not necessarily get degrees in nursing programs. In my program, anything below a 78% was failing.

Do you need to be a "bookworm," maybe, maybe not...I'm not sure what you mean by your use of the term in this sense. Often when I've heard it used, it was as a pejorative toward people who put serious effort into their academics. As for your lack of bookwormity getting in the way of what you're meant to do in life? Yes and no. If you can't meet the criteria, I would submit that you're not actually meant to be that thing. A few years ago I attended a conference with the math faculty at my daughter's school, regarding the possibility of her taking algebra in 6th grade. One of the benefits according to the faculty was that Calculus II was often a weeding-out class for prospective medical and engineering students; getting that far ahead in math would insure that Calculus II could be taken before even entering a university. But getting back to the term "weeding out" -- if a prospective medical or engineering student was unable to obtain an A in Calculus II, they would not be considered viable candidates for their intended programs. Nurses also need to be strong academically. We don't simply provide comfort to patients; we posess the knowledge to keep them alive, or at least enough knowledge to understand what the pt needs and to communicate their condition to the physician (who depending on the type of job, may never have met that pt and may not even be in the building.)

It all starts with doing well in your prereqs. If you didn't, I'd start by asking your advisor what if anything you can do to remedy those grades.