2020 Spring SMU ABSN program

Nursing Students School Programs

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Hey guys! wanted to start a tread for SMU ABSN program! Feel free to post any questions, updates or vent as this is a stressful time for all of us! Best of luck to you all!

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Specializes in Community Health & School RN.

Hey Lety86! Looks like we’re back for another round!

I forget, are you Sacramento or San Mateo?

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@MamaKat916 I’m Sacramento! Did you move any on the waitlist? I went from #27 to #20!

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Hello! I applied to a few programs so I thought I would hop over to this thread from the original BSN thread! Im not really expecting to get in this time around since I have zero healthcare experience and a few pre-reqs still outstanding but the application process has been very educational.

Applied to ABSN and ELMSN programs:

HESI 92.5%

GPA (last 60) 2.69 (long story but I'm one of the academic renewal people that got screwed over by nursingCAS calcs)

Science GPA 3.3

Pre-req GPA 3.35

I just started to volunteer with two different organizations so hopefully that boosts my chances for next time!

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Thank you @lety86 for starting this thread for the ABSN group!

Hi everyone! I also applied for the Sac ABSN cohort.

HESI 94%, Science 3.6 (w/o micro - taking in fall), Last 60 3.9. Have 1 year volunteer experience at a local hospital, and 13 years in biotech in manufacturing and training.

I'm so nervous and yet also excited. Good luck to everyone! ?

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@kbena i wouldn’t worry too much about your last 60 unit GPA. SMU does their own calculation a part from NursingCAS ! NursingCAS just calculates your total academic GPA. Mine was lower on NursingCAS but SMU gave me a 3.4 last 60 unit GPA! I asked (MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME) and she said they have their own calculation system!

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Specializes in Community Health & School RN.
2 hours ago, Lety86 said:

@MamaKat916 I’m Sacramento! Did you move any on the waitlist? I went from #27 to #20!

Not that I know of! I haven’t seen any email saying I moved. But I was pretty high in the numbers, so it won’t make a difference for me this time. But congrats on your move to #20! That should put me at #34.

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Specializes in Community Health & School RN.
On 7/11/2019 at 2:08 PM, Lety86 said:

@kbena i wouldn’t worry too much about your last 60 unit GPA. SMU does their own calculation a part from NursingCAS ! NursingCAS just calculates your total academic GPA. Mine was lower on NursingCAS but SMU gave me a 3.4 last 60 unit GPA! I asked (MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME) and she said they have their own calculation system!

That’s good to know. When I asked (MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME) a year ago, she literally could not tell me how the last 60 was calculated. I asked because back then, my 60 units hit mid semester and I wanted to know if they took the best grades, worst grades, all of the grades, or how they figured it. She said she didn’t know, to ask Nursing CAS. I did, and THEY couldn’t tell me. It led to several classes being taken just to get out of that low GPA semester.

This is round 3 for me and I’m just tired of the process. ☹️

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@MamaKat916 I bet it’s very discouraging! From what I was told , they take your last 60units. So that would include all grades not just your best. NursingCAS gives you a total GPA of all your classes ever taken . For instants , according to NursingCAS my total GPA from all of my schooling ( 10 years and 3 different schools) is a 2.6 ( didn’t do very well my first two years at my JC). But my last 60 units GPA is a 3.4 according to SMU which included my lowest grades of 3 Cs. So yes if you take more classes and receive higher grades then that could potentially eliminate lower grades and upping your last 60unit GPA! Keep your head up, keeping pushing forward!!! I once heard this quote that really resonated With me “ keep fighting for your dreams, one day your dreams will fight for you !” This is a long process. I am impressed and applaud your tenacity ! ???

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Specializes in Community Health & School RN.
12 minutes ago, Lety86 said:

@MamaKat916 I bet it’s very discouraging! From what I was told , they take your last 60units. So that would include all grades not just your best. NursingCAS gives you a total GPA of all your classes ever taken . For instants , according to NursingCAS my total GPA from all of my schooling ( 10 years and 3 different schools) is a 2.6 ( didn’t do very well my first two years at my JC). But my last 60 units GPA is a 3.4 according to SMU which included my lowest grades of 3 Cs. So yes if you take more classes and receive higher grades then that could potentially eliminate lower grades and upping your last 60unit GPA! Keep your head up, keeping pushing forward!!! I once heard this quote that really resonated With me “ keep fighting for your dreams, one day your dreams will fight for you !” This is a long process. I am impressed and applaud your tenacity ! ???

Thanks Lety86! It’s really hard to keep getting waitlisted in the 40’s when I know I’ve met (and exceeded) a lot of their criteria. But I have to trust that there’s a plan that I’m not privy to and it’ll all make sense once I see it in the rear view mirror. I refuse to quit. I’ll eventually get accepted (if for no other reason than they’re tired of seeing my name on their application list! ?)

And I did eventually decide to just go back and retake classes to up my overall and pre-req GPA. If they couldn’t tell me how they calculated when you had 54 units and the next batch of grades fell in a 15 unit semester. I know there are so many of us that didn’t do well the first time through school. Probably because none of us felt a passion for our original careers. (If we did, we wouldn’t be here, right?! ?)

I’ll track down my current stats and I’ll post them along with my previous two apps so everyone can see. It really is a HUGE mystery to me as to why they take some and not others. I’m sure everyone is a great candidate and I just wish I knew what that special *something* is that they look for. I’ve seen people with much lower GPA’s and HESI scores get taken without waitlisting and others who have very high numbers get waitlisted. Who knows?!

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@MamaKat916 so true, I do think that the essays play a big part! Have you tried signing up for their nursing Seminar They have ? I heard they also give priority to students that have attended. You have to apply to that as well and submit an application ?. They do it twice a year I believe .

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My issue with the last 60 credits is that my first bachelors came from a school called that grades pass/fail. They state on the transcript that all passing grades are equal to a B / 3.0. NursingCAS does not calculate these B’s into your GPA since they are pass/fail. So I am stuck with the 1.89gpa I had in community college before I started at WGU and my second Bachelors gpa of 3.4.

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