Students & Nurses- How do I get into nursing school with low undergrad gpa?

[clg0213]

Hi all!

I've been thinking seriously about applying to nursing school for about a year and I desperately need your advice.

I'm currently a senior at a university and will be graduating in December with a degree in journalism. As a journalism student I only took the required math and sciences classes, so I know I would have to complete some prereq classes. And I'm not worried about tackling the classes, but I do have one issue. The thing is, I will be graduating with a low gpa, 2.7 to be exact. I didn't worry about my gpa in my first and second year and now I'm paying for it.

My first idea was to enroll at a community college next spring and ace the prereqs, and I now wonder if this will be enough for me to get in an accelerated bsn program. I probably have almost 30 hours of prereqs to complete.

My second idea was to take the traditional bsn route. But I feel like it would take more time and money.

My question is, where do I go from here? What do you think I should do? My last question is what do you think I should do additionally in the meantime to make me a desirable candidate as a nursing candidate? Any of your advice or suggestions will be extremely helpful to me! Thank you.

[MoniqueS]

the past is the past. Do your pre-regs and attempt get As. When I did my pre-regs, I normally took them with less-challenging classes to make sure that I made great grades. For ex: A&P with psychology. A&P is much more intense. I think you can still get into a great program! Many programs put a high priority on pre-regs- and also some make you take an entrance exam, so you still have time to shine.

[clg0213]

So if I enroll is an ADN program, can I still become or given the opportunity to be an RN? Is there a difference between ADN/RN and BSN/RN?

[Stephalump]

So if I enroll is an ADN program, can I still become or given the opportunity to be an RN? Is there a difference between ADN/RN and BSN/RN?

An ADN graduate sits for the NCLEX-RN just like

a BSN graduate does. The associates degree is basically the heavy duty clinical work of the BSN program, minus ~ 30 hours of nursing theory. Lots of people choose to do ADN programs to become licensed and join the workforce and then do the remaining hours online through an RN-BSN program pretty easily.

There are pros and cons either way. If you do a

search on the site, the topic has been hashed out quite a few times and you can see about 2 million opinions on both :)

Sorry for the weird formatting...don't know what's up with that...

[BloomNurseRN, ASN, BSN, RN]

Yes, being in an ADN program will allow you to sit for the NCLEX-RN. The differences for an ADN/ASN and a BSN nurse is the amount of management style courses. Once you receive your ADN/ASN you can do a bridging program to the BSN or to an MSN. Good luck!

[clg0213]

This is very helpful advice, and it has given me a lot to think about. Thank you all for your suggestions!

[ImKosher]

Like I said before, since you have the credit hours, use your transcript. You cannot be denied admission into the CC. No need to lie.

Your GPA will no longer count. The courses that you have completed that are satisfactory with your new school will be counted as credit hours. This is a Fresh start! The classes you will be taking from now on will reflect your GPA.

No need to lie. Turn in your transcript. Just apply and get A's.

[WannaBNursey, ADN, ASN, RN]

I know that for most ADN programs, your overall GPA doesn't matter, the only GPA that the admissions committees take into account is your pre-req GPA. As others have said there are schools with point systems as well. I had a low GPA and got into a school that had a point system. Thankfully I'm a good test-taker or I don't think I'd ever be able to get into a nursing school!

[Bobmo88]

My advice would be to try to get A's in all of your remaining pre-reqs and then if the programs you are applying to have points based systems, try to see what else you can do to raise your score such as doing well on entrance exams such as the TEAS test, health care work and/or volunteer experience, foreign language requirement, living in service area etc. My pre-req GPA was 2.91 but my overall was 3.4 and then I tried to get the maximum amount of points in other areas to have a competitive score. I was able to get into the only BSN program in my county that is really competitive (they initially denied me but some other candidates chose other programs so they offered me the spot!)