Taking Pre-Reqs from a school without a nursing program

[iheart]

I have a big dilemma and would appreciate hearing other opinions.

I just finished my first year trying to figure out what I enjoy at Cal Poly State University. I took a lot of random classes but mostly science based. At Cal Poly, we are the only school that is required to declare a major before entering. So I put down Biology not knowing what to expect. I realized I did not want to learn about plants and animals and wanted to work closely with people. After my first year my cummulative GPA is a 2.3 which I am very disappointed about. I know I have a lot of hard work ahead of me but I really want to pursue a BSN in nursing.

I really want to transfer to another CSU but I do not know of any schools accepting lower division transfer students.

Then I considered going to a community college but I feel like I'm at a disadvantage transferring because I have a lower GPA that would meet any nursing program requirement. Should I go back to Cal Poly to retake some classes in the Fall quarter? Do you think there is an advantage of me transferring from a CSU to another CSU or from a community college with the pre-reqs to a CSU school.

Do you have any recommended pathways? Please Help!

[TheSquire, DNP, APRN, NP]

Community colleges tend to be cheaper (and really easy to get into for anyone who at least passes classes at a 4-yr school), which is why they're the more popular. I did a full undergrad at a school that technically didn't have a nursing program (due to organizational quirks of the UofI system) and my nursing program accepted my prereqs just fine. Admittedly, I counted some 300-level courses towards my prereqs, and my nursing program was non-traditional, so take that how you will.