Took my WGU BSN to Nurse Practitioner School - Ask me anything!

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Specializes in Pediatric/Adult Open Heart, Transplant.

I graduated with my BSN from WGU during the Summer of 2014 and just got accepted to the University of South Florida's Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Program. Feel free to ask my anything about WGU and how it works.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
I graduated with my BSN from WGU during the summer of 2014 and just got accepted to the University of South Florida's Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Program. Feel free to ask my anything about WGU and how it works.
Congratulations!
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Did the 3.0 pass/fail GPA ever cause a problem in regard to being a competitive applicant?

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Specializes in Aesthetics, Med/Surg, Outpatient.

Congrats to you. I just enrolled at UTA but I am still looking for a Plan B, which is WGU

What was your GPA before WGU?

What was your GPA after WGU?

What was the "minimum" required GPA for your program?

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Did your pre-WGU gpa factor into your ability to get into your program? I am starting WGU on 9/1, and, like everyone, hope to be done in the blink of an eye. My next goal is Frontier's WHNP/CNM program. My ADN GPA was a 3.89. Will that still help me, or do Master's programs simply look at the "most recent" GPA?

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Specializes in Pediatric/Adult Open Heart, Transplant.

I don't think it really had an effect. I called USF to ask about how it would work, and they said they have a lot of people with WGU degrees and they just "convert" your score (whatever that means). Regardless, I got in!

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Specializes in Pediatric/Adult Open Heart, Transplant.

I brought a 4.0 to WGU; I don't know how USF figured my total GPA, factoring in my 3.0 (they said they "convert it" but I'm not sure what that means). USF required a 3.0 minimum. I'm not sure how each school weighs out scores from ASNs vs BSNs; every school is different. Some put more weight on sciences, some only look at BSN level, etc.

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First of all congrats on your accomplishment and acceptance to NP school. I am on my second term for RN-BSN and have been doing fine up until the EBP course. Any tips for this struggling student. I have 15 days left for my term to end and I have not yet submitted anything :/ Thank you

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Specializes in Pediatric/Adult Open Heart, Transplant.
First of all congrats on your accomplishment and acceptance to NP school. I am on my second term for RN-BSN and have been doing fine up until the EBP course. Any tips for this struggling student. I have 15 days left for my term to end and I have not yet submitted anything :/ Thank you

I would contact your course mentor for guidance. They are there to help you through and were an invaluable resource to me! One of my coworkers now is a course mentor and says he can't stress enough how important it is to get in contact when you need help. Best of luck!

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Specializes in Labor and Delivery.

I am so glad I ran into your thread, I signed up just so I could reply. First of all, congratulations! Was USF your only choice, or did you apply to others?

I am a new grad and just took the NCLEX last week, glad that is over! Because of my age (46) I am afraid to take too much time earning my BSN. I was accepted to the RN to BSN program in the school I recently graduated from, but am looking into WGU. Eventually I would like to apply to Frontier, but like another poster here, I am concerned the pass/no pass grading (giving a 3.0) will render me noncompetitive. I have a 3.74 overall GPA so I wonder how much a 3.0 over 20 units will bring my GPA down. (213 quarter credits = 142 semester credits I believe.) I guess I have to figure out the math...

In the past I have heard/read stories of people completing their BSN in 6 month, but now I understand there is one course you are not able to take in the same semester as another course, so you have to pay for the 2nd semester anyway... I figure if that is correct, I should take may time and enjoy my classes. What do you have to say about the rumors? How long did it take you? Did you have any prerequisites to complete, or did you just have nursing classes? I already have my humanities, Stats, and microbiology... are they required prereqs?

My husband has been playing devils advocate, so even though I have done quite a bit of research, I am nervous about getting my degree there and people thinking I just went to a "degree mill". Reading that you were accepted to Nurse Practitioner school gives me a comforting feeling.

I know I have many more questions for you, I hope you wont mind. I think I will call Frontier tomorrow though and ask them about the amount of WGU grads they accept into their program. I don't have anything else going for me, I am not a doula or lactation consultant, I have never assisted with a birth (just watched a few in nursing school, watched my grand babies be born and had 5 of my own). And like I said earlier, I am getting older and I can't waste any time!

Thanks in advance!

Update: I did the math and it seems WGU would only bring my GPA down to a 3.64

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Specializes in Pediatric/Adult Open Heart, Transplant.
I am so glad I ran into your thread, I signed up just so I could reply. First of all, congratulations! Was USF your only choice, or did you apply to others?

Thanks! I only applied to USF because I work with an NP who graduated from there and offered to work with me on some of my clinicals. Seemed like the easiest route to me.

I am a new grad and just took the NCLEX last week, glad that is over! Because of my age (46) I am afraid to take too much time earning my BSN. I was accepted to the RN to BSN program in the school I recently graduated from, but am looking into WGU. Eventually I would like to apply to Frontier, but like another poster here, I am concerned the pass/no pass grading (giving a 3.0) will render me noncompetitive. I have a 3.74 overall GPA so I wonder how much a 3.0 over 20 units will bring my GPA down. (213 quarter credits = 142 semester credits I believe.) I guess I have to figure out the math...

Every school figures GPAs differently; I recommend you call and ask how they calculate it.

In the past I have heard/read stories of people completing their BSN in 6 month, but now I understand there is one course you are not able to take in the same semester as another course, so you have to pay for the 2nd semester anyway... I figure if that is correct, I should take may time and enjoy my classes. What do you have to say about the rumors? How long did it take you? Did you have any prerequisites to complete, or did you just have nursing classes? I already have my humanities, Stats, and microbiology... are they required prereqs?

I did not have an AA, only an ASN, so I had to do the arts/humanities/speech electives as part of my BSN. Even with those, it only took me 10 months to complete (working full time in open hearts, three kids, four pets, and a whole-home remodel to deal with). The only "BIG" class is your research project, which ends up being like 40 pages long and takes a while to complete. I think you can take as many classes as you can handle, and I haven't heard of any that you can't take concurrently, but it would vary depending on your requirements.

My husband has been playing devils advocate, so even though I have done quite a bit of research, I am nervous about getting my degree there and people thinking I just went to a "degree mill". Reading that you were accepted to Nurse Practitioner school gives me a comforting feeling.

I've heard nothing but good when I mention WGU; it has a good reputation and many standard universities are used to working with this newer pass/fail format now.

I know I have many more questions for you, I hope you wont mind. I think I will call Frontier tomorrow though and ask them about the amount of WGU grads they accept into their program. I don't have anything else going for me, I am not a doula or lactation consultant, I have never assisted with a birth (just watched a few in nursing school, watched my grand babies be born and had 5 of my own). And like I said earlier, I am getting older and I can't waste any time!

​I know my program mentor from WGU is going to Frontier (she did her BSN and MSN at WGU), and actually she graduates in a couple of months. I suggest you call and ask how they handle the GPA conversion and how familiar they are with the pass/fail formatting. I'm assuming they must be familiar enough since my mentor did it! Best of luck and let me know what happens! :)

Thanks in advance!

Update: I did the math and it seems WGU would only bring my GPA down to a 3.64

See my comments in your original post above

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Specializes in Adult Psychiatric.

I am just curious (I am a WGU BSN completion student with aspirations of becoming a NP) with WGU being an online university, who did you use as your references for your grad school applications?

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