Undergrad GPA?

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Specializes in Cardiac.

Looking for a bit of clarification. My ADN GPA is way less than stellar....2.8, I went thru Excelsior and the exams beat me up pretty bad but the actual classes I took were all a B.

Since then my BSN GPA has been 3.5 and I hope it continues. I am better at writing papers than taking tests apparently.

As far as getting an MSN NP......do they look at your last undergrad degree or your entire undergrad history? I've heard the term "cumulative" and references to only the last 60 credits.

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Every school will have different undergrad requirement. If the gpa isn't enough to convince the school to accept you then a GRE will probably be used to tip the scale. Most schools in my area will want at least a 3.2 cumulative or BSN GPA. I had a 3.56 cumulative for my undergrad and was accepted.

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Specializes in Emergency.

Every school has a different "minimum gpa" and although the basics are the same, each school calculates the gpa slightly differently. Some take the last xx credits into account more strongly, others all classes taken. GPA is only one factor that schools use to determine if your a student they want to allow in. At many schools, your references and letters will be worth more than your gpa. That doesn't mean you can get in with a really bad gpa, but if your above their minimum and have stellar references you will still have a chance.

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Specializes in Cardiac.

So I re-calculated my GPA. My BSN GPA is 3.65 currently, with 5 classes to go. My ADN thru Excelsior was 2.52. So my cumulative right now is 2.69. I have tons and tons of CLEP and DSST credit, with only 33 credit hours making up the 2.52 GPA. I have some room in my BSN free electives that I can fill in with community college courses before I graduate. I have a total of 39 letter graded credits for my ADN/BSN, the rest are credit by exam, CLEP/DSST. Since I am still in process of completing my BSN, do you think it may be wise to take a few community college credit courses to use as free electives and make A's in them to bump my GPA. If I get all A's in my remaining BSN classes, I'll be at 3.1 cumulative and 3.91 BSN. I'm thinking about a few Edukan courses like Medical Terminology and other health related courses. Also, my science GPA is 3.0.

That way, my cumulative is improved to 3.1, BSN will be 3.91, Last 60 credits will be the same as cumulative because that will put me having only 62 letter credit class/grades, since most are CLEP.

Does this sound like a plan?

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Specializes in Adult Internal Medicine.

You will likely need to do something to increase that core GPA if you plan on applying to Graduate school. I would talk to an admissions advisor at some of the schools you want to apply to and talk to them about how they calculate GPA. Some only use core classes and some will include electives.

If I were looking at your admission application I would have concerns about your core nursing GPA in regards to handling the graduate level work.

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Specializes in Cardiac.

When you say core, are you talking about nursing and science or just nursing. My BSN GPA is only nursing courses....I haven't taken any other types with that school. So for BSN core....I'm great....its just those Excelsior exams that I took, none were courses, only exams.

I'm really worried about the GPA, but I've done other things to boost my application. I have my PCCN, will have CVN and CMC by years end, I precept, serve on nursing committees, completed clinical ladder at work and have a completed process improvement/clinical improvement project. I'm working on a Research Proposal for another process improvement currently.

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Specializes in Nursing Education, CVICU, Float Pool.
Every school has a different "minimum gpa" and although the basics are the same, each school calculates the gpa slightly differently. Some take the last xx credits into account more strongly, others all classes taken. GPA is only one factor that schools use to determine if your a student they want to allow in. At many schools, your references and letters will be worth more than your gpa. That doesn't mean you can get in with a really bad gpa, but if your above their minimum and have stellar references you will still have a chance.

ZManSC,

How does Frontier Calculate GPA and how heavily does it weigh in an Admission decision? Specifically for RNs who completed a RN to BSN program? I am finishing up my BSN at WGU and have heard of some of our students getting accepted at a Frontier. Since WGU is on the pass/fail grading framework they only offer a 3.0 GPA. How does it work, if that's so etching you can answer. Thank you!

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Specializes in Emergency.
ZManSC,

How does Frontier Calculate GPA and how heavily does it weigh in an Admission decision? Specifically for RNs who completed a RN to BSN program? I am finishing up my BSN at WGU and have heard of some of our students getting accepted at a Frontier. Since WGU is on the pass/fail grading framework they only offer a 3.0 GPA. How does it work, if that's so etching you can answer. Thank you!

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PatMac10, I don't know the exact details about how they calculate the GPA, I do know of folks who have had 4.0 and didn't get in, as well as folks who had lower GPAs who got in, so I think they are more focused on your recommendations and your essays than your GPA.

I think with your courses being p/f, they will take that into account... The admissions folks have a FB page, and I found if you call or email they were very happy to answer your questions and get back to you.

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