Waitlisted 2014 Community Colleges

Hey I gotta questions for you. My baby sister applied to Gateway. She has B in her Anatomy I and B-In anatomy II. A in her calculus, A- in English, B+ in computer, C in her orgo lab and B- in organic chem lecture (they do take orgo). She has 76 in her TEAS. She also has BA degree in biology at UCONN. When she applied, she got 121 out of 175. Is this based on the lottery? Or the grade ranking? I mean how is this possible? Do you know any one that was in this position? Thanks!

I was wait listed at Gateway for the second time. I went and talked to an advisor to double check my GPA and I still have a 3.8 GPA. My Teas is a 70. I honestly do not know how they figure the wait listed numbers. This year I was waitlisted in the 60's out of 175. I wish I knew.

It definitely is confusing and frustrating. I have absolutely no classes left to take. For the past year I have been just taking classes I would need for my BSN. I even tried BHSN and didn't get accepted. I have no clue as to what I can do better other than taking my Teas over. I will remain positive. Congrats to everyone that did get in. ?

Hey I gotta questions for you. My baby sister applied to Gateway. She has B in her Anatomy I and B-In anatomy II. A in her calculus, A- in English, B+ in computer, C in her orgo lab and B- in organic chem lecture (they do take orgo). She has 76 in her TEAS. She also has BA degree in biology at UCONN. When she applied, she got 121 out of 175. Is this based on the lottery? Or the grade ranking? I mean how is this possible? Do you know any one that was in this position? Thanks!

This is based on grade ranking. To fill the class 75% is by rank, and 25% is by lottery. Then wait list is by rank.

Your babysitter's stats are actually not super competitive. They're okay, but the program is so competitive that she doesn't stand out. I just did a quick GPA calculation, and came up with 3.12. There might be some wiggle room (not sure how to calculate the chem lab vs lecture, so I split the difference and figured C+ for a 4 credit course). She probably needs at least a 3.6 to be competitive for rank. It's tough because she's factoring in harder courses (Organic Chemistry vs. Concepts of Chemistry), but the college doesn't give extra credit for harder classes. It just looks at the grade.

Her A&P I grade is also pulling her down a lot. I don't know anyone who got in with a B in A&P I, unless they got in by lottery. You really need an A or A- to be competitive for the program. A B+ might work with a really high GPA, but that's usually wait list territory. This is why so many people re-take A&P I.

Her TEAS is okay. Not great, but okay. From talking to people, the TEAS seems to be the most variable part of the applications. Since so many people retake courses to have high A&P scores, and high GPA, the TEAS seems to be the tie-breaker for lots of people. I'm not sure how many attempts your babysitter made, but if she's got a BA already, she should be able to improve her score without too much trouble. The TEAS math tops out at algebra, so if she can get an A in calc, she should be able to ace this portion. Re-taking the TEAS is probably the quickest, easiest way for a candidate with strong basic skills to be more competitive.

If your babysitter wants to reapply, here's my advice. Retake A&P 1. Since she's had the material once, it shouldn't be hard to get an A. This will significantly boost her chances. Next, take Concepts of Chemistry (CHE 111). It's a basic course that covers about 1/2 of what is in the General Chem 1 class. Replacing the low Orgo grade with an A in CHE 111 would boost her GPA to 3.52. If she wants to be really competitive, retaking A&P II could boost the GPA to 3.75 if she gets an A-, and 3.82 if she gets an A. If she doesn't want to retake A&P II, she could take one of the other co-requisites like Sociology or Psychology; an A in either of those would boost her GPA to 3.59 (assuming she gets and A in CHE 111).

Of course, there might be other courses factoring in here. If she has taken Psychology, Lifespan Development, Sociology, or Microbiology, those courses are factored into her GPA already. Although they are not prerequisites, they are required courses in the program, and if an applicant takes them prior to the program, they are calculated into the nursing GPA. So if she got a C in micro, for example, her GPA might actually be lower than I originally calculated.

I was wait listed at Gateway for the second time. I went and talked to an advisor to double check my GPA and I still have a 3.8 GPA. My Teas is a 70. I honestly do not know how they figure the wait listed numbers. This year I was waitlisted in the 60's out of 175. I wish I knew.

What is your A&P 1 grade? It seems like it has become almost standard to retake A&P I, so an A or A- is becoming much more common lately. If your grade is lower, I'd assume your wait list number is from that.

Your GPA is really good (assuming this is nursing GPA and not overall GPA). Congrats!

TEAS is okay, but anecdotally, I've been hearing a lot of people doing test prep and re-taking TEAS to boost scores. A few years ago, your score probably would have been fine. It's just gotten so competitive that low 70s can hurt. It seems strange that a single test weighs as much as your most important course, but the TEAS score is worth as much as your A&P I grade.

No. micro and psychology does not count towards her GPA. Her advisor confirmed it. She is my sister not babysitter. And sure if they really want excellent students, why even put C+ as a requirements? Her orgo chemistry is good enough and people should appreciate that. Believe me, I also applied to pharmacy school and people with grade like my sister gets in. As long as she didn't get like C- or F it shouldn't be a problem. There many kinds of application process including rolling admissions, which many school uses. why does Gateway have 175 students in the waiting list? NO SCHOOL have a waiting list exceeding 50. I don't know about you, but me and my sister have history of applying to different type of colleges and have general idea about the admission process, and what Gateway does makes no sense. Sorry to be harsh but I don't think anyone should comment on whether my sister's grades suck or not. I mean times change, college applications change.

No. micro and psychology does not count towards her GPA. Her advisor confirmed it. She is my sister not babysitter. And sure if they really want excellent students, why even put C+ as a requirements? Her orgo chemistry is good enough and people should appreciate that. Believe me, I also applied to pharmacy school and people with grade like my sister gets in. As long as she didn't get like C- or F it shouldn't be a problem. There many kinds of application process including rolling admissions, which many school uses. why does Gateway have 175 students in the waiting list? NO SCHOOL have a waiting list exceeding 50. I don't know about you, but me and my sister have history of applying to different type of colleges and have general idea about the admission process, and what Gateway does makes no sense. Sorry to be harsh but I don't think anyone should comment on whether my sister's grades suck or not. I mean times change, college applications change.

I never said her grades suck. You asked in your original post, "How is this possible?" I answered. You don't have to like or agree with the way the community colleges admit or rank their students for the nursing program, but it would help to understand it.

I'm glad you're proud of your sister's grades. My point is that there are many other people with higher grades applying. Just because it's a community college, that doesn't mean it's not competitive. When I applied, I had my bachelor's, my master's, and was about half way through another master's degree. I still had to work to get high grades in my prereq classes to be admitted. There are lots of smart, hard working people applying, and even though you think something "is good enough and people should appreciate that," doesn't mean the people in admissions will appreciate it. What the criteria IS and what is should be are two different things. If your sister wants to get in, she needs to give the admissions people what they are looking for.

I have spoken with two people in the nursing program who assured me that Micro and other co-requisites are indeed factored into GPA. Sometimes advisors give wrong advice. I would suggest that she speak directly to the nursing program coordinator for a definitive answer.

I also have a history of applying to different types of colleges, and agree that the CC nursing program is different from many other programs. However, that doesn't mean it makes no sense. The program is looking for a way to make cut-and-dried decisions with a huge number of applicants, and using strict numbers (nursing GPA, TEAS, A&P 1 grade) is the easiest and most cost effective way to offer admission. Personally, I think they should get rid of the lottery, but I understand why it's there.

Gateway has 175 students on the wait list because they wait list everyone who met the requirements but didn't get in. I agree that people further down the list than, say, 25 are not likely to actually get a seat, but would a simple rejection be better than a wait list seat at 125? At least when someone has a number, they are able to gauge where they fall in comparison to the other applicants. If you are #30, you know you were close and maybe only have to tweak a few things to get in next time; if you are #125, you know you've got to make some pretty big changes to get in.

Sorry if this sounds harsh. My intention was to help you (and your sister) understand the process, since that's what you seemed to want. I didn't make the rules. I don't work for the CC. However, I've been through the process, and I know how the game is played. If your sister wants to get into the program, I think my advice is pretty solid. If she doesn't want to jump through those hoops, she should look into a program with different admissions procedures.

Their procedures are wrong. They should just do rolling admissions.

Yes. Simple rejection is better than being #175. It saves time and humilation.

Actually there is no difference between these two. This application procedures is total bs.

I didn't say I was proud of my sister's grade. She worked hard in her own best way and she doesn't need to go through that hell again.

Retakes are not good either and no body retakes course unless it is below B.

If you know so much about which grades are better, then I wonder why you didn't apply to four year institution. I 'm sure they would have accepted you.

I feel that elderly people are more harsh and nasty as opposed to young people who doesn't call others failure

Anyway I'm done with this discussion.