Why don't nursing programs weigh exams equally with GPA?

FAworld · Aug 1, 2007

Some of the reasons why schools give weight to GPA is that it shows persistance (not quitting because a class is tough, annoying, a pain the butt, etc, etc) and adaptability. RNs have to adapt to many different personality types so I can see where they would want to see that a student can adapt to different types of instructors.

That's my theory anyway.

coolpeach · Aug 1, 2007

My program give a lot of weight to its hesi 2 entrance exam. The way they do it is you get a 1 point for having completed certain classes, and two points for completing others. You can earn a total of 13 points for taking these classes. Then for every point you earn on the entrance exam over 75 you get those points for a max of 25 points. They add all of this to your GPA and those are your points.

Example 4.0 GPA

13 support course points

25 100% on Hesi entrance exam

-----------------------------------------------

42 points total

So the Hesi weighs in more than anything else. They also give you 3 points for each time you applied and met all requirements, but were not excepted.

RNDreamer · Aug 2, 2007

They also give you 3 points for each time you applied and met all requirements, but were not excepted.

That's very generous. Other schools wouldn't do that.

coolpeach · Aug 2, 2007

yes, but only if you have meet all the requirements for admission, but were not in the top 40. I didn't realize it but apparently there are a lot of people who apply that do not meet the requirements and are disqualified from the pool. These are people who didn't read or understand the requirements before applying. The normal reasons are not having the four basic prereqs completed with the required GPA, or having the overall required GPA for admission. In addition, not having every transcript for every college you have ever attended even if it was just for one class. Even if it was belly dancing you had better have it on a transcript in their hands when you apply. I think a few people may be disqualified for drug/background reasons, but they really didn't go into that.

CRNA2BKY · Aug 5, 2007

Why don't nursing programs weigh tests like the NET, TEAS, etc. just as much as GPA? I've had an extremely easy time with those exams but have been cursed with terrible teachers while acquiring my prereqs. It's not fair to the students that take classes where the teachers have different standards than others, shouldn't they care more about what you actually still know than how well you memorized certain bones years ago?

GPA's give a better indication of how good of a student you are, as opposed to how good you are at taking a single test. Preparing yourself for one single test, such as the NET, though not easy, tends to be very focused and therefore one can concentrate on doing well on it. Admissions committees can learn a lot more about a person from looking at years of information on how well they did in many classes than just looking at one test score. This also helps those who may have had a bad day when the took the standardized test and did poorly, but had many years of getting good grades. As you can see, the long term success of the student should be the focus of admissions, not just one single test.