samdup1994 Posted March 28, 2019 Share Posted March 28, 2019 Hey guys, As the title mentions, due to my lack of discipline, motivation and focus during my years getting my Bachelor of Science, I graduated with a low gpa of 2.8 a year and half ago. Since then I worked at a clinical lab for a year before realizing I want to work with people and follow my dream of working in the hospital helping people get better that I had before starting college. Therefore I decided to go back to my local community college last year. Since then I have academically excelled. - I currently have a 3.9 GPA in the last 3 quarters. A&P I : A A&P II: A- Microbiology: A General Biology: A Lifespan Psychology: A Nutrition: A Humanities: A Statistics: A- I currently work as an EVS at a hospital and plan on getting my CNA certification this month and get direct patient care experience. My biggest fear is that all these courses won't count since they are being taken at a community college instead of the university where I got my bachelors at. I am also afraid my extremely low undergraduate gpa will make it impossible to get into any program. Hopefully that is not the case. I am taking all these courses because my community college offers a nursing program that I plan on applying to during the next cycle but that won't be until a year from now. But since my main goal is to become a PA or an NP eventually, if its possible I would like to go into PA school before having to get a BSN degree. Since I also have a year of waiting, I am doing everything I can to make my application as attractive as possible and plan on continually doing well in all the prerequisite courses. Any advice is appreciated and if anyone has been in a similar position or know someone which ended in a success story, I would love to hear from you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Packman PA Posted March 28, 2019 Share Posted March 28, 2019 5 hours ago, samdup1994 said: Hey guys, As the title mentions, due to my lack of discipline, motivation and focus during my years getting my Bachelor of Science, I graduated with a low gpa of 2.8 a year and half ago. Since then I worked at a clinical lab for a year before realizing I want to work with people and follow my dream of working in the hospital helping people get better that I had before starting college. Therefore I decided to go back to my local community college last year. Since then I have academically excelled. - I currently have a 3.9 GPA in the last 3 quarters. A&P I : A A&P II: A- Microbiology: A General Biology: A Lifespan Psychology: A Nutrition: A Humanities: A Statistics: A- I currently work as an EVS at a hospital and plan on getting my CNA certification this month and get direct patient care experience. My biggest fear is that all these courses won't count since they are being taken at a community college instead of the university where I got my bachelors at. I am also afraid my extremely low undergraduate gpa will make it impossible to get into any program. Hopefully that is not the case. I am taking all these courses because my community college offers a nursing program that I plan on applying to during the next cycle but that won't be until a year from now. But since my main goal is to become a PA or an NP eventually, if its possible I would like to go into PA school before having to get a BSN degree. Since I also have a year of waiting, I am doing everything I can to make my application as attractive as possible and plan on continually doing well in all the prerequisite courses. Any advice is appreciated and if anyone has been in a similar position or know someone which ended in a success story, I would love to hear from you. The classes you are taking WILL count so no worries there. CASPA will add ALL the classes you have taken to come up with your cGPA and sGPA. I myself had a poor 1st year of college and with all my classes and post bac classes raised my cGPA and sGPA. You can do this and those A's will help not only with your GPA but show the schools that you are prepared. Feel free to ask my any further questions and good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roundabout Posted March 28, 2019 Share Posted March 28, 2019 The low GPA is something that you can fix and if you continue to stay dedicated you will bring it up. However, I think you should decide which route you want to take. Do you want to become an NP? If that's the case, go get your RN license and then apply to NP school. If you want to be a PA I would say to scratch the RN program (as they are usually 2 years long). Get your GPA up by taking all the prereqs for the PA programs you want attend (commonly Gen Chem 1&2, Bio 1&2, Stats, Orgo, etc). While taking these classes, work as a CNA and get direct patient care experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hustleforthePAC Posted March 28, 2019 Share Posted March 28, 2019 It's a smart route you're taking. I had a 2.69 gpa, took 4 years to mess up my gpa, another 4 years to bring it back up to a 3.0 with 3.9 post Bach. Acing higher level chemistry and high dcehours and leadership Qualified me for interviews. Going on my 4th year- third cycle I do know someone that had a 2.6 like us and applied 6 cycles, waitlisted then finally got in at duke. This gives me a spirit of hope. Anything is possible- if this person gave up we would have one less great provider. That being said, i think it's smart you're applying to rn programs- this will give you a solid/strong background in patient care. It'll open up more doors for you so whichever program accepts you first you can attend. If you work 3 12s you can earn a lot while having 4 days off to volunteer, shadow nps/pas/mds. Working as an rn you can save up more money easily to support yourself/family/for applications while you wait for interviews/acceptances- all while having a higher scope of practice than cnas/emts/ pt aids They have accelerated bsn programs and entry level masters then online np Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allegro Posted March 28, 2019 Share Posted March 28, 2019 Agree with all of the above, just be VERY aware of the math involved to raise a GPA to the necessary thresholds to be considered. The 2.8 itself matters less than the number of credits which contributed to it. Depending on the backlog you are working with - 4 years of low grades is a LOT of credits - some people are surprised by just how small a drop in the bucket post-bacc coursework can be in the face of a lot of credits' worth of poor grades. Learn how GPAs are calculated and how many credits of A/B grades it is going to take to raise it and pursue coursework with that in mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weaverd659 Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 just as a reference to what allegro said...I had a 2.4 gpa with over 118 credits. I have taken over 85 credits to get it to a 2.9. That was two years of full time classes. It will take me another 30-40 to get in the cGPA 3.0 and 3.2 sGPA range. That's at a 4.0 during that two year timespan and obtaining a bachelors degree in respiratory therapy in the process and I now work nights in the ICU and am taking class during the day at my community college/university for upper levels. How bad do you want it? I was a terrible student from 2008-2012 but went back in 2017 with a new appreciation for life and what I want to do and I believe that my trend in grades and experience will at least get me interviews. You'll do what you need to if it means that much to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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