I want to be an RN, but I need advice on my situation

[iaca]

Hi everyone, this is a great forum, I have been lurking for a couple months now! I just have a few questions and need some advice of where I should go from here. Long story short, I want to get my RN but need some advice considering my circumstances.
Heres my story.

I had an extremely difficult period in my life after graduating high school through my early 20s. I won't go into it, but it heavily affected my grades in college. While living in Iowa. I got expelled for bad grades from one university. I then moved to california, and continued on into community college I basically failed out again there. After this, I decided college wasn't for me and decided to work as a computer programmer while I figured my life out. So I did, and I'm great now. Much, much happier and my life has stability.

California is great! But the job market there imploded in october! Now I'm back in Iowa, finishing college. I'm a psychology major, and my grades are great now. My major gpa (cumulative) is 3.67. I have a 3.86 gpa now since returning to school, and I have ~45 semester units left. (not including science prereqs for an absn)

I want to enter into an accelerated bsn program after I finish my bachelors in psychology and complete the science prereqs. But my question is this. What are my chances of getting accepted into a program? My first 60 hours of college are LITTERED with F's. I really screwed things up. But I improved vastly and am now basically getting straight A's with the odd B. Will this be enough? What kind of performance do I need to show to get accepted into a program? Anything I can do to set myself apart?

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[J ROD]

I think for a BSN you will be fine if you can explain your grades from that time period. Your grades now show that you can handle the work.

Most schools will understand and give some leniency.....

 

[mzblue]

I think you may get a better response in the clinicians forum where they have some RNs and NPs.

 

[ArkansasRanger]

Try allnurse.com or something like that for your future nursing needs.

 

[DrJosephKim]

Sounds like you've made some good changes if you're grades are solid and you're focused on your studies. I think you have the potential to really accomplish something great. Best of luck to you.

 

[Krisss17]

Try allnurse.com or something like that for your future nursing needs.

Very good suggestion!

 

[blueflower77]

I think you will be fine if you can explain your situation. For in case, I had a bachelor's degree in Biology and wanted to become an NP. I started an accelerated program called "another BSN to NP" (something like that), where you get your RN in 18 months and then go for an NP in 2 years without actually earning an ADN or a BSN. I wanted to do NP because I thought I wouldn't be good enough for an MD and just was at a time in my life that was very challenging and my self-esteem was very very low (long story, I'm sure you could relate). I failed out of that program. I started well and my grades plummeted. I got a FAT F on my transcript and the dean of nursing school said that I should "go for a speech therapy major" instead.

Of course, this made things a lot worse for me. SO how was I supposed to be a nurse? I was told I shouldn't go into nursing because I'm not good enough, etc. But, I applied to many BSN schools. One wanted to take me while placing me on probation, another gave me a hard time about deadlines, another told me I wouldn't succeed so why try and the last one (from which I just graduated with highest honors and a 3.7 GPA) took me and gave me a scholarship even. I couldn't believe my eyes. Just couldn't.

They made me write a statement of why I am going to do better and how. They wanted a realistic plan from me - ie: no job, just school, study with a tutor for the first semester if I needed - etc. They even let me combine 2 semesters into 1 (as a trial) because I had gone through quite a bit of classes already. They didn't mention probation or anything - just said, they were willing to give me a chance.

My point is, be prepared to do some explaining and people giving you dirty looks. DON'T let anyone tell you that you're not good enough or you don't have what it takes, or you "don't talk like a nurse" which is what the dean of that first school told me. You HAVE what it takes - as you've proven with grades - but you just have to do some good explaining, explain how you learned from your mistakes, how you are going to avoid making the same mistakes in the future, and etc.

Good luck, my dear! I wish you all the best.