I had 2 C’s in freshman first semester in biology honors and geometry honors. I ended up with an A second semester. In sophomore year I had many family and health issues that caused me to loose so much motivation, so I ended up with a C in spanish 3 honors, AP chem, and algebra 2 honors. I ended with Bs second semester in all those classes. Either way 5 C’s will already look horrible and my dream schools are any UCs or CSUs but I’m start to doubt my self really bad. I worked my butt off junior year and earned all A’s with 3 AP classes and 3 regular. I used to take honors but I thought I can’t handle the work loads due to my circumstances. I’m planning on working towards straight A’s in senior year so I will probably have a cumaltive GPA of around 3.5~3.7 UW. I know nursing is a very competitive major so I’m afraid I might not make it into any colleges with my low gpa and work ethic from sophomore year. Any suggestions on colleges in California that accept students with low gpa in the nursing field. And tips on other majors I can consider? I really want to pursue the medical field even though my grades in chemistry and biology in my first two years of high school says otherwise. I know the major you choose will have a great impact on admission so if there are any “easier” majors I can consider please let me know. I’m thinking of colleges like UC’s, CSU’s, PLNU,SDSU,USFCA or any state universities.
5 C's on my transcript & I want to major: nursing,what are easy schools in CA w/ low gpa requirement
Hi there
What is your ACT /SAT score - see if you can score well on either of those as that will help with your lower GPA.
I absolutely think its doable for you to get a BSN but it is harder in CA than other states. You may want to consider out of state if you want a direct route. It can sometimes be cheaper than an instate UC. Smaller private Jesuit schools like Xavier and Creighton came in under the price of a UC for us as did Westminster in Utah. Also look at University of Utah which may offer the WUE rate or in state tution if you get residency after freshman year. You could also look at University of Nevada, Reno but its not direct.
In state I would not bother applying to the UCs or San Diego State. Apply to Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach only if you are a local applicant. You should be able to look at the GPA /SATor ACT points you need for the other state schools and work out if you should apply. Call the admissions depts direct if you are not sure. I would say Chico is a definite possibility. Cal State East Bay . But find out how many kids are accepted from prenursing into nursing . I saw elsewhere its less impacted if you get your RN first at community college then apply to complete your BSN so look at that route as well. Best of luck!
UC’s and CSU’s use only 10-11th grades in their GPA calculation with a 8 semester honors point bump for UC approved Honors, AP, IB or DE courses.
https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
CSU’s are test blind for this admission cycle, so SAT/ACT scores will not help. UC’s tend to be very GPA focused so a competitive test score could help but not overcome a low GPA.
For the direct entry programs BSN for CA schools like UCI/UCLA/SDSU and CSU Fullerton, you are looking at sub 5% acceptance rates and even as low as 1.7% acceptance rate.
In California at least for the UC’s and CSU’s, there are no “easy” schools for Nursing. All the UC’s and CSU programs (direct and non-direct 2+2) are impacted.
If you want to stay in California, look at Dominican University and Azusa Pacific University.
The schools mentioned by @lass71 are good options but also need to determine affordability. Other than SDSU and CSU Fullerton, (CSU San Macros has a direct admit but geared toward local applicants), the rest of the Cal states offer a 2+2 program. Schools such as Chico, East Bay, Sonoma, Dominguez Hills, Channel Islands, Bakersfield might be an “easier” admit than the competitive CSU’s.
Also beware that several 2+2 programs require you to be admitted into the ”pre-nursing” program as a Freshman and you cannot switch later.
As also noted in the above post, the community college (RN) to BSN program is another option.
Below is a general guide on how to become a Nurse:
**There are several ways to become a registered nurse with a BSN these days.
The easiest and most direct way is to major in nursing as an undergrad the first time around. You’d need to go to a university that offers a BSN (bachelor’s of science in nursing) program. These usually take four years, and sometimes take five. There are two flavors of these BSN programs. A small number of schools offer direct admission as a freshman (e.g., you’re admitted to the school of nursing when you apply to the college, and you are guaranteed to be a nursing major as long as you keep your grades up). But most make you apply to the nursing school in your sophomore year to start your junior year. In those, you complete pre-nursing prerequisites in your first two years and then start nursing classes in your third year.
The second way is to complete a regular bachelor’s degree (in anything, although a science major makes this easier), then go back to school and get an accelerated second BSN. ABSN programs usually take 14-18 months after your first bachelor’s degree, which adds time and expense to getting your BSN. This route is usually chosen by people who didn’t realize they wanted to be a nurse until after they were already in college, but I’ve known a couple of college students who chose to go this route because they wanted to go to a liberal arts college to undergrad and yet still wanted to be a nurse. If you do this you have to plan your prerequisites carefully, since colleges without nursing programs tend not to have classes like anatomy and physiology.
The third way is to complete a regular bachelor’s degree (in anything, although again, a science major makes this easier) and then go into an entry-to-practice MSN program. Entry-to-practice programs are 3-year programs in which you get your RN in the first year and then your MSN in the last two years, which allows you to practice as a nurse practitioner. This is only a good idea if you know you want to be a nurse practitioner (an NP is a nurse who gives primary care).
One additional option is to get an Associates degree in nursing from a Community College that has an approved RN program. Those programs are usually competitive for entry, unlike most other community college programs. Often, the community college has a waiting list for nursing and will make you take a number of science classes first to prove that you are capable of handling it, before you are accepted as a nursing major. Your job opportunities will not be as wide as if you have a BSN, but you should still have no problem getting hired. Many of those grads then go onto later get a BSN, while taking classes part-time. Many health care employers will subsidize those classes.
Hi, what ended up being your outcome? I’m in a similar situation too.
This discussion is 2 years old and OP is long gone. Closing this discussion.