Hi Everyone:
I interested in becoming a nursing however, I not sure if my GPA is high enough. My background is bachelors in communications and my GPA 2.92. Any positive feedback is welcome.
There are schools with accelerated nursing programs that do accept students with your GPA, but many require a number of science prerequisites. Have you taken biology, anatomy and physiology, chemistry? You may want to post your question in the nursing major forum for more responses.
So now its nursing?
In this post you wanted to be a librarian: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1865182-reinventing.html#latest
In this one it was engineering: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/1865184-career-changer.html#latest
Look, its clear you want to do something different. Or probably something, my guess is that you’re unemployed or under-employed at this point. And yes, there are pathways into just about anything you want to try. I suggest you figure out what it is you want to become as your first goal.
Yeah, from reading your posts it sounds like you are dissatisfied with your current job and are looking for a way out. And that’s natural, but there are many ways out of a “dead-end” job.
The first option, of course, is to try to find a better job with the degree you already have. Have you tried that yet? And not just by applying randomly to a bunch of jobs that look better, but by networking, tapping connections, maybe doing a certificate in something relevant, etc.
If you do want to change careers and you need another degree to do it, don’t randomly throw darts at career fields that sound kind of lucrative or kind of interesting. The job market for librarians is difficult; you might be able to get into a not-very-competitive MLIS program with a 2.92 undergrad major in communications, but it wouldn’t be a good one, and it wouldn’t help you much with getting a job in a crowded market.
You can do a second bachelor’s in engineering or nursing (both fields where a second bachelor’s is a good idea - although there are some nursing programs that lead directly to a master’s, more on that in a moment), but first you’d have to decide what to do. Not as sure about engineering but second BSN programs are competitive and a 2.92 is unlikely to help you gain admission. You’d also have to take prerequisites first anyway and you’d need to absolutely rock them to try and convince a program that you can do well, and even then it’d be a hard sell. I’m pretty sure that second-degree engineering programs will be similar in that regard.
There are some entry-to-practice programs that lead to an MSN in three years. In some of those you pick up a BSN on the way, but in many you just earn an RN and an MSN and can practice as a nurse practitioner. There’s also a new master’s degree called clinical nurse leader. They sound pretty similar to a generalist version of a clinical nurse specialist. Anyway, there are a few master’s programs that train people who have no background in nursing to be clinical nurse leaders in two years.
https://www.nursing.virginia.edu/programs/de-cnl/
Although note this on their website: CNL graduates aren’t prepared for a specific job title as a “Clinical Nurse Leader” but are, rather, likely to be hired as novice nurses in whatever setting they seek. CNL graduates, however, tend to rise rapidly in health care communities as clinicians, team leaders, patient care coordinators, outcomes managers, client advocates and systems analysts.
https://nhs.georgetown.edu/nursing/masters/clinical-nurse-leader-CNL
https://www.nursing.umaryland.edu/academics/grad/cnl/
Most places require a GPA of at least a 3.0, though, and competitive students often have a higher one.
Thank you. Mike Mac.
Thanks jullient for the information and advice. I sorry about my indecisive but need a fresh start and bright future
I don’t want to be a Debbie Downer, but there’s no such thing as a fresh start.
You can’t erase the past. You are who you are - you majored in communications, you have the experience you have, etc. More importantly, you don’t want to erase the past, because your past experiences can inform and influence the work you do later. I started my career in public health and switched to technology. I, too, assumed that I was “starting anew” but really, I wasn’t. Many of the skills and techniques I learned in my prior career are still applicable in my new one, and the way of thinking and approaches I learned in the old career won’t go away - they’ll always stay with me. I can’t unlearn Durkheim and the theory of planned behavior; they are stuck in my head, forever.
Instead of thinking about your BA in comms and your job as problems, think of them as assets. Think about the good stuff you learned - even if the good stuff is “I don’t want to do this anymore because of ____.” And think about how you can transfer some of the skills you acquired in that major and that job to other fields and jobs. For an example, I was talking today to two early college students about jobs in tech, and explaining how much teamwork and collaboration is necessary when building a good product. Amusedly, I mused on how a lot of people go into engineering or software development because they don’t like people and they think the job is about them going off into a dark corner and coding all by themselves for 8 hours a day. And some days, you do that, but most days are about working with others, getting feedback, iterating, trading reports back and forth, and telling all the other roles on your team - producers, marketing, business, program manager, UX/UI, research, finance, legal etc. - what the heck is going on.
You can bring that comms background in to talk about how your prior education will enhance your ability to communicate and build relationships with teammates and partners.
Thank you for your advice jullet.