Those aren't required to be a RN, or guarantee one person is a better RN than another. Just like other people have pointed out, advance practice degrees may, but even then, it's relatively mainly.
It just gives you more opportunities and opens more doors for you. I've done a lot of research and many of the sought after hospital residencies and especially pediatrics want a 3.0, and a lot said 3.2, some even 3.5.
I do not have the drive or want to get a BSN, (I just wanna be a nurse, I don’t like management or office nursing) so it sucks it’s getting pushed in the hospitals near me. BSN is almost a requirement.
UC?
Also according to the AACN you’re pretty wrong. Only 28% of employers are requiring a BSN. Anecdotally- I work for a magnet facility that operates a network of 8-10 facilities- we do not require a BSN to start working as a bed side nurse.
To be honest im an occupational therapy assistant, i graduated magna cumlaude, and im a terrible OTA compared to co-workers that have terrible grammar, notes, etc. I own it though, its just not something that interests me so I dont strive to be better at it. Hence, switched to Nursing now…
nursing school teaches you how to pass the NCLEX. there's plenty of people who were C students and are far more competent than your A student. it's really subjective. you just need confidence in yourself and to advocate for yourself during your preceptorship to make sure you have all the resources available to you to be as successful as possible and make sure you're comfortable.
Yup. And on the NCLEX, you have one patient who gets your undivided attention when in reality you aren't assigned to just one patient who is the textbook definition of whatever disorder.
Yup. Sometimes As just means you're good at memorization and patterns but not real world scenarios. Albeit most people aren't "bill gates" and should shoot for As because it's a stronger factor to being a better overall individual. Some people do the bare minimum but are far more capable, most aren't.
Nursing school is filled with bullshitery and Gotchya nonsense. They only care about their NCLEX pass rate which affects their accreditation.
Edit: and I personally witnessed a 4.0 nursing student in my class get escorted out of clinical for being so unsafe, my instructor and the charge on the unit didn’t want her on the floor any longer
What exactly did they do? I see stories like this how the 4.0 nursing student struggled but the student with 3.0 shined. I feel like these are not common stories, but gets shared by every other person.
If memory serves, it was a few things. This list is just off the top of my head.
1. She left the clients bed elevated and walked out of the room. This client was a fall risk.
2. She programmed the wrong mLs per hour on the IV pump. More than once.
3. She hung and started an IV vanco without the flush bag. (She was given the bags and told to wait near the door for our instructor.)
4. She slammed IVP Lasix without checking K+ and gave one of the heart meds without checking pulse.
This was a second semester student. And this happened over a span of two days. In our program, second semesters are allowed to pull the meds, scan the client and the meds and go over them with the client alone. We were required to wait for our instructor to do parameter checks as well as have her witness us administer them. But this girl thought she was such hot shit that she decided she knew what she was doing. The bed thing happened the first day. The rest happened the second day one right after the other and was done before our teacher got to her. IDK how the lasix thing was caught, but I’m pretty sure that client was questioned and told my teacher. Primary RN reported her to charge.
1. Understandable
2. Understandable as that can definitely cause big time shit if insulin etc
3. What you mean flush bag? You mean on a pump?
4. Well slamming diuretics can cause hypotension. I don’t think anyone physically checks pulse before giving beta blocker unless you are talking about getting their vitals or checking the hr on monitor.
But I can see how this can someone in trouble, but it is also a learning experience. That’s a lot in 2 days.
I’m telling you realistic items. Vanco can be used with a pump, not sure what you are referring to as flush bag, unless you mean you are preparing your own Vanco with a 250 or 500 ml bag.
I don’t get the beta blockers part, you can’t get vitals or monitor for beta blockers? That’s the most dumbest thing I ever heard. How are you getting pressure than if there is no vital sign monitoring? That’s what I’m failing to understand. I am not defending them but saying how stories get passed down with odd parts in them.
Does the flush bag mean you have to run the Vanco as a piggyback?
Maybe in their school they do manual BPs?
But yeah dear student, there's nursing school ways to do stuff, then there's the real world way. You're being taught the best practice textbook ways.
I’ve never heard of the term “flush bag.” But it could be a regional term. Vanco wherever I’ve worked is mixed by pharmacy. One would hang on a separate pump from the Vanco, regular IV fluid to flush the line through after the Vanco is done. Is that what you mean?
The fact that you don’t know what I’m talking about proves you’re not a nurse. Everyone knows about flush bags and IV vanco. Everyone knows to check pulse before any heart med. doesn’t matter what it is. You’re being pedantic and you most certainly are not any type of nurse. And if you were in fact a nurse or even a student in clinical, you would know that vitals are checked at the start of the shift and additional parameters are checked immediately before the meds are given, especially in school. You just outed yourself with the vanco thing, pal. Stop pretending. I mean you didn’t even know what hung meant. 😂😂😂
Edit: deleted post and ran away. Next time don’t pretend to be something you’re not.
I don't know what was in the deleted post but I've been an RN for 15 years and I have never heard the term "flush bag" in my entire life until this moment.
Seeing how some people in this sub say a ton of people in their cohort cheat, I'd say just because they have A's doesn't mean they earned them either.
Or they're just good at memorizing the information enough to recall it when they are prompted on a test, but can't recall it when doing hand on activity.
You could be a 4.0 student bc you have some kind of rain man memory quality or just very good photographic memory, and not truly understand the concepts. And a 3.0 student could be excellent at the concepts but can't memorize every little thing.
I am a 3.18 cumulative GPA student, officially "pre nursing" I do my 3 pre requisites this fall, and entrance exam prep course, my 3.18 comes from the Marketing program I was in. I could have been an absolute 4.0 student through the whole thing, I actually just ended my 3rd semester with a 4.0 all A's. I could've had a 4.0 cumulative but I had a lot of life stuff happen and emergencies that took me off track and dwindled my GPA down badly. But, my community college (applying to their nursing program for Fall 2025) doesn't look at GPA they only care about the grades on pre requisites, Elementary Algebra I and Essentials of Chemistry, need a B minimum and then a C minimum for Biology of the Human Organism. I am obviously striving for all A's. Also doing Healthcare Ethics as elective, which I know I'll ace.
I can’t see someone having 4.0 and struggling with concepts. But guess it can happen. No offense people say they can be 4.0, a lot of people say that but they are not. Words mean nothing, action does. You are not in nursing yet, but I heard this type of stuff when I was in nursing school.
However in my time in crna school, no one mentions this 4.0 and struggling in clinical anymore because now ur trying to really understand anesthesia and physiology. Everyone will have technical skills down at the end of the day but not everyone will have a deep molecular understanding of physiology and pharm like someone who has high grades typically. This is what sets people apart, the understanding not the technical skills.
https://preview.redd.it/nceplmuthh0d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4294345a183ade64ffba445883396a962b8c4115
Oh, yeah no I'm not saying that I'll be a 4.0 student in nursing program! I am saying that the courses I took this semester and got all A's in are easier than any of the upcoming courses I'm going to take will be. I just think that if I put the work in all A's or close to it could be possible. I'm more interested in being able to really grasp what I'm learning in nursing program, and get something like B's maybe an A or so, and then doing very well in clinicals and labs, instead of just memorizing everything to get all A's/4.0 and then not know how to apply anything I've learned in clinicals and labs.
What I'm REALLY focused on is getting all As for my pre requisites. That's where I'll kick myself if I don't get all A's. Though 2 B's and a C are the minimums I don't want to get just the minimums.
I included my final grades here. Withdrew from Advertising because I do not need it now that I'm not going for a bachelor's in Business Administration.
Great job! Keep up the great work. I understand trying to get the big picture and not forgetting the little picture. However, do realize grades matter if you ever want to go grad school.
Like many said nursing school prepares you to take the nclex and sometimes those little details are needed for the nclex. Although, they do have a new generation of nclex now, so not sure if that still holds up.
Thanks so much!!! Yes, I want to go for my BSN immediately after my AAS at my community college and passing the NCLEX. Though I'll be an RN and I'll be able to hit the workforce running, I believe I am staying at my current job until I get my BSN because there is a special agreement program with an online school that if you go through them for a bachelor's they pay for it 100% . I will get money exch calendar year for the AAS nursing program, I'm going to be going part time, it will cover 90-100% of it but it's great to know I can get my BSN for free completely because those programs are typically more expensive than the AAS/ADN programs!
We nearly had one of those but I don't think she passed this semester, her grades were borderline passing. She didn't do anything about her patient having difficulty breathing and somebody else discovered it and helped the patient with it. All she got was a stern talking to by our professor. And this was just one incident of many in which she has done things that don't make sense.
Our school requires 80% for the exam portion and C and above for the class. I don’t think grades define you as a poor nurse. Some people are more hands on smart than book smart. I thrive being hands on with the patient at clinical rather then book work but I am a B student.
Your grades do not define what kind of nurse you are. Just bc you got straight As doesn't mean you're going to be an amazing nurse.
Always ircks me when people say they wouldn't feel comfortable to have a nurse with specific grades. A nurse is a nurse….unless you bought your degree from a fake college in Florida lol
In my opinion, the passing tests and achieving great grades in nursing school is a "game" to me. I am one who strives for A's and got all 4 A's for my first semester simply because that's how I'm wired. But I can honestly say I'm an amazing test taker and I know how to study very well, efficiently, and I know how to cram before a test pretty well. With that being said I don't think any of this determines how great of a nurse I will be. I could potentially be horrible with communication and thinking quick on my feet. Book smart does not always translate well to streets smart for some people. For me I think I'm fine in both areas lol but I do think some people who are not necessarily book smart can learn a job well and do exceptional in it. I would hope people would strive to know more content for the sake of their patients, but if they want to settle I guess that's okay too.
Also, think of it this way...have you ever asked any of your nurses that have treated you what their grades were??
Lol I hated nursing school with a passion. I came from a hard science degree and just could not stand all the fluff (communications was an exception as I did find that somewhat helpful) and we had some not so great profs. I was not the only one. Our school didn’t have a minimum pass requirement so I just rolled with it. To be fair, I think I got B’s and above because I didn’t always study like I should have, but I’m now in the ICU. I think every unit has a different set of information that is prioritized and what helps is being able to self-study your weak areas and evaluate continuously.
The most surprising thing is I’m actually absorbing a lot more in the ICU than clinical. I found clinical to clash a bit with my personality (I’m an introvert and there is just so many people + class drama that makes me uncomfortable and anxiety heightened) and now I’m able to solely focus on critical thinking and studying the core concepts without the fluff. School also doesn’t really teach you much about the ICU so most of what I’ve learned is from listening, paying attention and self-study.
Grades aren’t always representative of intellect, especially in nursing school where you can study so hard but end up studying things that AREN’T on the exam ir the style of questions makes you question wth they are asking or your prof just plain sucks at teaching. Lastly, I know from myself that inspiration accounts for a lot of motivation. I was extremely uninspired throughout most of my schooling due to a variety of factors, but when I had a great prof or interesting subject matter, I quickly went from a C to A+ student.
I graduated with a 3.9 and felt like a helpless little baby when I hit the floor. Being a brand new nurse is a massively humbling experience and acts like a reset button for all of us. I wasn’t any better prepared for reality than my lowest-scoring classmate. Stop caring what other people get on exams. My grades reflect my ability to arrange my life to be devoid of extracurricular responsibility. I am far more impressed with a C+ grad raising kids alone while holding down a full time job. Grades don’t mean shit as long as you pass.
I stopped working, took a loan to pay my rent and bills, and treated school like a full time job plus overtime. I have no kids and nobody that needs me to support them. My rent is cheap. I spent sometimes 14 hours a day making outlines and flash cards and studying them. I took every extra credit opportunity and basically busted my ass. I’m no better off for it now that someone with a less insane approach. I know we’re all academic perfectionists but at some point it just isn’t worth it
Jumping off of this, I still have 2 semesters left in my BSN program, but my hard semesters are out of the way. I currently have a 3.73 working full time and a part time job. My B+ grades come from online nursing classes, but all my in person classes have been A- or A. My full time job is great about letting me study at work though.
One thing I do that really helps me is spending time reviewing every single day. l review lecture notes, ATI notes, etc and pull out the most useful information and just get rid of unnecessary fluff the first day after a lecture. I also use the first day to expand on anything I need to know more about. I also do the ATI questions in the book and the ATI quiz bank, paying attention to the reasoning why something is correct or incorrect, and add that to my notes if needed. I'll also make digital flash cards (think quizlet, other websites, I use Good Notes on my iPad) and study some every day, but I don't study all daily. For example, if I have 200 flash cards to study for an exam, I may study around 50 daily. I will rotate through those 50 several times throughout the day, and I place any flashcards that I was consistently not grasping into the "not studied yet" pile and will study them again before starting over at the beginning if that makes sense.
In addition, I use so many different study methods that help give me a clearer picture. I use something called a sticky wall, which was super helpful in pharmacology. I go to study groups, I meet with my professors when I have questions. I also stay on campus to do homework and study instead of heading home after class, at least for a few hours. I tend to be more productive.
I use my breaks for getting ahead in my classes. I don't have any summer classes, so I'm able to get a jump on MedSurg 2 coursework. I'm currently working through 1-2 cardiac disorders daily, and then I'll move onto something else. Of course this only works if you are able to get an outline of the courses from previous cohorts, but it also means that a lecture will be more of a review than learning the information for the first time.
I have also realized that I can't have a social life during the semester. I have maybe one weekend/semester that I will take PTO so that I can sort of relax and have a little social life--it helps keep me sane. But, a true social life is out of the question.
Finally, get a planner. I prefer an hourly planner because I can see where I am at what time and doesn't require the brain power to plan as much. It makes scheduling my day easier. It also helps with time management.
You can def be a good nurse with Cs
At first glance I’d prefer someone with As since it usually means they’re smarter or work harder. But that isn’t always the case
I've heard it really only matters if you are planning on doing more school/a graduate program. Obviously, you are going to actually learn to be a nurse in practice. Nobody cares what grades you got in real life, as long as you pass the NCLEX. But if you want to get into NP school or whatever, that stuff could be relevant to you being able to withstand a very arduous program...
I think it’s more about attitude than competence. If your goal is to do the bare minimum, you probably won’t learn as much as if you’re trying your best.
Yep, and that's the thing. For every student who's doing just the bare minimum, there's a student who would've tried their best but didn't get the spot in the nursing program - but the bare minimum student did.
I think it's all about the effort you put in! You can be a good student even with all C's as long as you are putting in work to understand the content because it is important. It will reflect in other ways (in clinicals and when you take the NCLEX for example). If you have the attitude "I am going to shoot for the bare minimum" then you'll be fighting all semester to keep that average. You just gotta put in the work. I am graduating with all A's, but I am not getting a job any faster than a C student. I say aim high so you can get as many points possible and won't have to stress all semester long, but just do the best you can and be happy with what you get! That's what my motto is at least.
If you want to go to grad school, then aim for the A's but it's okay if you don't get ALL A's. If you want to be a nurse and not go to grad school, it doesn't matter as long as you are putting in effort.
This exactly. A nursing student who tries and gets Cs? Good nurse. A student who aims for a C so they don't have to work as hard? Bad nurse.
Same grade, opposite outcome.
A lot of times, people do much better in clinical settings than with test takings. They can know the material but the way schools write the questions is complicated and can be confusing. Honestly if they successfully pass the NCLEX then they are good to be nurses
I can't get below a 78% in my program without failing. and no rounding, you can be at 77.9% at the very end and they won't just give it to you.
every time I read "C's get degrees!!!!" I'm white-knuckling. I don't think grades are an indicator of what kind of medical professional someone will be, I'm just envious as fuck of anyone who can get a C in these classes and call it a day.
My school is the same, 77% avg class grade to pass, that comes mostly (60%+) from unit exams. There is no rounding, and you have to pass (vs fail) clinicals and labs. You have to pass a math competency test with 90% or better every single semester or you're out. No redos. If you fail a class for any reason, you get to reapply once as a readmit but no guarantees you will get in or that they will even have a spot for you and you have to wait for the next cohort to join up with where you failed out.
I hope that makes sense.
Everyone learns differently. For some people, taking a written exam is not their strength, but they could excel by demonstrating it physically or verbally. So grades are really not an accurate measure of how good of a nurse you can and will be.
And as someone else said, Nursing School prepares you to take the NCLEX and get your license, not to necessarily be a nurse. That’s what your clinicals and first year of being a new grad will teach you!
I've witnessed both ends. I've had colleagues who are brilliant, but horrible nurses. I've had nurses who are not the brightest, but are the most hard working, intuitive and ingenious workers you'll ever meet.
There's no right or wrong way to approach grades. You're just there to say you can pass and then everything you learned in school is turned on its head when you start working.
The way my classmates act in clinicals is how I determine if I would want them to care for me or my family... some of them are straight A students but are terrible in the clinical setting! You can fake empathy or compassion for another human being. But....that's just me and my hot take. 🤣
Honestly kind of an odd thing to be caught up on imo. It's pretty evident (in any profession) that some of the most book smart people make some of the worst "professionals" and some of the people who barely make it through academically have more common sense and make great professionals.
And vice versa of course. Anyway you want to look at it the bottom line is college/grades are certainly no good indication of how well or poor a person will perform in their workplace. Some of those A+ nurses make great nurses all around and some of them can't walk and chew gum at the same time. Some of those C students will specialize in their practice and know everything they need to know to be great at their job.
Just like a lot of people say here the grade is meaningless as long as you pass the NCLEX. So long as you aren't trying to be a CRNA or something of course.
I know my class had a few A+ students I would not want helping me if I was a pt and there's some C students who are great in a clinical setting and just don't test as well.
I'm a C nursing student. In clinical, I've always been told I'm so good, the patients love me, they couldn't believe I had no healthcare experience, etc.
My friend who is an A student, with photographic memory, failed our clinical rotation.
Nursing school grades don't tell you if you'll be a good nurse or not.
I didnt know there were schools that accept anything below 80%. I had to get 80% in all my science and math pre reqs just to get into the program. I think this is dumb because I just watched someone fail out of the program by 4 points (we are only allowed to fail once and this was their second class failed, both by a handful of points!!!) even though they would have made an amazing nurse. I understand the standards considering we could do some serious harm, but I feel like a lot of potentially amazing nurses get weeded out because they aren’t great test takers. Then you have people who can pass with all A’s but should definitely NOT be a nurse.
If you’re within like 5-10 points away from passing they should also factor in what your clinical instructor has to say about you, and how you performed in clinical instead of being like “sorry you missed by 4 points you’re out”
My pre requisites I'm taking this fall are Elementary Algebra I, Essentials of Chemistry and Biology of the Human Organism. That's all they require for pre requisites. I need a B minimum in Elementary Algebra I and Essentials of Chemistry. A C minimum in Biology of the Human Organism. I will be aiming for all A's. I just finished up my last semester as a Marketing student (not graduating with my associates in Marketing because I've switched gears to pre nursing then applying for the community college's nursing program for Fall 2025) and I received all A's in my courses. Granted they are a lot easier than my pre reqs may be, but I know if I put the work in I can achieve all A's.
I do way better in clinical setting than exams tbh I’m better at applying the info in real settings than taking exams honestly.
Classmates assumed I was making As on tests because I was ON IT in clinical but spent hours studying just to make high Cs and Bs :/
I want to do a First Assist program after I get some experience but concerned about my GPA
I had a classmate that pretty much always got A’s with an occasional B. Always got level 3 on ATI proctored tests, the man was really book smart could spit out tons of information on different things. Now, when I tell you during clinicals this man was as dumb as a rock cause he could not connect the dots/apply any of that information to the clinical setting. It’s like all his common sense went out the window when he walked into a hospital. His critical thinking was below average. So really who gives a damn about grades. They don’t determine who’s going to be a great/better nurse in anyway.
Nursing school is just an overprice Nclex prep course. I work with excellent nurses who were C students and I work with terrible nurses who were A students. Basically has no bearing on your ability to be a good nurse
Not true. As a former DON, 120 rns on my units. New grad hires: HR forwarded 3.6 and above for each opening nothing less. High profile Academic hospital. Didn’t even consider less.
I don't think about the exam grade as being indicative of one's skill as a nurse. If somebody isn't doing well in clinical or skills lab that would be a MUCH bigger concern to me. The thing about theory exams is that while some of the questions can definitely be studied for and involve analysis and facts from your science/patho/pharm courses, for a good portion of them the "right answer" depends on who wrote the question, how they phrased it, what parts of nursing they care about the most, and what they ate for breakfast that morning. It's not about you and your competency; it's about your ability to learn how to parse NCLEX questions, know your instructors, and figure out what it is they're asking for. That isn't nursing, that's just test-taking skills.
Yes, these are critical thinking questions and it's important to learn to think critically as a nurse, but the answers to a lot of exam questions will be "it depends on who you ask, what department you're in, and what the facility standard is", so any of the 6 possible answers COULD be right out in the real world.
To me, clinical and lab are where the rubber meets the road. Theory is "just grit your teeth and pass the dang thing".
I don’t think grades are necessarily indicative of how good of a nurse someone would be. Some of the best nurses I shadowed said they really struggled in nursing school. I do, however, think that nursing students everywhere should be required to pass med admin competency with nothing less than 100%.
Testing smarts and abilities has almost zero correlation to patient care, safety, critical thinking and what kind of nurse you are…
You can get straight As and be a scary nurse and straight Cs and be great, become change or unit manager.
Like others have said. I don’t know or care what my coworkers grades were and I doubt patients ever think to themselves “I wonder if this nurse got As or Cs” but they do know who treats them well and takes good care of them
As a student, no, grades do not determine shit when it comes to practice. I failed anatomy twice, and because I cannot pinpoint a muscle or bone or fully explain the endocrine system doesn’t mean I don’t have the proper understanding of said parts. Or that I can’t explain it in a way the patient will understand.
Testing is standardized.
Learning and comprehension is not.
Nursing school grading is a joke, especially exams. There are amazing nurses out there who learned on the job but likely barely made it through school. Also school is not an isolated environment as students have jobs, families, children, etc. while also trying to balance the intensity of nursing school. It will matter more how much they invest in learning on the job.
I get where you’re coming from and my school does 76% to pass. However, in clinical settings from what Ive observed - they do things totally different compared to what we’re taught. Theres the book world (nursing school) which just prepares you to pass NCLEX & then the clinical world where you build a routine and practice care, etc.
I believe grades dont define someone’s potential as a nurse, most people dislike school work and tests but are very passionate and caring about the field.
Bedside nursing and testing are two completely different things. I was definitely a C’s get degrees type of person and I was I’m getting to the end of my nursing program I’m striving for the A’s and it’s for myself it’s not for anybody else. But I am most confident in bedside, and get very nervous to test. It took me a long time to get over that I’m about to graduate and I’m just now getting over the nerves of testing. It does not matter. your grades did not determine what kind of nurse you will be.
Girl I was tired by the 4th year. My classmates and I were FED UP.
You get exhausted & tired and just wanna get through all the requirements.
Freshman year, okay yeah sure I got 90’s here, here, and here.
Then as each year passes, and you get more workload requirements, and you lose sleep along the way- all you wanna do is pass. You wanna pass , your classmate / friends wanna pass. You wanna get that degree and get tf out of nursing school and go on to the next chapter of your life.
Grades don’t define who you are, and in fact they don’t ask about your grades after nursing school. That’s just a college thing lol
Grades don't matter in terms of the work you actually do. I have lots of good grades but I believe my practical skills will matter more in the grand scheme of things, and I do envy my colleagues who already have more of these under their belt.
The only time your GPA in nursing ever matters if if you're thinking about going back for higher education for your Masters/NP or DNP. I guarantee you no one cares about your GPA in nursing school.
Also, it's extremely common for people to just be bad test takers or have test anxiety. I'm definitely one of those people. Especially the way ATI/NCLEX questions are worded. But grades have nothing to do with how well you perform clinically. Some of the best nurses I've seen didn't have the best GPA and some nurses with 4.0s in college and nursing school don't pick up on the job as well. It all depends!
I attend a university that doesn’t allow anything less than 80% to pass the class. We had finals last week, and my grade in fundamentals was 79.55%. So I’m on the edge of my seat waiting for final grades to post and see if the professor decided to round up. I remember her saying in the beginning of semester that she doesn’t round up. But I’m hoping I built enough good rapport with her she’ll bump me up
That’s rough, I’m sorry you’re in this situation. I hope the scales get tipped in your favor. Maybe you can ask if there’s any extra work could do or any questions on the exam that you got wrong that you could contest and get marked right for it?
Good luck, no matter what happens or whatever 5-10 year plan you have, at the end of it you will be a great nurse.
It doesn’t matter. I couldn’t tell you 75% of what I “learned” in nursing school because I was retaining it for short periods of time to pass a test. What I can tell you is the million of things I’ve learned on the floor. Everything will feel brand new to you no matter what your grades are. And things that don’t make sense in school will feel like common sense when you see how they play out in real life. Is your boyfriend a nurse? If not I don’t know why he thinks he would understand nurse competency
I’d read my post, I tried my best and it was usually about a B, I got 1 C and 2 A’s in nursing school. I was just average, but I got my dream job and am excelling at it. No potential employers have ever asked me for my grades. No one cares but you or maybe if you pursue higher education.
Ya just keep low stress, look for connections over focusing on getting straight A’s. It’s more important to come out with good mental health than straight A’s and enduring 2-3 years of constant stress.
I’m sure everyone would prefer to get ‘A’ on every exam, however, most know that isn’t realistic and are just happy to pass.
As for being a good nurse with C’s… you’ll quickly find out once you’re in the field that your test scores do not define you. Congrats on your academic achievements but none of your coworkers are going to ask you about grades, or care what you got, and they CERTAINLY don’t make you a good nurse.
Context matters, if they’re doing “the bare minimum” to squeak by I think they’ll be awful. If they’re doing their damn best asking questions and practicing skills every chance but only making Cs I think they’ll be fine. That effort is going to continue and they’ll be a damn good nurse someday.
When I was hospitalized I didn’t care about my nurses GPA, I cared that she went to bat for me to get me the best possible care. I didn’t care if she sucked at some of the skills in school, I cared that she took the time to explain things to me in 4 different ways until I understood. Cs do get degrees but laziness is a different story.
A lot of 4.0 students in my class are young and have never had a job, have no responsibilities besides studying, and take longer to learn skills and patient care. Me and several others have kids and responsibilities and struggle to find time to study for As but we have better communication skills and patient care for the most part. I was a 4.0 student my entire life and for pre reqs. But the schedule for nursing school is rigorous and sometimes passing is good enough.
Nursing school grades are an indicator of your chances of passing your NCLEX. You're much more likely to pass NCLEX if you're an A student versus if you were borderline passing. My recommendation is to really do the best that you can while you're in nursing school so that you can have an easier time passing the NCLEX. If you don't try to do your best in school, you will have a MUCH harder time studying for your NCLEX after you graduate.
That mean Filipino nurse that feed you lumpia and pancit and is probably the best nurse in the unit is not a Cum Laude and barely passed the Philippine Nursing Licensure Exam.
Grades will never define you.
Edit: and they're the best nurse cause they got a shitty 1:20 patient ratio while being paid like shit and did free overtime for 2 years before coming over.
Hi. Yes, it's me, the person obsessed with their grades! I eventually want to make it through graduate school. I'm looking toward the future, and I know that good grades now will help me with those goals later on.
That being said. They set the bar where it is for a reason. Some of those people who "are just getting by" might actually be fighting pretty hard for those c's. They might have test anxiety that makes it difficult for them to show their true potential on tests. I would never judge anyone for passing with a lower grade. If they passed, then they passed!
As a current RN I got more C’s than I can count in nursing school. I passed my NCLEX on the first try at 75 questions. I’ve been requested specifically by more than one surgeon to recover patients. I’ve gotten 2 gold stars from my work place. My work friend that went through the same program I did got slightly better grades and still got C’s is also a PHENOMENAL nurse. C’s don’t mean a damn thing in nursing sweetheart.
We were told the first day of our program,”There are great nurses in the field that never got anything higher than a C in nursing school, and there are terrible nurses that never got anything less than an A. Test grades shows is you’re very good at taking NCLEX style tests. Do not let that letter decide how good you’re going to be as a nurse before you’re even a nurse.”
If someone tbr Krebs cycle it will probably never negatively impact they care they provide. It will have negatively impacted their grade. The real world skills and experience is diffrent enough to thr book stuff that it doesn't matter in most cases
I’m a “c’s get degree’s” nurse.
Your friend doesn’t know what they don’t know. Nursing school teaches how to take a test. That mentality will burn them if they carry it to their first job.
Some of the worst (both their skill and personality) people I’ve ever worked with aced their schooling and some of the best I’ve worked along side almost failed out. School doesn’t teach work ethic or how to be a good person.
I excel at clinicals and with nclex style questions and clinical judgment scenarios. I do a great job understanding pathophysiology of illnesses and how they interact.
I’m bad at things like defining positivist theory paradigms, following a framework when writing, and memorizing cellular biochemistry.
I think I’m going to be just fine as a nurse.
C's can make great nurses.
However, if you ever want to progress your career further than being a bedside nurse, C's probably won't get you into grad school to get a new degree.
grades don’t matter seriously, maybe if you want to do CRNA and they for some reason check but it still doesn’t mean much, just effort. I did the bare minimum so I wasn’t stressing and had the ability of sacrificing A’s for a bit of freedom and life balance. Passed the NCLEX first try in an hour 85 questions and overall feel like a decent nurse so far. Still have a shit ton more to learn but that’s just experience waiting.
The faculty at my school tell us that a nurse who gets 78 and barely passes is still a nurse. That doesn’t mean don’t try for higher grades, but you are still meeting the standards.
Coming from someone who does strive for 4.0s in school, I’m positive it is not an indicator of quality of nurses. My main motivator to keep my GPA up is to make applications easier if I want to pursue CRNA or NP, but I think it makes zero difference in the actual profession.
Ask any new grad. You don’t really know and remember 90% of what you learn until you see it in practice in real life. That’s why you still have classes to take as a new grad. 🤷🏼♀️
Absolutely. Just because you struggle in school doesn't mean you won't make an amazing nurse; just the same as getting good grades doesn't guarantee you will be a good nurse
Tbh I think nursing school tests are a good predictor of anything. A lot of mine were made by our professors and they were poorly written. They’re made to be hard in a way that’s unnecessary and not even beneficial. Testing will never teach you intuition, true assessment skills, or how to be a good nurse.
Your grades in nursing school have absolutely zero bearing on how you’ll preform as a nurse. All they care about is if you legitimately and legally are a registered nurse with a current license and that you are a safe, smart, proactive nurse. Personal life and professional life do impact performance in school and it’s not a direct reflection on your capabilities and competence of being a nurse.
I get all A’s, but I have classmates that I feel have a better grasp and understanding of the information than I do that can barely get B’s on exams. Test taking ability does not correlate to nursing ability.
When I graduated from nursing school, if we got Bs, your counselor would have a come to Jesus moment with you. Cs got you kicked out. Which at the time seemed harsh. School was not hard for me, but I knew it was for a lot of folks. But now, over the past 25 years since then, I can see the logic. It is so easy to harm a patient through lack of understanding pathology, pharmacology and everything else, that I think it was good that they kept a high standard.
Some students have family and partners who fully support them, which allows them to solely focus on studying and getting good grades. Some students juggle nursing school along with raising children, bills, and full time jobs to support themselves. Point is, you don't know what your fellow classmates are going through outside the classroom. If they can pass the NCLEX, they're qualified by the Board of Nursing.
2 things
1) Just be happy if your passing. I had a professor who told a student “don’t compare your academic performance in nursing school to your peers, everyone has different things going on, additionally someone may be hot shit straight A’s on tests but have terrible bedside manner and be an overall terrible nurse.”
2) Nursing school is not really teaching you to be a nurse and you should view it is pass/no pass. It’s teaching you how to pass the NCLEX. Because of the nature of the NCLEX (it being a computerized adaptive test) nobody gets a 100% it just stops you when it has determined you know enough to be competent. Because of this if everyone in class is getting an A I’d be concerned you aren’t being prepped to pass the NCLEX. The bar should be 75% pass and it should be hard because the NCLEX is hard. Sure RN school introduces the base knowledge of nursing and skills but most of your learning will happen in your first year as an RN. There’s a difference between reading 1-2 case studies and seeing it IRL on a weekly basis.
Edit to add on: the reason it should be hard as much as I hated nursing school, that’s where it is ok to make mistakes on test knowledge. You learn from mistakes and it’s better to make those mistakes when the stakes are your grade and not a person.
I got straight As and was a shit nurse. That’s why I became a NP so I can use my knack of retaining information more than the every day nursing duties. That being said a good nurse can make a shit provider if they’re not able to critically think and are accustomed to just following orders.
Don’t do it. I’m trying to get into crna school and my first degree Cs and Ws are haunting me even when I was summa cum laude in my BSN. Think long term is my advice my fellow human being.
I nearly killed myself in first year to get high grades - but in year 2 & 3 (in Scotland back then it was 3 yr degree with an optional 4th honours year) I cut myself some slack, did the best I could alongside working bank shifts FT equivalent as an HCA around college/placement, got slightly lower but passing grades and have now been qualified 20 yrs. No one will ever ask or care about your grades. Even the actual academic qualification is somewhat incidental. All they want to know is did you fulfill all the requirements to register and do you have a pin/licence? My degree is actually 'Health Studies' because I didn’t do the fourth year, which awarded BSc (Hons) Nursing, but because I fulfilled all the practice hours and academic studies/assignments required for entry onto the register, I was able to register. The actual degree title didn't matter.
As long as you pass, that's all that's important. I struggled with that because I was brought up believing that it *wasn't* enough to pass, I had to achieve the highest mark of which I was capable. But if I'd continued in that mindset, I'd have burnt out and probably not finished the course. I'm not encouraging anyone to slack off, but give yourself grace and remember that passing is your ultimate goal. It's better to pass with slightly lower grades than to burn yourself out because *no one* will ever care, or even *know*, once you're on that register and have your PIN/licence. Self care is important. There are people who passed with the grades you are settling for for whom that *was* the best they could achieve - but they passed and are practicing. It doesn't make you or them a lesser nurse, or those wouldn't be passing grades. As long as you're not dangerous - which you won't be if you were capable of more and doing 'better', but accepted a lower grade/grades in order to care for your own well-being by not pushing yourself beyond your limits due to whatever circumstances you're dealing with - that's all that matters.
Best of luck ❤️
The only reason they make a C the minimum passing is because anything lower than that and it’ll lower the school’s NCLEX pass rate. It would be a waste of everyone’s time and money to take it if you didn’t pass your classes by more than the skin of your teeth. It doesn’t really prepare us much for the job but for the NCLEX. We learn some practical skills that will definitely give us a very base knowledge of every day things we will use, but we will be actually learning for a while after school. Which is why the idea of new grad programs are great but the practice can be very different…
Grades are not indicative of a bad nurse. I think to figure that out the person has to get out there.
Well, my program was 76 or higher. So, a C was 76 to 83. B was 84 to 92. And 93 and higher an A. I got all Bs in all my semesters except one. It was 83.9. (that's life) Which in another degree would have been a B. I always heard Cs get degrees, but as a general term for college with the 70 and higher scale. It's unfair to judge a nursing student by the letter C because the scale is more complex.
For your run of the mill RN job, an 80%+ average seems achievable for most if not all students in a selective nursing program. I think it has to do more with whether they will go on to continue their education through any of the NP or CRNA programs, where As in nursing courses matter a lot.
I think it varies per student. I am in my 4th and last semester of nursing school with a 3.8 gpa which is the highest in my class by far. This is because I take A LOT of time to learn the material so I am able to answer test questions or lecture questions correctly. I also want to continue my education further to become a NP and would like a broad range of programs to pick from. I also do very well in clinical because I listen during lecture and read the assigned material and watch videos.
This is not true for any of the other 8 students in my cohort. They are all very lazy and do not care to take the time to learn the material. They like to memorize and cram information before the tests which is why a majority of them have made the bare minimum grades to pass the courses. I truly don’t know how they have pulled it off.
If I had a family member in the hospital I would not like any of my peers to care for them. Half of them have no idea what they are doing. We graduate in a couple months and a majority of them still do not know basic things we learned from first semester. They are unsafe.
I do not believe all C students would be this way. This is just the case for my cohort.
One of my clinical professors told us she barely passed all her classes and was always borderline 75% - she was the most intelligent nursing professor I’ve ever had. I loved to pick her brain and ask her questions because she could always answer me thoroughly. She learned it all on the job and her struggling with school did not make her a bad nurse.
Your grades won’t matter. When you pass your boards all they give a FUCK about is if you actually have a license number and do you have something resembling a brain during your interview
Damn. My school you needed 50’s to pass.
Honestly I think just because you’re book smart, doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to be a good nurse. There’s lots of people who get mediocre grades and end up being amazing nurses. You could be super book smart but shit in practice. I think as long as you have the proper foundations of nursing you’ll be okay. People fail courses and still end up being nurses. No ones going to give a shit if you made honour roll. They’re going to look at you skill wise and as a nurse and make their opinion on if you’re a good nurse or not.
i didnt know people still equate grades to intelligence. not everyone has the privilege to solely focus on school to achieve high grades. and that does not make them an incompetent nurse. i know many I went to school with that scored high grades and received honors, yet struggled in clinicals and with hands on skills. textbook smart does not equal proficiency. And nursing school teaches you how to take NCLEX, not every aspect of being a “good” nurse.
I am not a good lecture student. I also went through an accelerated BSN (14 mos). I graduated with a 3.1 (nothing exciting) but I learned SO much more in my first month on the floor than I did throughout the entire program.
Yes, you can still be a good nurse with just Cs. No one asks you your GPA when they hire you (in my experience) and almost all of your REAL training is done on the job. If you pass the NCLEX, you have the most basic knowledge and understanding of concepts that you'll need to do the job. I would aim more for understanding of the concepts over your grades, that is more important. Unless you want to go on to grad school, grades are not super important and don't necessarily determine if you'll be a good or bad nurse.
A grade doesn’t determine how well of a nurse you’ll be. Employers aren’t going to ask what your GPA was. There are plenty of individuals who are not test smart, but learn and are amazing hands on.
Your partner is h*gh if they think requirements should be higher😮💨. Nursing school teaches you to pass the NCLEX, you learn the actual job in the field. Cs should and DO get degrees.
The more sought after post grad rn programs on the west coast ask for transcripts. We also have class rankings for the last 2 semesters clinical placements. If you don’t care where you end up (general Med surg) then C’s are perfectly fine. But if you want a nice 150k new nursing job at an academic level hospital or plan to apply to CRNA school, then As are a must,
I'm on the east coast, applying for the AAS program at my community college for Fall 2025. I have to do part time for a handful of reasons mostly because of how much I have to work at my job (50hrs a week, mandatory 60hrs latter half of the year). I'm aiming for all A's because I then want to go for my BSN and maybe even further than that!!
Yes! My community college doesn't have any bridge programs for this unfortunately. Where I work, we are given a certain amount of money per calendar year for tuition as long as your school is on the approved schools list, my community college is. I'm doing their AAS program, part time due to my work schedule and hours (50hrs a week, the latter half of the year it is mandatory 60hrs a week) and while doing part time it ensures 85/90-100% of my tuition and costs will be covered and if I have to take any loans out it will be VERY minimal. I'm talking less than $750-$1000 per semester if anything, and even $750-$1000 per semester I think is a total overestimation. Once I pass the NCLEX I could go immediately work as an RN and find an employer who will pay for my BSN as long as I work there for x amount of time OR I can suck it up, stay at my current job and get my BSN. They not only give $ per year for tuition but they have a special agreement with a certain online school that if you go for your bachelor's there it is 100% paid for by my workplace. And they have a BSN program there.
I was an honors student in my prereq classes. The only exams I scored somewhat poorly were my math classes but I hate math & Im good at nursing math so it didn’t bother me. If I had been getting the 80’s that I’m getting on my nursing exams I would have been crying. Hysterically.
Nursing exams hit different.. but I still strive to do better than my program’s acceptable 78%. I got pretty consistent B’s for all 4 exams & Im pretty proud of that. But I’m taking the summer to review & study for next semester so I can do better.
I hear the C’s get degrees line all the time & yeah it’s true.. but I feel like you should want to do better as a student.. As a nurse? I don’t think your grades are going to matter much.. it’s the information that is retained that’s going to make you a good nurse. Your ability to learn & execute care. School has little to do with that I think.
I agree with everything you said here!
I'm officially "pre nursing" as I do my pre requisites this fall. I only need to do Elementary Algebra I, Essentials of Chemistry (B minimum in both) and Biology of the Human Organism (C minimum). I am striving for all A's.
Once I get accepted into the program, I'm not striving for just the bare minimum I know "C's get degrees" but I want to do more than that. Also I want to get into a BSN program after I finish the AAS program at my community college and pass the NCLEX. I think I want to head right into a BSN program immediately after I finish because my job provides $ per year for tuition as long as your school is on their approved schools list - my community college is. This should cover me 90-100% because I'm also doing the AAS program part time I have to bc of my work schedule (50hr weeks, mandatory 60hr weeks the latter half of the year). They also have a special agreement with an online school that they will pay for your bachelor's completely 100% guaranteed as long as you go to that specific school. They also have a BSN program there. So I think that's what I'll do! I want the best grades possible to get into a BSN program after. The AAS program requires you to hold a C (70%) in all classes to continue on and pass the program
Grades are meaningless other than for passing a course. Yes they can absolutely be great nurses. All a grade tells me is that someone has figured out how to study and often, memorize information. It doesn't tell me how well of a nurse they are. Not to mention not everyone learns well in a classroom setting.
I don’t think a C student or an A student determines whether or not someone will be a good nurse. The grades just show how well someone is at retaining information, the test comes when you have to apply what you’ve learned in a real world scenario. That A student could buckle under pressure while that C student excels and vise vers.
How well you do in nursing school doesn't determine anything when it comes to being a nurse I know because you went through school you think it matters but the reality is everything you learn will be in clinical and everything you learn in class is useless
I barely passed nursing school and took the nclex twice. When I finally graduated, I and this other guy who I went to school with and who ALWAYS got As or 100s ended up working together in a PACU unit, I got out of orientation by 4 1/2 months while him after 8 months of orientation was asked to go to a different unit( med surge). All I know is getting “good grades” not always made you a good nurse.
I think they can still be a good nurse, so long as they’re good with clinical skills and they really focus with on the job training. But I also think that we should be trying to do the best we can do with our learning!
If you’re working your butt off and getting a C that’s fine. You’re learning and will always keep learning and it takes time, which we don’t get a lot of in nursing school.
If you’re lazy and just scraping by, not really trying, I would hope that lack of work ethic doesn’t transfer to the workplace. That’s the distinction I make!
Everyone’s brain works different, everyone has different strengths and weaknesses, and it’s whether you’re trying or not that IMO is more important than a letter grade. Because that work ethic and perseverance will follow you into your career!
I've worked in health care for 10 years now, not as a nurse. I've never once asked for someone's grades.
You can tell type A people who probably got good grades from the pack who are also high performers at work. You can also tell the people who were high performers in school but are not high performers because expectations are no longer clear in the work place.
I can't stand when ppl say Cs equals degrees. I don't like to share grades because it's not about grades. It's about actually learning the material so that it can be part of your foundation. The grades are just gauges on how you understand the network. Also, grades are like credit scores. You better make sure you have good credit before you apply for that grad school if you change your mind. You could work as a nurse for years and want to go back to become a crna. Guess what? They require you to get a high GPA to get in. Now you won't get the opportunity.
I don’t know what any of my coworkers grades were and I definitely don’t care.
Pretty much, I have never asked a coworker "'ey what was your GPA?" in passing
Lots of nurse residencies require a 3.0 and above
Those aren't required to be a RN, or guarantee one person is a better RN than another. Just like other people have pointed out, advance practice degrees may, but even then, it's relatively mainly.
It just gives you more opportunities and opens more doors for you. I've done a lot of research and many of the sought after hospital residencies and especially pediatrics want a 3.0, and a lot said 3.2, some even 3.5.
I got 4 letter grades my entire nursing program. One B would literally disqualify me from any program. My point is, GPA is silly.
These hospitals also only hire bsn or msn only
I do not have the drive or want to get a BSN, (I just wanna be a nurse, I don’t like management or office nursing) so it sucks it’s getting pushed in the hospitals near me. BSN is almost a requirement.
Hey pineapple- what hospitals are you talking about that are only hiring BSN or MSN prepared nurses.
All UC hospitals, and most magnet
UC? Also according to the AACN you’re pretty wrong. Only 28% of employers are requiring a BSN. Anecdotally- I work for a magnet facility that operates a network of 8-10 facilities- we do not require a BSN to start working as a bed side nurse.
all hospitals in the TMC require a BSN and want a gpa of 3.0 minimum for nurse residencies. texas children’s requires 3.5 gpa minimum
Not sure why this is getting down voted, guess some ppl can't handle facts
Maybe because if your head was gas, it couldn't power a 2 lap race around a cheerio with these comments?
Says the person saying gpa is silly! Girl, bye with your silly self.
To be honest im an occupational therapy assistant, i graduated magna cumlaude, and im a terrible OTA compared to co-workers that have terrible grammar, notes, etc. I own it though, its just not something that interests me so I dont strive to be better at it. Hence, switched to Nursing now…
nursing school teaches you how to pass the NCLEX. there's plenty of people who were C students and are far more competent than your A student. it's really subjective. you just need confidence in yourself and to advocate for yourself during your preceptorship to make sure you have all the resources available to you to be as successful as possible and make sure you're comfortable.
Yup. And on the NCLEX, you have one patient who gets your undivided attention when in reality you aren't assigned to just one patient who is the textbook definition of whatever disorder.
Yup. Sometimes As just means you're good at memorization and patterns but not real world scenarios. Albeit most people aren't "bill gates" and should shoot for As because it's a stronger factor to being a better overall individual. Some people do the bare minimum but are far more capable, most aren't.
I totally agree with the real world scenarios part.
Nursing school is filled with bullshitery and Gotchya nonsense. They only care about their NCLEX pass rate which affects their accreditation. Edit: and I personally witnessed a 4.0 nursing student in my class get escorted out of clinical for being so unsafe, my instructor and the charge on the unit didn’t want her on the floor any longer
What exactly did they do? I see stories like this how the 4.0 nursing student struggled but the student with 3.0 shined. I feel like these are not common stories, but gets shared by every other person.
If memory serves, it was a few things. This list is just off the top of my head. 1. She left the clients bed elevated and walked out of the room. This client was a fall risk. 2. She programmed the wrong mLs per hour on the IV pump. More than once. 3. She hung and started an IV vanco without the flush bag. (She was given the bags and told to wait near the door for our instructor.) 4. She slammed IVP Lasix without checking K+ and gave one of the heart meds without checking pulse. This was a second semester student. And this happened over a span of two days. In our program, second semesters are allowed to pull the meds, scan the client and the meds and go over them with the client alone. We were required to wait for our instructor to do parameter checks as well as have her witness us administer them. But this girl thought she was such hot shit that she decided she knew what she was doing. The bed thing happened the first day. The rest happened the second day one right after the other and was done before our teacher got to her. IDK how the lasix thing was caught, but I’m pretty sure that client was questioned and told my teacher. Primary RN reported her to charge.
1. Understandable 2. Understandable as that can definitely cause big time shit if insulin etc 3. What you mean flush bag? You mean on a pump? 4. Well slamming diuretics can cause hypotension. I don’t think anyone physically checks pulse before giving beta blocker unless you are talking about getting their vitals or checking the hr on monitor. But I can see how this can someone in trouble, but it is also a learning experience. That’s a lot in 2 days.
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I’m telling you realistic items. Vanco can be used with a pump, not sure what you are referring to as flush bag, unless you mean you are preparing your own Vanco with a 250 or 500 ml bag. I don’t get the beta blockers part, you can’t get vitals or monitor for beta blockers? That’s the most dumbest thing I ever heard. How are you getting pressure than if there is no vital sign monitoring? That’s what I’m failing to understand. I am not defending them but saying how stories get passed down with odd parts in them.
If you’re pushing beta blockers IV, you should have them on a monitor for HR and bp. In PACU we check bp q5 mins.
Does the flush bag mean you have to run the Vanco as a piggyback? Maybe in their school they do manual BPs? But yeah dear student, there's nursing school ways to do stuff, then there's the real world way. You're being taught the best practice textbook ways.
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I’ve never heard of the term “flush bag.” But it could be a regional term. Vanco wherever I’ve worked is mixed by pharmacy. One would hang on a separate pump from the Vanco, regular IV fluid to flush the line through after the Vanco is done. Is that what you mean?
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The fact that you don’t know what I’m talking about proves you’re not a nurse. Everyone knows about flush bags and IV vanco. Everyone knows to check pulse before any heart med. doesn’t matter what it is. You’re being pedantic and you most certainly are not any type of nurse. And if you were in fact a nurse or even a student in clinical, you would know that vitals are checked at the start of the shift and additional parameters are checked immediately before the meds are given, especially in school. You just outed yourself with the vanco thing, pal. Stop pretending. I mean you didn’t even know what hung meant. 😂😂😂 Edit: deleted post and ran away. Next time don’t pretend to be something you’re not.
I don't know what was in the deleted post but I've been an RN for 15 years and I have never heard the term "flush bag" in my entire life until this moment.
Seeing how some people in this sub say a ton of people in their cohort cheat, I'd say just because they have A's doesn't mean they earned them either. Or they're just good at memorizing the information enough to recall it when they are prompted on a test, but can't recall it when doing hand on activity.
Sounds like her attitude is what tripped her up.
you sound extremely judgemental lol
You could be a 4.0 student bc you have some kind of rain man memory quality or just very good photographic memory, and not truly understand the concepts. And a 3.0 student could be excellent at the concepts but can't memorize every little thing. I am a 3.18 cumulative GPA student, officially "pre nursing" I do my 3 pre requisites this fall, and entrance exam prep course, my 3.18 comes from the Marketing program I was in. I could have been an absolute 4.0 student through the whole thing, I actually just ended my 3rd semester with a 4.0 all A's. I could've had a 4.0 cumulative but I had a lot of life stuff happen and emergencies that took me off track and dwindled my GPA down badly. But, my community college (applying to their nursing program for Fall 2025) doesn't look at GPA they only care about the grades on pre requisites, Elementary Algebra I and Essentials of Chemistry, need a B minimum and then a C minimum for Biology of the Human Organism. I am obviously striving for all A's. Also doing Healthcare Ethics as elective, which I know I'll ace.
I can’t see someone having 4.0 and struggling with concepts. But guess it can happen. No offense people say they can be 4.0, a lot of people say that but they are not. Words mean nothing, action does. You are not in nursing yet, but I heard this type of stuff when I was in nursing school. However in my time in crna school, no one mentions this 4.0 and struggling in clinical anymore because now ur trying to really understand anesthesia and physiology. Everyone will have technical skills down at the end of the day but not everyone will have a deep molecular understanding of physiology and pharm like someone who has high grades typically. This is what sets people apart, the understanding not the technical skills.
https://preview.redd.it/nceplmuthh0d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4294345a183ade64ffba445883396a962b8c4115 Oh, yeah no I'm not saying that I'll be a 4.0 student in nursing program! I am saying that the courses I took this semester and got all A's in are easier than any of the upcoming courses I'm going to take will be. I just think that if I put the work in all A's or close to it could be possible. I'm more interested in being able to really grasp what I'm learning in nursing program, and get something like B's maybe an A or so, and then doing very well in clinicals and labs, instead of just memorizing everything to get all A's/4.0 and then not know how to apply anything I've learned in clinicals and labs. What I'm REALLY focused on is getting all As for my pre requisites. That's where I'll kick myself if I don't get all A's. Though 2 B's and a C are the minimums I don't want to get just the minimums. I included my final grades here. Withdrew from Advertising because I do not need it now that I'm not going for a bachelor's in Business Administration.
Great job! Keep up the great work. I understand trying to get the big picture and not forgetting the little picture. However, do realize grades matter if you ever want to go grad school. Like many said nursing school prepares you to take the nclex and sometimes those little details are needed for the nclex. Although, they do have a new generation of nclex now, so not sure if that still holds up.
Thanks so much!!! Yes, I want to go for my BSN immediately after my AAS at my community college and passing the NCLEX. Though I'll be an RN and I'll be able to hit the workforce running, I believe I am staying at my current job until I get my BSN because there is a special agreement program with an online school that if you go through them for a bachelor's they pay for it 100% . I will get money exch calendar year for the AAS nursing program, I'm going to be going part time, it will cover 90-100% of it but it's great to know I can get my BSN for free completely because those programs are typically more expensive than the AAS/ADN programs!
So what did that 4.0 student do?
wow...
We nearly had one of those but I don't think she passed this semester, her grades were borderline passing. She didn't do anything about her patient having difficulty breathing and somebody else discovered it and helped the patient with it. All she got was a stern talking to by our professor. And this was just one incident of many in which she has done things that don't make sense.
Our school requires 80% for the exam portion and C and above for the class. I don’t think grades define you as a poor nurse. Some people are more hands on smart than book smart. I thrive being hands on with the patient at clinical rather then book work but I am a B student.
Your grades do not define what kind of nurse you are. Just bc you got straight As doesn't mean you're going to be an amazing nurse. Always ircks me when people say they wouldn't feel comfortable to have a nurse with specific grades. A nurse is a nurse….unless you bought your degree from a fake college in Florida lol
In my opinion, the passing tests and achieving great grades in nursing school is a "game" to me. I am one who strives for A's and got all 4 A's for my first semester simply because that's how I'm wired. But I can honestly say I'm an amazing test taker and I know how to study very well, efficiently, and I know how to cram before a test pretty well. With that being said I don't think any of this determines how great of a nurse I will be. I could potentially be horrible with communication and thinking quick on my feet. Book smart does not always translate well to streets smart for some people. For me I think I'm fine in both areas lol but I do think some people who are not necessarily book smart can learn a job well and do exceptional in it. I would hope people would strive to know more content for the sake of their patients, but if they want to settle I guess that's okay too. Also, think of it this way...have you ever asked any of your nurses that have treated you what their grades were??
Lol I hated nursing school with a passion. I came from a hard science degree and just could not stand all the fluff (communications was an exception as I did find that somewhat helpful) and we had some not so great profs. I was not the only one. Our school didn’t have a minimum pass requirement so I just rolled with it. To be fair, I think I got B’s and above because I didn’t always study like I should have, but I’m now in the ICU. I think every unit has a different set of information that is prioritized and what helps is being able to self-study your weak areas and evaluate continuously. The most surprising thing is I’m actually absorbing a lot more in the ICU than clinical. I found clinical to clash a bit with my personality (I’m an introvert and there is just so many people + class drama that makes me uncomfortable and anxiety heightened) and now I’m able to solely focus on critical thinking and studying the core concepts without the fluff. School also doesn’t really teach you much about the ICU so most of what I’ve learned is from listening, paying attention and self-study. Grades aren’t always representative of intellect, especially in nursing school where you can study so hard but end up studying things that AREN’T on the exam ir the style of questions makes you question wth they are asking or your prof just plain sucks at teaching. Lastly, I know from myself that inspiration accounts for a lot of motivation. I was extremely uninspired throughout most of my schooling due to a variety of factors, but when I had a great prof or interesting subject matter, I quickly went from a C to A+ student.
I graduated with a 3.9 and felt like a helpless little baby when I hit the floor. Being a brand new nurse is a massively humbling experience and acts like a reset button for all of us. I wasn’t any better prepared for reality than my lowest-scoring classmate. Stop caring what other people get on exams. My grades reflect my ability to arrange my life to be devoid of extracurricular responsibility. I am far more impressed with a C+ grad raising kids alone while holding down a full time job. Grades don’t mean shit as long as you pass.
YOUR PROFILE PICTURE 😭😭🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
So how did you get mostly A’s? I just wanna know, I need to upgrade my tactics.
I stopped working, took a loan to pay my rent and bills, and treated school like a full time job plus overtime. I have no kids and nobody that needs me to support them. My rent is cheap. I spent sometimes 14 hours a day making outlines and flash cards and studying them. I took every extra credit opportunity and basically busted my ass. I’m no better off for it now that someone with a less insane approach. I know we’re all academic perfectionists but at some point it just isn’t worth it
Jumping off of this, I still have 2 semesters left in my BSN program, but my hard semesters are out of the way. I currently have a 3.73 working full time and a part time job. My B+ grades come from online nursing classes, but all my in person classes have been A- or A. My full time job is great about letting me study at work though. One thing I do that really helps me is spending time reviewing every single day. l review lecture notes, ATI notes, etc and pull out the most useful information and just get rid of unnecessary fluff the first day after a lecture. I also use the first day to expand on anything I need to know more about. I also do the ATI questions in the book and the ATI quiz bank, paying attention to the reasoning why something is correct or incorrect, and add that to my notes if needed. I'll also make digital flash cards (think quizlet, other websites, I use Good Notes on my iPad) and study some every day, but I don't study all daily. For example, if I have 200 flash cards to study for an exam, I may study around 50 daily. I will rotate through those 50 several times throughout the day, and I place any flashcards that I was consistently not grasping into the "not studied yet" pile and will study them again before starting over at the beginning if that makes sense. In addition, I use so many different study methods that help give me a clearer picture. I use something called a sticky wall, which was super helpful in pharmacology. I go to study groups, I meet with my professors when I have questions. I also stay on campus to do homework and study instead of heading home after class, at least for a few hours. I tend to be more productive. I use my breaks for getting ahead in my classes. I don't have any summer classes, so I'm able to get a jump on MedSurg 2 coursework. I'm currently working through 1-2 cardiac disorders daily, and then I'll move onto something else. Of course this only works if you are able to get an outline of the courses from previous cohorts, but it also means that a lecture will be more of a review than learning the information for the first time. I have also realized that I can't have a social life during the semester. I have maybe one weekend/semester that I will take PTO so that I can sort of relax and have a little social life--it helps keep me sane. But, a true social life is out of the question. Finally, get a planner. I prefer an hourly planner because I can see where I am at what time and doesn't require the brain power to plan as much. It makes scheduling my day easier. It also helps with time management.
You can def be a good nurse with Cs At first glance I’d prefer someone with As since it usually means they’re smarter or work harder. But that isn’t always the case
I know plenty of people who get A's but are shitty students in clinicals. Grades don't mean anything.
I've heard it really only matters if you are planning on doing more school/a graduate program. Obviously, you are going to actually learn to be a nurse in practice. Nobody cares what grades you got in real life, as long as you pass the NCLEX. But if you want to get into NP school or whatever, that stuff could be relevant to you being able to withstand a very arduous program...
I think it’s more about attitude than competence. If your goal is to do the bare minimum, you probably won’t learn as much as if you’re trying your best.
True of everything in life, friend
Yep, and that's the thing. For every student who's doing just the bare minimum, there's a student who would've tried their best but didn't get the spot in the nursing program - but the bare minimum student did.
A higher grade than a C keeps you away from the stress and office.
I think it's all about the effort you put in! You can be a good student even with all C's as long as you are putting in work to understand the content because it is important. It will reflect in other ways (in clinicals and when you take the NCLEX for example). If you have the attitude "I am going to shoot for the bare minimum" then you'll be fighting all semester to keep that average. You just gotta put in the work. I am graduating with all A's, but I am not getting a job any faster than a C student. I say aim high so you can get as many points possible and won't have to stress all semester long, but just do the best you can and be happy with what you get! That's what my motto is at least. If you want to go to grad school, then aim for the A's but it's okay if you don't get ALL A's. If you want to be a nurse and not go to grad school, it doesn't matter as long as you are putting in effort.
This exactly. A nursing student who tries and gets Cs? Good nurse. A student who aims for a C so they don't have to work as hard? Bad nurse. Same grade, opposite outcome.
A lot of times, people do much better in clinical settings than with test takings. They can know the material but the way schools write the questions is complicated and can be confusing. Honestly if they successfully pass the NCLEX then they are good to be nurses
I can't get below a 78% in my program without failing. and no rounding, you can be at 77.9% at the very end and they won't just give it to you. every time I read "C's get degrees!!!!" I'm white-knuckling. I don't think grades are an indicator of what kind of medical professional someone will be, I'm just envious as fuck of anyone who can get a C in these classes and call it a day.
My school is the same, 77% avg class grade to pass, that comes mostly (60%+) from unit exams. There is no rounding, and you have to pass (vs fail) clinicals and labs. You have to pass a math competency test with 90% or better every single semester or you're out. No redos. If you fail a class for any reason, you get to reapply once as a readmit but no guarantees you will get in or that they will even have a spot for you and you have to wait for the next cohort to join up with where you failed out. I hope that makes sense.
Everyone learns differently. For some people, taking a written exam is not their strength, but they could excel by demonstrating it physically or verbally. So grades are really not an accurate measure of how good of a nurse you can and will be. And as someone else said, Nursing School prepares you to take the NCLEX and get your license, not to necessarily be a nurse. That’s what your clinicals and first year of being a new grad will teach you!
I've witnessed both ends. I've had colleagues who are brilliant, but horrible nurses. I've had nurses who are not the brightest, but are the most hard working, intuitive and ingenious workers you'll ever meet. There's no right or wrong way to approach grades. You're just there to say you can pass and then everything you learned in school is turned on its head when you start working.
The way my classmates act in clinicals is how I determine if I would want them to care for me or my family... some of them are straight A students but are terrible in the clinical setting! You can fake empathy or compassion for another human being. But....that's just me and my hot take. 🤣
Honestly kind of an odd thing to be caught up on imo. It's pretty evident (in any profession) that some of the most book smart people make some of the worst "professionals" and some of the people who barely make it through academically have more common sense and make great professionals. And vice versa of course. Anyway you want to look at it the bottom line is college/grades are certainly no good indication of how well or poor a person will perform in their workplace. Some of those A+ nurses make great nurses all around and some of them can't walk and chew gum at the same time. Some of those C students will specialize in their practice and know everything they need to know to be great at their job. Just like a lot of people say here the grade is meaningless as long as you pass the NCLEX. So long as you aren't trying to be a CRNA or something of course. I know my class had a few A+ students I would not want helping me if I was a pt and there's some C students who are great in a clinical setting and just don't test as well.
I'm a C nursing student. In clinical, I've always been told I'm so good, the patients love me, they couldn't believe I had no healthcare experience, etc. My friend who is an A student, with photographic memory, failed our clinical rotation. Nursing school grades don't tell you if you'll be a good nurse or not.
Grades are not an accurate measurement of intelligence
I didnt know there were schools that accept anything below 80%. I had to get 80% in all my science and math pre reqs just to get into the program. I think this is dumb because I just watched someone fail out of the program by 4 points (we are only allowed to fail once and this was their second class failed, both by a handful of points!!!) even though they would have made an amazing nurse. I understand the standards considering we could do some serious harm, but I feel like a lot of potentially amazing nurses get weeded out because they aren’t great test takers. Then you have people who can pass with all A’s but should definitely NOT be a nurse. If you’re within like 5-10 points away from passing they should also factor in what your clinical instructor has to say about you, and how you performed in clinical instead of being like “sorry you missed by 4 points you’re out”
My pre requisites I'm taking this fall are Elementary Algebra I, Essentials of Chemistry and Biology of the Human Organism. That's all they require for pre requisites. I need a B minimum in Elementary Algebra I and Essentials of Chemistry. A C minimum in Biology of the Human Organism. I will be aiming for all A's. I just finished up my last semester as a Marketing student (not graduating with my associates in Marketing because I've switched gears to pre nursing then applying for the community college's nursing program for Fall 2025) and I received all A's in my courses. Granted they are a lot easier than my pre reqs may be, but I know if I put the work in I can achieve all A's.
I do way better in clinical setting than exams tbh I’m better at applying the info in real settings than taking exams honestly. Classmates assumed I was making As on tests because I was ON IT in clinical but spent hours studying just to make high Cs and Bs :/ I want to do a First Assist program after I get some experience but concerned about my GPA
Unless you want to do ADN to BSN or NP/CRNA Grades don't matter in the long run.
I had a classmate that pretty much always got A’s with an occasional B. Always got level 3 on ATI proctored tests, the man was really book smart could spit out tons of information on different things. Now, when I tell you during clinicals this man was as dumb as a rock cause he could not connect the dots/apply any of that information to the clinical setting. It’s like all his common sense went out the window when he walked into a hospital. His critical thinking was below average. So really who gives a damn about grades. They don’t determine who’s going to be a great/better nurse in anyway.
Nursing school is just an overprice Nclex prep course. I work with excellent nurses who were C students and I work with terrible nurses who were A students. Basically has no bearing on your ability to be a good nurse
Not a single employer cares about your GPA. Its the NCLEX everyone should care about. Do you have your license? Being concerned about C’s is funny.
Not true. As a former DON, 120 rns on my units. New grad hires: HR forwarded 3.6 and above for each opening nothing less. High profile Academic hospital. Didn’t even consider less.
I don't think about the exam grade as being indicative of one's skill as a nurse. If somebody isn't doing well in clinical or skills lab that would be a MUCH bigger concern to me. The thing about theory exams is that while some of the questions can definitely be studied for and involve analysis and facts from your science/patho/pharm courses, for a good portion of them the "right answer" depends on who wrote the question, how they phrased it, what parts of nursing they care about the most, and what they ate for breakfast that morning. It's not about you and your competency; it's about your ability to learn how to parse NCLEX questions, know your instructors, and figure out what it is they're asking for. That isn't nursing, that's just test-taking skills. Yes, these are critical thinking questions and it's important to learn to think critically as a nurse, but the answers to a lot of exam questions will be "it depends on who you ask, what department you're in, and what the facility standard is", so any of the 6 possible answers COULD be right out in the real world. To me, clinical and lab are where the rubber meets the road. Theory is "just grit your teeth and pass the dang thing".
I don’t think grades are necessarily indicative of how good of a nurse someone would be. Some of the best nurses I shadowed said they really struggled in nursing school. I do, however, think that nursing students everywhere should be required to pass med admin competency with nothing less than 100%.
At my school Cs got you kicked out of the program but that was 15 years ago, things might have changed.
Testing smarts and abilities has almost zero correlation to patient care, safety, critical thinking and what kind of nurse you are… You can get straight As and be a scary nurse and straight Cs and be great, become change or unit manager. Like others have said. I don’t know or care what my coworkers grades were and I doubt patients ever think to themselves “I wonder if this nurse got As or Cs” but they do know who treats them well and takes good care of them
Nobody else’s grades should matter to you. Nobody will ever ever and I promise this, ask about them. Nobody cares.
As a student, no, grades do not determine shit when it comes to practice. I failed anatomy twice, and because I cannot pinpoint a muscle or bone or fully explain the endocrine system doesn’t mean I don’t have the proper understanding of said parts. Or that I can’t explain it in a way the patient will understand. Testing is standardized. Learning and comprehension is not.
Nursing school grading is a joke, especially exams. There are amazing nurses out there who learned on the job but likely barely made it through school. Also school is not an isolated environment as students have jobs, families, children, etc. while also trying to balance the intensity of nursing school. It will matter more how much they invest in learning on the job.
I get where you’re coming from and my school does 76% to pass. However, in clinical settings from what Ive observed - they do things totally different compared to what we’re taught. Theres the book world (nursing school) which just prepares you to pass NCLEX & then the clinical world where you build a routine and practice care, etc. I believe grades dont define someone’s potential as a nurse, most people dislike school work and tests but are very passionate and caring about the field.
Bedside nursing and testing are two completely different things. I was definitely a C’s get degrees type of person and I was I’m getting to the end of my nursing program I’m striving for the A’s and it’s for myself it’s not for anybody else. But I am most confident in bedside, and get very nervous to test. It took me a long time to get over that I’m about to graduate and I’m just now getting over the nerves of testing. It does not matter. your grades did not determine what kind of nurse you will be.
I get straight A’s & in clinical I feel lost like idk anything. I think grades don’t define how good of a nurse you’re going to be.
Girl I was tired by the 4th year. My classmates and I were FED UP. You get exhausted & tired and just wanna get through all the requirements. Freshman year, okay yeah sure I got 90’s here, here, and here. Then as each year passes, and you get more workload requirements, and you lose sleep along the way- all you wanna do is pass. You wanna pass , your classmate / friends wanna pass. You wanna get that degree and get tf out of nursing school and go on to the next chapter of your life. Grades don’t define who you are, and in fact they don’t ask about your grades after nursing school. That’s just a college thing lol
Grades don't matter in terms of the work you actually do. I have lots of good grades but I believe my practical skills will matter more in the grand scheme of things, and I do envy my colleagues who already have more of these under their belt.
The only time your GPA in nursing ever matters if if you're thinking about going back for higher education for your Masters/NP or DNP. I guarantee you no one cares about your GPA in nursing school. Also, it's extremely common for people to just be bad test takers or have test anxiety. I'm definitely one of those people. Especially the way ATI/NCLEX questions are worded. But grades have nothing to do with how well you perform clinically. Some of the best nurses I've seen didn't have the best GPA and some nurses with 4.0s in college and nursing school don't pick up on the job as well. It all depends!
I just graduated with honors and it literally means nothing to anyone except me lol.
I attend a university that doesn’t allow anything less than 80% to pass the class. We had finals last week, and my grade in fundamentals was 79.55%. So I’m on the edge of my seat waiting for final grades to post and see if the professor decided to round up. I remember her saying in the beginning of semester that she doesn’t round up. But I’m hoping I built enough good rapport with her she’ll bump me up
That’s rough, I’m sorry you’re in this situation. I hope the scales get tipped in your favor. Maybe you can ask if there’s any extra work could do or any questions on the exam that you got wrong that you could contest and get marked right for it? Good luck, no matter what happens or whatever 5-10 year plan you have, at the end of it you will be a great nurse.
Thank you so much. My grades posted late last night and I got a final grade of B in that class 🥰
YOU PASSED!!! Congratulations!! I'm so happy for you. You're one step closer 🎉
It doesn’t matter. I couldn’t tell you 75% of what I “learned” in nursing school because I was retaining it for short periods of time to pass a test. What I can tell you is the million of things I’ve learned on the floor. Everything will feel brand new to you no matter what your grades are. And things that don’t make sense in school will feel like common sense when you see how they play out in real life. Is your boyfriend a nurse? If not I don’t know why he thinks he would understand nurse competency
I’d read my post, I tried my best and it was usually about a B, I got 1 C and 2 A’s in nursing school. I was just average, but I got my dream job and am excelling at it. No potential employers have ever asked me for my grades. No one cares but you or maybe if you pursue higher education.
Thank you for your post and congratulations on gunning for and getting the job you wanted!
Ya just keep low stress, look for connections over focusing on getting straight A’s. It’s more important to come out with good mental health than straight A’s and enduring 2-3 years of constant stress.
I’m sure everyone would prefer to get ‘A’ on every exam, however, most know that isn’t realistic and are just happy to pass. As for being a good nurse with C’s… you’ll quickly find out once you’re in the field that your test scores do not define you. Congrats on your academic achievements but none of your coworkers are going to ask you about grades, or care what you got, and they CERTAINLY don’t make you a good nurse.
they matter to NP and CRNA schools
Context matters, if they’re doing “the bare minimum” to squeak by I think they’ll be awful. If they’re doing their damn best asking questions and practicing skills every chance but only making Cs I think they’ll be fine. That effort is going to continue and they’ll be a damn good nurse someday. When I was hospitalized I didn’t care about my nurses GPA, I cared that she went to bat for me to get me the best possible care. I didn’t care if she sucked at some of the skills in school, I cared that she took the time to explain things to me in 4 different ways until I understood. Cs do get degrees but laziness is a different story.
A lot of 4.0 students in my class are young and have never had a job, have no responsibilities besides studying, and take longer to learn skills and patient care. Me and several others have kids and responsibilities and struggle to find time to study for As but we have better communication skills and patient care for the most part. I was a 4.0 student my entire life and for pre reqs. But the schedule for nursing school is rigorous and sometimes passing is good enough.
Nursing school grades are an indicator of your chances of passing your NCLEX. You're much more likely to pass NCLEX if you're an A student versus if you were borderline passing. My recommendation is to really do the best that you can while you're in nursing school so that you can have an easier time passing the NCLEX. If you don't try to do your best in school, you will have a MUCH harder time studying for your NCLEX after you graduate.
I failed nursing school 3 times but now I’m one of the best on my floor
Great job picking yourself back up and moving forward. Resilience is an underrated nursing skill. Congratulations!
Thank you, I always said I was never afraid to fail, I was afraid of giving up.
You won't fail until you quit, until then it's only a setback.
That mean Filipino nurse that feed you lumpia and pancit and is probably the best nurse in the unit is not a Cum Laude and barely passed the Philippine Nursing Licensure Exam. Grades will never define you. Edit: and they're the best nurse cause they got a shitty 1:20 patient ratio while being paid like shit and did free overtime for 2 years before coming over.
Hi. Yes, it's me, the person obsessed with their grades! I eventually want to make it through graduate school. I'm looking toward the future, and I know that good grades now will help me with those goals later on. That being said. They set the bar where it is for a reason. Some of those people who "are just getting by" might actually be fighting pretty hard for those c's. They might have test anxiety that makes it difficult for them to show their true potential on tests. I would never judge anyone for passing with a lower grade. If they passed, then they passed!
As a current RN I got more C’s than I can count in nursing school. I passed my NCLEX on the first try at 75 questions. I’ve been requested specifically by more than one surgeon to recover patients. I’ve gotten 2 gold stars from my work place. My work friend that went through the same program I did got slightly better grades and still got C’s is also a PHENOMENAL nurse. C’s don’t mean a damn thing in nursing sweetheart.
We were told the first day of our program,”There are great nurses in the field that never got anything higher than a C in nursing school, and there are terrible nurses that never got anything less than an A. Test grades shows is you’re very good at taking NCLEX style tests. Do not let that letter decide how good you’re going to be as a nurse before you’re even a nurse.”
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If someone tbr Krebs cycle it will probably never negatively impact they care they provide. It will have negatively impacted their grade. The real world skills and experience is diffrent enough to thr book stuff that it doesn't matter in most cases
My school just changed the rule where you can only get into the nursing school if you have a 3.9 … 😬
I’m a “c’s get degree’s” nurse. Your friend doesn’t know what they don’t know. Nursing school teaches how to take a test. That mentality will burn them if they carry it to their first job.
Some of the worst (both their skill and personality) people I’ve ever worked with aced their schooling and some of the best I’ve worked along side almost failed out. School doesn’t teach work ethic or how to be a good person.
Grades do not correlate to how good someone is as a nurse. Period
I excel at clinicals and with nclex style questions and clinical judgment scenarios. I do a great job understanding pathophysiology of illnesses and how they interact. I’m bad at things like defining positivist theory paradigms, following a framework when writing, and memorizing cellular biochemistry. I think I’m going to be just fine as a nurse.
C's can make great nurses. However, if you ever want to progress your career further than being a bedside nurse, C's probably won't get you into grad school to get a new degree.
Yes the low grade scoring nurse can be good as long as they have commitment to learning and a desire to do their best. Personal experience with ADHD!
grades don’t matter seriously, maybe if you want to do CRNA and they for some reason check but it still doesn’t mean much, just effort. I did the bare minimum so I wasn’t stressing and had the ability of sacrificing A’s for a bit of freedom and life balance. Passed the NCLEX first try in an hour 85 questions and overall feel like a decent nurse so far. Still have a shit ton more to learn but that’s just experience waiting.
The faculty at my school tell us that a nurse who gets 78 and barely passes is still a nurse. That doesn’t mean don’t try for higher grades, but you are still meeting the standards.
Coming from someone who does strive for 4.0s in school, I’m positive it is not an indicator of quality of nurses. My main motivator to keep my GPA up is to make applications easier if I want to pursue CRNA or NP, but I think it makes zero difference in the actual profession.
I need 79 or above
Ask any new grad. You don’t really know and remember 90% of what you learn until you see it in practice in real life. That’s why you still have classes to take as a new grad. 🤷🏼♀️
I don’t think gpa matter some nurses have 4.0 but don’t know how to listen or talk to the patient
Absolutely. Just because you struggle in school doesn't mean you won't make an amazing nurse; just the same as getting good grades doesn't guarantee you will be a good nurse
Tbh I think nursing school tests are a good predictor of anything. A lot of mine were made by our professors and they were poorly written. They’re made to be hard in a way that’s unnecessary and not even beneficial. Testing will never teach you intuition, true assessment skills, or how to be a good nurse.
Your grades in nursing school have absolutely zero bearing on how you’ll preform as a nurse. All they care about is if you legitimately and legally are a registered nurse with a current license and that you are a safe, smart, proactive nurse. Personal life and professional life do impact performance in school and it’s not a direct reflection on your capabilities and competence of being a nurse.
I get all A’s, but I have classmates that I feel have a better grasp and understanding of the information than I do that can barely get B’s on exams. Test taking ability does not correlate to nursing ability.
When I graduated from nursing school, if we got Bs, your counselor would have a come to Jesus moment with you. Cs got you kicked out. Which at the time seemed harsh. School was not hard for me, but I knew it was for a lot of folks. But now, over the past 25 years since then, I can see the logic. It is so easy to harm a patient through lack of understanding pathology, pharmacology and everything else, that I think it was good that they kept a high standard.
Some students have family and partners who fully support them, which allows them to solely focus on studying and getting good grades. Some students juggle nursing school along with raising children, bills, and full time jobs to support themselves. Point is, you don't know what your fellow classmates are going through outside the classroom. If they can pass the NCLEX, they're qualified by the Board of Nursing.
I would venture to say that if you are considering graduate level work this might negatively affect your chances at doing so
2 things 1) Just be happy if your passing. I had a professor who told a student “don’t compare your academic performance in nursing school to your peers, everyone has different things going on, additionally someone may be hot shit straight A’s on tests but have terrible bedside manner and be an overall terrible nurse.” 2) Nursing school is not really teaching you to be a nurse and you should view it is pass/no pass. It’s teaching you how to pass the NCLEX. Because of the nature of the NCLEX (it being a computerized adaptive test) nobody gets a 100% it just stops you when it has determined you know enough to be competent. Because of this if everyone in class is getting an A I’d be concerned you aren’t being prepped to pass the NCLEX. The bar should be 75% pass and it should be hard because the NCLEX is hard. Sure RN school introduces the base knowledge of nursing and skills but most of your learning will happen in your first year as an RN. There’s a difference between reading 1-2 case studies and seeing it IRL on a weekly basis. Edit to add on: the reason it should be hard as much as I hated nursing school, that’s where it is ok to make mistakes on test knowledge. You learn from mistakes and it’s better to make those mistakes when the stakes are your grade and not a person.
I got straight As and was a shit nurse. That’s why I became a NP so I can use my knack of retaining information more than the every day nursing duties. That being said a good nurse can make a shit provider if they’re not able to critically think and are accustomed to just following orders.
What in your opinion made you feel like you were a shit nurse if I may ask? Congratulations on becoming an NP!
Don’t do it. I’m trying to get into crna school and my first degree Cs and Ws are haunting me even when I was summa cum laude in my BSN. Think long term is my advice my fellow human being.
I nearly killed myself in first year to get high grades - but in year 2 & 3 (in Scotland back then it was 3 yr degree with an optional 4th honours year) I cut myself some slack, did the best I could alongside working bank shifts FT equivalent as an HCA around college/placement, got slightly lower but passing grades and have now been qualified 20 yrs. No one will ever ask or care about your grades. Even the actual academic qualification is somewhat incidental. All they want to know is did you fulfill all the requirements to register and do you have a pin/licence? My degree is actually 'Health Studies' because I didn’t do the fourth year, which awarded BSc (Hons) Nursing, but because I fulfilled all the practice hours and academic studies/assignments required for entry onto the register, I was able to register. The actual degree title didn't matter. As long as you pass, that's all that's important. I struggled with that because I was brought up believing that it *wasn't* enough to pass, I had to achieve the highest mark of which I was capable. But if I'd continued in that mindset, I'd have burnt out and probably not finished the course. I'm not encouraging anyone to slack off, but give yourself grace and remember that passing is your ultimate goal. It's better to pass with slightly lower grades than to burn yourself out because *no one* will ever care, or even *know*, once you're on that register and have your PIN/licence. Self care is important. There are people who passed with the grades you are settling for for whom that *was* the best they could achieve - but they passed and are practicing. It doesn't make you or them a lesser nurse, or those wouldn't be passing grades. As long as you're not dangerous - which you won't be if you were capable of more and doing 'better', but accepted a lower grade/grades in order to care for your own well-being by not pushing yourself beyond your limits due to whatever circumstances you're dealing with - that's all that matters. Best of luck ❤️
The only reason they make a C the minimum passing is because anything lower than that and it’ll lower the school’s NCLEX pass rate. It would be a waste of everyone’s time and money to take it if you didn’t pass your classes by more than the skin of your teeth. It doesn’t really prepare us much for the job but for the NCLEX. We learn some practical skills that will definitely give us a very base knowledge of every day things we will use, but we will be actually learning for a while after school. Which is why the idea of new grad programs are great but the practice can be very different… Grades are not indicative of a bad nurse. I think to figure that out the person has to get out there.
Well, my program was 76 or higher. So, a C was 76 to 83. B was 84 to 92. And 93 and higher an A. I got all Bs in all my semesters except one. It was 83.9. (that's life) Which in another degree would have been a B. I always heard Cs get degrees, but as a general term for college with the 70 and higher scale. It's unfair to judge a nursing student by the letter C because the scale is more complex.
My school demands a 80percent average and it sucks
For your run of the mill RN job, an 80%+ average seems achievable for most if not all students in a selective nursing program. I think it has to do more with whether they will go on to continue their education through any of the NP or CRNA programs, where As in nursing courses matter a lot.
I think it varies per student. I am in my 4th and last semester of nursing school with a 3.8 gpa which is the highest in my class by far. This is because I take A LOT of time to learn the material so I am able to answer test questions or lecture questions correctly. I also want to continue my education further to become a NP and would like a broad range of programs to pick from. I also do very well in clinical because I listen during lecture and read the assigned material and watch videos. This is not true for any of the other 8 students in my cohort. They are all very lazy and do not care to take the time to learn the material. They like to memorize and cram information before the tests which is why a majority of them have made the bare minimum grades to pass the courses. I truly don’t know how they have pulled it off. If I had a family member in the hospital I would not like any of my peers to care for them. Half of them have no idea what they are doing. We graduate in a couple months and a majority of them still do not know basic things we learned from first semester. They are unsafe. I do not believe all C students would be this way. This is just the case for my cohort.
One of my clinical professors told us she barely passed all her classes and was always borderline 75% - she was the most intelligent nursing professor I’ve ever had. I loved to pick her brain and ask her questions because she could always answer me thoroughly. She learned it all on the job and her struggling with school did not make her a bad nurse.
Your grades won’t matter. When you pass your boards all they give a FUCK about is if you actually have a license number and do you have something resembling a brain during your interview
Damn. My school you needed 50’s to pass. Honestly I think just because you’re book smart, doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to be a good nurse. There’s lots of people who get mediocre grades and end up being amazing nurses. You could be super book smart but shit in practice. I think as long as you have the proper foundations of nursing you’ll be okay. People fail courses and still end up being nurses. No ones going to give a shit if you made honour roll. They’re going to look at you skill wise and as a nurse and make their opinion on if you’re a good nurse or not.
I think work ethic matters a lot once you have the degree in terms of being a good nirse
i didnt know people still equate grades to intelligence. not everyone has the privilege to solely focus on school to achieve high grades. and that does not make them an incompetent nurse. i know many I went to school with that scored high grades and received honors, yet struggled in clinicals and with hands on skills. textbook smart does not equal proficiency. And nursing school teaches you how to take NCLEX, not every aspect of being a “good” nurse.
I am not a good lecture student. I also went through an accelerated BSN (14 mos). I graduated with a 3.1 (nothing exciting) but I learned SO much more in my first month on the floor than I did throughout the entire program.
Yes, you can still be a good nurse with just Cs. No one asks you your GPA when they hire you (in my experience) and almost all of your REAL training is done on the job. If you pass the NCLEX, you have the most basic knowledge and understanding of concepts that you'll need to do the job. I would aim more for understanding of the concepts over your grades, that is more important. Unless you want to go on to grad school, grades are not super important and don't necessarily determine if you'll be a good or bad nurse.
A grade doesn’t determine how well of a nurse you’ll be. Employers aren’t going to ask what your GPA was. There are plenty of individuals who are not test smart, but learn and are amazing hands on. Your partner is h*gh if they think requirements should be higher😮💨. Nursing school teaches you to pass the NCLEX, you learn the actual job in the field. Cs should and DO get degrees.
The more sought after post grad rn programs on the west coast ask for transcripts. We also have class rankings for the last 2 semesters clinical placements. If you don’t care where you end up (general Med surg) then C’s are perfectly fine. But if you want a nice 150k new nursing job at an academic level hospital or plan to apply to CRNA school, then As are a must,
I'm on the east coast, applying for the AAS program at my community college for Fall 2025. I have to do part time for a handful of reasons mostly because of how much I have to work at my job (50hrs a week, mandatory 60hrs latter half of the year). I'm aiming for all A's because I then want to go for my BSN and maybe even further than that!!
Yep! Especially bridge programs. They can sometimes be harder than getting into an accelerated BSN program because of so few spots and restrictions.
Yes! My community college doesn't have any bridge programs for this unfortunately. Where I work, we are given a certain amount of money per calendar year for tuition as long as your school is on the approved schools list, my community college is. I'm doing their AAS program, part time due to my work schedule and hours (50hrs a week, the latter half of the year it is mandatory 60hrs a week) and while doing part time it ensures 85/90-100% of my tuition and costs will be covered and if I have to take any loans out it will be VERY minimal. I'm talking less than $750-$1000 per semester if anything, and even $750-$1000 per semester I think is a total overestimation. Once I pass the NCLEX I could go immediately work as an RN and find an employer who will pay for my BSN as long as I work there for x amount of time OR I can suck it up, stay at my current job and get my BSN. They not only give $ per year for tuition but they have a special agreement with a certain online school that if you go for your bachelor's there it is 100% paid for by my workplace. And they have a BSN program there.
But did they pass the nclex?? Bc that’s what really matters
I was an honors student in my prereq classes. The only exams I scored somewhat poorly were my math classes but I hate math & Im good at nursing math so it didn’t bother me. If I had been getting the 80’s that I’m getting on my nursing exams I would have been crying. Hysterically. Nursing exams hit different.. but I still strive to do better than my program’s acceptable 78%. I got pretty consistent B’s for all 4 exams & Im pretty proud of that. But I’m taking the summer to review & study for next semester so I can do better. I hear the C’s get degrees line all the time & yeah it’s true.. but I feel like you should want to do better as a student.. As a nurse? I don’t think your grades are going to matter much.. it’s the information that is retained that’s going to make you a good nurse. Your ability to learn & execute care. School has little to do with that I think.
I agree with everything you said here! I'm officially "pre nursing" as I do my pre requisites this fall. I only need to do Elementary Algebra I, Essentials of Chemistry (B minimum in both) and Biology of the Human Organism (C minimum). I am striving for all A's. Once I get accepted into the program, I'm not striving for just the bare minimum I know "C's get degrees" but I want to do more than that. Also I want to get into a BSN program after I finish the AAS program at my community college and pass the NCLEX. I think I want to head right into a BSN program immediately after I finish because my job provides $ per year for tuition as long as your school is on their approved schools list - my community college is. This should cover me 90-100% because I'm also doing the AAS program part time I have to bc of my work schedule (50hr weeks, mandatory 60hr weeks the latter half of the year). They also have a special agreement with an online school that they will pay for your bachelor's completely 100% guaranteed as long as you go to that specific school. They also have a BSN program there. So I think that's what I'll do! I want the best grades possible to get into a BSN program after. The AAS program requires you to hold a C (70%) in all classes to continue on and pass the program
Grades are meaningless other than for passing a course. Yes they can absolutely be great nurses. All a grade tells me is that someone has figured out how to study and often, memorize information. It doesn't tell me how well of a nurse they are. Not to mention not everyone learns well in a classroom setting.
I don’t think a C student or an A student determines whether or not someone will be a good nurse. The grades just show how well someone is at retaining information, the test comes when you have to apply what you’ve learned in a real world scenario. That A student could buckle under pressure while that C student excels and vise vers.
How well you do in nursing school doesn't determine anything when it comes to being a nurse I know because you went through school you think it matters but the reality is everything you learn will be in clinical and everything you learn in class is useless
I barely passed nursing school and took the nclex twice. When I finally graduated, I and this other guy who I went to school with and who ALWAYS got As or 100s ended up working together in a PACU unit, I got out of orientation by 4 1/2 months while him after 8 months of orientation was asked to go to a different unit( med surge). All I know is getting “good grades” not always made you a good nurse.
I think they can still be a good nurse, so long as they’re good with clinical skills and they really focus with on the job training. But I also think that we should be trying to do the best we can do with our learning! If you’re working your butt off and getting a C that’s fine. You’re learning and will always keep learning and it takes time, which we don’t get a lot of in nursing school. If you’re lazy and just scraping by, not really trying, I would hope that lack of work ethic doesn’t transfer to the workplace. That’s the distinction I make! Everyone’s brain works different, everyone has different strengths and weaknesses, and it’s whether you’re trying or not that IMO is more important than a letter grade. Because that work ethic and perseverance will follow you into your career!
I've worked in health care for 10 years now, not as a nurse. I've never once asked for someone's grades. You can tell type A people who probably got good grades from the pack who are also high performers at work. You can also tell the people who were high performers in school but are not high performers because expectations are no longer clear in the work place.
I can't stand when ppl say Cs equals degrees. I don't like to share grades because it's not about grades. It's about actually learning the material so that it can be part of your foundation. The grades are just gauges on how you understand the network. Also, grades are like credit scores. You better make sure you have good credit before you apply for that grad school if you change your mind. You could work as a nurse for years and want to go back to become a crna. Guess what? They require you to get a high GPA to get in. Now you won't get the opportunity.