Importance of GPA

[TheCommuter]

Ok, I know this may sound dumb and all but how truly important is your GPA, if you are not planning on going further than a Bachelors degree.

I am an RN who is slowly pursuing the BSN (bachelor of science in nursing) degree in order to potentially enhance my career opportunities and marketability. Anyway, grade point average is very important for a brand new nurse who is attempting to land a spot in a new grad hospital internship, especially in a competitive specialty such as the ER, ICU, labor & delivery, postpartum, pediatrics, the operating room, and so forth.

Since the U.S. economy is still slumping, and there are more new nurses flooding the market than there are jobs available, hospitals use grade point average as a weeding-out tool to narrow down the number of people they interview. For example, I applied for an internship at a major teaching hospital in Dallas, and the recruiter wanted me to email a copy of my official nursing school transcripts to her before she'd be willing to schedule an interview with me. Since my GPA was a 3.5, she granted the interview. I still didn't get the job, but that's life.

Many new nurses are finding that they have been disqualified for prestigious new grad internships at hospitals because their GPA is too low to receive a callback from recruiters. Grades might not be as important in other career pathways, but a new nurse who is graduating this year with big dreams of working in somebody's surgical suite had better have the right grade point average, superb interviewing skills, and the ability to network with the right people.