Grades, repeats and clinical course failure at GW Nursing

The minimum grade: a B, even in electives

The School of Nursing regulations in the Bulletin state the graduate rule with no carve-outs: "For MSN, DNP, PhD and graduate-level certificate students a minimum grade of B is required for all courses, including electives." Graduate students must also keep a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 across the program. A clinical course is held to the same B as a biostatistics or policy course. The difference is that part of a clinical grade rests on hours, encounter logs and preceptor evaluations, which all depend on a placement that lasts the term.

Undergraduates work under a split rule. BSN students need a GPA of 2.8 and a C+ in most courses, but a B in the clinical ones: NURS 3124, NURS 3125, NURS 4124, NURS 4125, NURS 4126, NURS 4127 and NURS 4217. GW's 2023-24 undergraduate handbook puts a B at 83 to 86 and a B- at 80 to 82, and it rounds only the final course grade, from 0.50 up. No current graduate handbook is public, so the scale printed in each course syllabus is the one to go by.

Why one clinical grade moves the whole plan

GW builds its NP clinical courses as a chain. NURS 6222 Advanced Health Assessment is a prerequisite to every other clinical NURS course, and the sample plans of study schedule it for the semester before clinicals begin. After that, each track's plan runs its clinical courses in back-to-back terms. FNP moves from NURS 6230 (120 hours) to NURS 6231 and NURS 6232 (240 hours each), and the full-time fall FNP plan places them in summer, fall and spring. The FNP course page lays out that sequence, and first clinical semester shows where it starts for each plan.

Because the next clinical course normally begins the following term, repeating one tends to push back everything after it, including the OSCEs tied to your second clinical course. Site Prospector submissions are filed per term, so a course that shifts needs fresh submissions for its new term. PMHNP students follow a longer chain of five 120-hour courses opening with NURS 6245, and a slip there ripples through more terms.

For undergraduates, the 2023-24 handbook says an Incomplete in a prerequisite blocks the next required course, and a student who fails a prerequisite must petition to register outside the plan of study. The graduate version of those rules is not public, so your program director and academic advisor set any revised plan.

Probation, appeals and time limits

Graduate students go on probation when the cumulative GPA falls below 3.0, and probation brings an Academic Success Plan that the associate dean approves. A dismissal can be appealed within 5 business days to the associate dean; the ASAC Standing Progression Subcommittee reviews the case and makes a recommendation, and the dean's decision is final. A comportment sanction has a separate appeal, due to the dean within 7 calendar days.

Every program also has a clock, measured in semesters. Approved leaves of absence and military deployment are excluded from it, but a repeated clinical course is not, which is one more reason to rescue a stalled placement quickly.

Why GW students choose us

A failed clinical course usually traces back to lost weeks: a preceptor who withdraws, an agreement that stalls, a replacement found too late to fit the hours inside the term. We are built to close that gap. When a GW placement breaks, your placement advisor starts a replacement search in the same specialty near you and gathers the preceptor's license and CV or bio plus the name of the site's agreement signer, so the new Site Prospector entry goes in whole.

GW's program director still approves every preceptor and the Clinical Placement Team still clears you; we put a strong, complete option in front of them fast. If a rotation is already at risk, read preceptor dropped out and behind on clinical hours, then share your course number and term on the contact form.