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The students are checking the patients breathing

Checking out the pulse rate

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Department of Nursing

MSN Admission and Transfer Students

For admission to the University, candidates must meet the following requirements:

  1. Meet general admission standards for graduate education at the University of Saint Francis.
  2. Hold a baccalaureate degree in nursing or other discipline.
  3. Hold a current license as a Registered Nurse.
  4. Have an undergraduate GPA of 3.20 on a four-point scale.
  5. GRE is required if GPA is less than 3.0. A minimum score of 400 on the verbal and 400 on the quantitative must be achieved.
  6. Satisfactorily complete a graduate or undergraduate statistics course within the past 5 years.
  7. Submit a resume or curriculum vitae.
  8. Submit three (3) letters of reference.
  9. Complete and submit the USF MSN Essay (Written Goals). The MSN Essay should be typed, 1-2 pages in length, double-spaced, APA format and address the following question: How have you contributed to the profession of nursing?  Please include presentations, publications, mentoring, evidence-based practice, leadership roles, committee participation, and role in professional organizations. 
  10. Complete Graduate Nursing Admission Interview (Personal Interview).

Prospective students who do not meet all of the above criteria may be admitted "provisionally". These graduate students must earn a GPA of 3.20 in the first 6 hours of graduate nursing courses at USF to be fully admitted to the Graduate Nursing program.

The student who has been denied admission to the graduate nursing major must wait one academic year before reapplying. Any student who has been denied admittance must complete the GRE as part of the admission criteria when reapplying to the major. A score of 400 on the verbal and 400 on the quantitative areas must be achieved.

Students with an ASN or diploma and bachelor’s or master’s degree in another field take 8 credits of nursing courses to prepare for the Graduate Nursing Program. These courses include:

Two nursing courses taught in an intensive block format. Nursing courses are offered on the same night of the week throughout the fast track using a hybrid model that involves both campus and web-based meetings:

Students with an ASN or diploma who do not have a bachelor’s degree in another field take a 16 credit package of courses to prepare for the Graduate Nursing Program. These courses include:

  1. Two general education courses: ENGL 204, Advanced Expository Writing and MATH 302, Statistics
  2. Three nursing courses taught in an intensive block format. Nursing courses are offered on the same night of the week throughout the fast track using a hybrid model that involves both campus and web-based meetings:
    • NURS 502 Professional Communication (2cr. theory)
    • NURS 500 Professional Nursing Concepts I (4cr. theory)
    • NURS 503 Professional Nursing Concepts II (4cr. theory)

The ASN/Diploma nurse must have completed 1000 hours of clinical practice before taking NURS 570/572 in the MSN-FNP track.

Students in the RN-MSN Program will not be awarded a BSN at the completion of the nursing courses, but will be able to begin Graduate Nursing coursework at USF.

Transfer Students

For admission to the University, transfer students must meet the following requirements:

  1. Be admitted to graduate status by the University of Saint Francis.
  2. Be admitted into the graduate nursing program.
  3. One to nine (1-9) credits of graduate level courses may be transferred from an accredited college or university.
    • Students must request in writing that credit be transferred to the University of Saint Francis.
    • The MSN Program Director must approve and request acceptance of the credits from the Dean of the Graduate School.
    • The Dean of the Graduate School will provide written acceptance or denial of the credit to the student.
  4. USF Transfer Policy

Post-Master’s FNP Students’ Academic Requirements

  1. Post-master’s students admitted to the USF FNP Track within the Graduate Nursing Program will complete the same 39 credits of didactic and clinical courses that non-master’s students complete which encompasses the following courses.
    • NURS 530 (3 cr) Advanced Pharmacology
    • NURS 532 (3 cr) Advanced Physiology/Pathophysiology
    • NURS 535 (3 cr) Health Assessment of Adults
    • NURS 537 (1 cr) Clinical: Health Assessment of Adults
    • NURS 555 (3 cr) Primary Care of Children
    • NURS 556 (2 cr) Clinical: FNP-Primary Care of Children
    • NURS 562 (3 cr) Communities Populations and Systems: Theoretical Perspectives
    • NURS 570 (3 cr) Primary Care of Adults
    • NURS 572 (2 cr) Clinical: Primary Care of Adults
    • NURS 575 (2 cr) Primary Care of Women
    • NURS 578 (1 cr) Clinical: FNP-Primary Care of Women
    • NURS 581 (3 cr) Primary Care of Adults and Aging
    • NURS 582 (2 cr) Clinical: FNP-Primary Care of Adults and Aging
    • NURS 595 (6 cr) Clinical: Advanced Practice Residency & Synthesis
    • NURS 510 (2 cr) Advance Practice Roles & Issues
  2. Upon successful completion of the above 39 credits, students will receive a Post-Master’s Family Nurse Practitioner Certificate from the University of Saint Francis.
  3. USF FNP courses may be waived only if the student’s transcript indicates that the required NP course or its equivalent has already been taken. Students will submit a copy of course descriptions and syllabi upon request to the MSN Program Director.

Nurse Practitioners Expanding into the Family Nurse Practitioner Specialty

Graduate nurses who have already attained a graduate degree that encompassed a nurse practitioner specialty area other than family nurse practitioner and wish to expand their specialty to become family nurse practitioners will participate in the following procedure:

MSN Interviews

Applicants must complete the MSN Interview process prior to admission to the MSN Program. Individuals making application to the FNP and CHE track must be interviewed no later than April 29th. Individuals making application to the RN-MSN Transition Sequence must be interviewed no later than August 5th. When applications exceed the number of positions for incoming students a waiting list will be established. Applicants will be scheduled for one of the interview dates listed below.

Academic Year 2012-2013