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Pre-licensure Admission Criteria

College level placement. Note: Due to the changes in admission criteria during the COVID-19 pandemic, if a placement assessment test is not available, the SON will use university criteria to consider a student College level placement: Students must make a B or better in High School Algebra II and ENGL III and have a 3.5 or higher high school GPA.

 Students seeking Admission to the pre-licensure nursing program (BSN) have four pathways:
  • First-time Freshman Candidacy
  • Transfer Admission with 49 hours or less of nursing prerequisites and university core and able to enter appropriate milestone without condition
  • Academic Candidacy (transfer students completing 50 or more credit hours and students that do not qualify for first-time freshmen pathway)
  • TN Promise University Studies students declaring nursing focus
 

First-time Freshman Declaration of Nursing Major

First-time Freshman Candidacy

First-time freshmen who declare nursing and meet all three milestones in three continuous (full-time) semesters will be admitted into the nursing program in their fourth semester (this may occur sooner depending upon AP and dual enrollment courses). See milestones cited below. (If student does not meet milestones then will move to academic candidacy.) 

Must meet these requirements to declare a nursing major when entering freshman year 
  1. High School GPA of 3.5 or higher (per the TN Uniform Grading Policy and GPA calculation), or GED of 660 or higher, or HiSET of 75 or higher.
  2. ACT score of 22 or SAT 1100; if no ACT or SAT, Office of Admissions will review Placement Assessment Test. Note: Students unable to submit valid ACT/SAT scores must take a placement assessment. 
  3. A “B” or better in all high school biological science courses.
  4. No more than one grade of “C” in the nursing core and pre-requisite courses, and biology courses must be completed (lecture and lab considered 1 course) with “B” or better.
  5. College level placement.

NURSING MAJOR MILESTONES

Pre-Nursing Plan of Study

(FIRST TIME FRESHMEN)

Must meet all of the milestones

At the end of Semester  1

17 or more hours

Milestone 1

  • Complete at least 17­­­­­­­ hours of college credit (full time).
  • Calculated Nursing GPA 3.35 or above (calculated using all attempts on the nursing focus core )—USE NURSING GPA CALCULATOR (this number may differ from your APSU overall GPA).
  • Complete Biology courses (including lab) with “B” or better.

At the end of Semester 2

16 hours

Combined semester credits of 33 hours

Milestone 2

  • Complete at least 16­­ hours of college credit (full time).
  • Calculated Nursing focus GPA 3.35 or above  (calculated using all attempts on the nursing focus core  )—USE NURSING GPA CALCULATOR (this number may differ from your APSU overall GPA).
  • Complete Biology courses (including lab) with “B” or better. 

At the end of Semester 3

16 hours

Remaining core and prerequisites

Milestone 3

  • Calculated Nursing focus GPA 3.35 or above (calculated using all attempts on the nursing focus core  )—USE NURSING GPA CALCULATOR (this number may differ from your APSU overall GPA).
  • Complete Biology courses (including lab) with a C or better.
  • Complete remaining nursing focus core with a C.
  • Minimum of 68 TEAS composite score (taken within one year of the application date).
  • The student must have completed the required 49 credit hours of the General Education CORE and Nursing Prerequisites.

Transfer Students with 49 hours or less not qualifying for First-time Freshmen Candidacy Declaration of Nursing Major: (must meet all standards) 

Transfer Admission with 49 hours or less 

Transfer students who first entered the university with 49 hours or less of nursing focus and university core and who are able to meet all five of the standards listed, enter the appropriate milestone, and successfully complete remaining milestones will be admitted into the nursing program in their fourth semester (this may occur sooner depending upon AP, dual enrollment, and transferred courses). See milestones listed under First-time freshman.  (If student does not meet milestones then will move to academic candidacy.) 

  • Completed 49 hours of nursing focus core or less and able to enter appropriate milestone listed under first-time freshmen without condition.
  • Nursing focus GPA of 3.35 or higher.
  • Complete Biology courses (including lab) with “B” or better.
  • No more than one grade of “C” in the nursing core and pre-requisite courses, and biology courses must be completed (lecture and lab considered 1 course) with “B” or better.
  • College level placement at the previous institution(s).

Students previously enrolled in a nursing program must submit a letter of good standing from the dean/director of the previous nursing program along with a transcript. These students will still have the ability to apply to the nursing program once they meet the "in order to apply criteria," found listed in the academic candidacy section. 

 

Academic Candidacy

Students seeking academic candidacy to the School of Nursing must do so by submitting an application at the appropriate time. Applications are due each year by June 1st (for Fall admission) and September October 1st (for Spring admission) for the upcoming fall and spring semesters.

First-time freshmen and transfer students that do not meet the criteria for direct admission to the nursing program (with 60 or more credit hours) will have a University Studies - Health major assigned to them, (students with 59 or fewer credit hours will be assigned University Studies Health Survey as their major) per the APSU admission letter. These students will still have the ability to apply to the nursing program once they meet the "in order to apply criteria," found below.

Please visit application for date applications due.

TN Promise University Studies students declaring Health focus

    • must have a 3.0 focus nursing GPA upon completing 33 credit hours. Those not meeting the 3.0 minimum GPA must change their academic focus. This moves those students with GPAs in the Ones and Twos to a degree that they may complete (possibly the new health study degree).