Pre-licensure Admission Criteria

 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 Liberal Arts students declaring nursing 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 acedemic 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).
  • TN Promise Liberal Arts students meeting the First-time Freshman milestones will also have the First-time Freshman Candidacy Code

 

First-time Freshman Declaration of Nursing Major

Effective Fall of 2022

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

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 General Studies - Health major assigned to them, (students with 59 or fewer credit hours will be assigned HHP 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.

Transfer students entering with 49 or more credit hours of nursing focus and university core and students that do not qualify for First-Time Freshmen candidacy may also apply for admission to the nursing program. Deadlines will be June 1st (for Fall admission) and October 15th (for Spring admission) for the upcoming fall and spring semesters. Please visit application for date applications due. In order to apply, the student must:

• have completed at least 34 or more hours of the required 49 credit hours of the General Education CORE and Nursing Prerequisites. Any remaining courses must be completed prior to starting nursing courses.
• have a minimum calculated GPA of 3.0 or above from the APSU General Education Core and Nursing Core Pre-requisites courses.
• have a “C” or better in all Nursing prerequisite and university core courses. Nursing core and pre-requisite courses are the only courses used to calculate GPA for admissions to the APSU SON. Note: If courses have been repeated, ALL attempts from the required APSU Core history (2310, 2320, 2010, 2020, and/or 2030) and APSU core humanity courses (Art 1035, MUS 1030, MUS 2030, THEA 1030, Dance 1035, PHIL 1040, PHIL 1030, and/or PHIL 2200 and/or FREN 1010/1020, GERM 1010/1020, GREK 1010/1020, LATN 1010/1020, or SPAN 1010/1020) must be included. If an applicant is repeating a course at the time of the application deadline, the previous grade will be used in calculating the GPA.
• At the time of applying applicant must have earned 8 hours of the required 12 hours of sciences: BIOL 2010/2011,2020/2021-, and/or 2300/2301 plus appropriate labs · 6 hours of the required 12 hours of PSY 1010, 3100, SOC 1010, and/or Math 1530 · 16 hours of the required 24 hours of ENG 1010, 1020, 2330, HIST (6 hours from the following) HIST 2010, 2020, 2310, 2320 or 2030, Humanities 6 hours, and/or COMM 2045 · APSU 1000 (not required for transfer applicants with more than 12 hours, (not including Advance Placement, military credit hours, or dual enrollment hours). All prerequisites must be completed before starting nursing courses.
• Minimum of 68 TEAS standardized exam composite score

TN Promise Liberal Arts students declaring nursing 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 acedemic 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).
  • TN Promise Liberal Arts students meeting the First-time Freshman milestones will also have the First-time Freshman Candidacy Code